Ahead Of Venom: The Last Dance, Here’s Quick Recap Of The Venom Franchise
With the release of Venom: The Last Dance just around the corner, we know you're eager to refresh your memory on the plot of the first two Venom films. Don’t worry—we’ve got you covered! Here's a quick recap to get you up to speed before diving into the latest chapter.
Venom 2018 begins with a space shuttle on a mission launched by the Life Foundation, a bio-engineering research company, to search for habitable planets. During their mission, they discover a comet covered in symbiotic organisms. The crew manages to collect four samples, but one of the symbiotes escapes containment, causing a catastrophic crash upon their return to Earth.
After the shuttle crash lands on Earth, the symbiote responsible for the disaster merges with a human host. The Life Foundation retrieves the remaining three samples and transports them to their research facility in San Francisco. Their experiments reveal a grim reality: the symbiotes cannot thrive in Earth’s environment without a host, and most human hosts prove incompatible, leading to horrific deaths. Worse still, if a symbiote is left without a host in Earth’s oxygen-rich atmosphere, it too will perish. Even in cases where a host is compatible, the symbiote’s survival hinges on consuming specific nutrients, such as brains, livers, etc, or chocolate. If deprived of these, the symbiote will devour its host from the inside, consuming their organs in a slow process.
We are then introduced to Eddie Brock, an investigative journalist with a reputation for exposing corruption. Eddie is assigned to interview Carlton Drake, the charismatic yet sinister leader of the Life Foundation. Under orders from his boss, Eddie is instructed to avoid asking Drake any probing or uncomfortable questions. However, Eddie, driven by his moral compass, discovers classified documents on his fiancée Anne Weying’s laptop—she is a defense lawyer representing the Life Foundation in a lawsuit over illegal human drug trials.
Ignoring the warnings, Eddie confronts Drake during the interview, accusing him of conducting unethical experiments on human subjects. This reckless move costs Eddie everything—his job, his career, and his relationship with Anne, who is also fired in the aftermath. Their once-strong bond is shattered, leaving Eddie isolated and consumed by guilt, while Drake continues his dark ambitions unchecked.
Six months later, Carlton Drake’s symbiosis trials continue, and he escalates to human experimentation. Dora Skirth, a scientist involved in the trials, becomes increasingly disturbed by Drake’s methods and realizes the need to stop him. Desperate for a way out, she contacts Eddie Brock, hoping he can help expose the truth.
Dora sneaks Eddie into the Life Foundation’s research facility to gather evidence. As Eddie explores the lab, he encounters a homeless woman trapped in a containment cell, infected by a symbiote. Driven by compassion and horror, he breaks the glass to free her, unknowingly allowing the symbiote to transfer from her to him. The moment the glass shatters, alarms blare, and security rushes in, opening fire in an attempt to apprehend him.
Eddie manages to escape, but something is wrong. Strange and terrifying symptoms begin to manifest as the symbiote now residing within him begins to take control.
Desperate and confused by his symptoms, Eddie seeks help from Anne; her new boyfriend, Dr. Dan Lewis, takes Eddie in for a medical examination. During an MRI scan, the machine causes a violent reaction in Eddie, sending him into painful convulsions as the monitors glitch. Unbeknownst to them, Carlton Drake has sent his henchmen to capture Eddie and retrieve the symbiote.
Before they can succeed, the symbiote within Eddie transforms him into a monstrous creature, overpowering the attackers with terrifying strength and agility. In this form, the symbiote introduces itself as Venom, revealing that the comet it came from was on a mission to find new planets for its kind to inhabit, taking over hosts and consuming the native populations. And Eddie begins to understand the power now coursing through him.
Eddie visits his former workplace to present evidence of the troubling activities at Life Foundation Laboratories. Armed with photos he took during his time there, he intends to show his former boss. However, his boss is absent, and the security guards refuse him entry. Determined, Eddie harnesses Venom’s powers to scale the building and reach his boss’s office floor. As he exits the building, he is suddenly surrounded by a SWAT team. To evade capture, Eddie transforms into Venom’s true form and escapes. Later, while returning to the hospital, Anne discovers that symbiotes are vulnerable to high-pitched noises and fire. Upon reaching the hospital, they learn that Venom is gradually consuming Eddie’s internal organs. However, Venom assures them that he can repair the damage. Anne employs an MRI machine to generate the necessary high-pitched noise, separating Venom from Eddie’s body. Unfortunately, Eddie is then apprehended by henchmen sent by the Life Foundation.
Meanwhile, the symbiote that escaped during the space shuttle crash, named Riot, makes its way to San Francisco by jumping from host to host. Eventually, it bonds with Carlton, who agrees to help Riot return to space aboard a Life Foundation probe to retrieve the rest of the symbiotes and bring them to Earth. Anne briefly bonds with Venom to rescue Eddie from Carlton’s henchmen, who were about to kill him. At the last moment, Venom in Anne’s body saves Eddie. Afterward, Anne and Eddie share a passionate kiss, during which Venom leaves Anne and re-enters Eddie.
After gaining a firsthand experience of Earth, Venom makes a firm decision to safeguard it from the imminent danger posed by his fellow symbiotes. Determined to put an end to Riot and Carlton’s nefarious plans, Venom engages in a fierce battle with Riot. In a stroke of luck, Venom successfully inflicts damage on the space probe during its launch, resulting in a catastrophic explosion that claims the lives of both Riot and Carlton.
Following this significant event, Brock resumes his career as a journalist, contributing to the written section. However, Anne remains skeptical about Venom’s demise in the explosion and questions whether the symbiote is truly no longer bonded to Brock. Unbeknownst to others, Brock and Venom maintain a clandestine connection and pledge to protect the city of San Francisco by eliminating criminals.
In a mid-credits scene, Brock receives an invitation to interview a notorious serial killer who is currently incarcerated. The killer ominously hints at causing chaos and destruction, promising a future filled with “carnage” once he manages to escape his confinement.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
In 1996, a young Cletus Kasady witnesses his beloved Frances Barrison being forcibly removed from the St. Estes Home for Unwanted Children and taken to the Ravencroft Institute, a facility designed to contain her extraordinary abilities. During the journey, Frances escapes and violently attacks police officer Patrick Mulligan, injuring his ear and causing him to lose his hearing. In the chaos, Mulligan shoots Frances in the eye, but she is ultimately subdued and taken to Ravencroft.
Venom franchise recap(Photo Credit – YouTube)
In the present day, Detective Mulligan approaches Eddie Brock for help in communicating with the notorious serial killer, Cletus Kasady, who insists on speaking only to Eddie. During their meeting, Venom analyzes hand-drawn images on the walls of Kasady’s prison cell, uncovering the locations where Kasady hid the bodies of his victims. This discovery boosts Eddie’s professional reputation. At the same time, Eddie’s ex-fiancée, Anne, informs him that she is engaged to Dr. Dan, a revelation that unsettles Venom.
Thanks to Eddie’s revelation, Kasady’s execution is fast-tracked after the bodies are discovered. Before his execution, Kasady invites Eddie to witness the event. However, during their meeting, Kasady’s taunting provokes Venom, leading to an outburst in which Venom attacks him. In the struggle, Kasady bites Eddie’s hand and unknowingly ingests a small piece of Venom.
After a heated argument, Venom violently separates from Eddie, leaving Brock without the symbiote’s protection. In a fit of anger, Venom destroys everything in Eddie’s apartment, turning the TV and appliances to rubble. Meanwhile, the scheduled execution of notorious serial killer Cletus Kasady takes a shocking turn when a red symbiote appears, halting the lethal injection. This new creature, Carnage, embraces the chaos, brutally killing guards, the warden, and anyone in its way. Kasady and Carnage form a deadly alliance, determined to free Frances Barrison from Ravencroft and seek revenge on Eddie and Venom. With danger looming, Detective Mulligan urgently warns Eddie about the escalating threat.
Kasady stages a violent assault on Ravencroft, attacking its staff and law enforcement to free Frances Barrison. Amid the chaos, Detective Mulligan arrests Eddie and takes him to the station for a grueling interrogation. With no options left, Eddie reaches out to his ex-girlfriend and lawyer, Anne, revealing the unsettling truth: Venom has left him, and without the symbiote, he’s defenseless against Kasady’s murderous rampage. Desperate, Eddie begs Anne to help him reunite with Venom before Carnage wreaks further havoc. Motivated by a blend of fear and determination, Anne uses her wits to track down Venom. After some effort, she persuades the symbiote to forgive Eddie and rejoin him, recognizing the catastrophic danger they face. In a daring rescue, Venom and Anne help Eddie escape the police station.
In a brutal display of dominance, Venom overwhelms Carnage, consuming him entirely, and then viciously decapitates Kasady. With their enemies defeated, Eddie, Venom, Anne, and Dr. Dan manage to flee the mayhem. However, a startling moment occurs when Detective Mulligan’s eyes flash, hinting that a symbiote now resides within him. With the immediate threat behind them, Eddie and Venom decide to leave the city, needing time to regroup and reflect on their future. In a post-credit twist, Venom accidentally transports Eddie into an alternate universe where Spider-Man exists, leaving them both to confront the mysteries and challenges of this new reality.
