In a world full of superhero movies, Venom promises something different and whether you feel like the film delivered on that promise or not, you no doubt want to talk about it. Out in cinemas now, Ruben Fleischer’s take on the Symbiote poses a lot of questions about the Venom ending, the character, the future of Sony’s shared universe plans. We’re going to be discussing them all - with spoilers - right here. It goes without saying that if you haven’t seen the movie yet, this is probably not the best place for you, but if you’ve seen Venom and you have questions, there’s a good chance they’re the same ones we have. Read on for the biggest questions, and possible answers, we have after watching the Venom ending.
1. How did Venom survive?
This is probably the number one question you have after watching the Venom ending, and it’s not unfounded. While it’s a nice little twist hearing Venom’s voice appear out of nowhere at the end of the movie when Eddie and Anne catch up, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. The finale, in which Eddie/Venom faced off with Drake/Riot, saw both Symbiotes (and Drake) supposedly burnt to death, so how did Venom survive? Is it just a twist the writers added last minute to make the Venom ending a little more exciting and to tease possible sequels? Maybe… but there’s also a logical explanation for how the Symbiote could have survived.
In the comics, Symbiotes have been known to survive and regenerate even if only one small part of their mass survives. So, when Venom split into multiple pieces that apparently burnt up during the finale, arguably one of these pieces could have survived and latched back onto Eddie as he fell into the water. That’s all it would take for Venom to regenerate and come back as the fully fledged anti-hero we all know and love.
2. Is Venom still killing Eddie? And if so, how long will Eddie last?
Now that we know how Venom probably survived there’s another big question everyone (including Eddie) should be asking: Is Venom still killing Eddie? During the movie, there’s a scene where Anne’s oh-so-nice new boyfriend Doctor Dan runs some tests on Eddie and discovers that the parasite living in his body (Venom) is basically eating him alive and will eventually kill him. This rather alarming news is swept under the rug during the finale and by the end of the movie, Venom and Eddie are back together in human-Symbiote bliss, with everyone rather conveniently forgetting that hosting Venom is slowly killing Eddie.
It’s never mentioned again and with Eddie and Venom back together by the end of the movie and no word on any sort of cure or compromise on their host relationship, things have surely gone back to the way they were before and Venom is killing Eddie. So, why is no one - least of all Eddie who basically goes skipping off into the sunset with Venom - not more concerned? Well, Venom does say to Eddie at the end of the movie that he needs to eat "otherwise your liver is looking pretty tasty," which seems to imply that the Symbiotes only eat their hosts if they're not getting enough food from elsewhere, so as long as Eddie lets Venom eat enough bad guys, he should be ok. Talk about a conflict of interest!
3. Why did Venom really help save Earth?
To say that Venom’s change of heart over the destruction of Earth is out of character is the understatement to end all understatements. Everything we know about the character up until this point tells us that he’s a cold-hearted killer and then, all of a sudden, he decides to help Eddie stop Drake/Riot from bringing about the destruction of Earth. It seems a little odd. Venom says it’s because Eddie has shown him how much fun it is on Earth and he wants to continue enjoying it, which he certainly can’t do if the Symbiotes invade, eat everyone, and destroy the world as we know it. Fair enough, Earth is super fun. But to betray your own race? To go against your “team leader” (as Venom calls Riot) and abort your mission to invade Earth? To abandon everything you know for a people you’ve just met? It seems a little far fetched. Is there another reason why Venom helped save Earth?
Honestly, I don’t think so… it just feels like there wasn’t enough time in the movie to properly explain Venom’s motivations for siding with Eddie, which is a shame, because as a well-known villain/anti-hero, his suddenly good intentions do need explaining. Whether this is something which will be picked up in a possible sequel, we’ll have to see, but for now I think it’s safe to say that Venom just really, really likes us… which is weird. And a bit scary.
4. And for that matter, why did Drake side with Riot?
Another instance of unexplained motivations! It’s obvious why Drake initially teams up with Riot - he has big love for the Symbiotes and thinks they’re “higher beings” - but during the battle with Eddie/Riot, it’s revealed that Riot is planning on returning to his planet to bring an invasion, which will destroy the Earth and everyone on it. Drake might be a selfish billionaire, but surely even he doesn’t want that? And yet, even when he gets separated from Riot during the battle, he rejoins with him to continue his plan.
There’s a couple of possibilities here. Maybe Drake has finally lost his mind and isn’t thinking straight. He certainly seems a little unstable toward the end of the movie. Perhaps he believes he and a select group of his chosen followers will be spared the destruction of Earth once Riot’s forces arrive. After all, the Symbiotes will still need human Hosts to survive in Earth’s atmosphere. Or perhaps he just loves the power of being bonded with Riot and generally doesn’t care where it’s leading. Either way, I think he probably regrets it.
5. Are the other Symbiotes still going to invade?
With Drake/Riot destroyed and their mission to bring more Symbiotes to Earth failed, does that mean that all the Symbiotes on Venom’s homeworld will just sit there patiently doing nothing, waiting to hear from someone? It’s unclear in the movie whether Riot and his team purposefully let themselves be ‘captured’ by Drake’s astronauts to be brought to Earth to scope it out for possible invasion, but it certainly sounds that way. With Venom quite happy to remain on Earth with Eddie, and the rest of the Symbiotes dead, will the others at home just decide not to invade Earth? That would be handy.
It’s possible. With no one reporting back that it’s safe to come to Earth as long as you have a human Host, there’s no way for them to know that our world is even worth invading. Plus, it’s unclear if the Symbiotes have their own spaceships and can even get here, so for now it looks like the Earth might be safe. But… wouldn’t it make a great Venom 2 if suddenly a Symbiote invasion force appears in the sky wondering what happened to their scout team and ready to take over the world?
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