While nearly every movie from Sony’s attempts to create live-action Spider-Man universe has struggled at the box office (but garnered irony-laden cult status like Morbius and Madame Web), the Venom movies were box office successes. Whether it’s because the titular character remains a beloved, recognizable face in the Spider-Man canon or lead actor Tom Hardy remains committed to the bit, people like these movies. The third one, Venom: The Last Dance, is coming out on October 25, and today we got the first trailer for it.
The Last Dance’s trailer starts out simple enough. Eddie Brock and his symbiote partner in crime Venom are shown beating up (and eating) baddies just like they always have. But it’s clear the third movie is going to escalate not once, but twice, as Eddie and Venom’s antics have caught the attention of some government forces and they’re forced to become fugitives But that’s the least of their worries, as aliens from Venom’s home planet have also come to Earth in pursuit of the duo. There’s a whole fight scene between the two and a real ugly beastie on top of of a plane. So it seems like these aliens will make their getaway plans a bit more complicated.
A lot of the dialogue in the trailer and the movie’s title makes it sound like this could be the last Venom movie, but given that these are the only movies Sony has been putting out in its store brand MCU knock-off that do well in the only way studio suits understand (money), I’d be surprised if that ends up being the case. But whatever happens to the Venom franchise, at least The Last Dance will give us a sick scene of Tom Hardy riding a symbiote horse. That’s fun.
The real question is: how much do we think The Last Dance will bring up Eddie and Venom’s cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home? There’s a shot in the trailer of what looks like Chiwetel Ejiofor’s character retrieving the piece of symbiote left at the end of that movie, which I would have thought would have far-reaching effects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but now I’m curious if it will close that thread. It was a real fucking bummer that Tom Hardy spent that entire movie nowhere near the plot, and if The Last Dance ends up essentially erasing that from the MCU, that would be a shame. We’ll find out if that little detour had any real tangible effect on Eddie and Venom’s life when The Last Dance premieres on October 25.