First trailer for Venom: The Last Dance teases new symbiotes, the return of a Spider-Man villain, and ties to the MCU
The first trailer for Venom: The Last Dance has finally been released – and like all of Sony’s Spider-Man spinoff films, fans aren’t sure what to make of it.
The chaotic, three-minute-plus trailer, which was unveiled yesterday (June 3), is packed with Spider-Man and wider Marvel references. Admittedly, the first is not a big surprise – Poison 3 is part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU), so webslinger-based Easter eggs and callbacks are to be expected. What’s stranger, though, are the references to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and previous Spider-Man movie eras that suggest we’ll see some multiversal shenanigans in the threequel.
Before I get into the nitty-gritty details of Poison 3‘s first trailer, here’s a quick plot summary for Tom Hardy’s final outing as Eddie Brock and his anti-heroic symbiote friend: “In Venom: The Last Dance, Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s biggest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Chased by both their worlds and as the net closes in, the duo is forced to make a devastating decision that will wipe out Venom and Eddie’s last dance.
Hardy co-wrote the script for Venom 3 with Kelly Marcel, who also directed the film. Ted Lasso alumnus Juno Temple, Doctor Strange star Chiwetel Ejiofor, Boiling point‘s Stephen Graham, and Legally blonde actor Alanna Ubach joins Hardy in the cast. Peggy Lu, who played the role of Mrs. Chen in the previous two Venom movies, is also back.
Okay, why then? Poison 3‘s first teaser baffles viewers? The problem seems to be threefold, starting with…
1. Is Doctor Strange’s Mordo in Venom: The Last Dance?
In short: no. Yes, Ejiofor, who played Baron Karl Mordo in 2016 Doctor Strange (find out where it ranks in our best Marvel movie guide) has arrived Poison 3, but he doesn’t play one of the most notable members of the Sorcerer Supreme’s rogues gallery. Instead, he plays a character named Orwell Taylor, a military official who has become obsessed with capturing Eddie and Venom.
The last danceThe film’s trailer shows him teaming up with Temple’s character – Doctor Payne – to conduct experiments on other symbiotes (more on one of these soon). If the Venom symbiote is the only sentient, goo-based alien that the pair continues to evade, it’s clear why they’ll hunt Brock and his soulmate. Poison 3.
2. Who is toxin? And is this the main villain of Venom 3?
Toxin is another symbiote that attached itself to Graham’s Detective Patrick Mulligan in 2021 Venom: Let there be carnage. In the comics, Toxin is depicted as the offspring of Carnage, another alien symbiote. Carnage was, as the title of the second film confirms, the main antagonist of Poison 2.
Considering Eddie and Venom killed Carnage Let there be a massacreit’s possible that Toxin (and Mulligan by proxy) will target the duo The last dance. Even if it were, Toxin wouldn’t be the film’s biggest villain. I do expect Mulligan and his symbiote to be the secondary antagonist, and that’s because…
3. What are the other symbiotes? And who is Xenophage?
There’s no word on what other symbiotes might appear Poison 3 (except for the unnamed one we see in Taylor and Payne’s possession), but we know they’ll be in just as much danger as Eddie and Venom. And no, I’m not talking about this last couple being hunted by Taylor and Payne.
So who – or what – will hunt them? From the looks of it, Xenophage is the other monstrous entity we see The last dance‘s trailer. It’s the alien leviathan we see Venom wrestling on a plane near the end of the teaser.
For the uninitiated, Xenophage is part of an alien race that feeds on symbiotes. In the comics, they have the ability to shapeshift, meaning they can potentially blend in with their environment on Earth. And I say “they” because it looks like more than one member of .
But I digress. Xenophage and his fellow aliens are also equipped with paralyzing saliva, which can paralyze symbiotes and make them easier to feast on. If – and it’s a big if – this is Xenophage, it looks like Eddie and Venom will have to deal with more life-threatening issues than the US military.
4. MCU Ties and the Return of an Amazing Spider-Man Villain
Ejiofor’s appearance in Venom 3 isn’t the only confusing part of it Poison 3‘s first teaser. For a brief moment, we see Ejiofor’s Taylor standing next to the bartender, played by Cristo Fernandez (another Ted Lasso alum), who made a brief cameo in 2021 Spider-Man: No way home. He’s the bartender who served Eddie a drink when he was temporarily pulled into the MCU at the end Poison 2.
The reveal that Fernandez’s bartender (who exists in the MCU) is in on The last dancethen indicates that Poison 3 will have some multiversal ties to Marvel’s cinematic juggernaut. It’s unclear how Taylor will cross the multiverse to meet Fernandez (and capture the tiny symbiote Eddie/Venom left behind in the MCU during No way home‘s post-credits scene), so we’ll have to wait until the film hits theaters to find out more.
Poison 3 won’t just have multiversal links to the MCU, though. In the second half of the trailer, we get a brief glimpse of what appears to be Rhys Ifans’ Doctor Kurt Connors. His supervillain alias – The Lizard – was the main antagonist in 2014 The great Spider Man, starring Andrew Garfield as the titular hero. The lizard also appeared No way home.
Now we don’t see The Lizard coming in Venom: The Last Dance‘s trailer, but the fact that Ifans – which viewers recently saw House of the Dragon – appears suggests Connors is part of the proceedings. After all, it would be very confusing if Ifans has been hired to play someone else, and Sony is in shape to bring MCU Spider-Man villains to the SSU – just look at The Vulture bizarrely showing up in 2022. Morbius as proof of this.
Of Venom: The Last Dance won’t hit theaters until October 25, it’ll be a while before we get explanations for any (or all) of the above. In the meantime, find out how to watch the Spider-Man movies in order (most are on Disney Plus and/or Netflix, wherever you are in the world), or learn more about Spider Man 4‘s development through our Marvel Phase 5 guide.