Venom: 5 Things That Make No Sense In The Last Dance Trailer (Because They're Impossible)
The first trailer for "Venom: The Last Dance" is here, and it's filled with all the wacky humor, grotesquerie, and alien invaders you'd expect. The third film in the Tom Hardy-led series is set for release on October 25, so fans still have to wait a while for more symbiote madness. Fortunately, the new footage has given us plenty to talk about.
"Venom: The Last Dance" looks like it may eschew the urban landscape of the first two films in favor of a road trip movie format. The trailer opens with Eddie Brock (Hardy) and Venom roughing up (well, eating) some crooks before jumping to a secret government science facility where other symbiotes are being studied. New intruders from Venom's home spark a crisis, and Eddie ends up going on the run from the military while also battling the new monsters from space.
While there's a good amount of "end of the trilogy" allusions in the new trailer, this is still a Venom movie, so it's mostly ridiculous chaos. We're treated to a lot of different scenes, cameos, and absurd moments that don't make a lot of sense right now, and we'll have to wait for the full release to understand what's actually going on. Knowing the "Venom" franchise, though, there are some things that still might not make sense, even once the movie is released.
Baron Morwell Taylor
"Venom: The Last Dance" will feature a number of new characters, including one played by lauded actor Chiwetel Ejiofor. If you're a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as Sony's Spider-Man Universe, you'll know that Ejiofor previously played the sorcerer Baron Karl Mordo in the "Doctor Strange" movies. Because Venom briefly slipped into the MCU timeline in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," Ejiofor's unnamed role in "Venom 3" is eyebrow-raising, to say the least.
It's highly unlikely (though still possible) that this new character is a variant of Mordo. A stronger theory, given the character's military uniform and apparent vendetta against Venom, is that Ejiofor is playing Orwell Taylor, who hunts down the symbiote antihero in the comics. Double-castings are pretty common these days with franchises as big as the Marvel films, but the studios have spent so many years encouraging fans to pry into every detail that it's hard not to wonder if something else might be going on.
Sony doesn't have the rights to the Mordo character, so it would be impossible for him to make an appearance without some special Disney deal being done behind the scenes. That said, there is one scene in the "Venom: The Last Dance" trailer that appears to show Ejiofor's new character in the bar from the mid-credits scene in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" — a bar that exists on Earth-616, the MCU dimension.
Is this a transdimensional bar?
In "Spider-Man: No Way Home," a spell is accidentally miscast by Doctor Strange and Peter Parker and brings other versions of Spider-Man — and their villains — into the MCU. The majority of the film is spent figuring out a way to send everyone back to their own dimensions. In the mid-credits scene, we learn that Eddie Brock and Venom were brought to the MCU as well (foreshadowed at the end of "Venom: Let There Be Carnage"), but they spend the whole time chilling at a bar in Mexico.
The "Venom: The Last Dance" trailer shows what appears to be that same bar, with "Ted Lasso" alum Cristo Fernández returning as the bartender. However, in the new trailer, Fernández is shown talking to Chiwetel Ejiofor's character, who exists in Venom's universe, not the MCU. So, what's going on here? Was the bartender somehow sucked through the portal that took Venom home, depositing him in a slightly different version of the same bar? Or does the military force pursuing Venom in the new movie have a way to hop through the multiverse to pursue symbiotes?
The first option seems more feasible, but it's confusing either way. And considering that the mid-credits scene in "No Way Home" is mostly played for laughs, it's honestly surprising to see it returned to at all in "Venom: The Last Dance."
Is Rhys Ifans still playing Lizard?
The transdimensional bar isn't the only curious "Spider-Man: No Way Home" allusion in the "Venom: The Last Dance" trailer. We also get a brief shot of Rhys Ifans' playing guitar in the back of a van cruising down the highway. Ifans portrayed Dr. Curt Connors, aka Lizard, in the "Amazing Spider-Man" films and reprised the role in "No Way Home." Now, Ifans is playing someone else entirely in "Venom 3" — or could it be the same character once again?
Unlike Baron Karl Mordo, Sony's movie rights deal with Marvel allows the studio to use Lizard as they see fit since he's part of the Spider-Man universe. But while this means that he could appear in "Venom: The Last Dance," Ifans' character in the trailer looks nothing like Dr. Connors — he has two arms rather than one, for starters. Secondly, the "Amazing Spider-Man's" Lizard would have been sent back to his own timeline — the one where Andrew Garfield plays Peter Parker. That said, this wouldn't be the first time that a Spider-Man villain from another universe appeared in Sony's standalone films, as Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton), aka the Vulture, appears at the end of "Morbius."
This is probably an Easter egg at most and a bit of incidental casting at least, but it is odd to see such a memorable "Spider-Man" actor pop up in what looks to be a pretty small role.
Mrs. Chen gets her Hollywood moment
As a lighter entry on the list of things that make no sense in the "Venom: The Last Dance" trailer, we have a curious appearance from Mrs. Chen (Peggy Lu), the San Francisco-based convenience store owner and confidant to Eddie Brock in the prior two movies. The trailer footage shows Eddie and Venom running into Mrs. Chen by chance at a Las Vegas casino. She's nearly unrecognizable at first, wearing a dazzling red dress and updo, giving off the vibe of "Shrek 2's" Fairy Godmother at the end of the animated film.
What is Mrs. Chen doing in Las Vegas? When did she get what appears to be a substantial payday? How did she manage to cross paths with Eddie/Venom? These questions don't yet have answers, and to be honest, they don't need them, either. Lu's performance as Mrs. Chen has been a highlight throughout the "Venom" films, and it's fun to see her get a glitzy moment dancing with the horrifying symbiote in Sin City. If "Venom: The Last Dance" really is meant to be the end of the series, it's only right that Mrs. Chen gets a proper sendoff as well.
What's happening in that airplane fight?
Toward the end of the "Venom: The Last Dance" trailer, we see bits of a fight scene set on top of an in-flight airplane. Venom appears to be hitching a ride on the side of the fuselage when a giant monster — some kind of creature from his symbiote world, presumably — appears on the aircraft. From the footage, it's hard to tell exactly how the monster gets there, but it seems to have leaped or flown into the sky to find and attack Venom. There are no wings to be seen, though, and as far as we know, symbiotes can't just fly whenever they want.
There have been instances in the comics where Venom or other symbiotes generate wings or otherwise gain powers of flight. That could be what's happening here, so a fight on a flying jumbo jet isn't exactly an impossible scenario, but the battle is so chaotic that it's hard to pin down exactly what's happening. It's a real "Fast and Furious" kind of scene, filled with bombastic special effects, and it's sure to be a blast to watch in full.
"Venom: The Last Dance" arrives in theaters on October 25, 2024.