There’s a tried and true TV trick that works approximately 50% of the time – maybe less. If your show is on the bubble, meaning in danger of cancellation, you end the finale with a cliffhanger so wild that not only are fans begging for more, but so are the executives. It’s a showrunner’s way of backing the channel or studio into a corner to give them another chance.
That doesn’t work for movies. And yet, thanks to Marvel’s signature end credit scenes, we keep getting the good stuff saved for the end… And then not panning out in movies that never appear.
Think Mark Strong’s Sinestro getting a yellow fear ring at the end of Green Lantern, or Henry Cavill’s Superman showing up at the end of Black Adam. Heck, I put together a list of 23 MCU dangling threads, most from end credits scenes, that may or may not ever be followed up on.
And now the same thing is likely happening with Venom: The Last Dance. The threequel was sold as the end of a trilogy, the final time we’ll see Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock/Venom… And yet it also introduced Knull, the god of the symbiotes, scattered throughout as the big bad, and promising that he was coming to destroy Earth in an end credits scene.
Director/writer Kelly Marcel even teased there’s more to come with the character – who is basically a Thanos-level baddie, but for Venom – though was vague on where he’ll pop up again. Possibly Spider-Man 4, as that’s in development. But if Hardy is being honest about not returning to the role, Venom won’t be there when Knull shows up again. Or at least, Eddie Brock won’t, though maybe someone new will be in the Venom suit.
And the movie did tee up a lot of other symbiotes — though it killed nearly all of them. So all of those non-Venom symbiotes everyone loves and can definitely recite the names of without googling could potentially fight Knull at some potential point in the future! Yay?
If this does pan out, that means we’re getting three Venom movies without Spider-Man, and possibly some sort of Knull movie without Venom. Not that movies need to slavishly hew by the comic book lore, but that’s just… Weird.
Even weirder though is promising that Knull will return without any specific plans announced. Those could be coming, of course, but arguably even more than DC and Marvel, Sony has been Sideshow Bob walking in a field of rakes in terms of announcing they’ve got plans… That then never goes anywhere.
There’s been a Sinister Six movie that was being set up in Andrew Garfield’s Amazing Spider-Man movies that will never see the light of day. Venom: Let There Be Carnage promised a showdown with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man that never materialized. Morbius ended with a bizarre team-up between Mr. Morbin Time himself and the Vulture. And I guess this one is TBD, but I can’t see a world where Madam Web’s team of Spider-Girls continues, even if her web connects us all.
Even if Sony is attempting to force a Sinister Six movie into existence (pure speculation) — heck it worked with a hyper-focus on Venom, a movie that by no rights should have spawned a trilogy — does anyone want to see Morbius, Kraven, Vulture, a random symbiote I can’t even think of the name of and two more characters TBD fight Knull, the god of the symbiotes? I for one don’t envy any screenwriter tasked with making that work.
The issue with artificially trying to spur fan demand with big cliffhangers is the things you’re making need to be good, first. And to get executives to pony up money for your thing, even with a wild cliffhanger, there needs to be an argument that it will make them money.
The Spider-Man films with Holland are generally well-liked and are blockbusters, but throwing Knull in there against all reason (what does the god of the symbiotes have to do with Peter Parker’s journey into adulthood?) is the only scenario where Sony makes cashola. A symbiote movie without Tom Hardy, any sort of sequel to Morbius or Madam Web, and unless the world surprises us in ways we can’t expect Kraven The Hunter will be a dud as well… There’s no future there. You can’t sell stockholders on three bombs and a large smiling guy in a chair as a reason to give you $200 million.
Looking at the box office for Venom: The Last Dance, it did surprisingly well domestically with a strong hold in its second weekend, despiting underperforming opening weekend. Including international totals, it’s up to $317.1 million globally, which is better than Let There Be Carnage at this point. But again, bringing Knull back with a new cast and crew means you’re essentially rebooting the series. Sure, Sony could back up the money truck to Hardy and Marcel; but it’s not going to be the reported nearly $80 million Robert Downey Jr. is reportedly getting to return to Avengers… Nor should it be.
Could I be wildly off base here? Sure. But that TV trick I mentioned above only works for critically acclaimed and beloved TV shows that are willing to slash their budget to continue. And even then, it rarely works. It might be time for superhero movies to reassess this approach, as well. Because as much as Marcel and company promise “god is coming” in relationship to Knull, likely the only place he’s headed to is the dustbin of film trivia history.
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