Venom 2 was built up to be the type of movie that every fan was hoping would be Carnage’s introduction to the story and a wild and crazy battle that would create a lasting character that would spark a new legacy moving forward. But while the red-skinned symbiote was one-hundred percent lethal and came off as a seriously deranged individual, there were a few technical problems that came to mind when considering Carnage’s story and how it affected Venom’s overall story. Carnage was meant to be an absolute nightmare, but this is because he and Cletus Kasady were on the same page most of the time and had a penchant for killing, torturing, and otherwise harming individuals that was kind of scary to think of. It’s easy to think that comic books aren’t going to be taken panel by panel when it comes to making movies since a lot of people have their own ideas of what needs to be shown. What happens in the movies is that moments fans were hoping would stay true to the panels tends to get altered and sometimes changed entirely.
Carnage’s origin was switched up after all since in the comics, Venom leaves a part of itself behind, essentially giving ‘birth’ to Carnage. In the movie version, Cletus bit Eddie hard enough to draw blood, but the fact is that they weren’t cellmates since Cletus was on deck to be executed, while Eddie still had his freedom. But that was easy to get over since it was fairly close and didn’t deviate too much. It was even entertaining when Carnage went on his rampage through the prison, killing the guards and anyone that got in his way. But where things kind of broke down occurred when Carnage, who is still vulnerable to sound, threatened Shriek not long after releasing her.
In the comics, Cletus and Carnage are firmly bound and don’t have a lot of disputes between them. But from the first time that Carnage threatened Shriek in the movie, it felt as though things were nowhere near where they needed to be. It felt as though the symbiote was the one in firm control, and Cletus was merely being allowed to think that he had things figured out. Shriek became kind of an annoyance when she could have been allowed to be the weapon she was meant to be. Carnage as a character felt disjointed since the fact that the symbiote and Cletus weren’t really on the same page makes it tough to think that the people making the movie were even aware of how Carnage and Shriek had worked together in the comics. That’s not the case to be certain, but it does bring to mind the idea that changing Venom up and removing his story from Spider-Man’s overall narrative wasn’t the best idea. The first movie was entertaining largely because it had to find a way to make the connection between Eddie Brock and Venom without Spider-Man being a part of the story. But the second movie brought a strange LGBTQ+ vibe into the movie, according to a lot of people, and ended up making it a confusing morass of CGI action that, coupled with a less than stellar storyline, made for a movie that wasn’t horrible but also wasn’t good.
The actors weren’t the problem since they did their jobs wonderfully, but the fact is that they were given a story to act out that felt as though it wasn’t nearly as complete as it could have been. Carnage is such a great character in the Marvel universe that it was the hope of many fans that he would be given the kind of treatment that would make him just as popular as Venom when it came to the movies. But where the sequel derailed was when it came to the overall idea that Cletus and Carnage didn’t agree at times when it came to what they were doing, and how they would deal with Shriek. In other words, the deviations made from the comics became too great and ended up kind of altering the movie in a few ways that weren’t entirely desired.
Had Carnage and Shriek been able to remain as compatible as they’ve been seen in the comics, it’s very likely that the threat level would have been even greater since it would have been a fight that Venom might have needed help with in a much bigger way. But as it stands the movie felt a little awkward for the changes that were made, and it does feel as though it could have done a few things a lot better to create a lasting legacy that would see Carnage return again and again. As it stands now if he does come back a lot of people are going to wonder how that happened and why.
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