The next chapter in Sony's Venom franchise revealed, reports say

Warning: spoilers to follow for Venom: The Last Dance.

With the release of Venom: The Last Dance, the beloved Sony franchise came to a definite end. As such, there has been a lot of speculation about where the story can go next now that its two biggest stars, Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote, are *seemingly* gone. Knull's arc is only beginning, and audiences are sure to see him escape for Klyntar at some point. So when that day finally comes, who else but the Lethal Protector to face such a formidable foe? Well, it seems like we finally have an answer, and it might not be who you expect.

Sony is reportedly working on an Agent Venom movie

According to established insider, Daniel Richtman, Sony is working on an Agent Venom movie. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise, given that Flash Thompson was secretly hiding in the background of Venom: The Last Dance. Besides, director Kelly Marcel teased the movie would give us hints as to where the franchise would head up next:

"This is the last Venom movie. We always saw this as three pictures (...) the arc for Venom and Eddie closes here but, as you know, there are a lot of symbiote stories in the canon, so there are lots of places to go and maybe there are a few easter eggs in here that might start that journey off."

- Kelly Marcel

With that in mind, the most obvious path would be a stand-alone movie starring Juno Temple's character, Dr. Teddy Payne. After all, she bonded with a symbiote during the third act of the movie, resulting in the creation of who we can assume to be Agony. However, audiences also witnessed the origin story of Flash Thompson's Agent Venom in a much subtler way.

One of Rex Strickland's men attempts to kill the Xenophages that hunt Venom's codex during the movie's climax. The soldier, referred to as "Thompson", is unfortunately caught by one of these monsters and loses both legs in the process. All signs indicate this is Eugine "Flash" Thompson who we're watching on the big screen, since his comic book counterpart also suffered the same fate. While audiences never get to see his face, it's clear Sony intended to set him up as the character who can lead the franchise moving forward.

It's worth remembering that two different offsprings of the Venom symbiote are still alive and well. One of them was captured and enclosed in a container by Rex Strickland at the beginning of the movie, only for it to escape during the post-credits scene. The other one was left behind in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Venom traveled there courtesy of Doctor Strange's spell. So any of them could bond with Flash Thomspon to create Agent Venom (though we say the former is more likely given that they live in the same reality).

To follow Knull's story in an Agent Venom movie would be quite an interesting decision. After all, the god of symbiotes is known for being a Venom villain (as in Eddie Brock's Venom) in comic book pages. And yes, Flash did have a small role to play in the King in Black series, but nothing too protagonistic. Maybe Sony intends for Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock to return at some point, and team up with Flash Thompson to fight against Knull and his forces. All things considered, it would be the best-case scenario.

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