Venom the Last Dance: Everything we learned during NYCC

New York Comic Con left us with very shocking reveals about Spider-Man and his beloved roster of characters. From the news that Marvel's Spider-Man 2 will not have a DLC, all the way to new footage shown from Kraven the Hunter. There were reasons to feel disappointed and to celebrate all the same. However, the cherry on top had to be Venom: The Last Dance. Even if the movie is just around the corner, that didn't stop Sony from revealing a few interesting details about it. So it's time to break them all down, shall we?

Chiwetel Ejiofor will play the role of Rex Strickland

For a lot of time, Chiwetel Ejiofor's character was surrounded by mystery. However, we finally know he'll play the role of Rex Strickland in Sony's highly anticipated movie. If you've read Donny Cates' Venom (2018), then you know Rex had a huge role to play in the story. He was a soldier in the Vietnam War, where he was eventually shot and left to die. However, S.H.I.E.L.D. had other plans for him, as they bonded him with a piece of Grendel's symbiote (one of Knull's symbiotic dragons).

Think of Rex Strickland as both the exposition man and the one who sets the pieces into motion for Knull's arrival on Earth. He is well aware of the existence of the King in Black from the beginning. Furthermore, he sends Eddie Brock on a classified mission that results in the escape of the Grendel Dragon, which eventually leads to Carnage's resurrection and Knull's escape from imprisonment. It's also important to remember that Rex himself died a long time ago, and it was his symbiote the one that adopted his identity from that point onwards.

It's nice to know such a key character in Donny Cate's Venom (2018) will be making his live-action debut. However, it was revealed his big-screen adaptation will be slightly different from the source material. Chiwetel Ejiofor's Rex Strickland will be leading a military/science facility along with Juno Temple's character. The two of them disagree on most things and it seems audiences will see them argue very often. With that in mind, It'll be interesting to see if the movie will be faithful to the idea that Rex was one of the first humans to be bonded with a symbiote.

Venom The Last Dance is a "road trip" movie

When asked about where audiences could expect to find Eddie and the symbiote in the next installment, director Kelly Marcel revealed the movie takes place immediately after the events of Let There Be Carnage. Furthermore, she confirms Venom will be on the run from multiple parties:

"They’ve been exposed to the outside world because of the massive fight in the cathedral, and so now they’re fugitives and they’re on the run. The Last Dance is kind of a road trip movie as they’re chased by people from our world, but also people from another world. The longer they stay together, the more they realize that their being together is putting the whole world in jeopardy."

- Kelly Marcel

Capitalizing on that idea of "one last ride", Tom Hardy talked about what it was like saying farewells to Eddie Brock and Venom:

"It’s been 7 years doing this, it’s like I started the day 7 years ago and now it’s nighttime, it’s time to go to sleep. I’ve absolutely loved playing Eddie and Venom"

- Tom Hardy

It may be heartbreaking to know the Lethal Protector saga is coming to an end. However, that's not to say these iconic characters can appear elsewhere, speaking of which...

This is just the start of more symbiote stories

Many of the questions made by to cast of Venom: The Last Dance during Sony's panel at NYCC were related to the future of the franchise. While talking about how this is truly the last Venom movie we'll see, director Kelly Marcel also teased the story is far from over:

"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

For quite some time now it's been rumored that the post-credits scene for Venom: The Last Dance features Eddie traveling into the MCU - a sequence that will supposedly set up Spider-Man 4 to be a symbiote movie. Besides, it's important to remember Knull will definitely be back in future projects, as was reminded during NYCC:

"This is just the introduction to Knull. Obviously, he’s a massive, massive character. You can never do a one-and-done with him. This is just a little taster of Knull. You’ll get to meet him. And what the future holds for him? Who knows."

- Kelly Marcel

That's right, god is coming indeed. But even more exciting than that, is the prospect of getting to watch Spider-Man and Venom come face to face on the big screen.

Tom Hardy wants to fight Spider-Man "now"

When asked if there's a chance for Peter Parker and Eddie Brock to interact in a project outside of the Venom trillogy, Tom Hardy answered with a conclusive yes:

"I would love to fight Spider-Man. I would like to fight him now (...) In a movie 100% I’m well up for it. I would never say never on this"

- Tom Hardy

Finally, there was exclusive footage shown for members of the audience at NYCC which shows many different Venomized creatures:

While the movie sequence won't make its way online, it's important to remember we're just one week away (at the time of writing this) from finally watching the ending of the Lethal Protector saga. So it's just a matter of waiting a few days longer before we know what the future has in store for Venom altogether.

Are you excited about Venom: The Last Dance? Let us know on our social media pages! And be sure to stick around with Whatever A Spider Can for everything Spider-Man-related.