So Venom’s Completely Tamed Now?
For the majority of Venom, Eddie Brock struggles to control the bloodthirsty parasite (don’t call it a parasite!) within him. Once the symbiote helps him save the world, though, Brock seems to be able to reason with it pretty easily and makes a deal that the creature can only harm and even eat bad people.
Venom seems surprisingly OK with this, so does that mean the symbiote’s completely tamed now and Eddie won’t have any problems controlling it in the future? From what the movie tells us, we think the answer’s yes. In the comics, of course, the balance of power between Brock and his other half has continually shifted, but for the sake of giving the character a clear heroic journey, we don’t think that’s going to happen here.
That said, if the sequel’s smart enough, it could explore the fact that perhaps Eddie has been corrupted by Venom. He seems totally un-phased by the way the creature swallows up that crook in the store, whereas he was horrified at Venom’s violence earlier in the movie. If he comes up against a monster like Carnage next time, it could be interesting to have Eddie question how much Venom has made him a monster, as well.
Wait, How Does Stan Lee Know Eddie Brock’s Venom?
Venom might not be an MCU movie, but it’s still associated with Marvel and so it gets to have the customary cameo from Stan Lee himself. The comic book legend appears right at the end of the film when he passes Eddie on the street, right after he’s said goodbye to Anne. Lee warns Brock that he shouldn’t let her go – both of you. The implication is that Lee’s “Dapper Dog Walker,” as he’s credited as, knows that Eddie’s Venom.
This is a fun twist on the majority of Lee’s cameos, which cast him as a hapless bystander who gets caught up in superhero shenanigans through no fault of his own. Here, Lee seems to be a mischievous, wise soul who’s deliberately speaking to someone he knows is special. But how does Lee’s random pedestrian know about Eddie’s secret? Well, the answer may lie in the Marvel creator’s role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
That cameo made a long-held fan theory canon, which said that Lee was working with the Watchers to spy on the superheroes of Earth, meaning that every character he plays is actually one and the same.