Venom 2 Trailer Has Apparently Leaked Online Ahead Of Release
Get ready for more Eddie.
A post has sprung up on Reddit from a user in Russia who claims to have seen a leaked trailer for the upcoming Sony/Marvel sequel Venom 2. While we haven't gotten a glimpse of it stateside yet, the Redditor helpfully provided a full breakdown for us to chew on.
While it seems like pretty much every 2020 film release has been pushed back to the fall in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, it looks like Venom 2 will benefit from already having been slated for release in that frame. The flick is due in theaters on October 2, and so far, that release date has held firm.
Fans of 2018's Venom were floored when, in the flick's post-credits sequence, they were introduced to a very dangerous inmate with whom Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) had lined up an interview: Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), a brutal serial killer who is destined to become the insanely dangerous symbiotic villain Carnage. According to our Russian Redditor, the first trailer for Venom 2 will give us our first, fleeting look at Kasady in full-on Carnage mode — while also teasing the plot device which puts the murderer on a collision course with our favorite tongue-y antihero via ScreenGeek).
Of course, we must state before we go any further that this leak is in no way confirmed, and it may just be the product of one Venom fan's fertile imagination. Also, the events of the trailer — and its dialogue — have been translated to English from Russian with an online translator, so we're basically just going to have to run down the synopsis as best we can with the information we have.
Having said all that, the leak sounds legit — and it also sounds like Venom 2 is going to be pretty freakin' awesome.
What happens in the leaked Venom 2 trailer?
According to the Reddit post, the trailer opens with a shot of San Francisco, as a voiceover lauds Venom as a new protector of the city. We then see a group of children trick-or-treating, but they've come to the wrong house: the door is answered by Kasady, who removes his Halloween mask to reveal that his face is starting to... well, Carnage out. He then laughs (we're imagining a blend of menacing and straight-up crazy), and the trailer cuts away.
We then see Kasady pursuing Brock in a car chase, with police on both their tails (or tongues, as it were). Then, a clue as to that pivotal plot point: Brock is seen checking out a newspaper clipping about an orphanage burning down (this definitely syncs up with Carnage's origin story in the comics). There's then a bit of conversation between Brock and the Venom symbiote, with Brock indicating something to the effect that Carnage is just getting started (again, the translation here is a bit poor).
Then, there's a scene of Brock transforming, and Venom scaling the outside of a church (shades of Venom's own origin story here) where Kasady is holed up. The spot fades to black, and Carnage is heard in voiceover saying that his goal is more than just, well, wanton carnage. The ends with a brief scene of a cop shooting at Kasady, who stops the bullet with a gnarly tentacle — and then, the cop screaming in terror as Kasady begins to transform. Cut to black.
Is this description of the leaked trailer legit?
Again, even though the leak is far from confirmed and the translation is rough as all get-out, we're cautiously optimistic that our Russian Redditor did indeed catch a sneak peek of the Venom 2 trailer. The description above a) follows all of the typical beats of a standard superhero movie teaser trailer, and b) is pretty much exactly what we would expect, teasing the confrontation between Venom and Carnage without giving away too much of the movie's plot.
Of course, we should know for certain whether or not this leak is legit sooner rather than later. Like we mentioned, Venom 2 is still holding fast to its October release date, and — assuming that there are no setbacks between now and then — that only gives Sony about five months to promote the flick. Dropping a teaser trailer sooner rather than later would be a pretty good way to get fans totally psyched for what might be one of their first chances to catch a major movie in the theater post-COVID quarantine, and since Venom cleared $850 million at the worldwide box office, the sequel certainly qualifies as "major."
You know us — we'll be keeping an eye out for any official word on the leak, or better yet, an actual trailer drop. As soon as we have either, we'll be beating down your virtual door with the news.