Venom meets his maker in final trailer for ‘Venom: The Last Dance’

Sony Pictures has blessed us with a new trailer for its upcoming Sony Spider-Man Universe outing Venom: The Last Dance, promising an “epic conclusion” to the Tom Hardy-fronted Venom trilogy. And now, we finally know more about its elusive villain, a.k.a. Knull.

Venom and Eddie are back for another action-packed (and bats*** crazy) buddy romp in director Kelly Marcel’s Venom: The Last Dance, which serves as the final entry in Sony’s superhero trilogy. Are the Venom movies … good? Debatable. But regardless of your stance on the films, you can’t deny that Sony’s Venom saga is mostly just good ol’ harmless fun, made all the more enjoyable some gooey monster vs. monster fights and a great dynamic between Eddie and his symbiote BFF.

So, where did we last leave off with this dynamic duo? Well, the final moments of 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage saw the defeat of Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) after Venom and Eddie separated to do a little soul-searching—the events of which led to that post-credits scene, which was briefly explored in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Sadly, Venom and Eddie’s highly-anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe debut didn’t really go anywhere, and it’s unclear if The Last Dance will be Hardy’s swan song as his iteration of the character, or if we could see him returning down the line for, say, Avengers: Secret Wars. With Eddie and Venom (presumably) back in their original timeline, the threequel will see the “Lethal Protector” going up against some of his own symbiote kin, who were sent to Earth to hunt him down.

The motivations behind such an attack are foggy, but one way or another, it seems like someone is going to have to make the ultimate sacrifice. Now, thanks to a newly-released trailer, we know a little more about the movie’s villain—and he’s got some extensive Marvel comics lore to boot.

Who is the big bad of Venom: The Last Dance?

The latest trailer for Venom: The Last Dance offers fans a better glimpse at Eddie and Venom’s mysterious new enemy: Knull. Interestingly enough, it’s still uncertain who in the cast (which includes Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, and Chiwetel Ejiofor) is playing Knull, but from what we’ve seen, he’s out for vengeance, even going as far as to tussle with our main characters on top of a jet mid-flight. Just don’t say his name, or else he may appear in your mirror at night … or something like that.

It stands to reason that Knull, the so-called “God of Symbiotes,” will serve as the film’s overarching villain. After all, he’s depicted as being one of Venom’s most menacing foes in the comics, having near immortality being “a god of darkness” (per Marvel.com) and the creator of all symbiotes. The all-powerful Knull also has a connection to Gorr the God Butcher, having fashioned a weapon made of living abyss (a.k.a. symbiote goo) that would later act as the prototype to the Necrosword.

In more recent comic portrayals, Knull is the nemesis of Venom and Spider-Man, among others, and even leads a cult that brings Carnage/Cletus Kasady back to life in Venom (Vol. 4) #8. Given that Let There Be Carnage left the door somewhat open for Carnage to regenerate itself, I could see The Last Dance following a similar storyline and resurrecting a character that fans felt was wronged by the movie.

Both Knull and Carnage are legendary antagonists in the comics, so seeing these two working together onscreen could point to serious trouble for Eddie and Venom. There’s also the matter of Toxin, detective Patrick Mulligan’s (Stephen Graham) parasitic alter-ego who I doubt will be the good guy here. It seems like everyone has it out for Team Veddie, and I wonder how—or if—they’re going to make it out alive.

For now, we’ll just have to sit tight and wait to see what Sony and Marvel have in store for Knull when Venom: The Last Dance arrives in theaters on October 25, 2024.