"Venom: The Last Dance" clearly continues the funny business of the previous two films in the trilogy, but it also expands its focus out to the broader multiverse. The movie's first trailer makes this evident, though maybe not exactly clear.
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00:00Venom The Last Dance clearly continues the funny business of the previous two films in
00:04the trilogy, but it also expands its focus out to the broader multiverse.
00:08The movie's first trailer makes this evident, though maybe not exactly clear.
00:13It's no secret that Sony has taken a fast and loose approach to building out their Spider-Man
00:17universe through the likes of the silly but well-liked Venom movies, the disastrously
00:21received vampire flick Morbius, and the even more critically derided Madam Web.
00:26Plus, Kraven the Hunter, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, is due out by the end of 2024.
00:31The jury's out on how that one will do.
00:33Sony has had some trouble deciding how linked it wants its Spider-Man-related movies to
00:37be to the MCU.
00:38Morbius resorted to all sorts of oddball tactics to drum up hype with its tenuous connections
00:42to the MCU, like that vulture appearance.
00:45Madam Web went the opposite direction, though.
00:48That movie couldn't even bring itself to have anyone utter the name Peter Parker despite
00:51alluding to him constantly.
00:53"...Sam."
00:54Nope.
00:55Steven.
00:56He's not named Steven.
00:57You guys are ice cold.
00:59So what chaos does Venom the Last Dance throw into the fray?
01:03First of all, there's the rather bizarre reveal that the threequel will apparently return
01:07to the scene of a particularly funny crime.
01:09In the mid-credits sequence of Spider-Man No Way Home, Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock and his
01:13loudmouthed pal Venom make their way into the MCU proper at a bar.
01:18I'm sorry, I'm an idiot.
01:20There was a billionaire.
01:21He had a tin suit and he could fly, right?
01:24They're quickly whisked back to their own universe as a result of Spidey and Doctor
01:27Strange setting things right.
01:29By focusing on one last remaining drop of symbiote goo left behind, it appeared that
01:33Sony was leaving the door open to introduce an MCU version of Venom.
01:37Or maybe not.
01:38In a twist that only makes things more muddled, The Last Dance returns to that exact same
01:43tropical bar that Eddie and Venom visited, but with a mysterious new character played
01:47by Chiwetel Ejiofor seen snatching the symbiote sample for suspicious reasons.
01:51So is this scene taking place in the MCU?
01:54If so, is Ejiofor's character able to travel between dimensions since he also seems to
01:58live in Venom's universe?
02:00Or is this all somehow supposed to be the same universe, contradicting conventional
02:04wisdom?
02:05As of now, we have no idea.
02:08There's another big head-scratcher involving Ejiofor even being in the movie at all.
02:12Yes, the 12 Years a Slave and The Martian star has always been a welcome addition to
02:16any ensemble over the years, but his inclusion in Venom The Last Dance would surely get an
02:21MCU fan asking questions.
02:23Ejiofor appeared in both Doctor Strange films as Baron Mordo, the Mordo of two different
02:28universes, no less.
02:29Since The Last Dance at least seems broadly connected to the larger MCU, one would think
02:34that the creative team casting an actor who has appeared in two MCU films was an intentional
02:38choice to tie things together even more tightly.
02:41But is it?
02:42There's no way to tell until The Last Dance finally arrives in theaters, but there's no
02:46denying that the as-yet-unnamed character Ejiofor plays here shares very little in common
02:50with the sorcerer Mordo, at least on the surface.
02:54Ejiofor's Venom character appears to be part of some paramilitary outfit that is hunting
02:57down Eddie and his symbiote.
02:59The only hint provided in the trailer comes from Juno Temple's scientist, who's seen talking
03:04with Ejiofor's character in a laboratory about how it had to be impossible for humanity to
03:08be alone in the universe.
03:09It's our job to make sure that remains a secret.
03:12But it doesn't exactly line up with Mordo's motivation in Doctor Strange, where he's turned
03:16against his old colleague Stephen Strange because of philosophical differences.
03:20I see at long last what's wrong with the world.
03:24Too many sorcerers.
03:27Assuming these are completely different characters who just happen to look like Chiwetel Ejiofor,
03:32rather than a multiversal variant of Mordo himself, it can't help but feel like another
03:36distracting element in what's already a pretty confusing mess.
03:41Much of the trailer footage in the trailer for The Last Dance is pretty straightforward,
03:45delivering all sorts of goofy visuals like Venom overtaking a horse or dancing with the
03:49returning Mrs. Chen in what looks like a Las Vegas casino.
03:52And there are the classic Venom-Eddie antics.
04:03But there's one other brief moment that arrives with zero explanation whatsoever.
04:07Eddie, who is decked out in the exact same Hawaiian shirt that he wears in the Spider-Man
04:11No Way Home scene, is hitching a ride with some hippies in a grungy van.
04:15Right there, front and center, is a very grungy, guitar-strumming figure played by Reese Evans.
04:21Spider-Man movie buffs will remember that he has appeared in two previous franchise
04:24films.
04:25I know who it is.
04:26You know who it is?
04:27Dr. Curtis Connors?
04:28He becomes the Lizard in 2012's Amazing Spider-Man.
04:31He was then among the many villains brought to the MCU in Spider-Man No Way Home in 2021.
04:36In that film, he was cured of his reptilian affliction and sent back to his home universe.
04:40Or so he thought.
04:42The oddly prominent shot of Evans in the trailer implies he's reprising his role as Connors
04:46rather than playing someone else.
04:48So while Edgy of Four is almost certainly playing someone different, unless it's all
04:51a big trick, Evans almost has to be Connors.
04:54Are they just messing with us or what?
04:56After Doctor Strange casts his final spell and causes the world to forget Spider-Man,
05:00does the now-reformed Connors accidentally end up in the Venomverse instead of his own?
05:05Or does he play an unexpectedly large role in tying both franchises together through
05:09the multiverse?
05:10Will the movie even resolve any of these concerns?
05:13We'll all find out when Venom The Last Dance hits theaters on October 25th, 2024.