Venom 2's first trailer has arrived - but there's sadly no big superhero cameo

Venom: Let There Be Carnage is still on track to release later this year, but things have been very quiet on the development front of late.

That is, though, until today. With the Venom sequel just four months away, Sony Pictures has finally released the movie's first trailer - and it looks as funny, gory, and demented as you'd expect.

Unfortunately, despite rumors to the contrary earlier today, there isn't a major superhero cameo in the Venom 2 teaser trailer. Reports had suggested that Tom Holland's Spider-Man would make a shock appearance in the footage, but that conjecture has proven to be nothing more than that.

We do get our first look at Woody Harrelson's Cletus Kasady and his supervillain alter-ego Carnage, while we also get a glimpse at Naomi Harris' Shriek. Both characters will be the antagonists to Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock/Venom. Expect, well, plenty of carnage when Venom 2 drops in September.

Check out the official trailer below, and then read on for our original thoughts on what the rumored Spider-Man cameo could have meant for the Venom sequel:

Original story follows.

The first person to tease the video's arrival was Twitter user Amit Chaudhari. The Arena Animation VFX artist, who also claims to have insider information on Marvel, Disney, and Sony superhero productions, hinted that we'd get our first look at the movie's villain in the trailer.

Yep, apparently we'll see Carnage – set to played by Woody Harrelson – in the trailer, though Chaudhari didn't reveal exactly where he'd appear:

Chaudhari's tweet was quickly followed up one from leaker Daniel RPK.  

Daniel RPK has a middling track record for getting leaked information correct, so ordinarily we would've been sceptical about this claim. However, given that there are other insiders reporting the same thing, it's likely this one is right:

Other Twitter users, including the Marvel Latin News Twitter account, have also found official merchandise on the shopDisney website. 

We've verified that there is a Venom: Let There Be Carnage t-shirt in Disney's online store, too, which you can view here. All signs are pointing towards a ramp up in marketing for the Venom sequel, then, based on these information drops:

In addition to the insider information, Reddit users have discovered that a Venom: Let There Be Carnage website has appeared online. Currently, user access is restricted on the home page, but it's no coincidence that the movie's official site has gone live with a trailer seemingly imminent.

It's unclear if the trailer will drop today, but all signs are pointing towards this happening. If it does arrive, we'll update this article so you can be one of the first to view it.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage might feature a Spider-Man cameo

Perhaps the trailer's biggest surprise, however, is an apparent Spider-Man cameo. According to Reddit users who are subscribed to Daniel RPK's Patreon page, Tom Holland will appear in the teaser.

How would this be possible? It's all to do with the MCU Phase 4 and, in particular, Spider-Man: No Way Home. As we've reported before, the third MCU Spider-Man film will be a huge Spider-Verse crossover event, with multiple villains – and potentially other live-action Spider-Men – set to appear in the film. 

The arrival of Doc Ock and Electro, from previous Spider-Man film adaptations, is apparently due to the breakdown of the MCU, which will apparently see different realities collide and allow various Spider-Man incarnations and enemies to bleed over into it. This was slightly hinted at in Spider-Man: Far From Home's mid-credits scene, which had a cameo appearance from J.K. Simmons' J. Jonah Jameson, who originally appeared in Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man trilogy.

No Way Home is also tied to the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This sequel will reportedly see the Sorcerer Supreme attempt to reverse the breakdown of reality and multiple universes. Before that, though, Doctor Strange will make a cameo in No Way Home as he looks into why other dimensions are bleeding into the MCU (as we know it anyway).

What does all of this have to do with Tom Holland's Spider-Man appearing in Venom 2? This factors into the 'breakdown of realities' plot thread that Marvel Studios and Disney are setting up for much of Phase 4.

Michael Keaton's Vulture has already appeared in the teaser trailer for Morbius, another Sony Pictures Marvel movie, which shows that Sony's Spider-Verse has multiverse ties to the MCU. If other realities are colliding with the MCU – due to the events of Avengers: Endgame – then it stands to reason that Tom Holland's Spider-Man could be thrust into Sony's Spider-Verse, too.

We've previously speculated that this may happen in our analysis of what No Way Home's title might mean. To sum part of that article up, though: we think that Holland's Peter Parker could end up in Sony's Spider-Verse permanently following the events of No Way Home, which could set up his Venom 2 cameo.

Of course, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is getting released before No Way Home, so this cameo rumor puts a dampener on our speculation. However, Holland's webslinger could still appear in Venom 2, even if it's only for a minute or two as a funny cameo.

We don't actually know how the likes of Doc Ock and Electro have made their way into the MCU. If they've traveled there via a portal of some sort, Holland's Spider-Man could accidentally fall through one of those interdimensional doorways and find himself in Venom 2. It would only take him a moment to realize he's in a different universe, see Venom and Carnage battling each other, and decide to head back through the portal he arrived through.

Like we said, it would be a humorous cameo, if nothing else, and it would certainly prove Daniel RPK's Spider-Man rumor to be correct. Hopefully, we won't have much longer to wait to see if this is all true, providing Venom 2's trailer does arrive today.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage is due to arrive on September 15 in the UK, and September 24 in the US.

Editorial note: This article has been amended to include the official UK release date for Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

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