Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters is going to spread its roots throughout Hollywood with Venom & Morbius. Just like Iron Man was the key to the MCU, Venom is going to be the key for Sony moving forward. And it is Venom who will define the big bad villain of the big crossover event that Sony will end up developing in the future. For now, we’ve only seen Venom. But from this year onwards, the Sony movies will start to connect different franchises starting with Morbius. Jared Leto’s movie won’t just have connections to the events of the MCU, but it will also connect to Venom in a major way by leading us directly into Venom 2.
Venom 2 is going to give us the villain we have always wanted. The ending of Venom teased the arrival of Carnage as Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady made his debut. Now, rumor has it that the Morbius movie will have a prison break sequence that will lead to Cletus Kasady escaping from prison. Then he will somehow find himself bonding with the Carnage Symbiote. We will finally get to see Venom & Carnage rip each other apart.
It has been said in the past that the Venom franchise will expand the history of Symbiotes. Soon SUMC will be crawling with Symbiotes. But the one thing that is bound to happen in the Venomverse is that things will definitely lead to the Symbiote God – Knull. Carnage is definitely going to be the big bad in Venom 2 & he’d be accompanied by Shriek. Sony is also setting up the arrival of Toxin in either Venom 2 or Venom 3. Also, rumor has it that Spider-Man might swing in to help Venom take on Carnage and Shriek. But because of Venom’s anti-hero killing ways, a dispute between them will be set up between them and Venom 3 will hash it out.
Now, if you’ve read the above paragraph thoroughly, you would’ve noticed that there’s three ways in which Venom 3’s story could pan out:
1. Venom & Carnage take on Toxin.
2. Venom vs. Spider-Man & then maybe the two team up against Toxin & Carnage.
3. Venom & Spider-Man vs. Knull & other symbiotes.
We have to keep in mind that even though Sony is currently scheduling just solo films, they have to develop a crossover event at some point of time. Now since the Sinister Six will probably be reserved for the MCU to use, Sony’s big crossover event would need a bigger villain that threatens not just Earth, but probably the Universe. Meaning, SUMC would need a Thanos level threat and Knull could provide that threat.
Before we move forward, let’s learn a bit about Knull. The Lord of the Abyss and God of the Symbiotes, Knull appeared in Venom Vol 4 #3 for the first time. Why is he called the Symbiote God? Well because he was the one who created the first Symbiote & the entire Smybiote planet called Klyntar (referenced in the first Venom movie). His existence predates the Universe itself, just like the Celestials. The Celestials are coming to the MCU, but it is highly likely that Sony would be using Knull for their own little universe of Anti-heroes.
Knull’s whole deal was that he wanted to rule over a kingdom of darkness, and the “Light of Creation” taken forward by the Celestials really angered him. So, he went on a Celestial killing spree. The Knowhere you saw in Guardians of the Galaxy was actually a severed head of a Celestial killed by Knull. In the books, Knull used this head to create the first Symbiote – the All-Black Necrosword. Gorr the Godbutcher (the rumored villain for Thor: Love And Thunder) ends up getting the Necrosword later on.
The MCU could connect Knull and the Symbiotes through Thor: Love And Thunder, but it is very unlikely that Marvel would acknowledge the events of Venom & Morbius to be a part of the MCU. Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters on the other hand would acknowledge whatever happened in the Spider-Man movies. So in a way, we will have to pretend that the events of Spider-Man take place in the MCU and SUMC, but the events of SUMC don’t take place in the MCU and vice-versa. It is kinda weird, but it’s what’s necessary for Spider-Man to continue appearing in the MCU. So, Gorr will probably not be using Knull for his origin story.
Anyway, getting back to Knull & SUMC. With the huge ties that Knull has to the Venom mythology, he should most likely become the villain for Venom 3. But we believe that Venom 3 will start on with Venom & Spider-Man fighting each other. Then like Batman V Superman, they will team up to stop Toxin, Carnage & Shriek for good. And the ending of Venom 3 will finally bring Knull and the Symbiote planet Klyntar into play. The set up will be for a big crossover event.
This crossover event will involve Morbius, Venom, Spider-Man, Kraven & may be others like Silver Sable, Black Cat & Silk who will all team up to top the Symbiote God Knull from destroying everything in the entire Universe. Even MCU’s Spider-Man villains like Vulture, Scorpion & others could join in. Knull will bring in an entire Symbiote army to help him take over Earth. Those Symbiotes are the ones that Spider-Man & the anti-heroes will have to stop. May be the movies of Kraven, Morbius and others could add their own villains to this crossover event, but Knull and the Symbiotes should be enough Sony’s anti-heroes to go up against. Let’s see if our theory comes out to be true.
Morbius comes out on July 31 & Venom 2 releases on October 2 (If COVID-19 allows it).
