Sony’s Spider-Man Universe is a hot mess, but it has managed to give us the Venom movies. Seemingly impossibly, both films succeeded in capturing the so-bad-its-good camp magic despite having two different directors, and now a third is going to take a crack at it. Kelly Marcel has been tapped to be the director of Venom 3, replacing Andy Serkis for this third outing, which will see Tom Hardy once again return to the role.
Marcel isn’t a stranger to Venom. She wrote and produced the first two movies and is probably a major reason why they tow the magical line between just plain bad and overly campy. However, this will only be her second directing outing (as she is also slated to direct Ferryman), meaning it may be a tough task still. She will also be returning to write the screenplay for Venom 3 with a story she and Hardy developed together as a reported “final chapter.” She and Hardy will also act as the film’s producers alongside Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, Amy Pascal, and Hutch Parker. Hardy is the only actor confirmed to be returning so far.
Kelly Marcel is set as director, but just what Venom 3 will be about is completely unclear. The end of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which turned out to be a weird superhero rom-com, hinted that Toxin, another symbiote alien and the offspring of Carnage, would play a role as we see Detective Mulligan’s eyes glowing blue. We should probably look for his return, but beyond that there isn’t any information on just how this will all play out. Still, with the same creative team basically behind the movie, it’s sure to be something weird and have plenty of Venom and Brock arguing against each other Odd Couple-style. Of course, the much-hyped teaser at the end of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, in which Eddie Brock is sucked into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, turned out to be nothing but a fantastic punchline for Spider-Man: No Way Home, so we’re probably not going to be seeing the webslinger in this third outing either.
