'Venom' Director Reveals Why Carnage Was Left Out Of The Film: "We Didn't Want To Spoil It"

**Spoilers for “Venom”**

Okay, judging by the ridiculously high box office totals, it seems that many of you took one for the team this weekend and endured “Venom.” Some of you probably enjoyed it, as Tom Hardy is immensely watchable for most of the film. However, there’s no denying that “Venom” is just not a great movie. And if you’re like some of us, you might agree that the very end of the film, specifically the mid-credits scene, teased a version of the film that seemed a lot better than what was actually presented, which is frustrating to say the least.

Basically, why the hell didn’t Sony just put Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady, aka Carnage, in this film?

In a new interview with Collider, director Ruben Fleischer explains why they held back the most popular “Venom” antagonist and went with a dull Riz Ahmed instead.

He explains:

“We felt strongly that the first movie needed a place to build to, and that by … Carnage is the character I think fans, and everyone wants to see the most, in the Venom world, but we didn’t want to spoil it on the first movie. The first movie is all about Eddie and Venom, and their relationship, and establishing the character. Then from there, it felt like we wanted to give them a place to go. So, choosing their most formidable adversary felt like a great, natural sequel.”

We discussed this at length in our review, as well as the recent podcast, about how Riz Ahmed as Carlton Drake (and later Riot), was one of the low points of the film. And even in a brief minute or so, Harrelson was able to inject a much-needed dose of charisma that could have possibly matched Hardy’s wild take on the Eddie Brock/Venom character. Instead of giving audiences what would have almost certainly been a better film, Sony and the director decided to hold off until the sequel.

That is, if there is even a sequel.

You see, there’s no guarantee that “Venom” will even come back to the big screen. Sure, the opening weekend was massive and record-breaking, but with incredibly bad reviews, there’s a potential that word-of-mouth on the film could be horrible, and you could see a huge drop in the next weekend. And with competition heating up this fall, there’s a chance that “Venom’s” final box office could disappoint.

Long story short, the film held back its greatest villain in favor of a boring one. And if the studio wasn’t holding back for a sequel (which is crazy because sequels are never guaranteed — i.e. “The Mummy” and “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”), maybe fans could have seen a film where Hardy met his match with Harrelson. Instead, we’ll never know.

So, if you want to see a possible Carnage appearance in the next film, you better keep buying those “Venom” tickets.