Sony Pictures’ Venom franchise has introduced a variety of symbioses in addition to Venom. Beginning with 2018’s Venom and continuing with the upcoming Venom: The Last Dance, which will be released in 2024, Earth has become home to several symbiotes seeking human hosts to survive and bond with. While the most well-known is undoubtedly the Venom symbiote that bonded with Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock, the vast majority of symbiotes are much darker and far more dangerous to humans.
Symbiotes, which originated on the planet Klyntar, seek to devour worlds while bonding with organic hosts. In 2018’s Venom, the Life Foundation brought a collection of symbiotes to Earth, though more have emerged since the first film in the Sony franchise. To that end, here are all of the confirmed symbiotes in the Venom franchise, as well as those that are expected to appear in the upcoming Venom 3.
Venom is introduced in the 2018 film
The most prominent symbiote in Sony’s Venom trilogy, the black and white symbiote known as Venom, crashes on Earth with three other symbiotes captured by the Life Foundation. The symbiotes are then transported to laboratories in San Francisco, where Venom is discovered by journalist Eddie Brock, who has broken into the facility. Bonding with Eddie, Venom and Brock form a perfect symbiosis. The duo became partners and took on the Life Foundation’s CEO, Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), who had bonded with Riot, one of the other Life Foundation symbiotes. Venom prevents Riot from returning to Klyntar and bringing more symbiotes into Earth.
Brock and Venom form a Lethal Protector, only eating criminals and attempting to stay off the police radar. However, Venom eventually spawns his offspring, who inadvertently enter the vicinity of serial killer Cletus Kasady. Together, Cletus and the new symbiote form Carnage, which Venom eventually defeats. Following a brief and involuntary trip to the MCU thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home, Venom and Eddie have returned home and will be on the run, as seen in Venom 3’s first trailer.
Riot is the villain of the 2018 film
Riot was the only symbiote from the Life Foundation space mission that escaped containment, which is most likely why the rocket crashed. While the other three symbiotes were transported to the San Francisco labs, the silver symbiote took a longer route, bonding with imperfect hosts before finally forming an alliance with Drake. Riot and Drake shared a mission to bring more symbiotes to Earth, but they were also enemies with Brock and his new symbiote, who had decided to stay and protect the planet. However, Riot and Drake are killed on the rocket that Venom destroys at the end of the first Venom film.
Carnage is the villain of Venom, so let there be carnage
After being teased at the end of the first Venom film, Carnage makes his full debut in 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage. After Eddie Brock and Venom were able to determine from interviews where sociopathic serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) had buried all of his bodies, Kasady was sentenced to death in San Quentin. However, his final encounter with Brock causes Venom’s spawn to enter Kasady’s blood shortly before his execution.
This newly spawned red symbiote saves Kasady and assists him in his escape from prison. Together, they form Carnage, and Cletus reunites with his childhood love Frances Barrison, aka Shriek, whom he plans to marry. However, a confrontation between Carnage and Venom demonstrates that the Carnage symbiote’s bond with Kasady was imperfect, as Venom ate his Carnage offspring and bit Kasady’s head off.
Toxin Was Teased At The End Of “Let There Be Carnage
In Let There Be Carnage, Eddie Brock collaborates with Detective Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham), who was in charge of the Cletus Kasady investigation. As a result, Mulligan looks into Kasady’s whereabouts and history after he escapes from San Quentin, but he also suspects Eddie Brock is hiding something. This culminates with Mulligan witnessing Carnage and Venom’s final battle at the cathedral where Kasday planned to marry Shriek. While Mulligan was thought to have been killed by Shriek during the showdown, he appears alive at the end of the film, albeit with glowing eyes.
In the comics, Patrick Mulligan becomes the first human host for Toxin, Carnage’s offspring and the 100th in Venom’s lineage. This suggests that Toxin was more powerful and stronger than the average symbiote. To that end, the teases at the end of Let There Be Carnage and the trailer for Venom: The Last Dance imply that Mulligan will indeed play the host for Toxin in live-action, as his eyes remain glowing in the trailer and he is in the custody of a new military outfit tasked with capturing and studying symbiotes.
Life Foundation Symbiotes (yellow/blue)
In addition to Venom and Riot, the Life Foundation captured a yellow and a blue symbiote, which they continued to experiment with using homeless people and rabbits as test subjects. However, perfect symbioses were never established. While never named on-screen, many have speculated that the yellow Symbiote was Phage from the comics, though it eventually died due to a lack of suitable hosts. The same is true for the blue symbiote (which could be Agony). Despite bonding with Dr. Dora Skirth (Jenny Slate), the blue symbiote was unable to find a suitable host.
The Government Captured Several Symbiotes In Venom 3
As seen in the first trailer for Venom: The Last Dance, this new science/military organization has already captured a number of symbiotes. This includes the piece of Venom that was believed to have been left behind in the MCU, as seen in No Way Home. Based on the trailer, it appears that 4-6 symbiotes are in containment, each with a different color.
Keeping that in mind, it’s possible that these symbiotes will form the lethal team from the Life Foundation comics known as Agony, Phage, Lasher, and Scream. After all, the yellow and blue symbiotes from the first Venom who were stationed at the Life Foundation were never identified on screen. However, they could also be entirely new symbiotes unrelated to the original comics.