Warning: This article contains spoilers for Venom: The Last DanceDespite Venom’s apparent death in Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock can still return to fight Knull with the help of another Marvel symbiote. Venom: The Last Dance sees Eddie Brock part ways with Venom as Venom sacrifices himself to destroy Knull’s Xenophages, which threaten to steal Venom’s codex in order to break Knull out of Klyntar. Several symbiotes also die in Venom: The Last Dance‘s third act, leaving Agony as the only symbiote survivor. Although it marks the end of the Venom trilogy, Venom: The Last Dance also sets up future stories in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and possibly the MCU.

The biggest hint at new storylines taking place after Venom’s apparent death is Venom: The Last Dance‘s two post-credits scenes. Venom: The Last Dance‘s mid-credits scene confirms that Knull is alive and eager to try to escape Klyntar again. The Venom threequel’s post-credits scene suggests that Venom — or a new iteration of Venom — survived the battle at Area 51, as a “Venomized” cockroach is seen walking around the battlefield. But even without considering Venom, there’s a chance Eddie Brock can adopt a new symbiote to fight Knull whenever the villain attacks Earth once again in a future movie.

Eddie Brock Can Still Return, This Time With Anti-Venom

Eddie Brock Might Retain Traces Of Venom In His Body

Eddie Brock has lost Venom a few times in the source material. One of those times, Eddie develops a severe illness and seeks the help of Martin Li, who gives Eddie a job at FEAST and treats him. Surprisingly for both, Eddie recovers almost immediately, albeit with a side effect: Eddie’s white blood cells blend with small traces of Venom. While fighting Mac Gargan, Eddie Brock’s body spawns a brand-new symbiote called Anti-Venom. In Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, Eddie Brock’s body might also have microscopic remnants of Venom, which could be enhanced artificially and transformed into a live-action Anti-Venom.

To avoid undoing
Venom: The Last Dance
‘s ending, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe could introduce Anti-Venom and have it bond with Eddie Brock

While Venom: The Last Dance provided a bittersweet farewell for Venom, the looming threat of Knull and his Xenophages makes the threequel seem like the beginning of an entire saga. In fact, Venom: The Last Dance‘s mid-credits scene teases King in Black — an extensive comic book storyline starring multiple A-list heroes and villains, including Venom, Anti-Venom, and Carnage. To avoid undoing Venom: The Last Dance‘s ending, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe could introduce Anti-Venom and have it bond with Eddie Brock. This would mark a new beginning for Tom Hardy’s hero, at least until Venom returns to face Knull or Spider-Man.

Anti-Venom Could Be The Perfect Weapon Against Knull

Anti-Venom Possesses Unique Symbiote Abilities That Could Be Lethal To Knull

Each symbiote in Marvel Comics possesses their own abilities and personality. For instance, Carnage is especially deadly, Scream has long hair-like appendages, and Phase is able to create a variety of bladed weapons. The same applies to the symbiotes in Sony’s Venom trilogy. For instance, Venom‘s Riot creates more intricate weapons than Venom, and Venom: The Last Dance‘s Agony has super speed and lightning-based abilities. In the source material, Anti-Venom possesses healing powers, and it’s immune to fire and sonic attacks, unlike most other symbiotes. Anti-Venom can also sense and clean most diseases, parasites, poisons, and toxins inside its hosts.

Unlike all other symbiotes, Anti-Venom doesn’t have a consciousness of its own.

Marvel Comics’ King in Black features dozens of famous and powerful Marvel characters, including Spider-Man, Carnage, the Avengers, the Thunderbolts, Silver Surfer, and even Wilson Fisk as New York City mayor — an arc Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin is about to begin in the MCU’s Daredevil: Born Again. Since Sony doesn’t own the movie rights to most of these characters (and the original storyline is a little too contrived for an accurate live-action adaptation), Anti-Venom could take center stage in the battle against Knull, as its healing abilities could counteract Knull’s darkness-based abilities. After all, Anti-Venom would be an artificial creation that Knull can’t locate or control.

Anti-Venom Can Help Introduce Sony’s Next Villain Protagonist

Eddie Brock’s Next Appearance Could Introduce Sony’s Martin Li A.K.A Mister Negative

When Eddie Brock’s body blends the traces of Venom inside his body with his own white blood cells to create Anti-Venom, Eddie doesn’t know that it was all due to Martin Li’s powers. Martin Li is the villain Mister Negative — a powerful criminal with the ability to control both the Lightforce and the Darkforce, which grant Li an enhanced body, electrical powers, and the ability to both heal, purify, or corrupt his targets. Mister Negative’s dominion over the Lightforce is what gives Anti-Venom its healing powers, and it could be a key weapon in an eventual battle against Knull.

After
Kraven the Hunter
, Sony could release a
Mister Negative
movie, which could feature Marti Li helping Eddie Brock create Anti-Venom

After introducing Venom, Morbius, Kraven, and Madame Web, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe is running out of A-list villains and anti-heroes to lead the franchise’s solo movies — especially considering that the MCU’s Spider-Man movies also continue to claim their own enemies and allies for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. Mister Negative has yet to be teased by either franchise, and his “light and dark” dichotomy makes him a great fit for Sony’s anti-hero movies. After Kraven the Hunter, Sony could release a Mister Negative movie, which could feature Marti Li helping Eddie Brock create Anti-Venom.

Venom: The Last Dance May Have Introduced Anti-Venom’s Final Host

Eddie Brock Isn’t The Only Character To Serve As Anti-Venom’s Host

In the comics, the Anti-Venom symbiote disappears once it’s used to eradicate a Spider-Virus that threatens to transform its victims into spider monsters. Later on, Alchemax creates an Anti-Venom replica, which bonds with Flash Thompson a.k.a. Agent Venom after he tries to get Venom to bond back with him. Flash Thompson returns the original Venom to Eddie Brock and rebrands himself as Agent Anti-Venom, using the artificial symbiote’s healing powers to fight enemies such as a Carnage-possessed Norman Osborn a.k.a. Red Goblin. When Alchemax learns that Knull plans to invade Earth, they use samples of Flash Thompson’s Anti-Venom symbiote to create new replicas.

Apparently, Venom: The Last Dance teases Flash Thompson’s transformation into Agent Venom, as a soldier gets his legs bitten off during the army’s battle against the Xenophages. As this character is dragged away, another character calls him “Thompson”. This injury could lead soldier Thompson to bond with the symbiote teased in Venom: The Last Dance‘s post-credits scene, and he could soon become a military-sponsored hero named Agent Venom. Eventually, Flash Thompson’s symbiote could be artificially enhanced and transformed into Anti-Venom, and Thompson could face Knull alongside Eddie Brock and other heroes (like Mister Negative) as Agent Anti-Venom.