Venom: The Last Dance Wastes Its 1 Selling Point (& Highlights Sony’s Biggest Marvel Problem)

Venom: The Last Dance brings Tom Hardy’s superhero trilogy to an emotional conclusion, as Eddie Brock and his symbiote go on one final adventure together. Hunted by the acolytes of the symbiote god Knull, who is imprisoned on the planet Klyntar, the unlikely duo traverses through the Nevada desert in hopes of escaping their pursuers. However, things get even more complicated when the secret government base at Area 55 begins hunting them as well.

Fan reactions to The Last Dance have been decidedly mixed, in large part due to how the film handled Knull. Despite the sequel’s marketing relying heavily on Knull’s introduction, the character barely appears in the film itself, wasting the character almost immediately after introducing him. Viewers were excited to see the symbiote god’s introduction in live-action but unanimously agreed that his debut was extremely underwhelming. While there is a chance for Knull to return in future projects set in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, there is no denying that the marketing for The Last Dance was deceptive at best when it came to revealing Knull’s role therein. This horrible mismanagement of fan expectations also highlights one of Sony’s many problems in marketing its Marvel movie–and the studio knows exactly what it’s doing.

Venom 3 Doesn’t Make Good Use of Knull

The Last Dance’s Marketing Was Built Around a Villain Who Barely Shows Up

Much to fans’ disappointment, Knull is barely in Venom 3. The all-powerful god of the symbiotes and one of the strongest Marvel supervillains of all time does indeed appear in the film and, at first, it appears as though he will be a major player throughout, as he shows up in the film’s prologue sequence. However, this is essentially the extent of his role in The Last Dance, as Andy Serkis delivers a poignantly acted yet roughly written speech heaped with exposition about who Knull is and how he came to be imprisoned on Klyntar. Knull continues to make brief appearances throughout the film as he commands his hunters. Unfortunately, Knull does not participate in the final battle of The Last Dance, leaving Eddie and Venom to fight the Xenophages in the not-so-epic finale. Although a mid-credit scene promises Knull’s return, his role in Venom 3 is decidedly short, leaving much to be desired.

Although it is admirable for Sony not to turn Knull into a one-and-done villain, this isn’t the way to introduce Knull. Had Venom: The Last Dance‘s marketing not been so heavily reliant on Knull’s appearance, his limited contributions to the film would have been forgivable. However, audiences were led to believe that the symbiote god would be the main antagonist of the film when his role was little more than a cameo teasing bigger things to come. Knull’s inclusion could have been a terrific surprise for fans had it been left out of Venom 3‘s trailers. Then, his short screen time would have been a significant talking point for fans after the film’s release. Instead, Sony underdelivered on Knull, leaving discussion to revolve around how disappointing his first live-action appearance was. Once again, Sony has torpedoed any chance it had of winning over Marvel fans, who are already hesitant to jump aboard the SSU.

Why Knull Barely Appears in Venom: The Last Dance

Sony Has Plans to Continue Knull’s Role in Future Films

Understandably, Sony plans to use Knull in future Marvel movies, potentially as the main villain of the SSU. The Last Dance‘s mid-credits scene confirms that Knull will return, vowing revenge on the symbiotes that betrayed and imprisoned him (even though only a handful are left after the events of the film). Nevertheless, it seems as though Knull is being set up as the Sony Spider-Man Universe’s Thanos, a main antagonist to bring together the heroes from various franchises in one crossover event. Presumably, heroes and villains like Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter will face off against Knull in future films, perhaps joined by other symbiote heroes like Juno Temple’s Dr. Payne.

Knull makes for a powerful villain and is the right choice as the SSU’s main antagonist. The supervillain opens the door for Sony to adapt the iconic King in Black storyline from Marvel Comics, which saw Knull lead his symbiotes in a full-scale invasion of Earth that forced many of Marvel’s heroes and villains to band together to protect their homeworld. Unfortunately, Venom 3‘s ending sees the titular symbiote seemingly die while protecting Eddie Brock, effectively eliminating him from any future stories in the SSU. Venom played a major role in the King in Black crossover event and his exclusion from the SSU’s adaptation wouldn’t feel right. Nevertheless, Sony seems intent on loosely adapting this storyline using whichever characters it still has by the time the crossover hits theaters. While many fans expected Knull’s appearance to set up a King in Black adaptation, however, most wanted a little bit more from the symbiote god in the film itself and felt lied to by the trailers. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that fans have taken issue with the way that an SSU movie was marketed.

Why Sony Keeps Lying To Audiences In Its Trailers

Sony Has Developed a Reputation For Blatantly Lying in the Marketing for Its Marvel Films

Fans have always been hard on Sony’s Spider-Man Universe–and rightfully so. The cinematic universe suffers from poor writing and even worse planning, putting together a franchise that barely holds together as a shared universe. However, one of the biggest gripes that fans have with Sony’s imitation of the MCU is that it boldly lies in its trailers. Sony has built a reputation for itself in its live-action Marvel movies to include exciting details in its trailers that are either misleading or entirely absent from the films themselves. The trailers for Morbius infamously included references to both Tobey Maguire’s and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man variants, hinting that either or both of the heroes could appear in the film. Instead, none of those references were included in the actual film, but were instead a thinly veiled and deliberate lie to get people to see Morbius in theaters–and it didn’t work.

Sony has once again blatantly lied to fans in the marketing for its latest film, pretending as though Knull will be a major presence in The Last Dance when his screentime adds up to only a minute or two. Having now seen the movie, fans can see that Sony was once again desperate to avoid yet another box office bomb and therefore marketing The Last Dance on the presence of a character they knew would only have a minor role therein. Although the MCU has had some issues with mismanaged expectations with its recent films, Marvel Studios at least markets its films honestly. The studio may hide certain things in trailers to preserve major twists and cameos, but it never intentionally tricks audiences by dangling an exciting possibility that it never intends to follow through with. Sony has once again tried to trick viewers into coming to theaters, but as box office numbers suggest, this trick is wearing thin. With The Last Dance failing to live up to its predecessors’ box office numbers, the question remains: how much longer can Sony keep up its ruse?