'Venom 2' Set Photo Reveals Woody Harrelson As Cletus Kasady With A Much Better Wig

When Venom came to a close, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) came face-to-face with Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) and all of his curly red-haired glory. The vicious criminal gave us the oh-so-very subtle tease of his future as the super villain Carnage in this comic book universe (which may or may not be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?) with the line, "When I get out of here, and I will, there's gonna be carnage." Now it seems we have confirmation of the character's escape in the first Venom 2 set photo, as revealed by Venom star Tom Hardy himself.

Here's the photo Tom Hardy uploaded to Instagram with the caption "Hello, Cletus," and a flame emoji:

It's a little hard to make out thanks to the darkness of this particular photo, but the make-up and hair department on Venom 2 has clearly improved upon the terrible wig that was seen in the Venom mid-credits sequence. However, even though the wig looks better, the hair still looks like it has been very poorly dyed. That might be intentional since Cletus Kasady clearly isn't the most stylish individual based on that Hawaiian shirt that looks like it's from Magnum PI. Then again, maybe this is some kind of flashback to what Cletus did in order to get into prison in the first place.

In Marvel Comics, Cletus Kasady encounters the symbiote Venom because Eddie Brock is sharing a prison cell with him. Venom is temporarily separated from Eddie, and before he heads back to the reporter, it leaves behind offspring that bonds with Kletus and turns him into Carnage, one of the deadliest villains in Marvel Comics.

Much like Venom, the symbiote Carnage gives Cletus Kasay incredible shape-shifting abilities, superhuman strength greater than Venom and Spider-Man combined, the ability to shoot and mold the symbiote substance into weapons (much like Riot in the first Venom movie) and more. Even though his origin may not be the same, his powers will certainly be very similar to Venom, but surely amplified by Kletus' vicious instincts.

There have been rumblings of the upcoming Morbius movie starring Jared Leto setting up a couple plot threads for Venom 2, including an explanation for how Kletus escapes prison. Furthermore, the living vampire movie may also create a link to Tom Holland's Spider-Man, bringing all these Sony Pictures comic book movies into the same universe, which again may or may not be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or perhaps a parallel universe.

Andy Serkis is stepping up to direct Venom 2 in place of the original film's director Ruben Fleischer. Also joining the franchise is Naomie Harris as the symbiote villain Shriek, a character who is Kletus' love interest in Marvel Comics. Michelle Williams and Reid Scott will also be reprising their roles from the first Venom.Venom 2 is slated to arrive in theaters on October 2, 2020.