“Venom: Let There Be Carnage” racked up just over $90 million at the box office in its opening weekend, according to CNN business. This is the highest total for theaters since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sony has worked with Marvel Studios on multiple films, such as Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland’s “Spider-Man” trilogies and Andrew Garfield’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” 1 and 2. Also, the two have joined forces on comic book films based on the character Venom, where Tom Hardy stars as Eddie Brock, a journalist who becomes intertwined with an extraterrestrial symbiote.

The first film shows Eddie’s conflict with the main antagonist as well as how he manages his merging with Venom. Although in Marvel comics Venom is characterized as a villain, cinematically, the pair form an anti-hero — a protagonist who lacks conventional superhero attributes.

Both Venom and Brock strive to do what is best, even if on the outside and by the looks of their grotesque persona in a fight isn’t as appealing as Captain America or a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

The villain in “Carnage” was revealed in the first Venom movie’s post-credit scene. Serial killer Cletus Kasady, portrayed by Woody Harrelson, becomes host to another symbiote, Carnage. Eddie Brock comes face to face with the killer in efforts to reestablish himself in journalism, and soon enough, both alien symbiotes meet as well.

Throughout the film, Kasady requests that Brock visit him in prison before his pending death sentence. Along the way, both Eddie and Venom strive to figure out the killer’s mysterious riddles.

With a runtime of 90 minutes, “Carnage” is definitely a quick watch but not lacking in humor and action. Ghosts of both Brock and Kasady’s past haunt them, which allows for one wild ride of a film.

The film does not just cover the typical protagonist versus antagonist of any other comic book film, but the struggle and push-and-pull factor of relationships as well. “Carnage” shows that superheroes don’t have to go in it alone — being symbiotic allows for all bad to be overcome.

Although some Sony films are made in association with Marvel, it is not true to say that they are completely intertwined and connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe itself. But among the studios’ recent releases that involve talks of opening the multiverse, even the most out-of-the-blue predictions cannot be shot down just yet.

For instance, the upcoming film “Spider-Man: No Way Home” features not just Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, but rumors of the two past ones as well, once a spell cast by Doctor Strange was tampered with that bent the rules of time and reality. With the almost undeniable inclusion of the Sinister Six in the trilogy’s third film, some fans are certain Tom Hardy will make an appearance, as both the band of supervillains and Venom appear in Spider-Man comics.

If Marvel fans know anything from major releases in the past, it is to expect the unexpected. Tom Hardy in an interview asked, “When will I get to eat the Spider-Man?”

“Venom: Let There Be Carnage” is now showing in theaters. Make sure to stick around for the post-credits scene — it surely adds to what madness is to come in upcoming Marvel Studios releases.