WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, now playing in theaters.
Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is the primary host of the Venom symbiote in the Venom films, but that doesn’t mean he’s the only one. The symbiote also hops to several other brief hosts throughout the two movies. The most notable of these is Eddie’s ex-fiancé Anne (Michelle Williams) — but she’s not the only She-Venom that appears in the film. For a brief moment in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the symbiote ends up bonded with the San Francisco shopkeeper Mrs. Chen (Peggy Lu) — and it’s kind of a great idea.
Mrs. Chen was introduced in the first Venom as the owner of Eddie Brock’s frequent corner store. Visiting the location often during Venom 2, she proves to be a comforting, if brutally honest, voice of reason in Eddie’s life. She endears herself to both Eddie and later the Venom symbiote throughout both movies, with the newly dubbed Lethal Protector even killing robbers who come to her store in the final moments of the first film.
By the time of Venom 2 — which takes place roughly a year after the events of the previous film — Mrs. Chen is fully aware of Eddie’s double-life as Venom and is one of the only people who knows of his survival. She keeps his secret and in exchange, her store is one of the more frequent places protected by Venom. Although she still bickers with Eddie and Venom with a sardonic edge, she’s still clearly an important person to both, with Mrs. Chen even providing the chocolate that the symbiote feeds on.
When the symbiote and Eddie end up fighting and separating, the symbiote hops around town in a dour mood, bringing down each host until it reaches Mrs. Chen’s store. Mrs. Chen talks openly with the symbiote as a friend instead of a partner and ends up allowing it to bond with her for a time. Notably, while Venom has forcibly controlled the other hosts, he seems content to just rest and wait with Mrs. Chen, assuming her regular form except for a pair of blank white eyes, until Anne finds her and convinces the symbiote to rebond with Eddie. The pair’s snarky insults gel well together, and she even seems to adjust to the alien elements of her transformation with startling ease, taking on Venom’s appearance and seeming undisturbed by the change.
It’s a fun moment — a silly contrast between the seemingly unassuming older woman and the sudden murderous potential she has — and a surprisingly perfect pairing for Venom. Both her and the cinematic incarnation of the symbiote take a sort of pleasure mocking those around them, and they share a similar view of the world and the various people who live there. Although Venom 2 ends with Eddie and Venom going on the run and likely saying goodbye to Mrs. Chen for at least some time, it would still be a fitting reunion to see this little old lady rebond with the symbiote.
There’s even a chance that, if the Venom films approach the revelations made about the symbiote creator Knull and the codex that connects all beings who’ve been bonded with symbiote across the galaxy, then she could at least be a part of the symbiote hive mind that the symbiote hints is a factor in the world during the post-credits sequence. If that is the case, then Mrs. Chen might find herself involved once more in the world of symbiotes.
To see Venom and Mrs. Chen’s perfect dynamic, Venom: Let There Be Carnage in theaters now.
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