Venom: Let There Be Carnage is set to release in September, starring Tom Hardy and Woody Harrelson. The marketing has focused largely on the two characters in the title, but a couple shots in the trailer revealed the inclusion of a second villain, Naomie Harris as Shriek.
The Venom films are in a unique place in the world of comic book adaptations, being apart from the Marvel Cinematic Universe but still adapting Marvel characters. This leaves them with a slightly different list to draw from, so when populating their worlds, it helps to pick unique, varied, and sometimes lesser-known characters. Sometimes it takes the eye of a fan to recognize the tease.
The reveal trailer contained only two quick shots of the character. The first shows her lying on a prison-style cot at Ravenloft, the same mental institution Carnage is held in, her vibrant blue eyes are striking. In the second she falls to her knees in a glass box, screaming as a torrent of force surrounds her. Her appearance in the film is quite different from her look in the comics, she usually appears deathly pale, with a distinctive diamond-shaped mark over one eye. Her role in the film is not made terribly clear by the trailer alone, but her presence and her powers make it clear that she is recurring Spider-Man antagonist and partner of Carnage, Shriek.
Shriek was introduced in 1993 in the Maximum Carnage crossover event, which remains the best-known story arc featuring Carnage and seems to be a point of reference in this film. Shriek's real name is Frances Louise Barrison, she was an abuse victim who turned to drugs and developed a fixation with motherhood. She dealt drugs and over the course of her career, lost her sanity through a series of crushing events.
Most notably, Cloak of Cloak and Dagger fame exposed her to the mysterious Darkforce Dimension, which awakened mutant superpowers within her. Shriek can manipulate sound, mainly through a devastating scream. She is able to destroy large structures and harm enemies with her scream, even using it to fly by directing it at the ground. She can also manipulate near imperceptible frequencies to encourage evil behavior amongst civilians.
Shriek is Carnage's most well-known partner and love interest, various stories see her in possession of a symbiote, but she is most commonly a part of a larger team helmed by Carnage. Most of her stories begin with her escaping Ravenloft with a team of fellow villains to wreak havoc. Her motivation is usually fairly singular, she does harm for its own sake and escapes containment time and time again. Her personality is comparable to that of Carnage, sadistic and cruel. Shriek finds herself being sacrificed for the benefit of others in a couple of stories, often willingly, which is a trait not seen in most villains.
Her presence in this film, along with the setting of Ravenloft, a specially designed mental health facility from the comics which houses dangerously unhinged superhumans, suggests that this film may follow much of the plot of Maximum Carnage. If this is a film adaptation of that almost 30-year-old event, it will be one with far fewer heroes. The original featured Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Fist, and a host of other characters who are either already in the MCU or who are slated to appear down the road. This may be a largely solo outing for Venom against the twin forces of Shriek and Carnage, but so far, it appears as if the villain count is down as well. Three other villains, Carrion, Demogoblin, and Doppelganger, join the killing spree in the comics, but they have yet to appear in any marketing for the film.
Shriek is a welcome addition to the Venom formula. The first film featured a clash between Venom and Riz Ahmed's Carlton Drake wielding fellow symbiote Riot. The second has set the stage for another battle of symbiotes, though Carnage is both more recognizable and more dangerous. The tactile combat between shapeshifting man-shaped goo monsters is endemic to the franchise and character, but too much of a good thing can grow stale.
The addition of Shriek, who wields both a huge destructive force and more subtle psychic abilities can really spice up action scenes. More unusual power sets in superhero action films are always fun to watch, and Shriek can bring some interesting concepts to the film. One of the symbiote's consistent weaknesses is sound, in the comics it can be used to forcibly separate symbiote from host. That aspect of Venom's character makes Shriek a real threat in combat with the film's anti-hero.
Shriek is not the most complex character, and her appearances in the comic are few and far between, but her appearance in the film might be straight out of the source material. The first film's antagonist, Riot underwent several changes between comics and film. Shriek might find herself in a different role from the one she plays in the comics. Some details will have to be changed: her appearance is clearly different and the source of her power will have to be updated to account for the fact that Cloak is already under Marvel's umbrella, but the changes could be even greater. This version of Shriek could be unrecognizable in all but name and ability from the pale psychic from Maximum Carnage.
Shriek is not the most well-known villain in Marvel's rogues gallery, but her first on-screen appearance could catapult her into fan-favorite status. Venom: Let There Be Carnage is scheduled to be released this Fall, fans will have to wait until then to meet the new Shriek.