‘Venom 2′ Trailers Warn More Looks at Naomie Harris’ Dangerous Spider-Man Villain

While Venom spawned from the push to make comic books more ‘adult,’ Carnage spawned from the much edgier 90s push. The serial killer with a symbiote even had a serial killer love interest. In the Venom 2 trailers, Naomie Harris plays Shriek, the Spider-Man villain with destructive sound abilities.

Naomie Harris appears as Shriek in ‘Venom 2’ trailers

In the Venom 2 trailers, Naomie Harris appeared as Shriek exactly how she first debuted in comics.

During the Maximum Carnage comic event, the titular villain incited a mass jailbreak from Ravencroft Institute.

Imprisoned in the same compound as Cletus Kasady, AKA Carnage, he sprung her from her cell during the prison break. The female killer gave the symbiote a team-up proposition. Together, they built a twisted ‘family’ and set out on a violent killing spree.

It took Spider-Man, Venom, and various other heroes to finally stop the rampage.

Surprisingly, Shriek has ties to the X-Men. While her backstory remained mysterious in her initial appearances, Marvellater revealed her to be a Mutant.

During an encounter with Cloak and Dagger, she was absorbed into Cloak’s cape, which triggered her latent Mutant gene, giving her immense power over sound manipulation.

Naomie Harris’ Shriek is a more sympathetic character in ‘Venom 2’ trailers

However, Venom 2 director Andy Serkis wanted to take the character in a new, more sympathetic direction.

Speaking with IGN, Serkis talked about the character in more detail ahead of the Venom 2 trailers.

“She’s a damaged soul, and she really has suffered in her childhood, but there is a real vulnerability about her, and she’s in a lot of pain… She’s been living in isolation for years, years and years,” Serkis told IGN.

In the comics, Frances Barrison, AKA Shriek, comes from an emotionally abusive home. Her mother criticized her weight, leading to Frances turning to drugs and fixating on becoming a mother herself.

“With all of these characters, what’s so beautifully drawn about them is that they’re multi-faceted, they’re totally truthful and believable,” Serkis said.

However, her role in Marvel is that of a villain. The Venom 2 trailers do not reveal much, but Serkis does.

“And yet,” Serkis said. “She’s dangerous too, and I think she has her own sense of fairness and being just, and I think when that line is crossed, then you see a very, very dangerous, dark side to her, and that’s what we wanted to do with the character.”

A dangerous new threat to Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock

While characters inevitably undergo major changes from comic to screen, Sony’s Venom characters experience some of the most significant changes.

Sony removed Spider-Man from Venom’s origin story, set Eddie Brock straighter than his comic counterpart, and even altered the first time Anne Weying wore the symbiote.

However, Shriek seems to have sustained the least amount of changes.

An inmate at Ravencroft Institute freed in a prison break and causing havoc on the streets feels familiar for the comic villain.

From the Venom 2 trailers, Naomie Harris’ Shriek looks to cause major problems for Venom.

Audiences can see the mayhem unfold on Oct. 1, 2021.