Considering the nature of the character, it's surprising Venom didn't earn an R rating. According to producer Avi Arad, Venom 2 won't be R either.

That may be even a bigger surprise with the likelihood of Carnage's involvement in the sequel. Cletus Kasady would be an R-rated villain even without the Carnage symbiote. When he's Carnage? The guy makes most serial killers look like Teletubbies in comparison. Assuming Carnage will be the villain of Venom 2, how do you make that movie PG-13 and remain faithful to the source material?

Arad told Collider he doesn't think you need an R rating to do Carnage justice. "It's not about what he does," Arad said, "because we never have to show the knife going from here to there." The Venom producer called Kasady a "tortured soul," and said that what's important in adapting Carnage is to make him "someone you can feel for."

Sympathetic villains certainly can be successful villains; the MCU's Loki and Thanos are proof of that. Venom also proves true what Arad says about not having to show "the knife going from here to there." We know Venom eats villains in the film, though we never actually see it on the screen. We'll see if the filmmakers can do likewise with Carnage. But if the comics are any indication? They're going to need to kill a lot of people offscreen. A lot.