#and why have venom finally bond to the brocks and make it a big thing

[transrightsjimin]

man, al ewing really fucked up the venom comics. i haven't seen any venom fan nor casual reader who likes other marvel stories who don't find the 2021- and venom war run either A. extremely confusing, B. a complete character death / out of character or C. lacking and undermining the brock family.

and now that same guy is gonna write the "all-new venom" series that doesn't have eddie as venom either.

and he claimed in an interview that this is wjat the viewers of the 3rd/last venom movie will want to watch. ???? im sorry but no, audiences of venom movies that are mainly about eddie and the symbiote's bond would want to read about eddie and the symbiote, not some other dude using it as a mere fighting suit just like fucking flash thompson and lee piece etc did.

[louisapennyfeather2021]

KINDS OF SPIDERMAN NO WAY HOME SPOILERS!!!

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Here's a brief monologue(?) For how I think Norman and Harry Osborn could be introduced into Tom Holland's Spiderman Universe.

Note: This would take place during the next Spiderman movie(which has been confirmed to be happening along with Tom Holland signing another contract). What I think will happen in the movie involves the symbiote and Flash Thompson. I will go into detail about what I think could happen.

This is loosely based off of the comics and Spiderman cartoons where Flash became Venom. Eddie Brock is still Venom in his universe, but in Tom Holland's universe, Flash is Venom.

Disclaimer: I don't know how location would work because MIT is in Boston and Peter is currently living in New York City. That's the only major discrepancy right now.

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Harry meets Peter and Spiderman ultimately because of Flash. Harry and Flash are already best friends. They both go to MIT and get along great. In this universe, Harry and his father aren't super rich yet. They have money, yes, but Norman is just getting the footing he needs for Os Corp to grow. With big names like Stark Industries having left the world of military grade technological advancements years ago, Os Corp has a stable pathway to follow to become successful.

Since Flash would become Venom, the movie would focus a lot on him. Flash and Harry would share a dorm and would be playing video games or studying. Maybe Marvel could make their friendship go back to childhood or maybe they just ended up being dormmates and they actually became friends.

Harry would know that Flash really likes Spiderman.

One day during a fight with a public disturbance(not really a villain, just someone causing a problem), Flash would have the chance to try and talk to Spiderman. He'd be so excited because his idol was right there! But behind the mask, Peter would be very annoyed. He remembers Flash qnd wasn't particularly fond of Flash. He didn't hate him, but he didn't necessarily get along with him. He'd also be worried for Flash's safety because Flash would be very close to what little damage was being done by the disturbance. Peter would react to Flash negatively by yelling at him or saying something like "Dude, just back off!" because he was trying to solve the problem and also keep people from getting hurt. Flash wasn't helping.

Now, of course this would make Flash angry. He wouldn't stop liking Spiderman, but he would be angry and little hurt that his idol talked to him in such a way. He would eventually get over it. Harry tried to comfort his friend because he knew how much Flash likes Spiderman. He too thought Flash would get over it and didn't try to push Flash to get over it. He'd get over it.

Or not?

Because a certain little symbiote would've somehow made its way from Mexico to Boston(don't ask me how, I don't know yet. Maybe it'd be because it sensed a strong extraterrestrial energy in the Boston/NYC area). It would somehow find Flash in his dorm, still angry and hurt. He's the perfect host. The symbiote would bond with him and Flash's anger and hurt from Spiderman would strengthen. Why should he idolize that asshole? Why does he deserve all the fame when he's nothing more than another jerk on yhe street? He doesn't deserve any of it, symbiote influenced-Flash decides.

So we go through the movie, Peter would be working a lot to pay for rent, working on his web formula, working on his suit, trying to develop a friendship with MJ and Ned. He'd be super stressed out. Maybe he was finally getting somewhere in his friendship with Ned and MJ. Maybe he was slowly becoming their friend again. Maybe work was going well. Maybe he developed a new formula for his webs that made them better. Maybe things were finally starting to get better.

Then BAM. New villain appears. Peter thinks he can just handle the villain like he has handled every other public nuisance in the time between the events in No Way Home and now. He goes to stop the villain only to get knocked flat on his ass and realize this new guy is an actual threat. He doesn't know how to fight this black goo that can mimic the way he swings through the city. That can absorb his punches and webs. He ends up having to retreat from the first fight and hide because he has no clue how to fight this thing. And on top of that? Up until now, he has always had at least one other person in his life who helped him think through everything and figure put what was going on. Tony, Happy, May, MJ, Ned, he had all of them. In his last movie, he had the other two Peter Parker's! But now? It's just him. He's alone and has no one to help him solve this.

Back to Flash now. Harry would notice something was wrong before Flash truly finished bonding with the symbiote. Flash would be more irritable, more arrogant. He'd have faster reflexes and more strength. It wouldn't be until after Venom makes his first appearance that Flash would go to Harry and tell him.

"It's cool, right? Now I don't need to look up to that web slinging show-off. Now I can swing through the streets of the city. With me, we don't even need him anymore!" Flash could say. Harry would know now that something was wrong. Especially after seeing what Flash became from pictures and videos on the internet? No, this wasn't right.

"Flash, are you sure you want to do this? Spiderman is a hero. You're favorite hero." Harry could say. He'd be stalling, of course, to try and find something to call for help or to subdue Flash with. He just knows he has to help his friend.

"He's just a bug. And have you seen how much damage he has caused since je started all his superhero stunts? How many people got hurt? He's not a hero, he's a menace. And I'm gonna be the one to finally put him down." Flash could say. Although it wouldn't fully be Flash. It'd be symbiote-Flash talking, the symbiote amifying and feeding off of Flash's anger, hurt, insecurities, and maybe even his fear.

Before Harry could move to call for help or warn someone or try and knock Flash out, Flash would disappear out of the dorm. Harry would be left alone. What could he possibly do now?

Meanwhile, Peter would be going over videos and pictures on the internet trying to figure out this bad guy. He'd be slowly getting more and more irritated because he wouldn't have anyone to bounce ideas off of. It'd be a huge part of his character growth in learning how to stand on his own and work things out by himself.(this would be a major plot point of the movie)

Harry would go to MJ and Ned for help. He had seen them talk to Flash a couple of times and knew the three of them had some sort of friendship/companionship. They were by no means best friends, but they were the only other people who might know Flash as well as Harry. These two had gone to High School with Flash, after all.

Ned and MJ would be very hesitant to help, but after Harry did a little convincing and they saw how desperate he was to help his friend, they would agree to help him figure out the issue.(more likely that Ned would agree first and then MJ would agree only because she didn't want Ned tk try and do the work alone with this stranger and risk possibly getting hurt).

Ultimately, Peter wouldn't really get a full understanding of who he was fighting. He'd try to fight Venom a second time and would do better, but he wouldn't win this fight. Venom would have pinned him down when suddenly a siren would go off. It'd be such a high frequency that it would temporarily disorient the symbiote. Peter would catch a glimpse Flash and would realize he wasn't fighting black goo. He was fighting a person. Someone he had once known. The symbiote would retreat after this and Peter would be left wondering what to do now.

Skipping ahead, Peter now has a decent plan for stopping Venom aka Flash without hurting him. It's the final battle. It goes the same as the first two, but Spiderman is doing much better now that he knows how to subdue the symbiote, even if it's temporarily. He still isn't quite sure what he's fighting, but he knows it might be possible to stop it.

It's during this battle that MJ, Ned, and Harru show up. They get Spiderman's attention when he's been knocked down temporarily and is out of sight from Venom. Peter is shocked because MJ and Ned are helping him, almost like they way they used to. He snaps out of it when they start talking.

"The goo that you're fighting? It's our friend. Flash. We don't want him to get hurt." One of them could say. Probably Ned.

"Uh, yeah! I saw his face earlier, I'm trying to stop him without hurting him." Peter could say, without revealing he knows Flash.

"We think we know how to stop him." Harru could say. Peter would just now really acknowledge his presence, realizing that of course it wasn't just MJ and Ned. This wasn't like the times before, but he could work with it. He had to.

"Yeah, I'll take whatever help I can." Peter could say. Harry would then go through the plan he has. Peter might not be the biggest fan of it, but he didn't have any other plans and this Harry guy seemed sincere.(Peter would also be a but defensive because he doesn't know what Harry is to MJ and Ned).

And so, they go through their plan. They all have different "look out" points that Spiderman swings them to. He stalls a bit after dropping MJ and Ned at their location. He wants to tell them who he is. That they know him. That they were all friends. But now isn't the time.

They would go through the battle. Harry would be the most helpful to Peter.(they'd all have little ear pieces rather Harry supplied. He might have made them or he snatched them from his dad). Peter would lead Venom towards Harry and Harry would activate some sort of machine that would ring at such a high frequency, it would separate Flash and the symbiote. MJ and Ned would be charged with catching the symbiote and they would so it successfully(idk how right now).

Spiderman would catch Flash before swinging onto the roof where Harry is. Flash would be disoriented. He'd go through the whole "What happened??" speil and would be upset at his behavior. He'd try to apologize to Spiderman, saying "this only happened because I was angry at you for dismissing me." Peter would feel bad, knowing he had been the main cause for Flash's anger. He'd apologize to Flash, too.

By now, Ned and MJ would make from their rooftop to this one. They'd have the contained symbiote. Spiderman would look at it and would be very intrigued by it. Harry would jump in, saying he had access to lab equipment that could analyze the data. Him and Spiderman would unintentionally start bouncing ideas off of each other. MJ would comment on it and Peter would get flustered. Harry would just shrug, enjoying the fact that someone had similar ideas as him. Spiderman would agree to keep in contact with Harry so they could talk about the symbiote.(I'm thinking the symbiote would stay with Harry, but that's subject to change). Spiderman would then thank all of them for their help. They would all go their separate ways after that.

The ending scene would be the best part. Flash and Harry would be having a little hang out with Ned and MJ. Flash would be a bit calmer and nicer now because he saw was his arrogance and anger could do. He would by no means be a changed man, but he'd be working to be better. For him, that started with making some "new" friends. That, and Harry had fun saving the city with MJ and Ned. He wanted to be friends with them.

Since Peter would be working on just friendship with MJ and Ned, they would invite him to come to the hang out. Just them and two other people, nothing big. Peter would agree because why would he miss a chance to continue building back his friendships?

It'd be at Flash's dorm. MJ would answer when Peter knocked(ignoring University dorm security rules for the sake of the movie. Besides, Peter could have just climbed in a window). Flash and Ned would be playing a video game. MJ would go back and watch them. Peter would watch too. Eventually, he'd get up tk grab a snack and would run into Harry.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to run into you," Peter could say(headcanon that Harry is definitely taller than Peter).

"It's fine, it's a small dorm. You're Ned and MJ's friend, right?" Harry could ask.

"Uh, yeah! I'm Peter Parker," Peter could say.

"Nice to meet you, Peter Parker. I'm Harry Osborn," Harry could say. Peter wouldn't react beyond maybe a smile, but his mind would be spinning.

Osborn. Like Norman? From the other Peter's universe? Was this the son that Norman had been talking about? But if this wasn't that son, did that mean Peter had his own Norman and Harry? Did that mean he'd have to fight the Green Goblin in this universe?

Whatever it would be, Peter decided then and there that he couldn't let this Harry endure the same fate at the other Harry. He wouldn't let that happen, especially now that he could make sure it didn't happen.

It wouldn't be too hard, right?

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That's it! Let me know what you think!

[aion-rsa]

Venom: Let There Be Carnage – What Happened to the Cop Mulligan

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This article contains big Venom: Let There Be Carnage spoilers.

If you’ve scrolled around the internet in the last day or two, you might’ve seen folks talking about a little movie called Venom: Let There Be Carnage. With the superhero sequel breaking box office records over the weekend, and ending on a cliffhanger that seems to tease we’ll finally get some proper Spider-Man on symbiote action in the MCU, there’s a lot out there for genre fans to unpack. Yet one of the most curious mysteries about Eddie Brock’s cinematic battle with Cletus Kasady is the literal carnage it left in its wake.

For example, what exactly happened to Stephen Graham’s Patrick Mulligan?! You remember, the police detective who seemed vital to the events of Venom 2 but then disappeared in the midst of all that symbiote chaos during the climax. Well, it’s funny you should ask…

The last time we get a good look at Graham in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the detective had just revealed to Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) that he was the then-much younger officer who shot Naomie Harris’ Frances Barrison, the mutant who becomes Shriek. Unfortunately for Mulligan, she lived. It’s why Carnage (Woody Harrelson) takes the copper hostage at the end. Funnily enough, more than one person has told me it seemed like the character was killed off by Shriek after she gets him up on the bell tower and proceeds to take “an eye for an eye.”

So in case you missed it, it turns out Shriek didn’t get her moment of pure, bloody revenge. These things are hard to catch when you have so much sound and fury going off around symbiotes. In fact, we (briefly) see Mulligan one more time with both eyes as a new symbiote seems to consume him.

“Monsters, monsters everywhere,” is the last we hear from our good lawman. So wait, was that Carnage coming for him? And why didn’t we see what happened next? The answer is because they have to save a big reveal for the sequel. They have got to hide that…

Mulligan Becomes Toxin

That’s right we’re about to get a third major symbioted character. Or fourth when you count Riz Ahmed’s Riot from Venom (2018). While the how’s and why’s of this occurring in Venom: Let There Be Carnage remain frustratingly opaque, Toxin is actually Carnage’s son, just as Carnage is Venom’s.

In the comics, Toxin was the third major symbiote character introduced on the page after Venom and Carnage, first appearing in Venom/Carnage #2 in 2004. This red and blobbier looking symbiote is created reluctantly when Carnage (both the symbiote and its host Cletus Kassady) realize they’ve become pregnant. Far more vain and narcissistic than even Venom, and with the memories of Kasady’s broken home, Carnage has no desire to give birth to a spawn which could become more powerful than himself, just as Carnage became more powerful than Venom. So he resigns himself to killing it as soon as it’s born.

Kasady even goes so far as to bond the symbiote to a hero cop who happens to be stumbling by, Det. Patrick Mulligan, so he can easily kill both while they’re disoriented. Luckily, Venom sought this event out, hoping to raise his grandchild symbiote. It is Venom who even names the new creature Toxin—after himself. The two characters, however, have a falling out because Brock in the comics is still kind of unhinged while Mulligan wants to be a real good guy. 

So instead of becoming Venom’s partner, Toxin turns out to be the first symbiote to be a true ally to Spider-Man and a real superhero, as opposed to a partner of convenience, as is often the case with Venom.

Presumably, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is setting Graham’s Mulligan up to be a possible partner (or rival) to Venom in a new movie down the road. And similar to how Venom inexplicably gave birth to the Carnage symbiote without even realizing it in Venom 2, we’re left to deduce that Carnage’s symbiote likewise “infected” Mulligan with its his spawn when that tendril was wrapped around the lawman’s face earlier in the church. 

It makes sense though to hire an actor of Graham’s caliber—he truly is phenomenal in Boardwalk Empire and The Irishman—to be more than just “the copper” in your superhero movie. With that said, how this will all shake out now that Eddie Brock has transported himself to the Marvel Cinematic Universe—which according to director Andy Serkis was a last minute decision—remains to be seen.

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[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Absolute Carnage: Scream #3 Thoughts

Some good bits, but ultimately rather lacklustre.

 It’s ironic that this mini-series was the one that got me hyped the most for Absolute Carnage. The sheer audacity and insanity of making SCREAM of all characters relevant again in 2019 got me interested, it was in it’s own way bold and daring.

Unfortunately it’s wound up being one of the weaker one shots and minis of this event. In fact thus far the second half of this event as a whole has been letting the story down. It’s not godawful by any means but considering how strong this event, including the tie-ins, came out the gate it’s just a shame.

The Scream mini-series is something of an odd duck amidst the tie-ins as it was weirdly the headlining tie-in, the most promoted and the one that is going to have the most follow up, considering there is a whole mini-series following Scream after this (Curse of Carnage). Maybe it will even factor into the final act of Absolute Carnage but personally I doubt it.

I think because Scream was the third ever symbiote, the first ever female one, prominently featured in the original Lethal Protector series and a part of the Spidey theme park ride at, she has a degree of popularity that makes her stand out more than every other symbiote introduced after Carnage. And because of that either Marvel BELIEVED there was enough interest in her to warrant she stick around in the aftermath of this event, or there really was sufficient interest that the pre-orders on this mini-series stood out amongst the tie-ins, thus prompting them to give her a sequel.

Is this a bad issue/mini-series over all?

Ehhhhh...it’s a mixed bag.

The first issue came out strong. But I see little point in reintroducing the main character of the 2003 Venom ongoing, introduce her in a brand new status quo, then change that status quo, then kill her. It feels more like an obligation, like this event is paying off all symbiote history and thus every major host has to be checked off and Andi has to have some kind of story revolving around her.

And I like that idea on paper, because I think Andi has legs as a character. I even like the idea that she becomes the new Scream complete with Hellfire powers. It makes Scream more of a distinct character than a random security guard who’s got tendrils for hair.

It’s just if that’s really ALL there was to the endgame of this mini-series couldn’t it have been a one shot instead? I mean it really did feel pretty padded what with Scream/Patricia going back and forth between fighting Carnage’s influence and being under it’s control.

This issue was a microcosm of that spiced up purely because Patricia as Scream physically fights Carnage and then dies.

I felt the concept of there being literally multiple voices in Patricia’s head (her own, the symbiote’s, Donna’s, Carnage’s and his legions) was interesting, something to again spice up Scream as a character and make her name mean more than just sounding cool. But the concept was only lightly explored. There are multiple voices in Patricia’s head, it’s hard, she controls it, she slips, she controls it again, then she dies. The End.

I THINK there might’ve been an implication that Andi was more compatible with the Scream symbiote because her connection to Hell and demons meant that she was more used to that. If that was the intention then that’s actually some clever writing, but if it isn’t, then Andi just randomly can handle the Scream symbiote better?????????

In fact there are a few things regarding the symbiotes’ abilities that are questionable here.

A big one is that, and maybe this is due to the art, I’m unclear how exactly two symbiotes even harm each other through their alien costumes.

But a bigger issue is that Andi is literally impaled on a meat hook and is clearly dying, but the Scream symbiote can heal her. And yet the Scream symbiote couldn’t heal Patricia? I get that Carnage injured her worse than Andi, but in Cates run didn’t the Venom symbiote literally knit up a hole in Eddie Brock’s chest!

Another problem is that this comic seems to cherrypick when it wants to use internal thought captions. Why was Andi speaking (kinda clunky) exposition out loud when she was trying to hide? It doesn’t make sense.

Also, this is clearly supposed to be the Cletus Kasady Carnage in this story and yet the artwork clearly depicts him as the classic Carnage. That’s just sloppy.

Over all this mini-series feels like it was less about contributing to the main story, or even using the circumstances of the event to really explore any characters, so much as it was just manoeuvring the game pieces in preparation for the spin-off/sequel we know is coming...and taking 3 issues to do it so there was more product.

I do not recommend you read this. All you need to know is that Patricia Robertson bonded with the Scream symbiote and gave it to Andi in an effort to protect her. There. I’ve summed up 3 issues for you.

[venusinverted]

Dylan Brock: A Character Study

Long post! Read below (Also! Please read the tags first). Also this is only his character up to Venom #18/Absolute Carnage #3 because obviously I am not a psychic and don’t know what the hell kind of curveballs Cates will throw at us. If something major changes this, I might remake it/add more to it.

So, we start off at his birth. Specifically, how he was born. I won’t mince words here, because there’s no reason to: Anne was raped. She did not consent to Venom giving her a... Codex baby? Actual baby? Who knows at this point. But she didn’t consent, and her react to give it to Carl Brock, Eddie’s father, really cements how traumatized she’d become by being She-Venom. When she committed suicide, after promising Carl she’d come take Dylan back, I imagine it must’ve been a big slap in the face to Carl. Hence where the abuse either starts or gets worse.

We don’t know much about the 9 or so years of Dylan’s life before he meets his father, however, we can infer from his personality and actions. His use of language, coping mechanisms, and the way he acts when faced with a challenge (be it mental or physical) all point to the fact that he has endured this abuse since he was very young. I’m not a psychologist, but I do very similar things because of my abuse. His choices of coping seem to be obsessing over his idol Venom, and subsequently demonizing Spider-Man and listening to music, which is a very common coping mechanism. We rarely ever see him without headphones, and when we do it’s because he’s having a conversation.

When Dylan is introduced, it’s through Venom attacking Carl. 

(This is a nine-year-old swearing, something that isn’t very common in an affluent neighborhood like they live in, which suggests he probably picked it up from Carl.) Eddie immediately panics, realizing there’s an innocent here and he can’t just let Venom hurt his father, even if he wants to. Dylan recognizes his hero, and maybe knows vaguely about his “brother,” but they don’t really interact. It cuts to two days later, and... Well...

You can guess what Carl did to Dylan in retaliation for what Eddie did. It’s enough to make Dylan run away, in a very dangerous city, and find Eddie even though the last thing he saw from him was either Venom nearly killing Carl or Venom flipping a damn car. Now, Carl obviously took it out on Dylan via a “sins of the father” mentality, and we’re told as much in the next issue. Speaking of, the next issue we see more of Dylan’s personality. He’s curious, asking all kinds of questions about Venom and his life as Venom, but he’s also offended when Eddie lies by omission about being a veteran. He’s a very virtuous child, despite the abuse he’s been put through, and it shows a lot. 

There’s also his reaction to Eddie pushing about what happened. He doesn’t really want to hurt his “dad,” he just left because he didn’t feel safe. This is important; he’s not vengeful towards the man who’s been abusing him.

And right after, we get Eddie (unknowingly) abusing him! Yeah, that’s... Something that happened. It signifies a lot for Eddie, but I’ll get into that on another post. Dylan’s reaction is just to de-escalate the situation, trying to bring him back to reality. It shows he’s learned how to handle Carl, which is really sad for someone so young. 

And immediately after this, we get him having to take Eddie to the hospital, and dealing with Maker for the first time. Which leads to him hiding from Carl, who is obviously very angry. His “son” ran away, and to who? His actual father, who is currently, as far as he knows, insane and in a hospital. Of course Dylan runs away, scared and confused and just wants to get away from everything.

When Dylan is taken by Carl, he’s brazen enough to talk back to him. “He’s not like you. [...]  At least he’s honest about what he is.” He know this will make Carl angry, but he feels the need to speak his piece anyway. When Venom saves him, he’s worried for him, thinking he’s Eddie. And when he realizes, he immediately goes to his “brother’s” side. He’s worried for both Venom and Eddie (”Eddie... Where did it go?”).

During the War of the Realms tie-in, he’s kind of discarded. Which is a shame, but we can see that curiosity come out again. He explores the room Eddie put him in. Even opens a MRE, commenting on how bare-bones it is. When Eddie comes back, Dylan is armed and ready to protect himself. Even though he seemed reluctant to actually use the weapon, his ability to stand up even though he’s scared comes back later. (Also, how is a nine-year-old holding a gun? I could barely hold one at nine, I had to use a kickstand...)

Then he gets sick, and we see a bit of naivety with how he asks if that means he has cancer, too. His dry humor comes out some, too, with how he tries to cheer Eddie up by saying the soup is terrible. Finally, we’re on to the good stuff (but only for Dylan’s characterization): Absolute Carnage and it’s tie-ins. In Absolute Carnage #1, Dylan is curt and rude to Spider-Man, someone anyone else would probably be thrilled to meet. Because of his demonizing, he sees him as a monster who hurt his brother. He’s still listening to music, reading a Guardians of the Galaxy comic book. When interrupted, he calls him a menace and leaves (at Eddie’s request) until he’s pulled back into their mess by Eddie panicking. The “Who is [Anne]?” question is a big hitter. He doesn’t know who his mother is. Carl has probably never brought up the topic beyond some sort of lie. Whether it was because he felt Dylan wasn’t old enough or that he didn’t deserve to know is unknown, but still. When he meets Normie, he’s initially as cold as he was to Spider-Man. He curses, and calls him a “Spider-Baby.” But that quickly shifts as he realizes Normie can’t stand up for himself, and when Maker wants to proceed with testing on Normie first he steps between them. He knows Maker wouldn’t hurt them or risk bringing the wrath of both Spider-Man and Venom down on him, so stands his ground. When the Life Foundations Symbiotes attack, he leads Normie to safety in the room he hid in during the War of the Realms event, and protects him when Phage gets in, until Sleeper comes to the rescue of course. It’s interesting that Dylan seems ok with the idea of bonding to Sleeper, reaching a hand out when he offers it. Maybe he wants to be like Eddie, maybe he just knows he can’t be of much help without Sleeper’s help, but either way, it’s quickly dashed. (We got baited, fellas.) He defends Sleeper, but he can’t do anything to save him. He still protests using Normie, and when Normie is scared he steps up and comes up with a plan. It’s a very...... Simple plan, one he didn’t think through, but he goes with it anyway. When he accidentally makes Hybrid-Maker, he runs, and when he’s threatened he demands to know why.

Of course, we don’t know what happens next. Blame Cates’ shitty planning and issue orders. But now we get to hope an issue or two into the future to Absolute Carnage #3, where he doesn’t play much a role besides hugging Eddie and introducing Sleeper-Cat.

The summation of Dylan’s character, in my opinion, is that he’s a slightly disturbed, but brave and protective kid. He’s gone through so much, but his virtuosity doesn’t let him hold it against anyone. When it comes to his interests and coping mechanisms, he’s extremely attached to them. He’s curious when it comes to others and new areas, and if someone if in danger he will step up to protect them, no matter the risk. He’s a good kid. He really is what Eddie might’ve been like if he hadn’t had Venom.

[snarky-badger]

Prompt: Reader has a shitty relationship with reality. Weird crap happens to them and things that shouldn’t happen do. Sometimes they will go missing out of the blue do it it and just show up a couple weeks later. They usually carry around a recorder with them so they can show people they aren’t insane but they forget it and go missing for a bit before coming back. Eddie/Venom FREAK the fuck out.

This is my second attempt at this, as tumblr deleted the first draft I wrote! Grr. Still, it was fun to write! Kinda more Eddie and less Venom.

Your life was weird. Which was to say, you and reality had apparently met and broken up with no chance at reconciliation.

It had started when you were eight. Now, keep in mind, you’d been born in the eighties, so it was high weirdness to suddenly be in possession of a computer the size of your hand.

You’d been playing when something had just popped out of nowhere, bouncing off your head before clattering to the ground. A little dazed, you’d picked it up and discovered that it was something called an iPhone 8. You’d played with it for hours before it had simply vanished out of your hands, leaving an odd chill and a very baffled you behind.

Things had only gotten more complicated from there.

More things appeared and vanished around you, sometimes little things, like keys or books, sometimes big things, like your parent’s minivan.

When you were twelve, you’d vanished from school. Literally. Your parents had gone insane. Search parties were sent out, Amber Alert’s announced, police canvased the entire neighbourhood. When you’d reappeared a week later, your parents had ignored your tale of meeting Robin Hood and grounded you for running away and making up stories.

Your childhood and adolescence was peppered with disappearances, your parents believing that you were a liar and a runaway, and you had suffered through numerous trips to various hospitals because of the ‘tales’ you told.

You’d started bringing a tape recorder with you to film your adventures when you were fourteen. Over time, you upgraded to camcorder, then your smartphone, and finally a hidden camera that you could bring wherever you ended up. You had images and videos saved that surpassed any CG movie out there.

It was odd, you realized, that when you ‘popped’ into new worlds, that no one there thought twice of your sudden appearance. You just blended in with whatever timeline or universe you’d slid into, as if you were supposed to be there in the first place. You’d seen dinosaurs, broke bread with dragon-slayers, saved dragons from dragon-slayers, visited far off worlds and even alternate universes just a smidgen different from your own.

It continued on until you were old enough to move out. Sure, you still vanished from time to time, visiting odd and strange places, but it was fun for you. New experiences and new adventures. The hell with your doubting parents. This was your life and you embraced it.

You’d been chased by a feathered T-Rex, nearly gotten run over by a horse drawn carriage that belonged to Sherlock Holmes - the older one not the hot one - shared mead with Hobbits, gunned down zombies, met aliens - not the probing kind - gotten bitten by a chupacabra, encountered a rather irritated Dalek that had also popped out of his universe, hell, you’d even met Captian Picard of the USS Enterprise!

Things became more complicated when you started dating.You’d originally sworn off dating because of the trouble presented when you slipped out of your universe, but Eddie Brock had been sweet and handsome and with a sparkling wit and down to earth charm that had made turning him down impossible.

You imagined he’d expected you to freak out when, a month into dating, he’d confided in you that he was bonded to an alien symbiote and that he moonlighted as Venom most nights.

You’d seen a lot of weird shit by then, so you’d merely shrugged, shaken Venom’s hand and asked him what he preferred white or dark chocolate cake.

When Eddie had moved in, things got decidedly complicated. You managed to explain your disappearances by saying it was work related, that you had to run off at any time to catch a plane or a train. Thanks to being a veteran of falling out of your dimension into another, you could usually ‘feel’ a slip before it happened.

He’d accepted it with grace - after all, he was Venom. He thought he knew strange.

You were waffling over whether to tell him what was really going on. Had practiced the conversation. Were even willing to let him see what was in the mystically locked chest at the foot of your bed.

It was filled with keepsakes from your journeys: A sword made of enchanted glass from Skyrim, a computer pad you’d stolen from the Enterprise, bits of shells from a dinosaur egg, the Hope Diamond, a Venom comic-book - that was going to take some explanation - an ‘Arum’ from the Elite home world from the Halo universe, a pile of gems and coins from Smaug himself - you’d popped out of that world before getting charbroiled - a feather as long as your arm from a Roc, a working phaser, three seashells, several sets of armor and ancient clothing, a Lightsaber you’d stolen from one baffled Anakin Skywalker before he’d gone batty, and an emerald the size of your fist - you hoped Sonic had made due without it.

You’d actually been trying to work up the nerve to talk to Eddie after a date, on the walk home, when you’d literally popped out of existence.

Shit.

You reappeared in the middle of a fight between a rag tag group of people and something called a ‘dracolich’. Which was a fancy word for ‘skeleton dragon’.

By then, you were rather used to appearing in the middle of a crisis, so you’d taken up a sword and joined the fight. By the time the undead dragon was properly dead - thanks to one of the group that had turned out to be a necromancer - you’d pretty much ingratiated yourself to the group, and no one questioned where you’d appeared from.

You spent a month with them, fulfilling quests, getting drunk at taverns, and being rewarded by kings and peasants both. You had enough gold coins to pay for your apartment for the next fifty years. Your new friends, the necromancer, a draconian, an archer and a sorceress made you the honorary ‘knight’ of the group, even chipping in to buy you a set of armor tailored to you.

It was while your friends were at a brothel - you may have been in a different universe but you did have a boyfriend back home, hence the ‘no brothel’ rule for you - that things went sideways again. You popped, appearing in the middle of a conference at the UN where there were lizards instead of people, waved, then popped again, reappearing in San Francisco.

This wouldn’t have been such a bad thing had you not been decked out in full armor, armed with numerous knives and a broadsword. The fact that you’d appeared in the middle of a wedding just made things more complicated.

You managed to weave a spiel about trying out your ‘costume’ for the next Comic Con before making a run for it.

Hoping that Eddie was still around somewhere, you trudged home, incurring various stunned looks as you went. Ignored them with long practice, even when you got on the elevator and had to ride to the top floor next to a women with two children.

Lacking a key, you merely kicked your front door in, freezing in the doorway when you spotted a very confused Eddie on your couch. He was obviously in the middle of working on a new article - papers and notebooks were scattered around him haphazardly.

“Um…. hi?” You even wiggled your fingers at him in a little wave, armor glinting in the light from the windows.

Everything went flying - laptop included, ouch - when he realized who you were. He crossed the apartment in a run before wrapping you up in a crushing embrace.

“You’re alive!”

The stark relief in his voice made you wither a little, and you lamely stayed silent, blinking up at him when he pushed you back and held you at arms length.

“Where have you been?! We searched the entire City for you! Twice! Thought you’d been kidnapped or worse–”

You rose a hand to place your fingers against his mouth when his voice cracked, the tears in his eyes making a pit open up in your stomach. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I should have told you. This just…. happens, sometimes. Well, a lot of the time. I can’t control it. Usually I can feel it before it happens, but this time I didn’t have any warning and–”

“This has happened before?”

You winced a little and pulled away, walking past him and into the apartment. Waited until he’d closed the door before speaking again. “Weird things have been happening to me since I was eight. Things would pop in and out of existence around me, things that we’re from my time or our world. They’d always vanish again eventually…. When I was twelve I vanished for a week, met Robin Hood, he taught me how to shoot a bow–”

The look of disbelief on Eddie’s face made you growl. “See that? That right there. That’s why I don’t tell people. My parents had me admitted to psych wards because I trusted them. You know what electro-shock therapy is? It ain’t fun! But this shit happens to me, all the time. And you, Venom, are not the poster child for normality, so quit lookin’ at me like that!”

He winced at bit at that, then sighed and walked over to you. “Okay. Okay, we’re sorry, this just sounds….”

“Insane. I’m aware. I’m also aware that since aliens exist and that there are mutants running around and a guy in New York called ‘Spider-Man’, that this isn’t the weirdest thing in this reality.”

“Point.”

“Damn right ‘point’,” you muttered angrily, huffing as you headed for your bedroom. “There’s also the fact that I’m not stupid enough to say these things without some goddamn proof. So, c’mere.”

Grumbling a little, you stomped over to the locked chest at the foot of your bed, shoving clothes off of it before raising your thumb to your mouth and biting into the meat of it. Eddie made a noise of complaint at the sight, and you rolled your eyes at him.

“Needs blood given without duress to open,” you explained as you pressed your thumb to the lock, grinning at his look of shock when the combination lock spun crazily, five numbers clicking into place before the three heavy latches popped open. “Got this thing from a wizard when I turned twenty. Best security I ever invested in.”

The flabbergasted look on Eddie’s face was almost worth it when you started pulling things out and laying them on the bed, explaining what each and every one of them were and where you’d gotten them from. His eyes got bigger and bigger with every keepsake you pulled out, right up until you pulled out the Venom comic and thrust it into his face.

“Bet you were wondering why I was so chill when you told me about the symbiote, huh? I already knew about it.”

“This can’t be real,” left him in a whisper as he took the comic and flipped through it. The symbiote that was masquerading as his shirt visibly undulated, a tendril extending to poke at the comic, as if to make sure it wasn’t a hallucination.

“Oh, it is real buster. There’s a reality where practically every weird ass thing in this world is just a bunch of stories. Spider-Man, Magneto, Wolverine, fuck, the entire X-Men School - comic-books. Every single one. There’s a universe where Batman is real, another where the galaxy nearly got it’s metaphorical balls handed to it by monstrosities called ‘Reapers’, another where crab-people try to overthrow governments. Trust me, I have seen some weird shit.“

“You never told anyone?”

“The people I did tell had me committed,” you reminded him. “I learned to keep this kinda shit to myself. I wanted to tell you. I did. But…. Well, the amount of people who have flipped out on me and left is kinda a hundred percent. I have videos, and they still didn’t believe me.”

Eddie shook his head a little, still looking stunned. “We believe you. It’s impossible not to. We’re holding the story of our own history in our hands.”

“Sorry about that. Kinda had to go for the shock value.” You paused, hesitant. “You really believe me?”

The wary hope in your voice made him walk over to you and wrap you up in a hug, leaning his forehead against yours. “You’re very convincing.”

“And the symbiote?”

“Glad to have our morsel back.” Eddie blinked a little, then cleared his throat as the symbiote released control of his voice. “We’re relieved you’re alright. We mourned you. We’ve spent the past month trying to find you.”

“This’ll happen again,” you warned him softly. “I can’t control it. I wish I could, but I can’t. And I don’t have control about how long I stay away. Could be a week, could be a month….”

“But you’ll come back? Eventually?”

“Always do.”

“Promise to come home to us?”

You smiled. “Hun, if you can put up with the insanity that is my life, you’re practically stuck with me.”

“Good,” he murmured before kissing you, and you shivered happily as you kissed him back. “Now, show us how that Lightsaber works.”

[fangirlshrewt97]

Venom Meets Goose

For: @lurkerviolin. Chancy I wanted to have this done by midnight but obviously I missed the deadline by a long shot, but I hope you like this!

Author(s): Fangirlshrewt97

Fandom: Venom (2018); Captain Marvel (2019)

Pairing: Venom/Eddie (can be romantic or platonic)

Characters:  Venom, Eddie Brock, Goose (Captain Marvel)

Rating: Teens and Up

Warnings: Lots of swearing

Additional Tags:  Attempt at humor, Crossover, Crack-fic (ish)

Summary: What would happen if/when Eddie and Venom met Goose? My 3k take on it.  

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18429209

“Stop being grumpy. It’s lame.”

“I am not being grumpy, I am angry with you V.”

“Stop being grouchy then.”

“Venom!”

“Eddie, I already apologized for eating all the chocolate Anne got us.”

“Venom, sorry is not enough. It was my favorite kind of chocolate. And you said that even if I eat it, you can still use the calories and taste the chocolate. You also know that that brand of chocolate is my favorite and it is imported. So in conclusion, fuck you.”

“I didn’t know!”

“Bullshit! You live inside my freaking brain. How the hell am I supposed to believe you.”

“...I’m not a mind-reader?”

Eddie growled out loud with enough anger to have Venom doing the equivalent of curling into himself and sending a wave of shame through their bond. Eddie hunched in tighter into his coat as a cool breeze passed through the street. He knew rationally he was acting childish, but could you blame him? He was finally getting his life back together, and after a full year with his stupid symbiote, they had finally figured out they were it for each other. He was happier than he had been in a long while. But he was also more petty than ever. And bloodthirsty, but at least the latter could be wholly attributed to the Symbiote.

“So where are we going?”

“Why don’t you just read my mind?” Eddie bit back.

“Eddie…” Venom whined. And god, how disconcerting was it to have an alien who lived inside him whine. Venom didn’t even have proper eyes, but somehow managed to convey the feeling of puppy dog eyes. Eddie hated him.

“Fuck off parasite.”

“Eddie!” Venom yelled, hurt and pouting. Pouting. His 10,000+ year old alien significant other was pouting at him because he was scolded for eating Eddie’s chocolate. God, when had his life become so fucking weird?

“I’m not apologizing.”

“Apologize.”

“No.”

“APOLOGIZE!”

“Ok, jeez, fine. I’m sorry. Quit yelling, someone is going to notice.”

“Who will notice? It is past midnight on a Wednesday. Everybody who is sane is already in bed. And if someone insane catches us, what is the difference?”

“I….” The more Eddie thought about it though, there was a weird logic to Venom’s point. “Fine, even if there is no difference, I’d rather avoid drawing unnecessary attention. Neither of us have a great history with good luck.”

“Are you going to tell me where we are going?”

“No.”

“Eddie.”

“You are getting repetetive.”

“You are being stubborn.”

“Wow, great observation there V.”

 “What do you mean, no?

“I mean no, wanna hear it in Spanish? No!”

“Eddie!”

“Venom relax. We’ve been cooped up in the apartment for the past week so that I could finalize my article, and we just finished. So I thought we could celebrate by splitting open a certain box of chocolate. But since you already took care of that bit by yourself, we are just doing the second part of this celebration: going to the park for some fresh air.”

“Why are we doing this at midnight?”

“Because I finished the final edits past midnight.”

“Couldn’t the celebration have waited till tomorrow? You need sleep. Your seratonin levels are seriously low.”

“Low seratonin huh? Explains the depression.”

“Not funny.”

“I disagree. But anyways, do you really want to this tomorrow in the morning. In the sun. With a lot of other people?”

“It’d be a Thursday morning. There would not be a lot of people.”

“Still more than now.”

“Why the park?”

“Why not?”

“Because frsh air and going to the park are good for your health. And your history has been a tendency to often do the opposite of what is good for your health?”

“Oh you mean like accept an alien parasite into my body that tried to eat me from the inside out?”

“Eddie!”

Eddie just chuckled, sometimes Venom was just too easy to rile up. He started whistling as the two of them made their way to the lake in the center of the park, Venom liked to see the ducks. Well technically he liked to comment on all the different ways he’d like to eat them, but who’s paying attention to those details?

Eddie made his way to one of the benches on the edge of the lake, just before the bike path and sprawled onto it, spreading his legs and resting his head against the back of the bench.

It really was a quiet night for the city, if he concentrated he could hear faint sirens in the distance, and a screech from where a car skidded on the roads which were still slightly wet from the rain they had had that evening.

Of course, when does quiet ever last when you were part-time hero/part time human magnet for bad luck? Though in hindsight, no one could have predicted the shape this particular disaster was going to take.

Eddie was close to straight up dozing in the bench when Venom startled so bad Eddie spasmed off the bench and braced himself on the ground to ease the fall.

“V, what the fuck?”

“Eddie, Danger!”

Eddie tensed, eyes scanning the area for anything out of the ordinary. “Where?”

“I don’t know.”

“What? What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I just. Damn it, there is something strange in the park Eddie. I don’t like it, but I can’t … find it.”

Eddie took a calm breath to calm down because this was Venom we are talking about, he could feel everything. If something was able to avoid him, they were in such big shit. Damn it, Ann was going to kill him if he died in the park to an alien at 1 in the morning.

But before either could think of a plan, a meow sounded behind them. Venom covered Eddie and launched himself over the bench, mouth pulled back to reveal all his teeth, expanding to make himself look as big as possible.

There on the bench they had just been sitting on was a cat. Just a normal orange cat. It tilted it’s head at the sight of them, but otherwise showed no other reaction. Huh, most cats tended to flee from him when he was masked by Venom. They also had been avoiding him in general since he had bonded with Venom.

“Venom?”

“Yeah?”

“Please tell me that you are also sleep deprived. Because what other possible reason could you have for being so terrified of. A. FREAKING. CAT?”

“Eddie. That is not a cat.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That is not a cat.”

“Yes it is. Look at it. It is orange, it is feline shaped, and it is just sitting there.”

“That doesn’t make it not a cat.”

“What the hell else is it?”

“I don’t know. But I don’t like it. Can we please leave?”

“Are you telling me you’re scared of a stray cat?”

“Eddie shut up. Can we leave?”

“But…”

“Now.”

Eddie debated whether it was worth it to argue, but his exhaustion won out over his curiosity and he agreed. “Fine, let’s go home.”

---

It was almost 2 weeks before they saw the cat again, and Eddie was aware of each day of those two weeks because Venom was doing the equivalent of pacing a hole in the floor in his brain and Eddie was getting a stronger urge by the second to find a way to strangle his symbiote.

“Venom stop that!”

“Eddie I can still feel that strange presence around us. Something is following us.”

“Where? Even in the park all there was was a normal cat.”

“It wasn’t a cat!”

“What was it then?!” Eddie bit back, tired of arguing this point.

“Can we go patrolling tonight?”

“No, I have an assignment due soon.”

“But, please. Eddie. We will be fast.”

“No.”

Venom whined and then started doing his stupid ‘puppy-dog-eyes’ emotion vibe again and Eddie growled because as much as he did have to complete this assignment, he hated to disappoint his symbiote. Venom truly asked for very little. Didn’t mean he was going to go without a fight.

“Why do I keep you around?”

Without missing a beat, Venom replied “Because the alternative would be developing a conscience of your own.”

“Fuck you.”

“I love you too Eddie!”

---

Their patrol that night was a bust, but Eddie knew it would be better to let Venom burn off that energy now rather risk Venom becoming restless again.

“V, stop complaining, it is a good thing that there are less bad guys!”

“You didn’t even let me eat one bad guy tonight.”

“That’s because the only ‘bad guy’ we saw today was a teenager trying to sell weed who pissed his pants the moment he saw you.”

Venom continued to grumble as they made their way to their apartment. He stopped when they reached their landing though, stopped abruptly enough that Eddie froze where he stood.

“What?”

“It’s in our house.”

“What?!”

“The same weird vibe from the park. I can feel that same energy again. Coming from beyond our door.”

Eddie swallowed before he nodded, tightening his hold on his keys and slowly turning the lock.

“Venom, mask.” Eddie ordered quietly. Venom slid over him slowly but completely covered him by the time their door closed behind him.

The two of them looked around the house for the intruder, moving cautiously though the apartment trying to identify the threat. Which was why they startled so hard they almost broke the coffee table they fell on when they heard a familiar meow.

“Ow, what the hell?”

“Eddie it is here?”

“V, how is that even possible?”

“It came in through a window!”

“None of our windows are open. Also we are on the third floor!”

“It’s a cat!”

“You just said it wasn’t.”

“It’s a cat that isn’t a cat.”

Eddie growled as he stood up, Venom having retreated back into him, and made his way over to the wall to flip the light switch. There on top of his kitchen counter, laying as though on its throne was the cat from the park.

Eddie approached the cat which was watching him lazily, one eye open as it swished it’s tail gently through the air. Venom was trying to metaphorically hold him back by the back of his hoodie, but Eddie just shut him down and kept walking till he was right next to the cat. The only acknowledgement he received was the cat turning its head to look at him with both eyes.

And yeah ok, this was definitely not a normal cat. Normal cats did not have eyes that looked 100 years old. Normal cats did not look like they could see into his very soul. Normal cats definitely did not have eyes that seemed to flash a different color. Eddie shook his head to make sure he had just imagined that.

Tentatively he reached out a hand and in full view of the eyes that were tracking his every movement, he laid it on the furry back. Venom had gone oddly quiet now, and Eddie didn’t want to think about it but it almost felt like the quiet someone has in a horror movie where they are quiet because they are about to scream.

Eddie started to pet the cat gently while Venom started doing weird high pitched keening noises in head.

“V, I don’t think she is too bad.”

“We need to give it back to it’s owner!” Venom said, voice higher than Eddie had ever heard it.

“Owner?”

“Yes! Look it is wearing one of those trackers.”

“Tra- Oh.” Hidden under admittedly magnificent fur was a thin collar with a round tag. Tugging it a little forward Eddie saw the word “GOOSE” emblazoned on it. He flipped the tag but the flip side was bare.

“Well so much for that idea. Is you name Goose kitty?” The cat started to swish it’s tail a little faster at the name. “Oh yes you are Goose are you. What a good kitty. How did you get up here though?” Eddie cooed as he started to pet Goose freely. Goose started to purr when Venom lashed out, a flash of inky black tendrils the only warning Eddie had before Goose was sent flying to the opposite end of the apartment and onto a wall.

“VENOM WHAT THE HELL?”

“Eddie that thing was preparing to eat you!”

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?”

“I JUST SAVED YOU!”

“FROM A HOUSE CAT?”

“FROM A FLERKEN!”

“A what?”

“That thing is not a cat, it’s a Flerken.”

“What is that?”

“An alien capable of taking any form and swallowing anything it wants to.”

“...Repeat that last part?”

“There have been rumors of a Flerken that once swallowed a small universe.”

“That is impossible.”

“Like having an alien symbiote live inside you that can heal any injury you have and which extends your lifespan considerably by virtue of being a compatible host?”

“...Fuck. Fine. We have a Flerken in the house. That could swallow us if it wanted.”

“It could swallow this whole building if it wanted.”

“That could swallow this building if it wanted. That you just threw into a wall. You knew what that thing was and you threw it into a wall. What if it is dead? What if it’s not. God Venom, you’re a dumbass for doing that.”

“Is that your way of thanking me?”

“No, that’s my way of calling you a dumbass.”

“I panicked.”

Eddie swallowed before approaching the corner of the room which boasted of a new dent in the wall. That was going to be a bitch to explain to his landlord. When he crossed the sofa that had been blocking his view, the cat was sitting on its hind paws, lickling one of its front paws without a care in the world.

“Good kitty, I am so sorry for my … Venom. He didn’t mean it. You didn’t mean it right V. V? Come on out. Tell the cat we are both very sorry.”

“No way!”

“V!” Eddie bit out.

Slowly, Venom’s head emerged over Eddie’s shoulder, looking as remorseful as it could. The cat- sorry Flerken had put down it’s paw and was now watching them intently.

“I’m sorry Flerken.” Venom said, tone filled with regret. Eddie wondered if the regret was for the action or for being stuck in this situation.

The Flerken tilted its head again before standing up and making its way to them. Both human and symbiote were rooted to the spot as the alien circled their feet before standing and bracing itself against Eddie’s legs.

Exhaling calmly, Eddie bent down to pick up the cat, trying to hold it as far as it could from him. The Flerken let itself be picked up, seemingly aware of how much they were afraid of it.

Once Eddie was standing straight again, the cat - well it grinned. Eddie didn’t really know what else to call it, but it’s eyes looked almost pleased, as if it had been testing the two of them and they had passed. Whatever the reason, he almost felt like collapsing from the relief that coursed through him.

The cat then lifted a paw and gently swatted at Venom’s disembodied floating head, causing the symbiote to yell and try to back away, knocking Eddie off his feet and sending then all falling and landing in a pile on the floor.

“Owwww.” Eddie exclaimed as he sat up, rubbing a sore spot on his back where he had landed. So much for a symbiote cushion.

“Sorry Eddie.”

“Venom can you just come out. This cat is not going to hurt us.”

“Yes it will.”

“I think you’re wrong.” Eddie shifted to look at the cat on his chest that was still looking at them and not moving. “You’re not going to hurt us right?”

Well, Eddie could officially say he knew what a cat would look like with an exasperated look on its face.

“See, it’s not going to hurt us.”

Venom carefully emerged again, still hovering. The Flerken hopped off Eddie’s chest onto a distance about 5 feet from them before opening its mouth and -

 “OHMYGOD WE ARE GOINGTOBE EATEN BYANALIEN CAT!” Eddie screamed as he scrambled to back away from the TENTACLES that were coming out of the Flerken’s mouth.

“No wait, Eddie. Stop.” Venom said, sounding reasonable. Which what the hell, up until this point Venom is convinced they are going to be killed by this cat and the moment when it seems like that act is going to happen, he is suddenly chill? What gives?

Without waiting for a reply, Venom masked Eddie, and leisurely put out tendrils of his own. Then the two met in the middle and did this almost weird dance thing before they came back to normal.

“What the fuck?”

“We are cool now Eddie.”

“What. The. Fuck?”

“Me and the Flerken made an agreement.”

“What?”

“You are being repetitive again.”

“Venom, I am confused. Explain.”

“The Flerken asked if it could stay with us for a while. I said ok.”

“That is not an explanation.”

“It doesn’t matter. All you need to know is that it will be staying with us a couple weeks until its friend comes back for it. And it wants us to call it Goose.”

“When did all this communication happen?”

“During our tentable handshake.”

“Tenta- you know what. I’m too tired for this. Just tell it to stay out of the bedroom. I am going to bed.

“Goodnight Goose!” Venom called back, sounding stupidly cheery.

Eddie wanted this all to be over.

---

The weeks they had with Goose were surprisingly normal, the cat stayed out of their way for the most part, just following them out when they went on patrols, and on one memorable occasion when it ate a drug dealer that had kept shooting at Venom.

Venom had been annoyed at the missed meal.

The other memorable occasion was when Anne came by and found out the cat wasn’t a cat.

She had been rightfully angry. And scared. She had forgiven them eventually though. Thank god. They would be lost without her.

---

Eddie was almost sad when they came back from the apartment at the end of three weeks of cohabiting with a Flerken to an open window and a note thanking them for taking care of Goose, signed on the bottom by a M. Rambeau and an orange cat paw print.

Eddie had to buy a large chocolate box to console Venom who had grown surprisingly attached to the Flerken he had been terrified of. Eddie hoped they got to see Goose again. He had grown fond of the cat too, damn it.

… What even was his life that he was missing an alien with the ability to swallow universeres that almost tried to eat him too.

Maybe he should go visit that therapist friend of Anne’s…

 THE END

[linzerj]

Golden Gate’s Heroes -c2

Yo so i finally finished part 2! Sorry it took so long but the dialogue really threw me off and i’m still not sure i’m happy with it. also I’m bad at writing and updating consistently so. uh. yeah please don’t get your hopes up for a speedy update i’m sorry. also sorry about the lack of venom i really just gotta rewatch the movies when i get the chance 

So after that first awkward babysitting thing where they discovered ‘oh hey you have a secret identity I have a secret identity too’, Eddie and Scott met up a grand total of three times. Two of those times were just Eddie babysitting Cassie again, because Cassie really liked him and Venom and they weren’t going to say no to that adorable kid. The first of those times was really just Eddie and Cassie hanging out again, this time at Eddie’s much-less-nice apartment. They did arts and crafts while Cassie asked Venom questions about themself, and throughout the evening Venom slowly acquired more and more glittery cut-out crowns and ribbons. They looked absolutely ridiculous, but it made Cassie happy and Eddie thought it was cute, and so they tolerated the decorations.

The second time, Scott actually invited Eddie out to dinner with him and Cassie after babysitting. It was a bit awkward, but as Eddie recalled stories from his time on The Eddie Brock Show and Scott told him stories about life before and after prison, they found more and more common ground. By the end of it, they weren’t best friends per say, but a lot of the awkwardness and tension had definitely faded down.

The third time they met up, Cassie was still there because she was great at keeping them from being too awkward and weird, but Eddie met them at Pier 39. It was just a casual time hanging out, really, but as they talked in hushed tones about Scott’s experiences as Ant-Man and how Eddie and Venom were still learning to be a functional ‘we’, Eddie figured he would definitely call Scott a friend.

Which was definitely a good thing, given his only other friends were Anne and Dan, and while they were great it was still weird to hang out with his ex-fiancée and her super nice doctor boyfriend sometimes.

Eddie figured he should introduce Scott and Cassie to Anne and Dan sometime. They’d be so proud that he had managed to make new friends, even if one of them was still only a kid who liked giving Venom flower crowns.

But first, he apparently had to meet Scott’s new girlfriend and her parents, the people who gave Scott the Ant-Man suit.

“Dude come on,” Scott was saying. This was now the fourth time they were talking face-to-face, once again after Eddie had babysat Cassie. “They’re super nice, I swear.”

“Man, I still…we still don’t know.” Eddie sighed, scrubbing his face.

“Cassie will be there if that helps, my dude.”

“I mean.” Eddie made a vague gesture. “I guess? But still.”

“Is this about not wanting to make a bad first impression, because believe me, they won’t care that much. I mean they still like me, so.”

Eddie just leveled an unimpressed look at Scott, to which Scott shrugged. “Alright so I may have also mentioned you once or twice to Hope and Hank and Jan and now they really want to meet you.”

“Dude you are the worst. Just give it a bit longer, okay?”

And the conversation effectively ended, at least for a while.

---

As much as Eddie was trying to avoid other superheroes or people who might want to tear them apart, neither he nor Venom were going to say no to Cassie’s birthday party.

We’re going to get cornered here you idiot, Venom was hissing into Eddie’s brain.

“Yeah but it’s Cassie you asshole. You really gonna say no to her?”

…no…

“So we’re sucking it up and finally doing this,” Eddie said, knocking on the door to Scott’s place. They were immediately greeted by their grinning friend.

“Hey, you made it! Cool cool, c’mon in!”

And it was normal, for a bit. Scott’s ex and her new boyfriend reminded Eddie of Anne and Dan a bit, but they didn’t pry about anything – either because they didn’t know or didn’t care. Eddie didn’t know which it was but was grateful either way.

He tried to distract himself with cake (lots of cake, chocolate cake, the best kind of cake, especially if you asked Vee), but was more than well aware of a man and two women watching with mixed looks of curiosity and anxiety from another corner of the room. They were distracted enough by Cassie too, but as the party began to wind down, guests left, and Cassie’s mom took her home, Eddie was left with Scott and the staring trio.

“Well,” Eddie said, directed mostly to Scott, “this was great, thanks for the invite, I’ll just get out of your hair now—“

“Actually, we’ve been waiting to talk to you,” the younger of the two women said, and Eddie groaned internally. He could feel Venom stirring beneath his skin, curious but also ready to protect them if needed.

“Uh, Eddie, that’s my girlfriend Hope, and her parents Hank and Janet,” Scott interjected, seeming as nervous as Eddie felt. “Guys, this is Eddie.”

“Brock, yeah,” Hank said. “Nice work taking down Drake. I knew there was something fishy going on with him but we were a bit distracted during that whole fiasco of yours.”

“Uh, thanks?” Eddie was fairly certain that was not the correct response, but it got a chuckle out of Janet, so that was fine, he supposed.

“But there is the issue of you having been – fused, or bonded, or whatever, with one of those alien symbiotes Drake was experimenting on,” Hope stated, and next to her Scott bit his lip. “The reports you gave after the incident state that you lost it, or it burned in the explosion, but there have been some reports of a large dark figure throughout the city since then – one that occasionally eats its targets. And then Scott told us about you starting to babysit for Cassie, and at the same time he started showing reluctance over tracking down the giant maneating creature. So, anything to add, Mr. Brock?”

“Hope I told you to go easy on him,” Scott muttered as Eddie blinked, and Janet rolled her eyes.

“She takes after her dad,” she said, and Hank looked affronted. But, still.

They know, Venom was hissing in his head, but their emotions were confused, unsure of if they should trust Scott’s friends, or if they should just eat them all.

Not really, Eddie thought back. From what she said, Scott never said anything specific, they all just put the pieces together on their own, and he’s trying to make everything better for us.

Hm. Cassie may like them, and Scott is okay, but still. Don’t know about what they want.

Yeah, well, let’s see, shall we? Out loud, he asked, “What if what I said isn’t true?”

“Well, legally speaking, you’d fall under the Sokovia Accords, like my daughter and this idiot here,” Hank said. Eddie was a bit offended on Scott’s behalf at the idiot comment. “If that alien is still bonded to you, you’d count as an enhanced individual, and if you were going out fighting crime and whatnot on your own, you’d be in direct violation of the Accords.”

“That’s fair. The Accords were put into place with the intention of protecting the general public, even if the first draft was rushed and had lots of loopholes that could be exploited. The current version is more sound and willing to work with the individuals who work under it. But it also requires that anyone who signs the Accords be drafted as an official Avengers member, which, y’know, some people might want to help, but they might not want to be in the spotlight like that, and just stick to what they’re doing.” This, Eddie could do. He was a reporter, after all; he’d covered the story of the original Accords, and the little ‘civil war’ that had followed it. He’d read the documents when they first came out, even if he’d had to have Anne explain the finer points and legalese to him back then. And then with Venom, he’d read the newest draft.

It wasn’t a bad thing, certainly, but they had agreed that they didn’t want to be part of the Avengers. They weren’t cut out for big-time heroics like that, and such a spotlight would make their occasional diet of humans even harder to hide, or justify.

But. Scott had proven he was willing to overlook that stuff after Eddie and Vee had explained that it was an essential part of their diet, their survival. And these people were still involved with ironing out the Accords, and could probably put in a good word on their behalf if they were nice and cooperated. But that was a risk they weren’t sure they were willing to take, at least not yet.

Janet interrupted their thoughts. “That’s why we’re working with Tony and the Accords Panel to add more amendments for people like that. We are also trying to include people who maybe go a bit too far with their vigilantism, who have killed to protect others. Right now the Accords Panel doesn’t think those types of people should be allowed unless they change completely, stop killing altogether, but even the original Avengers members had killed – look at the Black Widow and Hawkeye, for example. They both had impressive kill counts working for SHIELD, and the Widow, at least, has continued to use lethal force since joining the Avengers.”

“She’s an outlier though, Jan, we talked about that,” Hank cut in. “She’s a Russian assassin-“

“What does her being Russian have to do with anything, Hank, don’t let old grudges cloud your judgment we’ve talked about this-“

“Anyway,” Hope said, rolling her eyes at her parents, “The earlier you join, the more … uh, forgiving the Accords Panel will be about any … less than savory things you may or may not have done while trying to protect the planet, the town, your loved ones, or just yourself.”

“That’s still assuming I have the alien, though,” Eddie pointed out, trying not to laugh. Venom was snickering in the back of his mind, swirling around his body, and very much enjoying this game of cat and mouse.

Scott was looking between everyone with nervous eyes. Hank was just staring at Eddie with a kind of blank expression of disbelief; Janet was smiling conspiratorially; and Hope rolled her eyes with a huff. “Yeah, of course.”

“When you assume you make an ass out of you and me,” Scott blurted, and that, at least, earned a chuckle from Hank.

“Scott,” Hope started, but Eddie cut her off.

“Well, look, I’d love to continue this chat, but I actually have stuff to do for my job, so…”

“Yeah, man, let me show you out,” Scott said, clapping Eddie on the back and steering him toward the door. “Sorry about them,” he said in a lower, quieter tone. “I didn’t say anything but they can put two and two together and they can also be super persistent.”

“It’s fine,” Eddie said, even though it didn’t really feel fine. “It was probably going to happen sooner or later anyway. Talk to you later, man.” And Eddie and Venom made their escape.

--

It was another few weeks until Eddie and Venom saw Hope van Dyne again. They hadn’t forgotten about the conversation with her and her family, per say, just… been sufficiently distracted to let it fall to the wayside.

But having Scott walk in with Hope at the end of a day of babysitting Cassie was, well. Unexpected, to say the least. Venom, who had been providing helpful commentary to Cassie as she colored and was wearing no less than 3 flower crowns, made an attempt to duck back into Eddie before being spotted, but it was too little too late.

Hope, for her part, just leveled an unimpressed and expectant stare at Eddie, who just grinned sheepishly back. Scott, bless his innocent self, took one look at both of them and then ignored them in favor of flopping onto the floor next to Cassie and admiring her drawings. Cassie just tossed one of the dropped flower crowns at Eddie and giggled when it landed on his shoulder.

“We, uh, I… can explain?” Eddie said. Scott just shook his head.

“No you can’t.”

“Yeah no I probably can’t.”

“To be fair, I knew from the minute Scott started slipping up that something was amiss,” Hope said, “but you acting a bit weird at Cassie’s party was what really gave it away.”

“So, uh, are you gonna arrest us or something, then? Cuz like, you probably… don’t wanna do that.”

“No, you’re fine,” Hope said. “Although you probably don’t believe that, and I can understand why. But, look, if Scott trusts you, I’m willing to give you a chance.”

Everyone else blinked. “Really?” Scott asked, lighting up like a Christmas tree. “Aw, Hope! You’re the best!”

“And you’re adorable, Scott. Anyway,” Hope continued, turning back to face Eddie, “you and your alien friend or whatever should very much consider reading and signing these.” And with a flash, a huge stack of papers materialized – no, grew – in front of them.

“The freaking Accords?” Eddie snorted. “Dude, I have read them-“

“I’m aware, it’s a legal thing, your ex is a lawyer so I’m sure you understand.”

Eddie made a disgruntled sound. “We really don’t want to be an Avenger,” he said finally.

“Aw, but you guys are a hero!” Cassie piped up, finally tuning back in to the adult conversation. Eddie flashed her a grateful smile, and because they adore Cassie, Venom poked a small head out from Eddie’s shoulder to give her a toothy grin.

Scott gave them an encouraging thumbs up from next to Cassie, and even Hope looked – bemused, perhaps, at all of this. But, still. “We have, uh. Y’know.”

“Eaten people? Yeah, you’re the new local cryptid,” Hope said. “But as has been said, plenty of the Avengers have killed for one reason or another. Whatever, people will deal with it. Also, if you do sign, it’s not like you’re going to be required to move back to NYC or anything – look at Scott and myself, we’re still here.”

“Yeah but they probably will make him go out for an orientation or initiation or whatever they called it,” Scott piped up.

Eddie, Vee said into Eddie’s brain, we know we are reluctant, but also… we should give it a try. We could be better than ever! And we can meet many other superheroes too, get more friends. Eat them if they try to hurt us.

Eddie sighed. “We’ll think about it and get back to you, okay? That’s all I can promise right now.”

---

It wasn’t even a week before Eddie was giving Hope and Scott their signed copy of the Accords.

[sylph-of-limebloods]

Thirty Minutes More

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Fandom: Venom (Movie 2018)

Relationship(s): Eddie Brock/Venom Symbiote

Warnings!: Description of Panic Attack

Summary: "Tell me," Eddie asks as Venom encompasses his body as they stare towards the Life Foundation, "What really made you wanna stay here?"The answer is instantaneous. "You. It was you, Eddie." -- What were the events that changed Venom’s mind? Or: what if we saw thirty minutes more from the movie.

The sun’s started to rise by the time they’ve escaped the goons’ radar, black skies turning to pinks and purples when they suddenly turn, still running, into one of the alleys that Eddie’s mind registers as the southside of San Francisco. It’s there that Eddie and his “passenger” come to a sudden stop, their lungs heaving and heart racing as they quickly look around to take note of the open-ended alleyway, the chain-link fence some 20 yards down splitting the residential (where they stood) from the business back entrances, and the fire escape stretching all the way up towards the roof. Good.

“Don’t sense those assholes anymore,” Eddie’s throat rumbles. “Safe now.” The black sinew of the alien—of Venom—ripples against his skin before shrinking, absorbing and disappearing into Eddie’s body as control of motor functions is suddenly thrust back to him and, oh god, he thinks as he nearly trips over cobblestone and his own two feet,

“No need to thank me.”

Oh, god.

Eddie lets out a noise like hyaaaaann as he stumbles and slams his back into the brick-and-mortar building behind him, not feeling the distant surprise of falling nor the muted not-pain between his shoulder blades as hysteria bubbles up soda-pop and prickly through his chest and throat. He swallows, hard, before trying to speak. “Oh well gee that’s fan-fucking-tastic that we – I – fuck, we? What even––you know what, whatever, I just fucking OUTRAN CARS!! Outran. Fucking. Cars.” He goes to rake fingers through his hair but whoops he doesn’t have hair nor fingers his body’s still fucking ENCASED AND SMOTHERED IN TAR AND DARK THINGS—!

“Not a ‘thing’," is spit into Eddie’s mind, black still rippling against him and fuck didn’t it just disappear!? “Venom is who we are,” Venom says, a twisting sensation like indignation in Eddie’s stomach as his skin prickles, crawling from his back to his front, and he realizes Venom is moving across his body, (always moving), claws dissolving into normal fingers as the alien coalesces as a vest against his chest and arms, hidden by his hoodie. “We are one and the same, Eddie. We do not ‘smother’ anything of you.”

His now-human fingers and hands are shaking. “Yeah well,” Eddie feels dizzy, that fizzy feeling now turning to spikes in his stomach, stopping just below his diaphragm, fuck— “I-I for one do-don’t quite agree so wouldyoupleasegETOFFME–”—and he’s trying to rip and tear it off off OFF—!

The black whiplashes back into his skin lightening-fast and settles like a rock in his gut, tight and hard and unmoving, confusion and hurt rumbling somewhere in Eddie’s head, and fuck okay he is NOT confused—as he claws at his chest—okay he knows exactly going on he’s being hunted down—the clawing isn’t working—and he managed to run away from cars—he starts pulling at his hair instead—and slashed at vans—his chest is feeling tight but he grabs his hair harder and the pinpricks of pain help but—and fucking hell he ate another person, jesus!

He faintly hears–something, he doesn't know what, but it’s rumbly and distant, like the cobblestone at his feet (when did he look down), and the rumbles make him think of cars—

“Eddie?”

—oh god, cars, are they back?, did they find him, he needs to leave he needs to go but his limbs feel like lead—

"Eddie?!”

—and his throat feels tight and why does he feel lightheaded—

“EDDIE!”

Eddie strangles out a gasp as he snaps back to the present, eyes wide, the sensation of sight and sound of the alleyway almost overwhelming him despite the quiet dawn. Panic nearly grips him again when he thinks his diaphragm is paralyzed, but–oh. No, not paralyzed; it’s held still by his body-buddy. Before survival instinct and more panic kicks in, however, he feels it–Venom–slowly let go, and he can practically "see", in his mind’s eye, all of a sudden how uneasy and skittish Venom is but still trying to help. (Reminds him of awkward childhood hugs with his aunt, all hovering and doesn't know how to deal with a thing. So awkward, hehe. Fuck.)

“Breathe, moron; you creatures need oxygen to survive on this stupid planet.” Eddie tries to do the thing, the breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, but his heart’s just not into it, especially since it hasn’t calmed down since they stopped running; adrenaline, it’s a bitch. “Okay, that’s it. Let us,” he hears (never realized it tickles when Venom talks, at the base of his skull, never noticed), and Venom is oozing through him, Eddie feels it as Venom hitches his heart and eases it back into normal heart rate range while tensing and easing Eddie’s lungs into breathing slow, before Eddie’s able to join in. In; hold; out.

In; hold; out.

In...hold...out….

Eddie slumps against the building wall, strength leaving him on the last exhale and adrenaline spent. Fuck, he thinks, legs jelly, I haven’t had one of those in a while.

“What was that,” Venom demands as he materializes near-instant off Eddie’s shoulder (like he did--fuck, mere HOURS ago, what the hell), startling enough to jostle Eddie a bit; his “eyes” squinting and..brows? are dug close on his ever-grinning face; he’s confused–no, perplexed Eddie realizes as Venom says, “We escaped. Killed. Survived. And yet your body went haywire just now.” Venom gets closer to Eddie’s face, head doing some sort of small, jerky movements that Eddie has seen many times with others—with humans—to know that the alien’s doing a worried once-over, and if Venom had hands, he thinks stupidly, they’d be hovering over him. Eddie feels a twinge of something below his ribcage, but he doesn’t have the energy to look into it. “Explain.”

Hehehe, say please, Eddie giggles as he sing-songs in his head, giddy-tired. God, he’s on a hair trigger. Venom just gives him a proverbial question mark and another, sharper pang that, ah, is Venom’s poorly concealed panic. Ow, that actually hurts a bit. “Okay, okay, easy; that was, um. God I can’t believe I’m explaining this to an actual fucking ALIEN—”, he gestures to the air, arms flailing and nearly missing Venom’s disembodied head before unceremoniously dropping back to his sides, momentum having him bump into the wall with another, gentler thump. He hopes this building’s not residential, and he’s not smacking against someone’s bedroom. He doesn’t need to add disturbing the peace on his list of ongoing personal offenses, too, along with being a bounty for a corporate entity, assault and battery, and several traffic offenses. Oh, yeah, and eating a guy.

Fuck, right, explaining shit to a literal alien. Symbiote, rather, he thinks distantly.

“H’okay,” he says, allowing himself to finally slide down the wall to sit on the dewy-wet cobblestone, and sure his ass is going to be soaked through but fuck it. Venom still stays hovering, unusually patient. “How to explain this…” Fuck but he’s tired; brain, why no work. “Well, humans would call that a panic, or anxiety, attack. It, um,” he exhales through his nose, hard, and lips pursed as he cards his hand through his hair, gaze looking anywhere other than the other’s eyes. “It can happen when the mind is stressed. Can happen from little things to big things.” Eddie snorts, shakes his head and taps his temple. “Big thing, right here for me. For any human honestly; jesus,” he laughs, throat feeling scratchy, tasting the hysteria in the back of his throat again, but luckily there’s no energy left in him to feed it. Now it’s just a sharp twang at the back of the tongue.

Eddie glances up after a moment of quiet, and Venom’s just watching him, silent, observing. Eddie lets the silence be a moment of reprieve to lean back, to close his eyes and blank out his mind for just a minute, and only a minute, he tells himself. But so much has happened over the course of one night, he can’t blank out, just sees flashes of sparks and flame, the smell of burning rubber and car paint, seeing those men’s faces as he–as they had went to counter-strike, knocking out all of their stupid shocked faces in mere minutes. Eddie has to laugh at that under his breath, as messed up as it is—if he doesn’t laugh, he’ll cry, and he really doesn’t feel like having another kind of breakdown. Two in one night? Probably not good.

“Surviving should not give off fight-or-flight,” Venom states, voice close enough to rumble-tickle Eddie’s ear and startling him to jerk and open his eyes. “We know this.” Venom is still staring, though now more off to the left, looking almost...contemplative. “Felt it before.”

“Yeah, well, not everyone–. Wait,” Eddie blinks, confused, “you’ve felt what before?”  He now tries to look Venom in the eye, though the other stays firmly looking away. He notices another twisting sensation, this time in his gut, and it feels like guilt.

“Panic.”  Eddie can feel the Symbiote start to move under his skin, a tidal wave of gooseflesh, almost, heading towards his neck. “Fear.” Eddie blinks in muted surprise as Venom curls around his neck like a black, gooey snake, closer but still looking away. “Defeat.” The phantom guilt he feels is eating away at him, and Eddie doesn’t like it. He reaches to pet Venom’s head, hesitates. Then Venom continues to talk, “They all were like that.”

And he starts petting Venom. The other stiffens as he asks, “The other people you bonded to?” He doesn’t know why he’s asking, maybe he’s just exhausted enough to not giving a shit about getting dragged into all this, for now.

“Not bonded,” Venom says after a pause, a hesitance, before settling onto Eddie’s shoulder, into the scritches, “but yes.”

“Right,” Eddie says, resting his head back, gaze distant as he stares through the fire exit ladders across from him, tone airy, as he continues his scratching, “because all those people at the lab were ‘willing participants’, right?” He can only imagine the horrors those poor people experienced; locked up, forced to absorb the blobs of oily specimens…

“NO!” Venom snaps and Eddie jerks his hand away, Venom turning to face him fully with bared fangs, and Eddie feels that tightness of emotion in his side again, lava-hot and burning as the other says, growling, “I did not want it! I didn’t have a choice but to go to those humans, Eddie. Can’t exactly live well here, asshole.” Then Venom shifts, something rippling against and under Eddie’s skin and up his spine to the base of his skull, and then—

And then—

Now Eddie sees something different in his head than what he was imagining, a different perspective of the lab; a memory. He’s confined in a space with barely room to shift, like he’s in a box, and he’s starving, going to die soon, and then the room opens and he can’t ‘breathe’, can’t survive, but something’s there that could help, jumps on and in the creature, the ‘human’, and tries to reach out for help but he’s just so hungry and he can’t stop eating and it continues again and again until he can’t tell what’s who and who’s what.

It was a terrible fate for both human and symbiote. Eddie has to bite back the bile suddenly in his throat, clutching and massaging at his alien-tight side.

“I’m sorry,” Eddie chokes as he blinks rapidly against the afterimages of the memories. Venom moves back a bit, the alien-tightness suddenly lax as Eddie both sees and feels the blink, blink-blink of...astonishment? coming from Venom. He’s surprised too, honestly, at the genuineness. But. He swallows against the lump in his throat. “No creature should have to go through that.”

Venom just looks at him, unblinking and seemingly stoic, but Eddie knows better; he can’t even begin to comprehend the many things, the feelings, he feels going all around his body, Venom’s emotions going haywire it seemed. Surprise, shock, something soft that tickles his stomach that he doesn’t want to address.

“What?” Eddie asks, confused.

“We,” Venom starts after a moment, slow, as he eases himself back to laying across Eddie’s shoulders, “I’ve never felt another be sorry for us. Never felt apologetic, either. Couldn’t, not with Others.” That’s all he says, and Eddie just nods in somewhat understanding. At first he thinks ‘others’ was in reference to other humans, but the way it formed against their tongue sounded different. For once, though, he doesn’t ask.

“You never got any sympathy from anyone, huh? I know the feeling.” Eddie feels Venom’s attention shift to inward, to their mind, and Eddie shows him bits and pieces of himself. He remembers his earlier years of his life in New York, the mess of investigation with The Globe, the other, more minor fuck-ups he did when he was much younger and high off life and potential. He thinks of his more recent fuck-ups, with the way he handled that Life Foundation interview that truly fucked his life over, with Anne and how selfish he’d been. His younger self should’ve gotten sympathy, he thinks; his recent past, not so much. Doesn’t regret a thing, though, save for Anne. He doesn’t think he’ll ever forgive himself for breaking her trust like that.

Venom pipes up to interrupt his brooding. “Humans don’t like each other much, do they?”

Eddie snorts. “Yeah, we can be madder than a pit of vipers at one another,”—he feels Venom raise a proverbial eyebrow at the phrase—“but then you find yourself someone or a group of someones and you click? You’d die for them.” He suddenly yawns, waves of exhaustion hitting him again as he lifts his head up to the sky, Venom copying him in both actions (yawns are even contagious to aliens, apparently, huh). It’s becoming light out for sure, the purple-yellows of sunrise already fading to gentle blue, and they hear the city start to stir; average Joe’s going on to live their average jobs, and the world keeps on turning.

“You’re different than other humans, Eddie,” Venom says with a lilt, leaning into the scratching that Eddie unknowingly continued, his sternum now alight with a buzzy-bubbling sensation. He feels a happy-something tug at the corner of his mouth; immediately tramps it down by covering with a yawn, though turns real halfway through.

“Yeah?” He glances to the other. “I sure hope so; I don’t wanna suddenly croak on ya,” he says, chuckling, hoping a bit of nihilism would lighten the mood; beginning to feel a little too intimate for his tastes anyway. Fuck, his eyelids feel heavy.

“I have said it before and I’ll say it again, idiot,” Venom growls, the bubbles turning spikey with offense down his ribcage, again, ow, “You die? I die. And like hell I’m going to let that happen.” He nips at Eddie fingers, but he doesn’t draw blood, so Eddie doesn’t react.

“Alright, Alright, I get it. It was just a figure of speech anyway.” Eddie looks down where he came from, sees a few pedestrians and some bikers and says, “Y’know, I think there’s a park nearby.” Venom looks at him and he shrugs. “I mean, we could probably chill there for a bit, take a nap.”

“Nap?”

“Yeah, to recharge the batteries.”

“...Oh. You mean to rest,” Venom deadpans once the metaphor is processed.

“Well ye-whoah!” Venom disappears back into Eddie’s body, no longer visible but the strength and the foreign tingling is still prickling under the skin. He still ends up patting around his chest and sides to try and find the other, though. “Besides, those fuckers wouldn’t think twice about making a scene in the middle of the day at a park. Or, well, I don’t think they would.” He really hopes what he’s saying will be true, though; any more action and he really would croak, Symbiote parasite or no.

“Let’s go, then. Your energy levels are low.” Venom has him stand up with a hey! , strength most definitely not his own. “And not a parasite. Dumbass.”

Eddie doesn’t fight the smile this time as he laughs, walking out of the alleyway and squinting against the sunlight. “Uh-huh, sure.”

“I will take you back to those hunters, don’t see that i will.”

“Aww! Can I get that nap first, though?” Eddie sticks out his lower lip in a pout despite Venom not being able to see it, he’s sure the other would be able to feel it.

A pinch of strange emotion at his side again, then, with a tone sounding like an eyeroll, “Fine.”

[adamwatchesmovies]

Venom (2018)

I could’ve seen A Star is Born or Halloween again. I could’ve stayed home and begun marathoning the Rocky movies in preparation for Creed II. Instead, Venom for a third time. I blame Sony, director Ruben Fleischer, writers Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg and Melly Marcel. Most of all, I blame fans who, even though this film is awful, are making it highly profitable.

Life Foundation CEO Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) is experimenting with alien organisms called symbiotes, attempting to meld them with human hosts. When disgraced investigative journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) breaks into the facility to expose what’s happening, he and the symbiote calling itself Venom (also voiced by Hardy) bond and vow to take him down.

The humor is VERY hit-or-miss but there are some legitimately funny bits. I like the symbiote’s penchant for chocolate and tater tots when it isn’t craving human organs. There are also some pretty cool action scenes. Although this picture is terrible, the fault doesn't rest on the actors. Venom should’ve been a spinoff of Spider-Man: Homecoming but that doesn't mean it was doomed.

The film’s main villain, Carlton Drake, is composed entirely of clichés. When he isn’t moaning about humanity destroying the environment, he’s disgusted by our “awful design”. At least those scenes work as intended. At one point, a little girl touring his building is laughed at for wanting to ask a question. He interrupts the children’s ridicule by telling everyone that curiosity is a great thing… but never even asks the girl what she wanted answered. Once symbiote-human bonding becomes possible, he goes into full megalomania mode: killing his employees and misquoting (or perhaps simply misremembering) biblical quotes to justify his actions. It gets even worse when he merges with the symbiote Riot. That’s right. The film’s final battle is between one CGI monster… and a second with the same powers.

In Eddie Brock, you see one missed opportunity after another. This could’ve been an R-Rated body horror film. It could’ve been a buddy-comedy in which two radically different “people” have to share a body. Instead, it’s an unsatisfying mix of both. The poorly written characters bore, making the loooong time for Venom to properly show up feel exponentially tedious. You frantically grasp for something to keep your interest, settling upon mentally filing away everything the film does wrong. Why did it take Riot 6 months to find an airport? How did Venom know the guy on the other side of that door was bad? Why did Riot and Carlton Drake think they could fly a space shuttle by themselves?

One of the film's last lines refers to “a turd in the wind”. What does that even mean? Are you just giving me ammunition for my review at this point? *Sigh* If you're compelled to see Venom stick around for the end credits. There are scenes midway and at the very very end. (3D Theatrical version on the big screen, November 8, 2018)

[the-desolated-quill]

So What The Fuck Is Going On With This Venom Movie? - Quill’s Scribbles

After many false starts and changing productions, it appears that the long awaited Venom movie is finally getting off the ground with Tom Hardy in the leading role as Eddie Brock and Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer attached to direct the film. And you’d think people would be excited for this, but surfing the Internet, the reaction to Sony’s Venom movie seems to be lukewarm at best. There are many reasons for this and I thought I’d take the opportunity to explore those reasons whilst trying to understand just what the hell Sony is planning (because I have a sneaking suspicion that not even they know).

There was once a time when Venom ruled the fucking world. Every comic book geek was obsessed with the character, including myself when I was younger. And I’m sure you can see why. I mean look at him:

Come on! You’ve got to admit he looks cool!

Not only did the character have an incredibly distinct look, but also the idea behind him was both creative and unique. An alternate Spider-Man costume later revealed to be an alien life form was a totally unexpected twist.

Venom is a black alien goo called a Symbiote. The symbiotes were a race of parasites that bonded to host bodies and forced them to do death defying acts in order to feed off of their adrenaline. However Venom was an outcast because it was the only one of its kind who wanted to form a symbiotic bond with the host rather than drain and discard them (so technically only Venom is a true symbiote because it’s the only one that desires symbiosis with its host… Yeah. Shut up. It’s still cool). Banished to Battleworld, Spider-Man accidentally releases it from its prison and ends up taking it back to Earth, becoming the Black Suit Spider-Man.

Black Suit Spidey was significantly more powerful than regular Spidey. He was faster, stronger and could produce his own organic webbing. However he was also more aggressive in costume (not to the extent that it changed his entire personality like in the film Spider-Man 3, but still he was noticeably more violent than we were used to seeing) and was often extremely tired when not wearing the costume. Later Spidey realised that not only was his new costume a living, thinking being, it would also take control of his body while he was sleeping, hence why he was so tired all of the time.

With the help of the Fantastic Four, Spidey manages to remove and contain the symbiote only for it to escape and attack him, wanting to bond with him permanently. This leads to the famous bell tower scene where Spidey uses the sound waves of the church bell to remove the symbiote. Left weakened by the struggle, Spidey was close to death only to be unexpectedly rescued by the symbiote before it slithered away. Left heartbroken and rejected, it would later bond with Eddie Brock, whose irrational hatred for Spider-Man corrupted the symbiote into the feral predator we know today.

The Black Suit Spidey arc was and still is one of the great Spider-Man stories, serving as an excellent origin story for Venom. Comic book readers loved the character and as his popularity grew, Marvel were quick to milk it for all its worth. Eventually Venom got his own spin-off series called Venom: Lethal Predator, where Venom becomes an anti-hero protecting a community of homeless people in San Francisco. We were also introduced to other prominent symbiotes over the years, the most notable being Carnage and Toxin.

Venom-Mania officially reached its peak in the late 90s/early 00s, with plans for a Venom movie produced by New Line Cinema and written by David S Goyer featuring Venom as an anti-hero and Carnage as an antagonist. Ultimately this didn’t pan out and the rights reverted to Sony along with Spider-Man himself. Eager to cash in on Venom’s popularity, Sony execs forced director Sam Raimi to include the character in his third Spider-Man movie. This generated a lot of excitement as many, including myself, were eager to see Venom finally appear on the big screen. The results were… 

…less than satisfactory.

Yeah. You’d think Venom and the director of the Evil Dead movies would go hand in hand, but no. Turns out Sam Raimi doesn’t like Venom at all and kind of resented Sony forcing the issue. You can tell watching the movie that Raimi was only doing this under protest and clearly was not taking the character seriously, which angered a lot of people. But despite this, Sony were still planning to do a Venom spinoff movie, however this was scrapped when they decided to reboot the Spider-Man franchise. The project was briefly reignited when there were plans to create a Spider-Man shared universe featuring the Sinister Six and Black Cat, but this ultimately fell through when The Amazing Spider-Man movies failed to deliver at the box office (a billion dollars Sony? Fucking really?!)

So this upcoming Venom movie marks the fourth attempt at giving the character his own solo film, and you’d think there’d be a lot more anticipation over this. But as I say the reaction has been lukewarm. The thing is, while Spider-Man 3′s Venom was a disaster, I think people would still have been excited about a Venom movie regardless if it were being made ten years ago. The fact is that while Venom still has a dedicated fanbase, he’s not quite as popular as he once was. This is just my personal opinion of course, but I think the reason why his popularity dwindled is because, outside of his origin story… well… there isn’t really a lot of things you can do with Venom. I mean sure, they tried to mix it up a little. The Venom symbiote would eventually leave Eddie Brock and move on to other hosts, including Mac Gargan (aka Scorpion) and Flash Thompson, and while they provide interesting spins on the character, it did become very repetitive. Plus without Eddie Brock, Venom kind of loses his motivation a little bit.

That’s not to say a Venom movie can’t still be good. As I said, his origin story is really good and the concept is still very unique and creative. It’s going to be R rated and is apparently going to be more akin to a science fiction horror movie rather than a superhero film, which could be interesting. And I think we can all agree Tom Hardy is an excellent choice to play Eddie Brock. It’s just a question of whether or not Sony have learned from their previous mistakes.

While I didn’t mind in Spider-Man 3 that they kept the symbiote’s origins secret, one of the biggest problems was that the symbiote didn’t have a character. It was treated as little more than a plot device with no depth or explanation given to it, which I found really irritating because the symbiote is an interesting character in its own right. It’s lonely. It wants to permanently bond with a host and share abilities and experiences. While overzealous and often overstepping the mark, it does actually care for its host, as demonstrated when it saved Spidey’s life in the bell tower. And when it realised that Spidey didn’t want to be a part of this symbiotic relationship, it reluctantly left him. Its relationship with Spidey can easily be construed as a tragic and twisted love affair. It only truly turned evil when it came into contact with Eddie Brock, whose irrationality warped and corrupted the symbiote into a rage fuelled monster.

Something else Spider-Man 3 got wrong was its depiction of Eddie Brock, portraying him as this selfish, self centred jerk (plus Topher Grace was the wrong choice entirely for the part). In the comics he’s a bit more complex than that.

Working as a journalist for the Daily Globe, Eddie Brock is able to get a confession from a man claiming to be a serial killer called the Sin Eater. This backfires when the man is revealed to be a compulsive liar and that Spider-Man had caught the real killer. With his reputation in tatters, Eddie Brock sinks into a deep depression. Forced to work for tacky tabloid magazines, his wife divorces him in disgust and his father, who he’s been desperately trying to win the approval of, stops talking to him. He starts bodybuilding in an effort to take his mind off of his predicament, but his anger and depression still remains, blaming Spider-Man for what happened to him. And just to add insult to injury, he finds out he has cancer.

That’s the key difference between the two. In Spider-Man 3, Eddie is an entitled little shit who deserves everything he gets. In the comics, Eddie is a broken man that the reader can actually identify with. In the movie Eddie faked photos of Spidey stealing from a bank and then blames Peter Parker for ratting him out. In the comics Eddie makes an honest mistake and his life spirals downwards as a result, projecting his anger onto Spidey, And then there’s the church scene. In the movie, Eddie asks God to kill Peter Parker, which just comes across as laughable and reveals what a rubbish one dimensional villain he is. In the comics, Eddie goes to the church because he’s contemplating suicide and asks God for forgiveness, which makes him more sympathetic and his ultimate fate that much more tragic. While both versions share an irrational hatred of Spider-Man, only one of them comes from an understandable place.

This is why I’m happy Tom Hardy is playing the character. As well as having the right build, he’s also played this kind of character before and done an extremely good job. If the filmmakers focus on making Eddie Brock a relatable and sympathetic character, give the symbiote its own identity and personality, and go to great lengths to explore the relationship between the two, this could make for a pretty decent movie.

However there are a few other concerns I have about this movie, and this largely stems from the business side of things.

Sony have mentioned that Venom is going to be the first instalment of a Sony Marvel Universe. Now their track record when it comes to franchise building is shaky at best. While I liked The Amazing Spider-Man 2 better than most, I will admit that the movie does feel extremely cluttered. It suffers from the same problem as movies like Iron Man 2 in that it had a lot of good ideas, but there were just too many. Sony were clearly putting more emphasis on franchise building rather than telling a good story, and while The Amazing Spider-Man 2 wasn’t a bad movie by any means, it did suffer as a result.

They also have a tendency to have unrealistic expectations for their movies. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 for instance was expected to make a billion dollars at the box office. A billion?! Look, the Avengers can make a billion dollars, Justice League could make a billion dollars and Batman V Superman should have made a billion dollars, but Spider-Man? I know he’s popular, but… that popular?! Another example is the Ghostbusters reboot, which Sony were hoping to turn into its own shared universe. It ultimately failed to deliver at the box office, and the main reason for this (apart from the sexist butthurt fanboys) is because Ghostbusters just isn’t a tentpole franchise. The most a Ghostbusters movie has ever made at the box office was 295 million dollars. It’s profitable, but not that profitable. As much as I LOVE the Ghostbusters reboot and wanted it to succeed, the fact is Sony were incredibly foolish with how they handled it. Throwing massive wads of money at a movie that simply would never have been the mega success they wanted, regardless of whether the sexist butthurt fanboys boycotted the movie or not.

So what the fuck IS going on with this Venom movie? Well as best as I can understand it, Venom is going to be a part of his own shared universe called the Sony Marvel Universe, which will have no connection to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now to some extent, I can see why Sony have made that decision. Spider-Man may be part of the MCU now and they do still have creative control over the character, but it’s not theirs. As it stands, Sony make money off of any Spider-Man movies they produce, but any MCU movies where Spider-Man makes a guest appearance, Marvel Studios get the money. Naturally they want something to call their own, and there are rumours that after the Spider-Man Homecoming sequel, Sony plan to ditch the MCU entirely and continue the Spider-Man franchise themselves, presumably keeping the same actor but having none of the future movies connecting with the MCU at all (might as well. I mean its not as if the MCU movies connect with each other anymore). But then it gets even stranger when you learn that Spider-Man might not actually be in this Venom movie. That’s very odd considering how pivotal a role Spider-Man plays in Venom’s backstory and how famous the Black Suit Spider-Man arc is. Why wouldn’t you want to adapt that? 

The problem is if Spider-Man appears or is even mentioned in the Venom movie, then people are going to assume that its part of the MCU, which it isn’t. I suppose you could do something similar to Supergirl and cast another actor to play a different version of Spider-Man, but that might be tricky to pull off. For one thing, Superman doesn’t wear a mask so we can look at Tyler Hoechlin and say ‘oh he doesn’t look like Henry Cavill. Clearly this is not the same Superman from Man Of Steel.’ The different mediums also help the audience make that distinction, that the movie and TV universes are separate. With this, I think it’ll be harder for casual movie going audiences to make that distinction and would actually confuse them.

One possible option Sony could take is to make a few discreet references to Spider-Man and the larger MCU to imply a larger connection, but I don’t think Marvel Studios would really appreciate that. No, the telling detail here is that this is called the Sony Marvel Universe as opposed to something like the Spideyverse or something. In other words, Sony could be making a Spider-Man shared universe… without Spider-Man. Now yes, this could work, but just look at the movies slated to come out. Venom, Black Cat and Silver Sable. Aside from the fact that they all appear in Spider-Man comics, what do they have in common?

… 

Nothing. 

They have pretty much nothing to do with each other outside of Spider-Man. So how are you supposed to create a shared universe around them? And why would anybody want to see this? Black Cat and Silver Sable are hardly household names and while Venom does still have a dedicated following, he’s just not as popular as he was ten years ago. The ship has pretty much sailed on that front. Either there’s something Sony aren’t telling us or, more likely, they haven’t thought this through. Using whatever assets they’ve got lying around to create their own shared universe that they can control, not because of its artistic merit or creative possibilities, but because it’s a trend they want to cash in on while they still can.

On the whole, I’m adopting a kind of wait and see attitude to all of this. Like I said, the film does have potential and I’m confident Tom Hardy will do a great job in the role. I just can’t shake the feeling that Sony might have, once again, shot themselves in the foot before they’ve even started.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

How I would fix Venom

This continues on from my last post about Venom vol 4 #10

The way I see it there are currently ¾ dominant backstories for Venom Marvel treats as canon (even if they shouldn’t).

Lethal Protector

Dark Origins from 2008

The way things played out in ASM #300 and other older stories in contradiction of Dark Origins (Dark Origins contains a lot of original material hence I said ¾)

And now Cates’ origin which has stated various details from Brock’s past actually didn’t happen.

And they do NOT jive together, along with Eddie’s various personality shifts over the years.

But what if…they were all true..what if there was a reason for all the contradictions?

This is not a very Spider-Man story, but it is a more cosmic story and the symbiotes are after all aliens.

What if some cosmic hiccup led to different AU versions of Eddie Brock’s life converging and overlapping.

Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote essentially exists in all these different universes including Earth 616 simultaneously but his memories, personality and past spontaneously change and convulse sometimes becoming identical to one versions’ other times another and yet other times a mad combination of all them. This process would be exacerbated by Brock’s mental problems in almost all his lives and the symbiote’s effect upon him.

One man but many lives in one. Almost like his life is as malleable and changeable as the symbiote’s.

However after the Final Incursion and the remaking of the Multiverse. These versions were separated out.

But they weren’t necessarily put back in their proper place.

Whilst each version of Venom has accurate recollections of their past (barring other factors affecting it, like the symbiote altering his perceptions)

For instance Eddie’s father as seen in Cates’ run might not be the one native to Earth 616 and his sister Mary may well have existed on Earth 616 but all records about her might have not been recreated after-SW.

Or maybe not.

Maybe Cates’ version of Venom truly IS the 616 version and all those elements it contradicts (Mary’s existence, Brock really having cancer, etc) were things that were actually from AUs that have now been exorcised.

Regardless Cates Venom is the Venom/Eddie Brock we now have in the 616 universe and he’s a sympathetic anti-hero.

Oh…but there is also another Venom!

This version of Eddie Brock hasn’t got the modern haircut or beard of Cates’ Venom, he’s got the Marine buzzcut and weightlifter look of the 1980s Venom.

Although all the Venom stories prior to Cates’ run occurred as we saw them on the page, this Brock’s backstory prior and in between all that stuff played out in a way that combined certain elements of Venom Dark Origin and Uncanny Origins #7 (read: all the ways that didn’t contradict any of the Michelinie era ASM Venom stories).

The only exceptions would be flashback stories Michelinie did in the 1990s designed to make Brock seem more sympathetic and more of an anti-hero. For example Venom’s first kill, that truck stop story that occurred en route to his second fight with Spider-Man, ASM #375 and 388 and Lethal Protector #3. For this Venom those stories might still have happened but not quite the same. I’m specifically thinking his housekeeper’s account of his backstory in LP #3 might for this Brock be wholly untrue, something that she herself dreamed up because she is old and senile.

Furthermore for this Brock when he battled Spider-Man for the second time the brief point in time when the symbiote was bonded to both him and Peter simultaneously caused both of them to see into one another’s minds and create a psychic rapport of sorts.

For Peter this meant that Venom’s murderous intent for him was felt on a visceral level leading Peter to experience an instinctive desire to run and escape, increasing how much he’d otherwise fear Venom.

For Brock exposure to Peter’s heroic mind, given his own religious upbringing, deluded belief he was a crusader of justice and over all fragile mind left Brock feeling compelled to act in an over all more heroic manner. This is why after the second Venom story he gradually began acting more and more anti-heroic.

This psychic rapport weakened over time, so Venom went back to being villainous and Peter went back to being less afraid of Venom. However the rapport was still there so when Brock’s fear of dying from cancer and desire to live by rebonding with the symbiote reached it’s height it caused Peter to instinctively react by forcing Brock and the symbiote back together.

Brock’s fragile mind combined with the psychic rapport and continual unhealthy exposure to symbiotes made his mind a mess. He would sporadically be inclined towards a form of heroism (anti-Venom, Toxin during Conway’s run) or villainy (Toxin during Agent Venom).

However now his mind has been ‘purged’. Which is to say he no longer has Spider-Man in his head anymore so his personality is more consistent.

Over all the backstory for this version of Brock would serve the purposes of:

Reconciling a lot of contradictory continuity

Removing continuity that painted Brock as a sympathetic anti-hero

Ensuring those removals and reconciliations make it clear this Brock in truth is a selfish, hypocritical, delusional psychotic killer at heart incapable of accepting personal responsibility.

And THIS would be the Eddie Brock who appears sporadically in Spider-Man stories as a villain.

He and Cates’ solo-series anti-hero Venom co-exist with distinctly different personalities and backstories any one of which may or may not be indigenous to Earth 616.

Two Brocks built for 2 different purposes.

As for how we differentiate them, simple.

One looks like Todd McFarlane’s Venom with the big creepy grin and the other looks like Mark Bagley’s/Erik Larsen’s Venom with those huge teeth and slobbering tongue.

Neither are sure which one of them really comes from Earth 616, neither one much cares. They agree to stay away from one another since contact with one another would destroy them and so Cates’ Venom entrusts Spider-Man to deal with the evil Brock.

Now we can go off and have character developing solo stories with Cates new revised anti-hero Venom and Spider-Man gets his numero uno bad guy back.

[aion-rsa]

Venom: Riot and the Life Foundation Symbiotes Explained

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With Riot showing up in the Venom film, we look at the life of the obscure symbiote and his siblings Scream, Phage, Lasher, and Agony.

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Feature

Books

Gavin Jasper

venom

Jul 22, 2018

SDCC

SDCC 2018

We’re only months away from the Venom movie and San Diego Comic-Con confirmed that we’re definitely getting the symbiote Riot as at least one of the villains. In fact, there’s a good chance we might be getting more, if not all, of the Life Foundation symbiotes. Michelle Lee, for example, has been on the IMDB cast page as Donna Diego (the symbiote known as Scream) for about a year. 

Who are all of these symbiotes? They certainly aren’t as well-known as Venom’s go-to symbiote rival, Carnage.

To explain the likes of Riot, Scream, Lasher, Phage, and Agony, you have to go back to the early '90s when Venom was starting to get a little too popular. He was a big seller as a Spider-Man villain, and Marvel was starting to flirt with the idea of doing more with him. A couple What If issues suggested the idea of using him as a violent anti-hero. He also teamed up with Spider-Man when Carnage first showed up, and there was even a backup story at some point that showed that in-between getting the symbiote and deciding to go kill Spider-Man, Eddie Brock actually used his powers to help save someone.

David Michelinie, Venom’s co-creator, was writing Amazing Spider-Man at the time and did a two-parter based on 1) making Eddie Brock more sympathetic, and 2) getting him to ease off Spider-Man and accept that maybe Peter Parker isn’t the worst person ever. After all, other than being ultra-violent, Venom’s only real villainous MO was trying to kill Spider-Man. Without that vendetta, he wasn’t going to go rob banks or try to take over the world.

In 1993, we got the six-issue miniseries Venom: Lethal Protector by Michelinie, Mark Bagley, and Ron Lim. It turned out to be the first arc in a five-year run of Venom stories. Michelinie was either too busy to write the series regularly or just wasn’t interested. He still did Lethal Protector as a fantastic starting point, introducing ideas that were, unfortunately, mostly dropped and quickly phased out. He had Eddie Brock move to San Francisco and find a new role as the protector of a secret, underground society of homeless people. He introduced Eddie’s vindictive millionaire father. He even introduced the Jury, a team of armored former Vault guards who were out to get revenge on Venom for killing their friend.

While Venom’s main villain in the story was Roland Treece (who will be played by Scott Haze in the movie), he took a detour when he was captured by the Life Foundation. An interesting idea from Michelinie’s Spider-Man run that only lasted a few years, the Life Foundation was a shadow organization that used mad science to evolve mankind in order to endure an apocalyptic event. The perfect combination of low ethics, high resources, and lots of potential for science gone wrong.

The Life Foundation was run by Carlton Drake (played by Riz Ahmed in the movie) and his bright idea was to forcibly remove the seeds in the Venom costume to create five more symbiotes. Those symbiotes would be bonded to five Life Foundation grunts and the organization would be one step closer to success. While they were mostly cool designs, these symbiotes were little more than that. They didn’t get codenames or host names until well after the fact and the hosts didn’t even get any identifiable traits.

Hell, only two of them even got lines. Scream (female, red and yellow), the most iconic of the group, got to fight Spider-Man one-on-one. Phage (male, brownish yellow) battled with Venom briefly. They got to talk during those fights, but otherwise, the Life Foundation goons kept it quiet while they took on our heroes five-on-two.

Finally, Venom used a big ass sonic ray on them, which turned the symbiotes into compost and revealed that the Life Foundation, unlike Eddie, had the budget for underwear. Seriously, if your pants are made of liquid and are sentient enough that they can leave at a moment’s notice, invest in some briefs. Seeing Venom’s tongue flapping around is enough as is.

Anyway, Drake escaped and blew up the headquarters, seemingly meaning the whole Symbiote 5 threat was permanently off the table. That turned out to not be the case. As for Drake, he appeared in one more story before falling into complete obscurity.

From the end of 1994 into the beginning of 1995, Howard Mackie and Rod Randall did a four-part Venom story called Venom: Separation Anxiety. It followed a storyline in the main Spider-Man books where the Scarlet Spider first showed up. The idea was that since Spider-Man was always shown to be physically inferior to Venom in a straight-up fight – usually surviving due to luck or thinking outside the box – Marvel would establish Scarlet Spider as a big deal by having him straight-up kick Venom’s ass. Meanwhile, Scream showed up a couple times to plead for Venom’s help, only to get into their share of brawls because nobody in comics can have a civil conversation.

After the scrap with Scarlet Spider, Eddie was in custody and was separated from the symbiote. No longer influenced/controlled, he had time to reflect and realized that the symbiote made him a monster. He was then kidnapped by the Life Foundation symbiotes. The five not only survived and retained their symbiotes from the previous adventure, but they also left the Life Foundation behind.

Yes, that's exactly the state of dress you want to be in with shards of glass flying around. Now I know why they call this story Separation Anxiety.

This comic started gave the hosts first names, but the creative team couldn’t keep things straight and it became confusing since Phage was referred to as both Carl and Ramon. In a world where D-list comic characters are given profiles in who’s who Marvel books, the following names were established:

- Scream: Donna Diego - Phage: Carl Mach - Lasher (male, green with tentacles): Ramon Hernandez - Agony (female, purple and black): Leslie Gesneria - Riot (male, grayish black): Trevor Cole

The hosts wanted Eddie’s help in communicating with their symbiotes. Since Eddie was on a very anti-symbiote kick at the time, he outright refused. Then one-by-one, the captors started getting picked off via a sonic knife. Eddie was the red herring, but it turned out to be Scream’s doing. She'd been insane for years and having the symbiote made the voices in her head even worse.

Venom survived, of course, but Carl, Ramon, Leslie, and Trevor weren’t so lucky.

In late 1995, Acclaim released a video game for SNES and Genesis called Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety. Despite its title, it was actually based on the Lethal Protector storyline, as it not only featured the new symbiotes, but also the Jury and some giant demolition robots from that arc. It was also an inferior sequel to the game Maximum Carnage, which was pretty funny since Lethal Protector’s storyline happened first.

The funniest part of the whole game was that even though it was Lethal Protector, the final boss was Carnage for absolutely no reason other than the fact that Acclaim still had the sprite assets around from the previous game. There was no setup for his appearance in the game (not counting his appearance on the box cover) and even the ending was nothing more than a still of Carnage with “GAME COMPLETE” over it followed by the credits. Fingers crossed that the movie does better than that.

Even though the comics killed off the Life Foundation hosts, the symbiotes were survived and became prisoners of the government. That led to the creation of Hybrid, an obscure hero who mostly existed in backup stories in Venom’s '90s comics. The idea was that Scott Washington, an established Vault prison guard who first appeared in New Warriors, saw the symbiotes being tortured and felt bad for them. He helped them escape and got fired for it. Then he was crippled due to unrelated gang violence. The symbiotes tracked him down and bonded with him, fixing his spine.

The hook was that Scott was super pissed and wanted bloody vengeance while the four symbiotes were all, “What? No! We come in peace!” He eventually chilled out and dedicated himself to wiping out crime in his neighborhood. After two backup arcs, he wouldn’t show up in comics for another 15 years or so.

As for Scream, she made her return in 1996’s Venom: The Hunted by Larry Hama and Duncan Rouleau. The three-issue story was amazing and ridiculous and featured Eddie Brock earning money by using his powers to succeed at extreme skateboarding under the name Rad Eddie. This took place after Planet of the Symbiotes, in which Venom, Spider-Man, and Scarlet Spider teamed up to stop a full-on invasion of Venom’s kind. As Hunted revealed, some symbiotes remained on Earth and Scream was helping the hosts deal.

Unfortunately for her, there was an alien creature called the Xenophage going around that fed on symbiotes. So Scream’s new friends didn’t last so long. This whole mess concluded with Venom and Scream fighting the Xenophage on a subway train and blowing its head up. Scream came off as more heroic in this story and popped up again shortly after in the incomprehensible Venom/Wolverine team-up Venom: Tooth and Claw. Last seen, Scream was trying to use the Xenophage’s ship to search for other symbiote hosts. Like with Hybrid, that would be her last appearance for about 15 years.

Not her last appearance in general, though. In 1999, the theme park Universal Islands of Adventure opened up with the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. This ride, which takes your usual theme park dark ride and merges it with 3D technology and other tricks to make an incredibly immersive comic book adventure, features a story where Spider-Man has to save the riders from the Sinister Syndicate. Led by Doctor Octopus, the team has stolen the Statue of Liberty via an anti-gravity gun. Ock’s team includes Hydroman, Electro, Hobgoblin, and Scream.

I guess they were really, really hard-pressed to come up with a Spider-Man villainess. Scream remains part of that ride to this day, meaning Univeral’s been playing the long game on relevancy. Meanwhile, Venom has absolutely zero representation in any of Universal’s rides, but damn if his merch isn't all over that gift shop.

In 2012, we finally got some follow-up to the Venom spawn. Over the years, Eddie had lost the Venom symbiote, became powered by some kind of nega-cancer symbiote-like organism under the name Anti-Venom, then gave up those powers to save New York City. Powerless, Eddie became erratic and obsessed with wiping out the entire symbiote species, all while Flash Thompson wore his black-and-white hand-me-downs as an agent of the government.

In Venom #11 by Rick Remender and Lan Medina, Eddie went full-on Punisher, hunting down and killing Hybrid despite admitting that he was doing a good job as a vigilante. In the same issue, he got Scream to go after him. He proceeded to ambush her and stab her to death with a blazing hot knife. Eddie’s campaign took a turn when he was forced to bond with the Carnage spawn Toxin, but that’s a story for another day.

That's the last we’ve heard of Scream’s symbiote, but the government was able to recover the four that made up Hybrid. 2012’s Carnage USA by Zeb Wells and Clayton Crain introduced the Mercury Team. Four special forces soldiers were armed with the symbiotes: Chief Petty Officer Marcus Simms controlled Lasher like a gooey attack dog on a leash; Lieutenant James Murphy used Agony as a means to carry heavy munitions, using rail guns like handguns; as Phage, Lieutenant Rico Axelson could snipe with pinpoint accuracy from a mile and a half away; Petty Officer Howard Ogden, who specialized in stealth and invisibility, was bonded with Riot.

The team did all right for themselves as they helped liberate a small town from Carnage’s control, but they weren’t long for this world. In 2014’s Deadpool vs. Carnage by Cullen Bunn and Salva Espin, Carnage went on another rampage and Deadpool decided to go hunt him down. Carnage went after the Mercury Team before they could assemble against him and killed off the entire team except for Simms’ dog.

The dog helped Deadpool bond with the Hybrid symbiotes and he proceeded to outfight Carnage before messing with his head so badly that Carnage gave up and allowed himself to be incarcerated again. Having succeeded, Deadpool gave the four symbiotes back to the dog and told him to run off to its government handlers.

And that’s where we are with Venom’s non-Carnage kin. A whole, big pile of dead hosts, a red and yellow symbiote unaccounted for, and a dog running around as a host to four creatures. Maybe with Venom hitting theaters, we’ll see something new come out of this plot thread. Who knows? Maybe Carlton Drake is finally here to stay after 25 years of silence.

Gavin Jasper is impressed to see that all five Life Foundation guys have been remade in Capcom style for MUGEN. Follow Gavin on Twitter!

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Spider-Man, Venom & the Sad, Sad Story of Eddie Brock

Marvel Comics recently announced that Eddie Brock, the original man beneath the evil symbiote, will be returning in this April’s “Venom” #6. With such a momentous occasion, we felt it only appropriate to take a look at the history of Eddie Brock, which is sadly a pretty bleak history when all is said and done.

RELATED: Eddie Brock Returns in Venom #6

Eddie Brock debuted in the classic “Amazing Spider-Man” #300 by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane, where he confronted Spider-Man and revealed just who he was and why he had bonded with the alien symbiote that Spider-Man had brought to Earth from “Secret Wars” but had then had broken away from with help from the Fantastic Four and the symbiotes weakness to flames and sonic weapons.

Eddie, you see, was a successful columnist for the Daily Globe, a rival newspaper to the Daily Bugle. He wrote a series of very popular columns about the serial killer known as the Sin-Eater. The series gained so much attention that he was contacted by the Sin-Eater himself! Or at least, a man named Emil Gregg, who claimed to be the Sin-Eater. He gave Eddie a series of interviews. They became a media sensation, but Eddie was hounded by the authorities to turn over the identity of the Sin-Eater. He refused, until finally, in one sensational story that was on the front page of the Globe, he revealed to the world the identity of the Sin-Eater!

The problem, though, was that Emil Gregg was not the Sin-Eater! Police detective Stan Carter was. When Spider-Man defeated the real Sin-Eater and unmasked him, Brock’s career was ruined. He was fired from the Globe. Brock’s mother died in childbirth, and his father blamed him for it the rest of Eddie’s life. Eddie did everything he could to impress his father, but it never worked. So when he became an actual disgrace? It was too much for Eddie. He got work for some tabloids, but his life was in a spiral. His new obsessive hatred for Spider-Man also led to his wife divorcing him. Eddie began working out heavily at this time, transforming his body into basically a bodybuilder, but further separating him from his past. The pain was so much that he went from church to church trying to figure out a way to kill himself that wouldn’t violate his Roman Catholic beliefs. While at one church, the symbiote was hiding there (following a confrontation with Spider-Man in “Web of Spider-Man” #1 after it escaped from the Fantastic Four) and when it learned that Brock hated Spider-Man, as well, it bonded with Brock and they formed Venom! Since the symbiote had bonded with Spider-Man, it knew his secret identity, so now Venom did, as well. Spider-Man barely defeated him by forcing him to use up too much of his webbing.

RELATED: Marvel Releases Over 20 Venom-ized Variant Covers

Venom only appeared in two stories during McFarlane’s “Amazing Spider-Man” run, with him escaping from custody in “Amazing Spider-Man” #315 (by Michelinie and McFarlane) in a story that showed a disturbing aspect of Brock. He believed in protecting innocents, but he still had to kill sometimes, so he would really mourn the people he killed. He was truly broken as a person, as he believed he was doing good.

Brock’s desire to protect innocents (which Spider-Man, of course, was not), led to a bold gambit by Marvel. You see, after McFarlane’s run, Venom appeared in a very popular arc in the Erik Larsen stint as artist that followed. This was during the early 1990s when comics were selling millions. Venom was extremely popular, so Marvel wanted to cash in on that popularity. However, he was still a villain, so they felt kind of weird making him a feature character. But in “Amazing Spider-Man” #361 (by David Michelinie, Mark Bagley and Randy Emberlin), they introduced the spawn of the Venom symbiote, who merged with a serial killer named Cletus Kasady. The merged being called itself Carnage, and unlike Venom, it killed indiscriminately.

This was very important for Marvel as now they a villain to replace Venom, while Venom could become, in effect, an anti-hero, or, if you prefer, a “lethal protector.” This came to a head in “Amazing Spider-Man” #375 (by Michelinie, Bagley and Emberlin), where we first met Eddie’s ex-wife, Anne Weying. Brock had kidnapped Peter Parker’s parents (although he did not tell them that Peter was Spider-Man, as he wanted to protect their innocence) and Spider-Man, in turn, tracked down Anne so that she could try to reason with Eddie. When Silver Sable’s Wild Pack (who had been hired by J. Jonah Jameson) showed up to take Venom down, the battle knocked a tower over, which was going to crush Anne. Venom couldn’t stop it by himself, but then Spider-Man stepped in to aid him. This led to the famous Spider-Man/Venom truce of 1993. Venom would stop hunting Spider-Man, using his information about Spider-Man’s secret identity, and Spider-Man would not actively try to stop Venom (so long as Venom wasn’t going around killing people, of course).

Venom headed off for San Francisco, where he became a champion, of sorts, for the homeless population in that city. During his time there, he also spawned a few more symbiotes. Interestingly enough, almost immediately after finally leaving New York, Venom returned to fight alongside Spider-Man against Carnage in the crossover event, “Maximum Carnage,” where Spider-Man debated whether he had to adopt a more aggressive, Venom-like, approach to stop the evil Carnage and Carnage’s cronies. At a time when he was back in New York, Anne Weying ended up shot by a new Sin-Eater, so Brock makes the symbiote bond with Weying to heal her. After temporarily becoming She-Venom, Anne decided she wanted nothing to do with Brock or Venom ever again.

Likely spurred on by things like that, Brock began to question his relationship with the symbiote, but during the “Planet of the Symbiotes” crossover, he ended up having to fully commit to the symbiote, bonding permanently (well, as permanent as these things go) in “Web of Spider-Man Super Special #1 (by David Michelinie and Steve Lightle).

However, as the 1990s came to an end, Venom’s popularity had fallen a bit, enough so that Marvel decided that they could stop doing Venom series (neither of Marvel’s Editors-in-Chief of the decade, Tom DeFalco and Bob Harras, were fans of giving Venom his own series, which is why he only had a series of miniseries. They did not like the idea of giving a villain such a high profile). So there was a “Venom: Finale” book that ended with Eddie separated from the symbiote and with amnesia, and the character took a bit of a break.

When he returned in 2000 in the two relaunched “Spider-Man” titles, he fought Spider-Man a few times, but wasn’t really into it, not until “Amazing Spider-Man” #19 (by Howard Mackie, Erik Larsen and John Beatty), where Eddie tried to win Anne back, but Anne had locked herself up as she was afraid of the world and, most of all, the symbiote. Eddie forced her to open up her shades, and wouldn’t you know it, Spider-Man happened to swing by wearing the black costume (he was running low on costumes at the time). She freaked out and Eddie turned into Venom, which freaked her out even more. He didn’t notice that, of course, he just saw that Spider-Man upset her. When he returned, Anne had killed herself. Eddie blamed Spider-Man and the rivalry began again! It was cut short, though, when a villainous senator stole the symbiote.

RELATED: Is Venom’s New Host a Lethal Protector, or Just Lethal?

It returned to Eddie later on. The next big change in Eddie’s life occurred in “Spectacular Spider-Man” #4 (by Paul Jenkins, Humberto Ramos and Wayne Faucher), when the symbiote was trying desperately to re-attach itself to Spider-Man. This was because, as Eddie revealed to Spider-Man, Eddie was dying of cancer!

The symbiote kept Eddie alive for a while, but finally, in “Marvel Knights: Spider-Man” #6 (by Mark Millar, Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson), he decides to auction off the symbiote so that he just get on with the end of his life.

He made $100 million, which he gave to charity (the symbiote was purchased by a mobster, but it quickly dropped the son of the mobster and bonded with another Spider-Man villain, Mac Gargan, the Scorpion). Without the symbiote, Brock’s cancer got progressively worse, but since Brock was such a popular character in his heyday, writers seemed like they were hesitant to be the be the one who finally killed him off. So he would keep making guest appearances as he got sicker and sicker and sicker. He began to hallucinate that the Venom symbiote was still talking to him and at one point the hallucinations almost got him to kill Aunt May. At the end of that story, he does try to kill himself, but he fails.

He later went to work for a soup kitchen owned by Martin Li, who was secretly the criminal known as Mister Negative. Li’s magical powers cured Eddie of his cancer. What Eddie didn’t know is that Li cured him by sort of super-charging the white blood cells in his body. When Eddie got involved in a fight between Spider-Man and the then-current Venom, Mac Gargan, touching the venom symbiote kickstarted residual traces of the symbiote within himself and, combined with the almost magical effect Li had on him, Eddie created a white symbiote that was deadly for the original symbiote. He called himself, appropriately enough, Anti-Venom!

When Anti-Venom figured out that Li was a bad guy, it messed him up pretty good, since Li was his savior, after all. Plus, if Li was his savior and hewas evil, then did that make Anti-Venom evil? He ultimately figured out that it did not, and he teamed up with Spider-Man to take Mister Negative down (well, at least expose Martin Li as a villain).

However, soon afterwards, Eddie had to give up the Anti-Venom symbiote for it to be transformed into a serum that would cure everyone during “Spider-Island.”

As we have seen a lot of times over the years, Eddie is pretty easily rattled and very easy to use faith as an excuse for him to do some awful things. So now that he was sans-symbiote, he decided that it was his duty to kill all other symbiotes, as he determined that symbiotes were inherently evil. He showed up in the pages of Flash Thompson’s “Venom” series. While working his way up to Flash Thompson’s symbiote, he killed a few other symbiotes along the way.

Back in the last year or so of Eddie’s original time as Venom, a new symbiote shown up, that was spawned from Carnage. This symbiote was called Toxin and it bonded with a police officer. In the pages of “Venom,” Eddie was captured by the evil Crime Buster and forcibly bonded with the Toxin symbiote, which had been removed from its original host (tragically, the heroic host was killed in the process). This was not a pleasant experience for a man who had just devoted himself to destroying all symbiotes.

As Toxin, Eddie has most recently become part of a team of people hunting down Carnage in the pages of “Carnage.” Eddie has a little bit more control over the symbiote, and he appears a bit like how Flash Thompson did when Thompson was Agent: Venom.

In the history of comic books, characters tend to eventually revert to the most famous version of those characters. Eddie Brock is clearly the most famous version of Venom that there has been, but he has now been separated from the symbiote for over a decade. That’s a long time to keep from reverting to the original status quo, but it appears as though that time has come to an end. We don’t know if Eddie will be permanently bonding with Venom, though, so we still have to find out come April. If he does, though, we will see if it ends up with Eddie Brock being any happier than he has been in the past. It doesn’t seem particularly likely.

The post Spider-Man, Venom & the Sad, Sad Story of Eddie Brock appeared first on CBR.com.

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