Venom War

"Venom War" is a 2024 American comic book crossover event written by Al Ewing with art by Iban Coello and published by Marvel Comics. The event follows Eddie Brock and his son Dylan who, after seeing glimpses of each other's potential future, engage in a war to determine who will be the one true Venom. Meanwhile, artificial zombified symbiotes known as Zombiotes attack New York.

Various issues of the series are dedicated to deceased Marvel employees Ray Chan, Don Perlin, and John Cassaday.

Marvel released teaser art by Philip Tan showing Eddie Brock and Dylan Brock leading their symbiote armies in battle, with Agent Anti-Venom, Tyro, Wilde, Bedlam, and Meridius on Eddie's side and Black Widow, Sleeper, Red Goblin, and Flexo on Dylan's side.^[1]

Venom War was announced as a five-issue limited series written by Al Ewing which would tie into various tie-in issues and spinoff limited series debuting in August 2024. It is described as the fateful confrontation between father and son after going on separate journeys and realizing that only one of them can be Venom.^[2][3]

During the "Blood Hunt" storyline, the Venom symbiote works with the zombified Lee Price and the Mania symbiote to defeat the Captive. Afterwards, Meridius appears and Price abandons Venom to merge with him. Before leaving, Meridius tells Venom that Eddie Brock is returning and that "Then the war can begin".^[4]

Dylan Brock tells of how he went to a place beyond death and encountered a being who introduced itself as the Eventuality and spoke in his father's voice, telling him that he could ask it five questions. When he asked it if the Venom symbiote reunited with Eddie, it showed him a vision of him as Venom defeating an opponent and stating "We are Venom". When he asked how to stop him, the Eventuality stated that he would know when he was older and he saw a vision of himself when he was older, telling Dylan that he would get through this.^[5]

Eddie Brock has become unstuck in time, along with Bedlam, Meridius, Tyro, and Wilde. Meridius tries to kill Eddie, but Tyro transports the former to prehistoric times, where he bonds with a Tyrannosaurus. While Eddie states that they will find Meridius again, Tyro tells him that he may find them first. Knowing that if Dylan keeps Venom, Earth will become Venom in the future that Meridius was trying to create, Eddie nominates himself to help set him straight since he is the only one with a body. Back in the present, Venom reveals that Lee Price has been revived as a zombiote and arrives at Peter Parker's apartment. After Dylan has a nightmare about Doctor Doom, he is visited by his future self, who he initially believes to be Eddie.^[6]

After shooting Carnage with a sonic laser, Flash Thompson confronts Liz Allan, who has become Misery. She tells him that she will explain the Misery symbiote to him later, as they must flee before the police arrive. The next day, Flash attends a support group and receives a call from someone who invites him out for a drink as Carnage reunites with Cletus Kasady's clone. At a pub, Flash meets with Liz, who tells him about Misery and why she was at the building where he fought Carnage, which has reformed over time. At Investar, Carnage massacres its employees and, two weeks later, attacks a crowd at Ashford Park as soldiers attempt to kill him. Carnage abducts a soldier and learns that the weapon was made by Alchemax.^[7]

Meanwhile, Black Widow and the Widow symbiote infiltrate an Alchemax facility and steal a symbiote-killing serum.^[8]

At Grand Garden Arena, wrestler Symbiote Smith issues a challenge to the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, with Crusher Hogan and Doc Sawbones serving as commentators. However, the match is disrupted when Eddie arrives and battles Smith. Eddie declares that the ring is now under the control of the Kings in Black, and that he will only relinquish control if they give him Dylan and Venom. Meanwhile, Dylan tries to connect with Venom while telling his future counterpart about his contact with the Eventuality. After his future counterpart fades away, Toxin approaches Dylan and tells him of the events at Grand Garden Arena where Bedlam, Tyro, and Wilde have bested Paladin and his mercenaries. At Alchemax, Liz holds an emergency meeting with Carlton Drake and Meridius regarding Eddie and learns of Chemical K-43, which is toxic to symbiotes. Meanwhile, Peter talks to Venom, who explains that Eddie and Dylan are better off without him. Outside Grand Garden Arena, Eddie battles Paladin and her crew before confronting Spider-Man and Venom. After escaping from Alchemax, a horse bonded with a copy of the Venom symbiote as this things about "The Book of Simulacra and Simulation" as it compares the stages of simulacrums while on a rampage.^[9]

Meanwhile, Meridius and Carlton Drake use the K-Chemical to create zombified symbiotes, dubbed "zombiotes".^[10] Meridius infects Drake with a zombiote and fends of Liz Allan's Misery form before being approached by Cletus Kasady's clone. At Grand Garden Arena, Eddie fuses with Bedlam, Tyro, and Wilde. Dylan similarly bonds with Sleeper and Flexo to battle him as the Prince in Black. Meanwhile, the Venom Horse disrupts a performance at the Metropolitan Opera House while thinking about Scott McCloud and his understanding of comics.^[11]

At Alchemax HQ, Meridius and Carnage are watching the Zombiote chaos unfold. Willie Lumpkin is among those infected by the Zombiotes. However, Agent Anti-Venom frees him and heads to Grand Garden Arena to make Eddie stand down. Flexo attacks Eddie, preventing him from healing properly, before Red Goblin removes him from Dylan. Flexo and Red Goblin are revealed to have been manipulated by Doctor Doom and Kang the Conqueror, with the latter creating the Rascal symbiote from a fragment of Bedlam. The Venom symbiote then leaves Spider-Man as pieces of it bond to both Eddie and Dylan. Meanwhile, the Venom Horse crashes a mob funeral while thinking about the works of Oscar Wilde.^[12]

Agent Anti-Venom arrives, neutralizes Bedlam, and informs those present of the Zombiotes as they attack as Crusher Hogan and Doc Sawbones get converted into Zombiotes. The Anti-Venom symbiote moves to Eddie who uses it to kill the Zombiotes and "king-blocking" Meridius. However, Meridius remotely possesses Eddie and the Zombiotes using Carnage's All-Blood the Necrospear causing some Zombiotes to sport Venom and Carnage traits. This forces Dylan to apparently kill Eddie. Meanwhile, the Venom Horse attacks a ball pit somewhere while wondering why people drive on a parkway and park on a driveway.^[13]

In a possible future, Dylan Brock's future self is attacked by mechanical symbiotes before being saved by Normie Osborn, Liz Allan, and Spider-Boy and transported to the present. He meets with his younger self and explains his mission to change the future before sedating Molten Man, who has escaped prison.

Spider-Man confronts Dylan and webs him up.^[14] Dylan escapes and meets with Doctor Strange, who traps the Venom symbiote. The two travel to find a way to defeat the symbiotes, only to be ambushed by demons.^[15]

In the Flickering Realms, Dylan and Doctor Strange encounter Chthon and a group of mechanical symbiotes. Chthon magically enhances the two in exchange for Dylan's knowledge and experiences. After the two leave, Strange transports Dylan to a polar location where he encounters Loki.^[16]

However, Dylan escapes from Loki after a Nidavellir dwarf forges a special dagger and bullets for him. In flashbacks, Meridius blends in with life after being sent back in time and sees a younger Eddie Brock with his father Carl. Dylan fights Meridius and accidentally infects him with temporal radiation. He escapes to Grand Garden Arena, but is stabbed by his younger counterpart.^[17]

Spider-Man bonds with Venom before being attacked by Hobgoblin and his similarly-dressed Hobgoblin followers, who he works with Jackpot to stop. Meanwhile, Meridius releases Arachniote, a legendary symbiote who possesses a lethal touch and is even feared by Knull. Venom insists that he and Spider-Man must fully work together to fight it.^[18]

Spider-Man stops Arachniote and frees Hobgoblin, but the former survives and attacks Jackpot, absorbing her and her gauntlets.^[19]

After a brief envisioning induced by Arachniote where he was the King in Black, Spider-Man fights off the mental attack and divides the Venom symbiote among Eddie Brock and Dylan Brock.^[20]

Spider-Man enters Arachniote's body to save Jackpot. Then they work together to destroy it from the inside.^[21]

Carnage is experimenting on humans in an abandoned subway system when a fire attack disrupts him. He subsequently possesses Alchemax employees Sally Christiansen and Finn Taylor in an attempt to learn about Alchemax and its K-Project.^[22]

At Avery Penny Residential Center, Carnage controls Finn and heads to the center of the K-Project to meet with Dr. Frekk, who is experimenting on prisoners. Carnage then bursts out of Finn's body and kills the security before Meridius ambushes him and informs him of a possible future involving mechanical Symbiotes.^[23]

Refusing to take a side in Eddie and Dylan's battle, Carnage leaves and takes an unspecified item from Meridius.^[24]

Black Widow and the Widow symbiote (now named Sliver) attend an auction in disguise to obtain K42T, a symbiote-killing serum created by Dr. Frekk. Afterwards, she travels to Alchemax and works with Flash Thompson to battle and free symbiote-possessed workers, who they trap in storage.^[25]

Before, Black Widow, Sliver, and Agent Anti-Venom are fighting the Hydra agents. In the present, Agent Anti-Venom and Black Widow battle the Zombiotes at the Cadaver Lab to free their hosts. Outside Alchemax HQ, Misery recovers and sees that the Zombiotes are loose in New York City. She then learns that her Anti-Venom symbiote can cure Zombiotes, and works with Agent Anti-Venom and Black Widow to help fight them.^[26]

Sliver separates from Black Widow, but is possessed by a Zombiote and killed by Misery spreading the Anti-Venom cure through Alchemax. Unbeknownst to Misery, a fragment of Sliver survives and escapes.^[27]

In Downtown, New York, She-Hulk and Hellcat are fighting the Zombiotes. However, the Zombiotes infect Hellcat and Speed Demon, and later confront Shocker and Overdrive.^[28]

Shocker retrieves a specific item from his car, planning to take it to the Bar With No Name. She-Hulk later learns that the item is a stone that previously belonged to the League of Necromancers, which Shocker learned of from Doctor Bong. However, a Zombiote fragment infects the bartender Hilda and her cat. Boomerang, who was zombified and hidden in a body bag, escapes and attacks the patrons.^[29]

After flashing back to his fight with Spider-Man and Boomerang's sacrifice, Shocker is attacked by Boomerang's zombie form. He ends up smashing the resurrection stone into Boomerang's head, which gradually resurrects him. Hilda and Overdrive activate the stereo, freeing those present from the Zombiotes. Overdrive enhances Shocker's vibro-gauntlets, and they head outside with She-Hulk, Hellcat, and Boomerang to fight the Zombiotes.^[30]

In a flashback to the day before the Venom War began, Wolverine is playing pool at a bar in Manhattan. He then bonds with a symbiote as Zombiotes attack. After Wolverine wakes up in the presence of his old friend Emily Burke, the Zombiote that was on him resurrects the corpses at Baylight Cemetery as they are confronted by someone.^[31][32]

Keene then tells the Zombiotes about his previous encounter with Wolverine, who crippled him. Later that night, Keene's son Flynn and Wolverine are attacked by Zombiotes before being rescued by the X-Men members Gambit, Jubilee, Nightcrawler, and Rogue as Keene is decapitated. As Nightcrawler transports the captured Zombiotes to the Vault, one of them secretly possesses Keene's head and bites Flynn.^[33]

Keene forms a body from several corpses, attacks a boat, and takes Emily hostage, during which he is possessed by a Zombiote. After Emily uses a sonar device on the Zombiote, Flynn sacrifices himself to capsize the boat as Wolverine, Emily, and Flynn escape.^[34]

Deadpool battles the Zombiotes in New York and is assisted by Andrea Benton / Silence and Princess, a dog-like clone of Carnage. A Zombiote-infected circus lion bites off Deadpool's arm which is possessed by a separate Zombiote. Deadpool, Silence, and Princess escape underground, arrive in Monster Metropolis, and encounter Frankenstein's Monster, N'Kantu, the Living Mummy, Morbius, Manphibian, and Zombie. However, the Zombiotes follow them there and infect several monsters, including Man-Thing. Deadpool prepares to fight the Zombiotes with help from Jimmy Hudson / Poison.^[35]

With Man-Thing freed from the Zombiotes who are repelled, Deadpool persuades the monsters to help fight the Zombiotes. However, Poison loses control and injures Princess, leading her to bond with Deadpool. His healing factor enables her to recover.^[36]

Deadpool and the monsters fend off the Zombiotes and Poison. Afterwards, Mobius M. Mobius and the Time Variance Authority arrive and arrest Jimmy as he is from another universe. Furthermore, Silence decides to become Monster Metropolis' ambassador.^[37]

While working in Istanbul, Silver Sable and Dominic Fortune are spending some time together. He implores her to reactivate the Wild Pack. In the present, Liz Allan as Misery calls Silver Sable and the Wild Pack to New York to fight the Zombiotes. At the Life Foundation building, Silver Sable then activates the Lethal Protector Mode on the devices planted on the Wild Pack's arms, causing them each to bond with a symbiote: Carl Striklan is possessed by Phage, Puma by Riot, Tarantula by Lasher, Navvab Tadjvar by Agony, Lightbright by Scream, and Lina Abbas by Flicker. After Navvab is bitten by Zombiotes, Agony abandons him and moves to Silver Sable as the Lethal Protector's kill switch causes Navvab to explode. Sable then gets a transmission from Meridius to stay out of his affairs.^[38]

The Wild Pack encounter Scorpion, who is infected by a Zombiote. In response, the Pack destroys a Life Foundation tank containing Shriek, emitting a sonic burst that blasts the Zombiotes away. Unable to fight the Zombiotes directly, the Wild Pack and Shriek flee to the Mississippi Queen and take command of it.^[39]

In a flashback, Silver Sable describes the night her mother Anastasia was killed by German men to demonstrate her skilled memory and join the Wild Pack. In the present with Dominic tied up, the Wild Pack prepares an Alchemax amplifier to channel Shriek's abilities and destroy the Zombiotes. When the Zombiotes attack, Shriek betrays the group and kills Striklan while Dominic gets free. However, the Wild Pack activates the amplifier and evacuates the Mississippi Queen. Noting that he survived worse, Dominic states that Silver Sable should watch his back which Tarantula keeps from Silver Sable who just sheds a tear.^[40]

As Elektra reflects on her life, she and Matt Murdock work to rescue the citizens from symbiotes and evacuate them to the Saint Nicholas Youth Center. While fighting a zombified Father Javi, Matt uses the church bell's vibrations to free him and others from the Zombiotes. However, Elektra becomes concerned after seeing fragments of the Zombiotes escape.^[41]

In Chronopolis, Kang detects that the Fantastic Four are time-traveling and confronts them, desiring to counter Doom's chronoscheme. He directs them to eight decades earlier to stop Doom from manipulating Flexo. They succeed and trap the Kang variant "He Who Schemes" in a time loop with Doctor Doom's Schemebots as he vows to escape.^[42]

Hawkeye, Gwenpool and America Chavez leave on a mission and inadvertently leave the former's pet Jeff the Land Shark behind. He is possessed by a Symbiote and causes chaos where both the Symbiote and Jeff eat different foods at Coney Island a group of Zombiotes attack. Working with the Symbiote, Jeff works with Hawkeye, America, Gwenpool, and Fuse to fight the Zombiotes as Hawkeye recaps this happening to Jeff before.^[a] They defeat them when America gets the largest speakers she could obtain. Afterwards, Jeff gives up the Symbiote and everyone celebrates by having churros.^[43]