Spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned.
There are three “King in Black” titles out this week including the finale King in Black #5, the final issue of King In Black: Planet Of The Symbiotes #3, and Venom #34 which is the final issue in the story arc. A lot of final chapters which means big twists and revealing moments!
Read below to run through their most newsworthy moments.
King In Black: Planet Of The Symbiotes #3
King In Black: Planet Of The Symbiotes #3 features two stories, one with Cloak and Dagger and another with Toxin. The latter character gets the more robust news of the week as we learn something about the human underneath the Symbiote layer. This story features plenty of Toxin action as well as a confrontation with an Alchemax security guard. It’s a solid action-focused tale.
By the end, we learn the human wearing Toxin is none other than a teenager!
Credit: Marvel Comics
It’s an exciting development for a Symbiote-wearing hero–the complexities of a teen with that kind of power has a lot of potential. It was also a nice surprise since Gerardo Sandoval drew Toxin so beefy and swole in this issue. Somebody give writer Steve Orlando a Toxin comic!
Venom #34
There are two big developments in Venom. The first being that Eddie Brock’s Symbiote finds him in the Symbiote Hive aka a Symbiote spirit realm that is Knull’s domain. This allows Eddie to avoid being murdered by Knull, but also move on from this realm.
Credit: Marvel Comics
It’s nice to see the two find each other again, but soon they are parted as Eddie is given a massive dose of Captain Universe powers.
The second involves Flash Thompson, who we found out is alive in this spirit realm thanks to his Codex. Venom tells Flash he can use that to his advantage which takes Flash to a specific graveyard.
Credit: Marvel Comics
We soon find out Flash is finding his human corpse. Yep, Flash has been dead since Amazing Spider-Man #800. It’s there that writer Donny Cates reverses Dan Slott’s surprise death with a ressurection! What is it with Spider-Man comics and folks bursting from the soil in front of a tombstone?
Credit: Marvel Comics
Since Marvel Editor in Chief C.B. Cebulski pointed out the “confidential” Symbiote in the Leinil Francis Yu Extreme Carnage Alpha art is revealed in Venom #34 one can assume he’s the character we’ll see when that comic comes out in July. It’ll be fun to see Phillip Kennedy Johnson play around with Flash Thompson, Toxin, Carnage, Scream, and all the rest.
Credit: Marvel Comics
King in Black #5
In the big event finale, a few big things happen including a moment where Eddie Brock uses the Captain Universe powers to meld Silver Surfer’s board and Mjolnir into a massive ax! Now that’s metal.
Credit: Marvel Comics
This goes a long way in showing how powerful Eddie is now which helps prove he has way more power than Knull can deal with. Much of this book is focused on Eddie kicking Knull to the curb, including ripping his Symbiote costume right off his body.
Credit: Marvel Comics
This leads to Knull getting put down for good, or so it appears anyway. Venom, who can fly now, zips Knull’s beaten body straight to the sun.
Credit: Marvel Comics
Artist Ryan Stegman gives Eddie flaming eyes, not unlike a demon. Nice touch. Thanks to the Captain Universe abilities Venom doesn’t burn up.
The Uni-Power of Captain Universe doesn’t last long for Eddie though as it leaves him to fight another day. That doesn’t mean Venom is powerless though. Soon his Symbiote is back with him and there’s a whole new world to navigate. The thing is, with Knull gone there is a power vacuum and a new king needs to be put in place.
That leaves us with Venom in the role Knull once had, which will likely be explored in Venom #200, which is especially obvious since we see Venom sitting on a throne on the Venom #200 cover meant for a king!
Credit: Marvel Comics
King in Black #1 kicked things off the first week of December and in 5 months it all came to a close today. The event not only killed Eddie Brock off but brought him back stronger with more responsibility than ever. It’s an exciting time for Venom as he’s gone from villain to low-level vigilante hero, to a god-like (or maybe he’s full god) king of an entire species. Remember Eddie, with great power comes great responsibility.
I highly recommend you read all of these issues–find a comic book shop here–to get the full story.
Without a doubt, Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman have done a lot with this character since they took it over on May 09, 2018, when Venom #1 was released. Venom has grown a lot, and the mythos around Symbiotes has grown ten times that too. It’s a great time to be a Venom fan and it’s exciting to think only 5 years ago seeing a Venom-focused event would be impossible. Thanks to King in Black, we can now say there’s so much more to come.
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