Venom Unleashed #7: MJ’s new normal, Peter’s return, and symbiote shipping wars

Venom Unleashed is back for its seventh installment, and this month’s column proves just how much fans are feeling the seismic shift in the world of symbiotes. Between Mary Jane Watson’s controversial bonding with Venom (revealed in All-New Venom #6 out today!) and teases of a reunion with Peter Parker, we had a tidal wave of questions from readers—and we took them straight to Marvel editor Jordan D. White for answers.

In this edition, we dig into MJ’s new role as “VenoMJ,” explore her upcoming clashes and connections with past Venom hosts (including a long-awaited Peter interaction), and hear Jordan’s thoughts on why the trauma of MJ’s first encounter with Venom is exactly why this story is worth telling.

From weapons-grade shipping questions to surprise rogues, future romance teases for Dylan Brock, and even a Doc Ock showdown, this month’s column is packed with revelations, speculation, and more symbiote drama than a Klyntar family reunion.

Plus, don’t miss EXCLUSIVE looks at symbiote-tastic art from upcoming Marvel Comics titles. Ready to see how deep the goo goes? Let’s dive in.

AIPT: We’re back with the 7th edition of Venom Unleashed, and boy howdy, were there a lot of questions submitted by fans! 

With news that MJ is working with Venom, we had two poll questions to get the pulse on what fans want to see. The first question (see below)…

Just over 50% of folks would love to see Peter interact with Venom/MJ, with 46% interested in MJ reconciling her past relationship with Venom. No spoilers here, but is an interaction in the cards with Peter?

Jordan: For sure. The first place Peter and MJ/Venom are going to be interacting is going to be in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man, though Al and I were very much aware of that interaction and looped in on it.

But there are further plans for how things are going to play out between them that are a lot more far reaching. We actually had a Spider Summit a month or two ago where we made a lot of big plans. A lot of them have to do with that Free Comic Book Day story…

AIPT: The second poll question was all about previous Venom hosts:

Again, 56% of people want to see MJ interact with Peter! Dylan was second with Eddie very closely in 3rd. Somewhat ironically, 31% want to see Venom interact with Flash, but as we know from solicitations, they’ll be duking it out in All-New Venom #7! 

As for write-ins, Carol Danvers had 2 votes, and other surprises like Mac Gargan and Lee Price were write-ins. It’s safe to say a lot of folks are curious about MJ/Venom interacting with other characters given all the write-ins, so I ask you Jordan, who are you most excited to see MJ/Venom interact with (planned or not)?

Jordan: Every one of those top four Venom hosts listed there, we have a plan for when and how MJ will be interacting with them as Venom next. As for which I am most excited for…of those, probably Peter, given the long term plans I was alluding to earlier.

If you mean just of all characters I know they are going to be interacting with, then I am pretty sure the solicits have shown that she is gonna be going toe to toe with Doc Ock soon and I am very into that! Ock is my fave spidey villain, for sure, and Al is writing the hell out of him. 

AIPT: Onto questions! Being the curator of this column, I gotta ask two q’s, firstly, how important was it to have MJ and Venom fused and not conventionally bonded?

Jordan: Like many have pointed out, to say MJ is not a Venom fan is a huge understatement. I don’t think there is much chance of her just saying “Hey, yeah–hop on, Symbiote, let’s bond!” That, given their history, would not make sense. But we just did a story–in Venom War: Spider-Man, referenced heavily in All-New Venom #6–in which she and the symbiote interacted a bunch along WITH Peter, who they both have strong affection for, and that story gave us a lot of leeway into setting up how they came together.

We knew we wanted her to lose her Jackpot powers and be faking them using the symbiote, and Al very early on hit on the idea of paying off the triple-skull means death aspect of Jackpot as part of their origin together. And Venom was already also severely wounded by the outcome of the main Venom War story. So the two of them need each other. 

You know, I just thought–both Venom and MJ, as well as Eddie and Carnage, have been brought together as a means of survival. Would make an interesting What If concept to see what if Eddie and Venom had instead reunited…and MJ ended up with Carnage. I have a feeling it would have gone a lot worse for her. Good thing Eddie jumped on that grenade, so to speak! 

AIPT: Paul cannot catch a break in this issue, from a knock on his tech, to Dylan showing no respect, and even his sex life with MJ brought up. How important is Paul to this story going forward? (I could honestly see him being fed up and becoming a villain at some point!). 

Jordan: Paul and MJ are currently an item–we play the ball from where it lies when we start the round. How long will the two of them be together? That is a spoiler, so I cannot reveal too much. I will say that Paul has a place in our plans, but I shan’t reveal how long he remains part of them–could be one more issue, could be forever!

I mean, I know the answer, but I think that is too big of a spoiler to tip our hands.

AIPT: Onto fan questions, and boy did we have a lot. Starting with Carlos who honestly has got me wondering too: Do we call her VenoMJ now?

Jordan: Hahahhaa, sure, I love it! VenoMJ is much easier to write than any of the other permutations. Not to be confused with Spider-Man J, the cute Manga Spider-Man with a J in the middle of the spider on his chest and back! 

AIPT: Next, Richard Newby asks: In ASM #299, we saw MJ’s iconic reaction to Venom and the trauma she endured afterwards, with Peter choosing to go back to his red and blue suit. Is that traumatic first encounter with Venom something the series will address? 

Jordan: I alluded to this earlier, but yes–the past between Venom and MJ FOR SURE Al has plans for! I saw a number of people responding that MJ would never bond with Venom because of her past with it–that first meeting where it menaced and traumatized her. But from our point of view, that’s not a reason NOT to put them together, it’s a reason TO put them together.

That is great story meat, seeing how that plays out, the two of them dealing with that. You’ve already seen at this point that MJ did not really want to bond with Venom, but was left without a choice–it’s this or death. But the symbiote is a very different “person” than it was back in that first meeting, and I, for one, am very interested in hearing any conversations and drama that comes up in relation to that initial meeting. 

AIPT: Clayton wants to know about villains: Venom has had some particular rogues added to their gallery recently but a lot of them were established in other hero’s books. Do you have a favorite and are their any non-symbiote and original rogues coming for our gooey hero?

Jordan: We have already introduced a few new villains in S.C.A.R.Squad–Heater, Ripcord and Slice! They all have grudges against symbiotes and are definitely going to continue to be thorns in VenoMJ’s goopy sides. I am not sure that Heave-Ho, Chuck Stuff and The Tosser count as “Venom Rogues” and I don’t THINK we have any plan to have them back just now, but I do hope all three will return to the pages of Marvel Comics in general.

There is actually a really big Venom villain that’s going to be returning to the pages of our comic soon…and there is an announcement coming about that, so I cannot say too much just yet. And finally, we DO have plans for a big all-new villain that came out of that aforementioned Spider-Summit! So…keep reading!

AIPT: Phil asks: Will we see Misery? Liz and MJ have known each other for a while, so that could be very interesting.

Jordan: No Misery plans right this minute! I think Liz is reading the room, in regards to the sentiment towards symbiotes post-Venom War, and keeping a low profile. She doesn’t want to wind up with S.C.A.R. breathing down her neck.

AIPT: Thepreciousthing asks: There are a lot of parallels between current social issues & how symbiotes are currently being treated. Is there a Symbiote Rights Movement on the horizon?

Jordan: I gotta be honest with you, I cannot see a lot of normal people siding with the symbiotes on this one. They are scary and horrifying, and most of the exposure people have to them involves horrible murders at worst and an extremely frightening looking anti-hero/former villain at best. I think they, generally, have no idea that they are sentient beings who are capable of more than being a weapon used for killing by madmen. For the most part, I think the only ones who would fight for them would be former hosts like Flash, Peter, etc. Though I think MJ’s All-New Venom is the least scary Venom in a while? But even so…tough sell, I think. 

AIPT: A few folks are very tantalized by your hint Dylan may get a love interest.

Gregor is thinking romance asking: While All-New Venom is focused on MJ, I find myself thinking more about Dylan’s personal life now that you’ve brought up the idea of a potential romance for him. What young non-symbiotic heroes do you think Dylan would best get along with as friends? His team-up with Kamala a few years back was fun, and I think him and Sam Alexander would have a lot in common (besides their daddy issues and rebellious nature)!

Jordan: A bit extra tricky right now as Dylan is symbiote-less. Well, other than being part symbiote, himself…but it’s not 100% clear what that means for him. He doesn’t SEEM to have or be able to tap into powers right now. But putting that aside, let me think about it. I think Dylan hanging out with Quentin Quire would be pretty fun. Though, as I think about it, Dylan is probably enough younger than Quentin that Q would not want to hang out with him at all–he would think Dylan was cramping his style. But I could see that kicking off a fun relationship where Q wants to ditch Dylan, Dylan as a result thinks Q sucks and starts being a dick to him, which extremely annoys Quentin even while he has a secret grudging respect for it?

I can see them being very good frenemies. 

AIPT: And another romance question from Thepreciousthing: You mentioned Dylan potentially getting a love interest. Are you limiting the selection to just girls? Or even just humans? A descendant of Knull with Necrosword access would probably he a hot commodity for a lot of otherworldly entities.

Jordan: I had only been thinking of girls, for sure, but you are right. I mean, realistically, we have not seen Dylan express romantic interest yet, that I can recall. But if his secret were widely known across the universe, I can imagine you’re right, it could put him in real danger of kidnapping for a forced marriage or worse.

I mean, the Klyntar don’t have romance except in the form of bonding with their hosts…so I cannot see Venom trying to set up an arranged marriage to someone for him. Well, unless we mean trying to get him a symbiote to bond to? Which is SORT OF their version of that? This is all complicated.

AIPT: Shen is curious about school asking: Hello! Dylan going to school was established by the end of Cates’ run but was barely touched in the following book with Al, Ram V and Torunn Gronbekk. I was curious if we could possibly see more of that classic high school drama. Maybe MJ gets to helps Dylan who used to fight in schools constantly.

Jordan: I think that is definitely a possibility as far as Dylan goes, but that said, since he is not the main character of this series, I think we’re unlikely to see a ton of it right now. If he were the main Venom and going to a school, sure…but since he is just a supporting character for VenoMJ, I think we’re going to mostly see his life in the ways it interacts with theirs. But it’s not outside the realm of possibility–nor is Dylan coming into his own in some other way! 

AIPT: Neon Frost loved the Black Cat/Mj team-ups, asking: Any chance we could see a team-up with Felicia Hardy/Black Cat in Venom? I love the dynamic Felicia has with MJ. Plus, more Black Cat is always good.

Jordan: Black Cat is ANOTHER character Venom mistreated pretty badly back in the day. I remember the McFarlane sequence of that pretty well. So there is definitely some history and baggage to unpack. We don’t have big Felicia plans in Venom right now, but I know she is a favorite around the Marvel offices and never too far from a showcase. I would love to see Black Cat and VenoMJ cross paths! 

AIPT: Technical question from Symbiobro: With MJ now having the symbiote, does she now also have all the memories of previous hosts like Eddie and Flash, just like how Eddie originally got Peter’s memories?

Jordan: You know–that is a TERRIFIC question. I don’t think that is an AUTOMATIC thing that happens with the symbiotes–hence Peter not suddenly knowing about Tel-Kar and the Kree-Skrull War. I think they symbiote itself still has the memories that its previous hosts shared with it, and it can share them with MJ if that is something they choose to do, or if it becomes relevant. But I don’t think the symbiote bonds and then just dumps a ton of memories into the new host’s brain. I would also say it doesn’t, like, scrape the new host’s mind for memories, either–it probably only knows MJs memories as they come up in her mind during their bond. 

AIPT: Overwatch is curious: What is Mj’s current day job?

Jordan: She is still an actress and model. How is that going for her? That remains to be seen–but we will see, now that we know she’s the one under the goo!

AIPT: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Ben asks: Will Robbie Robertson still be a supporting cast member going forward?  I love Al Ewing’s writing of him and he’s one of the best characters marvel’s ever had!!

Jordan: Robbie is still here for while at least! He is terrific, and we are happy to have him.

 

AIPT: Xanhomey asks: Hi Jordan! Thanks for taking the time to be here. It was mentioned that the series will take a dark turn, but I’m curious—how dark are we talking? Will it have a significant impact on Spider-Man and his supporting cast, or is it more about revealing hidden secrets that fans haven’t seen before related to Venom?

Jordan: A bit of both, I would say! As for how dark, I think there will be ebbs and flows. We started this volume on a bit of a lighter note, but yeah–Al is steering things into darker territory. And I hate to be a broken record, referring back to that Spider Summit over and over, but yeah–we had that and planned out some ways that the books will interact with one-another and play off one another. MJ is a huge piece of the Spider-Man mythos, so it makes sense that anything important that happens to her over here is going to have ramifications going forward.

AIPT: People are curious with Carnage popping up on Thunderbolts so an unknown submitter asked: How will Thunderbolts* affect the two symbiote titles? (Love the cast sm cant wait to see Namor, Eddie, Clea interact!!! )

Jordan: We here at Marvel editorial do our best to work closely together on things like this, so I have been looped in on the Thunderbolts* series for a while now. I don’t think it will have much of an impact on All-New Venom since Venom isn’t in it…but it’s gonna be a place to get more of the Eddie Brock: Carnage killer killing that you crave!

AIPT: An Eddie Brock: Carnage question from Gill: Is there any shot at the other Kings (Bedlam, Tyro, Wilde) appearing in Eddie Brock Carnage?

Jordan: No plan right now–I mean, Tyro and Wilde were seemingly devoured by Bedlam, so while it’s not out of the question that they could come back, it would certainly be surprising.

As for Bedlam himself…he’s not quite the sort of target that Eddie and Carnage have in their sites, but you never know–if he catches wind of what Eddie is up to, it’s totally possible he would come after him, red symbiote vs. red symbiote. 

AIPT: John Richardson is curious about character dev on Paul: Paul has been one of the most important, and controversial, characters in recent Spider-Man but he’s also been a bit of a blank slate. What challenges have there been working with the character?

Jordan: I don’t really think we have faced much in the way of challenges, other than perhaps the fact that a segment of the audience hates the character with a blind passion that makes them not want to read any book he appears in. 

AIPT: Patrick is curious about other symbiote related titles: Apologies if you cannot answer this, but the promotional art for Amazing Spider-Man #975 teases something with Spider-Man, Venom, and Carnage. Should All-New Venom readers check out ASM #975?

Jordan: That should be a really big, really cool issue for Spidey fans (like me)! But I cannot tease too much about it since it’s not my comic to tease! That said, I think the image was teasing upcoming stories in general and that piece was referring more to the big story we have cooking that was teased in Free Comic Book Day!

And for those who are doing some sleuthing based on various solicits, let me say for certain that Al will still be writing our VenoMJ series at that point, too. More to announce on that front soon! 

AIPT: Kiekan asks: Is there any chance we’ll get to see MJ interact with Anne (aka Agent Venom) from the Venom-Beyond universe? I imagine those are very different takes on how a person interacts with a symbiote, while sharing the perspective of being a mother and grief towards their children.

Jordan: Anne is currently being featured in the SPIDER-VERSE VS VENOMVERSE series! As for if MJ will show up in that…keep reading! 

AIPT: Hex asks: The Brock Family fans would like to know, do you have any plans for Codex in the future? We all love Eddie and Dylan with the symbiote’s edge. Or plans to see how Dylan may get to a point he can bring out Codex on his own. Codex has an incredibly huge fanbase among Venom fans so it would be cool to see him again

Jordan: I actually do have plans for how we move towards that. I don’t want to age Dylan up too quickly…but I have had conversations about the larger plan for him, and I do like where we have in mind for it. 

AIPT: Keisi asks: Hi Jordan! Are there any plans to expand on the character development of the rest of the Life Foundation symbiotes? Scream and Andi are my absolute favorites and I would love for them both to come back! I wholeheartedly enjoyed their solo comic and would love for more symbiotes to have their own adventures shown!

Jordan: I will be honest–we don’t have specific plans right now. We had left Silver Sable and Co. with the new Life Foundation symbiotes, but unfortunately, that story didn’t have as much traction as I would have liked. There was a minute there when I was pitching a Natasha vs. Sable symbiote spy series…but it didn’t get approved, sadly. I am sure if the S.C.A.R. story keeps building, we will bring in more symbiotes, but right this second, we are focused on a smaller group. 

AIPT: In Venom Unleashed #6 we had multiple folks ask about Andi, and guess what? Ten more folks asked about Andi this month too! Not so much a question, but a shout out to Jordan, the people want Andi!

Jordan: Dang! Ok, really–I will see what I can do. I cannot promise anything as I don’t want to just jam a character into an existing story plan. But I will see if there is anywhere to bring her in naturally that fits. 

AIPT: Last question, Jordan, I noticed you had a celebrity in your office this week:

Might we be getting the horror expertise of David Dastmalchian at Marvel? I spoke to him about his DC work, and I think he’d be a great fit!

Jordan: Yes–that was a real pleasure, having David at the office! He is a true comics fan, so it was great talking with him. He actually already DID work with us–he did a short story in the WEB OF VENOMVERSE: FRESH BRAINS one-shot about the Power kids! But yes–we’re in talks about a new project, I am hopeful we will get off the ground…but it’s very early days, so nothing to announce yet.

He was in town filming, so we took to opportunity for a face-to-face and I showed him around the Marvel HQ. Good times! 

And that’s a wrap on a massive Venom Unleashed #7! Scroll down to see exclusive art from a variety of symbiote-friendly titles Jordan D. White is editing, and scroll even further for this month’s fan survey!

Stay goopy, symbiote fans!

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