Venom and symbiote fans, AIPT has a special treat for you this week with an early edition of Venom Unleashed! That’s because there were so many great fan questions submitted that we had to get half of them out early. That’s not all, we’ve got exclusive art at the bottom of this article to get you hype and teased up for what has to be the biggest symbiote event in years: Queen in Black.
This week’s column digs into some fascinating corners of symbiote lore. Jordan D. White weighs in on how the Venom symbiote has grown larger and more powerful over the years, whether Cletus Kasady could ever return to the role of Carnage, and the surprising dinosaur connections hidden throughout Marvel’s symbiote mythology. We also get updates on Mary Jane and Flash Thompson’s relationship, clarification on a lingering Paul and MJ question from Amazing Spider-Man, and even a response from Al Ewing regarding a potential connection between Knull and one of Marvel’s oldest cosmic entities.
That’s not all. White also discusses Eddie Brock’s mental health. Stay tuned for more questions and answers in just three weeks!
Venom #259 is out June 24th!
John asks, “How does the symbiote gain so much mass?” Originally, it was a lightweight, thin being that could pass for clothing, but now it can magically turn into something more than twice the host’s mass and still have enough left over to leave gunk everywhere.
Jordan D. White: Obviously, it cannot just generate mass, so when it’s condensed into less space, it’s just much denser. We’ve seen that when it uses too much of its substance on webs, it leaves its host partially exposed, so I imagine the Venom symbiote, wanting to be a good symbiote to its host, has worked over time on how best to grow and retain more mass. That would help explain why/how Venom got bigger and bigger over the years–it was loading up on more ammo. That does mean when it acts as clothing, it’s secretly INCREDIBLY dense and resilient clothing. As for how the host can carry it, why it’s not too heavy, I would say the symbiote does a lot of the lifting itself.
Confirmed: Venom is swoll as needed.
Credit: Marvel
Sebina asks: Hi! My biggest question is: Will we ever see Cletus Kasady again? Given that Queen In Black venom unchained is seemingly hinting at Eddie becoming Venom again. Would it be possible for Cletus to become Carnage once again?
JW: I mentioned before that if Eddie Brock: Carnage had gone on, we would have brought Cletus in. I hope we see him again! Honestly, I think he should show up in a NON-Carnage capacity as a serial killer. Will he ever be Carnage again? I would guess so, but I do think there are a lot of story possibilities before that happens. It was not so long ago that they parted ways–just in Venom War.
Venom King asks: Do you have plans for a new Venom character that is a dinosaur? Not like Stegron, he was Pterosaur man, not a dinosaur, I mean, a true dinosaur, it can be an avian dinosaur(bird) or non-avian ones.
JW: You know, we have one! More than one! Meridius–the evil Eddie Brock, whose human body was transformed into a symbiote–spent a ton of time as a dinosaur when he was lost in time! We also had a Venomsaur in VENOMVERSE REBORN in a couple of DELIGHTFUL shorts by Ryan North that were take-offs on his long-running DINOSAUR COMICS webcomic.
The aforementioned homage in Venomverse Reborn #3.
Credit: Marvel
TwoGoblins asks: In Venom #258, MJ tells Peter that she and Flash talked themselves out of a relationship. Does this mean this is the end of MJ and Flash teasing? Or will we see more of this drama due to Death Spiral? And if this is the end, were you planning to pair them but give up due to the bad reception of fans?
JW: I think MJ just stated where things currently stood in her mind. These things can change in either direction, so… it remains to be seen. Keep reading!
Golden-Spider asks: First off, I really loved MJ & Peter’s talk in the latest issue. But one thing stuck with me, though, since MJ didn’t know about the time difference between dimensions — but during the run where that arc took place in Amazing, it’s said Paul knew. Does that mean Paul took advantage of MJ by not telling her so she would give up on Peter? Or were both affected (Paul and MJ) by Rabin’s spell (the one that created the children) that played a part in both of them feeling/acting the way they did in that arc and up until this series?
JW: Definitely not our intention to make it seem like Paul was hiding something from her. I think Al (and I) just didn’t remember that Paul apparently knew this fact. In addition, we’ve seen in comics before that these time differences are not always stable. Sometimes a place whose time moves faster than ours suddenly is moving slower. The whole thing is that their time and ours are not fixed together, so anything is possible.
The preciousthing asks: I believe Ewing was the one who made it canon that Bruce Banner has DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). Have you guys considered any potential mental health diagnoses for Eddie? It’s not too far-fetched to imagine he’s been self-medicating with Symbiotes this whole time.
JW: Good question and good theory! I do think Eddie has a lot of issues and problems to work through–hopefully we can find a place to do that. But also, I think there is a lot of opportunity to use the symbiote to write about those types of issues, using it as a metaphor, so it’s not always necessary to come out and use real-life diagnoses. With Hulk, I think Al was putting a label on something that was present in the comics for such a long time; it was overdue. With Eddie, I think things are a little more up for interpretation, and I would hate to shackle the future writers to something without a really strong story reason.
A panel from Immortal Hulk.
Credit: Marvel
Joao Gabriel asks: I’ve made a Dylan family tree, but I had a problem, in 2021 Defenders (Also written by Ewing!) Anti-All appeared, and Doctor Strange said multiple pieces of it were spread in the multiverse, so I was wondering if Knull is also a piece of it?
JW: I reached out to Al, and he had this to say about it:
“Generally speaking, I’d rather cosmic-level continuity happened on the page instead of in side-sources like this one, but there’s definitely a potential connection if a writer wanted to go that way… and in the context of the family tree, it does give Dylan a lot of clout to have one going that far back! Forget Steve Rogers and his Revolutionary War ancestors – Dylan can trace his right back to the primal conflict that began the concept of narrative!”
Vovina also asks: Was the Eventuality’s suit the Venom symbiote, transformed by the Light into a sort of Anti-Venom, or did it just manifest from the Enigma Force, à la the end of King in Black?
JW: The Illuminated was using what he–at the time–called The Enigma Force, but what we now know was a much larger thing called the Lumina or Light Force.
Stay tuned, Venom heads, as we have a whole new batch of questions and answers when Venom #259 comes out on June 24th!
Without further ado, enjoy the exclusive art below!
You must be logged in to post a comment.