Marvel Teaming Up With Wounded Warrior Project for Venom: Space Knight Storyline

Before becoming Venom, Flash Thompson was a longtime supporting character in the Spider-Man titles who was wounded during a tour of duty in the Middle East and returned home to find his new calling.

Now, Marvel is teaming with the Wounded Warrior Project to "delve into the trials, perseverance, and eventual triumph of wounded veterans."

The upcoming arc of Marvel Comics' Venom: Space Knight will take readers through a story that sees Flash Thompson abandon the alien suit, which has afforded him the ability to walk, to receive prosthetic legs.

Writer Robbie Thompson consulted with WWP spokesperson and double amputee Dan Nevins to portray an eye-opening look at the everyday struggles and incremental victories that wounded veterans face as depicted through Flash Thompson's rehabilitation process in the story.

"Working with Wounded Warrior Project has been an invaluable part of the process of writing Venom: Space Knight," said Thompson. "Dan Nevins' insight was inspiring, generous and deeply moving, allowing us to create a more realistic character and story for the book. I'm forever grateful for their ongoing help and guidance."

Dealing with the realities of debilitating injuries is often a difficult balance for superhero and fantasy fiction writers. Recently, when Arrow revealed that Felicity Smoak had suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury and is not expected to walk again, fans, the press and even the characters speculated that, in a world where The Flash and Hawkman exist, perhaps no permanent injury is truly permanent. That was evidenced, of course, by Batgirl's recovery from her paralysis following the New 52 relaunch in 2011.

In Venom: Space Knight, Flash will face major physical and mental adjustments during the rehabilitation process that other veterans and service members like him go through every day in the real world.

"Marvel's team has put so much time and consideration into the development of the Flash Thompson character as he faces this physical and emotional battle that many combat veterans have faced and are facing right now," said Dan Nevins, WWP spokesperson, who consulted on the Venom: Space Knight script. "While the story itself is clearly sci-fi/fantasy, this storyline will bring awareness to the very real struggle of the obvious and not-so-obvious challenges in having lost limbs in combat, and to ultimately showcase the fortitude and resilience of the warriors Flash Thompson represents."

The storyline begins in Venom: Space Knight #3, due in stores today.