Marvel's New Venom Might Be the Most Hated Spider-Man Character

Venom was born of hatred. Disgraced Daily Globe reporter Eddie Brock hated Spider-Man for ruining his career, and the parasitic alien Symbiote hated Peter Parker for rejecting it as its host. Once they were bonded, Eddie and the Symbiote’s shared animosity for the same man turned them into the Spider-Man archvillain Venom, the monstrous spawn of seething hostility and resentment. No one could hate Spider-Man more than Venom.

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And no one could hate the All-New Venom more than Spider-Man fans. That is if the still-concealed Lethal Protector’s secret identity turns out to be who fans suspect: Paul Rabin.

The new Venom’s identity has been a mystery since Marvel announced in October that Al Ewing (Venom War) would be writing All-New Venom, while Brock would become the all-new Carnage in the Charles Soule-penned Eddie Brock: Carnage. Following the events of Venom War (where the Venom Symbiote separated from Eddie and his son, Dylan Brock), the now black-and-gold Symbiote bonded with an as-yet-unrevealed host.

Dylan has zeroed in on four suspects: “The Journalist” (Robbie Robertson), “The Terrorist” (Madame Masque), “The Sidekick” (Rick Jones), and “The Mayor” (Luke Cage). So far, the only suspect not definitively ruled out as of issue #4 is Robertson, but there are two more suspects that Dylan didn’t consider: his foster parents, Paul and Mary Jane Watson, who appear to clash on the cover for All-New Venom #6 (if Paul is Venom).

Coincidentally (or not?), Paul has appeared in all four issues, bonding (no pun intended) with Dylan, who had a bonding (not literally) moment with his Symbiote father (it’s a long story) in All-New Venom #3.

Dylan has also spent the first four issues mocking “dork” Paul, his vegan couscous, and his man bun despite being taken in by Paul and MJ — and Dylan’s father figure being bonded to his Symbiote father is a possibility he wouldn’t expect, potentially explaining why Paul has been absent from the official list of suspects.

Why the fan venom toward Paul? 2022’s volume-ending Amazing Spider-Man #93 (written by Zeb Wells) capped off the Nick Spencer-penned run by having Peter Parker move in with his longtime girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson, after rekindling their romance over the course of the volume. But when Wells relaunched the title with 2022’s Amazing Spider-Man #1, a months-long time jump revealed that MJ moved on instead of moving in.

Over the next 25 issues, readers eventually learned that Peter and MJ were transported to an alternate universe by the mad mathematician Benjamin Rabin, a.k.a. Emissary, a minor villain who debuted in the pages of Wells’ Amazing Spider-Man run in 2008 as part of the Brand New Day era and the editorial-mandated dissolution of Spider-Man’s marriage. (At least us long-suffering Parker-Watson shippers have Ultimate Spider-Man.)

While Mary Jane was stranded in this dystopian dimension with Paul (who turned out to be Rabin’s son), a situationship developed as days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years. (While weeks passed on Earth, the missing Mary Jane spent four years with Paul.) It was during this time that Paul and Mary Jane raised adopted children, Owen and Romy, and Mary Jane became both a mother and the superhero Jackpot.

Jackpot joined forces with Spider-Man to fight the Symbiote monster Arachniote (in the Venom War: Spider-Man tie-in series), and then took in a homeless Dylan as he zeroed in on the four suspects who seem to be red herrings. As the mystery nears its end, fans on social media are weighing in on the increasingly likely possibility that Paul is the All-New Venom.

“Please let it be ANYONE else. Please,” one fan wrote on the unofficial Spider-Man subreddit. Another non-fan of Paul’s commented, “If it is Paul I’m done with Marvel.”

“I’ve been a fan of Peter and MJ for years, and then this guy ruins something that has been around for years so easily just rubs most fans the wrong way,” reads another user’s scathing reply. “Paul can go rot like he deserves. No one is gonna miss him.”

Paul isn’t a bad guy — he’s just no Peter Parker. But is he a Venom?

Marvel has released artist Clayton Crain’s suspect variant covers and the All-New Venom spoiler variant (below) before the new Venom’s mystery host is revealed in All-New Venom #5 on April 2.

All-New Venom #5

WHO IS THE ALL-NEW VENOM…REVEALED?! When all the red herrings have been weeded out – who’s left? The clues have been in front of you the whole time – and by the end of this issue, you WILL know the name of the ALL-NEW VENOM…but with M.O.D.O.K. out for symbiote blood, you might just be identifying the corpse!

On sale: April 2

All-New Venom #6

THE ORIGIN OF THE ALL-NEW VENOM! Now we know WHO the All-New Venom is…the question is HOW? What happened after the events of the Venom War? Why did the symbiote choose this host – and why can’t they separate? Jackpot confronts Venom – and she may not like what she finds out!

On sale: May 7