Two More Venom Candidates Have Been Eliminated (And We Are More Suspicious Than Ever)

There’s a new era of Venom, and it’s presented readers with a brand-new mystery. Eddie Brock is no longer Venom, nor is his son Dylan. Dylan Brock is living with Mary Jane and her husband Paul, watching as this new Venom swings into action, trying to figure out who took up the symbiote that he and his father had once bonded with. Marvel has played up the mystery, giving readers four candidates for who could be the new Venom: Rick Jones, Robbie Robertson, Madame Masque, and Luke Cage. All-New Venom #4, by Al Ewing and Carlos Gomez, takes this story to the next level, revealing that two suspects should be crossed off the list and one should maybe get a closer look.

The saga of Venom in the last few years has been a huge part of the Marvel Universe, his battles with Knull taking symbiotic heroes and villains in an entirely new direction. All-New Venom is a continuation of that, and this new mystery has made Venom exciting again after several years of symbiotic shenanigans that never really moved the character forward. This newest issue of All-New Venom features Venom up against a villain that no one would ever expect and also features the return of a symbiote fans haven’t seen in a long time.

Madame Masque and Rick Jones Aren’t Venom

Madame Masque was always an out of left field choice to be Venom. To begin with, while the symbiote could easily hide the fact that there’s a woman inside it, most symbiotes don’t do that. So, that was a problem. However, the biggest way to tell is that Madame Masque isn’t a heroic character at all; she’s always been a self-centered character, something All-New Venom #4 reminds readers of. Madame Masque shows up in Midtown Manhattan and begins executing someone and live streaming, all to get AIM’s attention. AIM goons show up and she shoots one of them, but with a very special bullet — a shrunken down MODOK. As that is happening, Rick Jones is meeting with Robbie Robertson when he gets the alert that Madame Masque is attacking. Robertson sends him away before making a cryptic comment about his plans for the day.

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Venom shows up and MODOK is able to get an advantage over Venom, blasting him with psi-blasts several times. Venom gets separation from MODOK and is able to take down Madame Masque, webbing her up, which gives MODOK a chance to hit him with a full power psi-blast. Readers get a glimpse of the symbiote draped over the new Venom host, revealing a rather generic physique, and then Rick Jones shows up. MODOK asks him how he got up there, and Rick can’t remember before puking out black symbiotic goo. Rick Jones also isn’t Venom, but he does have a symbiote, that of Sleeper, a symbiote that had a special relationship with Dylan Brock. The issue ends with Rick and MODOK facing off.

There’s Only One Venom Candidate Left… Or Is There?

Luke Cage was eliminated from the running in All-New Venom #2, and this new issue takes Rick Jones and Madame Masque off of the list as well, although Jones does seem to have a symbiote of his own. With these two out of the running, it looks like Robbie Robertson is the only person left who could be Venom. The scene between Rick Jones and Robbie Robertson ends with two panels where Robbie questions just how much that Rick knew about who Venom is, but it’s asked in such a way that makes it seem like Robertson knows more than he’s letting on. The next panel sees him telling his secretary to hold his calls because he was going out, which happens right before Venom arrives at Madame Masque’s attack. All of this seems to point at him as Venom.

However, Robbie as Venom doesn’t feel right, which leads us to a theory that has been going around the Internet for months now. The addition of Mary Jane and her husband Paul has gotten many fans believing that perhaps Paul will be revealed as Venom. Marvel’s devotion to Paul is one of the stranger things going on right now; fans hate him but Marvel keeps shoving him down everyone’s throats. Marvel has trolled fans many times over the years, especially in the Spider-Man books, so them making Paul Venom fits their actions in the last few years. It remains to be seen who will be revealed as Venom, but this latest issue at least tells us who isn’t.

All-New Venom #4 is on sale every where comics are sold.