Captain America Nukes Venom

Venom went through the wringer in 2019 and 2020 looks just as perilous. Well, even more perilous when one of Marvel’s greatest heroes drops a nuke on the symbiote. Venom #23 is a pretty wild ride that sees the Venom Island story arc kick into high gear. Eddie Brock has taken some time away to work out why he’s been waking up with messages carved into his body and these awful dreams. Captain America is along for the ride as the two band together to get to the bottom of this situation. After Absolute Carnage, Brock is worried that the Venom symbiote is carrying a sort of infection due to all the symbiote intermingling during that giant crossover story last year. *Spoilers for Venom #23 are on the way.*

Well, things are not going very well as the infection part of the symbiote isn’t trying to go peacefully and Brock has to get rid of his own hand to be rid of it. With the separation underway, the Carnage-infected symbiote has taken up residence across the island. Luckily for the anti-hero, his son Dylan’s powers seem to allow him to help his father. With Dylan’s help, Venom rips itself from Carnage and Brock passes out from the physical toll this has all taken. Captain America wakes him up and they are aboard a helicopter.

Well, after a quick conversation, it becomes clear that the Venom symbiote isn’t onboard the helicopter. In a moment of drastic measures, Cap watches as the chopper fires a missile towards the island with the intent of killing both the Carnage and Venom symbioses on the spot. Brock is left to watch in horror as the island is engulfed in the explosion. After everything that happened during Absolute Carnage, could the anti-hero have just lost a core part of himself as well?

Now, as the ending of that crossover alluded to, Knull is still headed to Earth and the symbiote god is out for vengeance. It’s partly Brock’s fault for releasing him in the first place. To make matters worse, Venom is probably going to be necessary to stop Knull at some point because of the symbiote connection. Also, it’s going to be pretty tough to be an Avenger without the defining powerset that got you on the team in the first place. A lot of questions linger heading into Venom #24, but there will be some answers. Also, if Absolute Carnage proved anything, its that those symbioses are very hard to kill.

Venom #23 is available right now.