Marvel Reveals How SPOILER Became Venom

The current run of Venom has been revolutionizing what fans thought they knew about the character, with some outrageous and canon-breaking takes on the Marvel universe’s take on symbiotes. The current “Venom Beyond” arc has been absolutely no exception, bringing Eddie Brock, his loyal symbiote, and his son Dylan to the Ultimate universe. Along the way, Venom fans have been treated to a subversion of some long-running mythos surrounding the character, with Anne Weying taking on the symbiote in the Ultimate universe. If the circumstances of that reveal left you confused, Venom #28 recently provided some interesting -and heartbreaking – context as to how it came about. Spoilers for Venom #28 below! Only look if you want to know!

After opening with Knull’s latest tirade, the issue pivots to the reunion between Earth-616 Eddie and Earth-1610 Anne. Anne quickly begins to doubt the identity of the Eddie standing in front of her — and once he retells his origin story, she explains why. As Anne reveals, Earth-1610’s Eddie followed through with killing himself in a church, an event that sent Anne into a deep spiral of grief.

Anne recounts her journey of mourning Eddie’s loss, arguing that she was angry at him – and all of the circumstances around them – for leading to his suicide. Searching for answers, Anne returned to the church, where she proceeded to be bonded to the symbiote.

As Anne goes on to explain, she then used her symbiote to join a shadow unit formed by Flash Thompson, preparing for the coming threat of something evil.

This definitely is a new twist on the origin story that Eddie has had for decades, where he is bonded to the Venom symbiote, fakes his death, and then reemerges as the terrifying antihero. It also is a subversion of Anne’s comic history, which is largely portrayed as a passive extension of Eddie’s character arc, even when she was briefly bonded with She-Venom. Her suicide in 2000’s The Amazing Spider-Man #19 even served as cannon fodder for Eddie’s “man-pain” — which makes this flipping of the script all the more delightful.

What do you think of how Anne Weying became Venom in Venom #28? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!