Who Is Venom’s New Mystery Villain?

A new era for Venom just started as Marvel Comics relaunched the lethal protector’s ongoing series. The creative team of writers Al Ewing and Ram V, penciler Bryan Hitch, inker Andrew Currie, colorist Alex Sinclair, and letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles are working together to tell twin stories featuring Eddie Brock as the new King in Black of the alien symbiotes, and his son Dylan Brock replacing him as Venom on Earth. Part of this new volume of Venom includes the introduction of a mysterious villain who appears to know more about them than they do about him.

There are a couple of lingering mysteries in Venom #1, including who is strong enough to take control of his symbiotes to deliver a cryptic message. Venom gets a warning from the future that he will lose his throne, along with his loved ones. When Eddie uses his powers to take a glimpse of his future, he receives multiple visions of what’s to come. If a confrontation with Kang the Conqueror wasn’t enough to send Venom into a panic, then dying from a rocket attack should be enough to do it.

As far as Dylan and the Venom symbiote are aware, Eddie was killed in the special ops attack. When we catch up with Eddie at the end of the issue, he appears to be transported to an alien garden at the end of time. This is where a disoriented Venom is greeted by Meridius, who promises to be with him every step of the way during this new journey.

Something worth pointing out is the resurrected Venom has a new symbol on his chest that is very similar to the one worn by Meridius. It almost looks like Meridius is the host of a symbiote since he has dark black skin. He also has eight crowns protruding from his head. His look is almost reminiscent of Ex Nihilo, who was created by Jonathan Hickman and Jerome Opena during their run on Avengers.

It isn’t entirely clear if Meridius is an enemy or an ally, though one can never fully trust a new character who comes across as friendly. There is almost always an ulterior motive behind their machinations. A post-credits scene showed Meridius at the “Absent Throne” while some of his subjects studied Eddie Brock’s skeletal remains.

What do you think the deal is with Meridius? Can Venom really trust him? Let us known down in the comments.