Marvel Database
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register
Marvel Database
Marvel Database
319,420
pages
in: Comics, Astonishing Spider-Man Vol 7, Jesús Saíz/Cover Artist,
and 13 more
English

Astonishing Spider-Man Vol 7 6

Sign in to edit

Quote1 Miles... I am forever in your debt. Quote2
—Wilson Fisk

Appearing in 1st story

Reprint of the 1st story from
Spider-Men II #3

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • NYDOC
    • Warden Mosley (First appearance)
    • Numerous unnamed corrections officers
  • Don Rigoletto (Mentioned)
  • Miles' cousin (Mentioned)
  • Unnamed New York County D.A. (Mentioned)
  • Small Hands' cousin (Mentioned) (Deceased)
  • Sana (Barbara's friend) (Mentioned)

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

Synopsis for 1st story

Reprint of the 1st story from
Spider-Men II #3
  • Synopsis not yet written

Appearing in "Heart of Darkness"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Venom #150

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

Synopsis for "Heart of Darkness"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Venom #150

Eddie Brock awakens from a nightmare of his turbulent history with the symbiotes. As he gets up and looks out the window at the nighttime cityscape, a manifestation of the Venom symbiote appears on his shoulder, urging him to go out and drink in the moonlight. As Venom web-swings over the city, the symbiote points out a robbery being committed by a group of men wearing armor with colored pauldrons and urges Eddie to stop them.

The armored thieves attach a bomb to the door of a building and detonate it. The purple-armored thief enters the building as the others go over their plan. Venom lands in their midst, causing the thief in red armor to flee in terror as the others pull out taser weapons. Unaffected, Venom grabs the blue-armored thief by the throat and demands to know why a bunch of terrorists would rob a biotech firm, guessing they're after a biological weapon. The blue-armored thief explains that they're not terrorists, but a technology group and that their tech is non-lethal. Venom demands to know who hired them, but the purple-armored thief returns with the item they were after, stopping abruptly as he spots Venom. Venom web-slings the blue-armored thief into a wall, killing him, as the yellow-armored thief gets up and attacks him. Venom tackles him to the ground, destroys his taser, and demands to be given what the purple-armored thief stole. Terrified, the thief turns over a genetically-modified tomato in a canister. Venom is dumbfounded, protesting that he thought he was stopping terrorists. As the police arrive, Venom flees and lands on a rooftop. Retracting the symbiote, Eddie demands to know what happened and why it lashed out with violence. The symbiote retorts that the thieves were little men who were taking something that didn't belong to them and needed to be put in their place, but Eddie snaps that they weren't hurting anyone. The symbiote protests that the men were thieves, asking Eddie if this isn't what he wanted, and Eddie retorts that they don't butcher men for being thieves, wondering aloud what he was thinking. The symbiote responds that he wants to be a hero and can't be seen looking stupid.

Travelling to the run-down Our Lady of Saints Church, Eddie sits in one of the pews as the symbiote observes this is where they first met and asks if he's sad. As Eddie responds that he isn't, a pair of young street thugs enter and confront Eddie, pulling out weapons. Standing up, Eddie menacingly tells them to leave him alone, the symbiote covering one hand behind his back, and the thugs lose their nerve and flee. A voice thanks Eddie for scaring them off and that the diocese asked him to restore the parish, a task made difficult by the increase in criminal activity. Eddie turns to see a priest, who notes that he's a dangerous man and asks if he's come for benediction. Eddie responds that he doesn't believe in God anymore, but the priest smiles and says that Eddie still came to God's house. Sitting next to Eddie, the priest states that when Galactus first attacked Earth and battled the Fantastic Four, almost all of his parishioners stopped coming to church after years of flawless attendance, but people who had never been to church in their lives started attending. Eddie pensively tells the priest that he recently resumed a relationship, and when asked by the priest if that's a good thing he responds that he'd been dreaming of it for years. The priest notes that Eddie's implying that it's not as he'd hoped, and Eddie states that he went through a lot of pain to get this relationship back, but that as a result he did something he thought he would never do again, and that he thought he'd put those days behind him. The priest asks if his partner was the one who made him do something he regrets and if Eddie regrets the reunion, but Eddie firmly denies this, saying that he will never regret this reunion but that he doesn't know who he and his partner are together anymore. The priest comforts Eddie, saying that if his partner loves him they wouldn't force him to do something he doesn't want to do, causing the symbiote to tell Eddie it doesn't like the priest. Eddie snaps that the priest doesn't know what he's talking about, but the priest warns him that he knows obsession when he sees it, and that if love is used to justify pain it turns into something ugly. As the symbiote reiterates its dislike of the priest, Eddie stands up, saying he has to leave, and the priest tells Eddie to come back whenever he feels the need to talk.

Walking down the street, the symbiote states that it only wants what Eddie wants, what they both want: to be together forever. As Eddie agrees with this, the symbiote states it will hurt anyone who threatens their bond, and Eddie tells it that no-one is threatening them, expressing concern over its behavior. The symbiote acknowledges it is succumbing to rage and hatred again, and that some days it's stronger than others, but that even in its weakened state it's more than capable of killing anyone who interferes. A bright light shines behind Eddie and the symbiote warns him of an incoming attack, not fast enough to avoid being attacked by the Scorpion. Mac Gargan sneers that he'd heard from his people at Alchemax that Eddie was Venom again, and that he has unfinished business with both Eddie and the Venom symbiote. Transforming into Venom, Eddie snarls that it's time to finish their grudge match, and lunges. Venom's claws spark off Gargan's armor as the Scorpion's tail shoots a torrent of flame at him. Venom grabs the tail and crushes it, but Gargan uses the distraction to blast Venom point-blank with sonic weapons mounted in his pincers. Gargan taunts Eddie as the symbiote sloughs away, saying that he had Alchemax modify his armor to pinpoint the frequency that causes the symbiote the most amount of pain, and that he still has nightmares of when he was bonded to it. As Gargan expresses his intent to crush Eddie's head and burn the symbiote to cinders, Eddie realizes that Gargan fears the symbiote and urges it to exploit this. The symbiote enters Gargan's suit and he immediately jettisons the Scorpion armor, terrified that it wants to bond with him again. Eddie sneers that the symbiote would never leave him for the likes of Gargan before punching him out and collapsing, exhausted from Gargan's beatdown. The symbiote envelops him and carries him to safety as he passes out, saying that it will always take care of him and won't let anyone get between them.

Eddie regains consciousness in Our Lady of Saints Church, asking the symbiote what happened and where they are. It responds that they're back where they first bonded, comparing their relationship to marriage, and when asked why it brought him there the symbiote responds that the church is a special place where they were bonded forever, and that no-one will break that bond. Looking around, Eddie is horrified to see the seemingly dead body of the priest nearby and that his hands are covered in blood, asking the symbiote what it's done. As Eddie sorrowfully cradles the priest's body in his arms, the symbiote ominously responds that they did what they will do to anyone who tries to come between them.

Appearing in "Skin Deep"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Venom #154

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Bodega robbers (First appearance)

Other Characters:

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

Events:

Synopsis for "Skin Deep"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Venom #154

As Eddie Brock sleeps, the Venom symbiote keeps watch over its host, noting that while Eddie calls their reunion a "dream come true," it can't dream and therefore doesn't understand the significance of the metaphor. Turning to watch the TV, the symbiote notes that it's slowly learning as a documentary on the Shocker comes on. Noticing a clip from one of Eddie's old fights with Spider-Man and that it is referred to as a "horrifying creature," the symbiote bitterly contemplates being labelled a monster. Turning to look at Eddie, it views his nightmarish dreams using a trick it picked up from a medical drama, but is distracted by a report that several bodegas were robbed by assailants using a powerful chemical mace similar to bear spray. Eyeing the medicine created by Doctor Steven, the symbiote notes that Eddie worries about it and says it's sick, grinning viciously as it states that it doesn't feel sick.

The following morning Eddie awakens to see he's over two hours late for his scheduled appointment with Alchemax. Bonding to Eddie and web-swinging through the city, the symbiote notes that Eddie gets scared when it needs medicine, voicing dislike towards Liz Allan and calling her a horrible woman. In her office, Liz has her assistants apply makeup while she barks orders over a headset, demanding that twelve crates of antibiotics be sent as disaster relief to an epidemic in East Asia. Standing in the door, Eddie notes she's hard at work and she retorts that she has to spend sixteen hours a day in her office and look still presentable, and then tells him to wear a shirt when he comes for his treatments. Eddie transforms the symbiote into a shirt and coat, but she tells him that if he's already met with Dr. Steve then he can leave. The symbiote observes that while Eddie may say he doesn't like Liz, it senses conflicting emotions towards her from him. It notes that while it traveled to many worlds, none were as strange as Earth: it had understood simple feelings, but bonding to Spider-Man had inundated it with complex emotions like guilt, fear, agony, betrayal, and jealousy; and that was also the first time it had been labeled a parasite and a monster.

Influencing Eddie subconsciously, the symbiote guides him to a bodega being attacked by the group of assailants from the news. It wonders if it's wrong to trick him like this, then justifies doing so to stop criminals. Eddie enters the bodega in human form pretending to be a customer, the symbiote commending this tactic to ensure that the clerk isn't harmed and that his enemies underestimate him. While one of the thugs brashly confronts Eddie, the symbiote extends a tendril along the floor and subdues a thug keeping watch outside. The thug threatening Eddie tells him he got his gear by killing a supervillain called the Sprayer, threatening to kill Eddie too, but Eddie responds with an amused smirk and pokes fun at the man's attempt to be intimidating. The thug sprays him in the face with a gas, but Eddie transforms into Venom and knocks the two thugs inside the store out, apologizing to the clerk for the mess. The symbiote notes it feels good to be a hero, but that it can't deny it enjoyed doing bad things too: when bonded to Mac Gargan, the symbiote had reveled in being a bloodthirsty predator, knowing it was bad to kill but not caring due to Gargan's evil poisoning it. It relishes having punished Gargan for his corruptive influence over it, dismissing him as evil and afraid. In contrast to Gargan, Lee Price had been a soldier and, far from being afraid, had been power-hungry and ruthlessly ambitious. Taking advantage of the symbiote's desperation and weakness, Price had abused and dominated it with his will, caused it to succumb to corruption again. The symbiote notes that Eddie sometimes hurts it too, but never intentionally.

As Eddie carries the television to a pawnshop that evening, the symbiote pleads with him not to sell it, but Eddie says they need the money. Expressing concern with how much he's been sleeping lately, Eddie wonders if it's an unknown side effect of the medication. The pawn shop owner contemptuously refuses to buy the TV, and later that night the symbiote watches a medical drama. It observes that while Eddie had been angry at being unable to sell the TV, it had been happy; and expresses concern that while it trusts Eddie, instances when they feel different emotions are confusing and abnormal. Having put Eddie to sleep so that it can ruminate over this quandary, it wonders if the fact that they disagree means that it is a monster after all. The symbiote fondly recalls its time with Flash Thompson, who had helped it overcome its corruption, redeem itself, and become a true hero. It reminisces fighting alongside other heroes during Blackheart's attempt to create Hell on Earth, learning to mentor its wayward clone, and that despite a rough start Flash had come to call it his partner as a member of the Agents of the Cosmos. Lamenting that Flash is gone, the symbiote resolves to continue following his example and own up to its mistakes.

Taking on its humanoid form, it travels to the hospital where the priest it had brutalized has regained consciousness. The priest is initially terrified, believing Venom has come to finish him off, but the symbiote apologizes for its actions and states that it wants to do good, but that it did so many terrible things without knowing they were wrong that even now it still finds matters of morality confusing. The priest asks if it's asking for forgiveness, but the symbiote laments that it doesn't know what it wants or whether it's a hero or a monster. The priest remarks that it is impossible to know without grace, and that everyone from the greatest hero to the lowliest monster needs salvation. Stating that the world can be a hopeless place, the priest observes he's seen people lose their will to live or their souls without loved ones to support them, asking the symbiote if it has love in its life, someone who matters to it. Finally understanding, the symbiote says that it does, and that while he is currently sleeping he is always with it. However, it expresses uncertainty, saying that it has felt love before and only received pain and hatred in return. The priest acknowledges that love is confusing, but tells the symbiote to work every day to earn it. The symbiote resolves to do so by crushing criminals, ignoring the priest's wry remark, and then says that it's glad it didn't kill him and that he is now under its protection. As it departs, the symbiote tells the priest it will work at earning love, and is learning.

Appearing in "Lethal Protector: Part 1"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Venom #155

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Inmates (First appearance)
    • Jimmy (First appearance; dies)
    • Unnamed others (First appearance)
  • Lee Price
  • Corrupt NYPD officer (First appearance)
  • Unnamed drug dealer (First appearance)
  • Moloids
  • Unnamed "mole monster" (First appearance; dies)

Other Characters:

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

Synopsis for "Lethal Protector: Part 1"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Venom #155

In a cell at the New York Corrections Supermax Facility for Superhuman Incarceration, three inmates discuss carrying out a hit on a big name-but-powerless supervillain, vetoing Absorbing Man and a former Hobgoblin by the name of Ryan Markinson. Deciding to target Lee Price, they approach him in the cafeteria and interrogate him over the rumors that he used to be Venom and tried to take over the Black Cat's gang, a skinhead named Jimmy mocking him over his failure and incarceration. Price dismisses them, saying that they're imprisoned too. Noticing he's surrounded, Price asks if they killed the guard or paid him off, and one of the inmates retorts that they paid the guard off but are going to kill him and that he should take that as a compliment. Price asks if they're not even going to let him eat his last meal in peace, then abruptly slams the edge of his meal tray down on Jimmy's fingers, breaking them, and then catches the second thug in the throat with it. The third inmate grabs him from behind, but Price breaks his fingers and then throws him headfirst to the ground. Approaching Jimmy, Price angrily asks if they thought he'd be an easy mark just because he doesn't have superpowers. Swearing to annihilate Jimmy's gang of skinheads once he's out and has the Venom symbiote back, Price pummels Jimmy to a bloody pulp, saying no-one will ever see him coming.

In a New York ally, Venom clings to a wall eavesdropping on a conversation between a dirty cop and a drug dealer, snaking a tendril towards them. Snaring the drug dealer by the neck and slamming him into the wall of an apartment, Venom drops down and confronts the officer, who tries to cut a deal in exchange for mercy. Accusing the officer of betraying his oath to serve and protect, Venom says that the officer's punishment must be special and then roars that he's going to eat his brains, his fangs lengthening and tongue snaking out of his jaws. Recoiling, Venom exclaims that he can't eat the cop, who agrees saying that he would be unappetizing - being a smoker and all bones and gristle. Knocking the officer out with a backhand to the face, Eddie retracts the symbiote from his face and says the officer is lucky that he met Venom on a night the symbiote needs to take its medicine. Web-swinging away, Eddie grouses that he didn't realize how long it had been since it's last dosage.

At Eddie's apartment, the symbiote complains that it doesn't need the medicine, but Eddie retorts it that it almost ate the police officer and had they killed the cop they'd be public enemy number one. Saying that the medicine should calm it and heal its mind, Eddie preps an injection, but the symbiote replies that the problem isn't with it's mind, it's just hungry. Acknowledging that he's been too reliant on its metabolism and needs to eat more regularly and find better shelter, Eddie spots a billboard for the Fact Channel.

Transforming the symbiote into a suit, Eddie meets with editor Jennifer Kao and introduces himself as Mr. Sym. Kao asks why she's never heard of him before, and Eddie states that he prefers to operate under pseudonyms and understands that wouldn't be a problem here. Going over his resume, Kao notes that his tenacity is impressive but that the material he brought for publication - exposing corruption in the NYPD and FBI - aren't what her new division of the Fact Channel, the Fact Sheet, has as its purview. Saying that if he's worked in print before he should know the drill, she says her paper focuses on falsified stories like Elvis coming back from the dead and people living on the Moon. When Eddie retorts that people do live on the Moon, Kao tells him to go and write that up with the skill he put into his exposés. Eddie protests that her station is called the Fact Channel and that journalism can be a powerful tool for justice, but Kao retorts that she's not interested in justice, only in making sure sales remain steady and her employees get their paychecks. Responding to Eddie's frustration, the symbiote suggests they eat her.

Later, Eddie makes his way through the sewers, the symbiote asking if they're there to look for danger and chances to be a hero. Transforming into Venom, Eddie responds that the dinosaur people owe him a debt and that he figured they'd have something bloody the symbiote could eat without Venom having to steal or kill a newspaper editor. As Venom approaches the dinosaur-peoples' village, they hail him as their savior and welcome him into their community. Venom says he's come to break bread with them, and an anthropomorphic Ankylosaurus says they have meat, leading him to a bonfire. Venom says that something smells good, but seeing that the roasting meat is a Moloid, asks if the dinosaur people know where it came from. The ankylosaur responds that one of their members, Togar, captured it while foraging in the slime pools. Venom irately says he knows of these creatures and that there's never just one Moloid, just as a horde of Moloids and a subterranean beast burst through the wall. Venom surveys the chaos as the two sides clash, the dinosaur people eager for more meat. The symbiote asks if they should join the fray and devour everyone, but Venom steps in and tries to put an end to the bloodshed, saying that the Moloids are sentient beings that should be afforded the opportunity to live in peace. Before he can finish, the mole monster eats him and the dinosaur people attack it in an effort to save him. Ripping out of its throat, Venom calls an end to the fighting and explains that the Moloids are not just prey to be hunted, but are part of a civilization just like the dinosaur peoples'. Personally returning a dead Moloid to his brethren, Venom apologizes for the horrible mistake and tells them to go in peace to bury their dead - save for the mole monster, whose corpse is too big to transport. As the Moloids retreat, one of the dinosaur-men asks Venom if they understood. Venom says they definitely didn't, grumbling that this is one of the most bizarre things to happen to him at dinner. The symbiote complains that it's still hungry, and Eddie responds that's why they didn't let the Moloids take the mole monster. Addressing the community, Venom proclaims they will honor the mole monster by feasting on its flesh, but that this is never to happen again.

Elsewhere, Sergei Kravinoff speaks to Dmitri Smerdyakov on the phone, asking if he has any news for him. Dmitri informs Kraven that the Hague is angry at him for hunting in the Savage Land without a permit the year previously, but Kraven says he was talking about finding an interesting hunt to pursue. Spotting a Fact Channel tabloid article written by Eddie Brock about dinosaur-people in New York's sewers, Kraven cuts Dmitri off and tells him to fuel up the jet and contact their people in New York, eager to go on a new hunt.

See Also

Links and References

References

Español Русский Türkçe
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms
Advertisement

Fan Feed

More Marvel Database