Appearing in "Predators: Conclusion"
Featured Characters:
- Spider-Woman / Venom (Gwen Stacy) (Merges with Venom) (First appearance as Venom)
Supporting Characters:
- S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde)
- Logan (Merges with and loses Venom)
Antagonists:
- Venom (Briefly merges with Logan before merging with Spider-Woman)
- District Attorney Foggy Nelson
- The Hand
- Kingpin (Matt Murdock)
- Otomo
- Numerous unnamed ninja
Other Characters:
- Harry Osborn
- Madripoor Police Force
- NYPD
- Special Crimes Task Force
- Unnamed officers
- George Stacy (Earth-65)
- Norman Osborn (Mentioned)
- Em Jay Watson (Voice only)
- Rick Sanchez (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
- Morty Smith (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
- Rhino (Aleksei Sytsevich) (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
- Humans
- Mutants
- Human-Reptile Hybrids (Referenced)
Locations:
- Earth-65
- Earth
- Madripoor
- United States of America
- New York
- New York City
- Manhattan
- Unidentified hospital (First appearance)
- Manhattan
- New York City
- New York
- Earth
Items:
Synopsis for "Predators: Conclusion"
As Harry Osborn collapses to the ground, the newly created Venom symbiote rises up behind Spider-Woman. It manifests a fanged maw as she steels herself to be bonded to it, but it suddenly shoots past her towards Wolverine and Shadowcat. Logan shields Kitty and tries to slice the symbiote to pieces with his Adamantium claws, but it reforms and latches onto him. Gwen recalls what Dr. Elsa Brock had told her about the symbiote - that it typically kills its prospective hosts before it can fully bond to them and that it needs a compatible host. As she and Shadowcat look on in horror, Gwen laments that she believed that she was its only compatible host and that bonding to it was the price she'd have to pay to keep being Spider-Woman. Kitty asks if Logan is OK, and the Venomized Wolverine replies that they are better than ever as the symbiote forms into black samurai armor and sculpts his hair into a red-streaked horned hairdo. As SWAT police swarm in, Spider-Woman yells at them to stand back, but the Venomized Wolverine gleefully mows through them, embracing his long-suppressed bloodlust.
At the intensive care unit, District Attorney Foggy Nelson calls Matt Murdock and snaps that he wanted George Stacy silenced, not dead. Murdock quips that Captain Stacy isn't dead yet, just in a coma -- saying he got off light compared to what would have happened if he'd taken his stand. As Detective Jean DeWolff - who is inside Captain Stacy's hospital room - turns to stare at him through the window, Nelson nervously tells Murdock that he thinks she's onto him. In an alleyway in Madripoor, Murdock sighs in exasperation and tells Nelson to calm down and get ready for what's coming next. As Nelson demands to know what he means, Murdock instructs him to have Captain Stacy's room heavily guarded, saying that Spider-Woman is still on the loose. Turning to Gwen Stacy's dropped backpack, Murdock jokes that she'd lose her head if it weren't attached as he steals her Dimensional Travel Watch.
Extending her own claws, Shadowcat lunges at Logan and tells him to stand down, but he smugly activates her restraining device before collapsing in pain himself -- the symbiote's aversion to loud noises kicking in. Watching, Gwen laments that the Logan's using the symbiote as an excuse to become the vicious killer he was deep down, and that it scares her that Murdock was wrong about her being the symbiote's only compatible host. As Gwen picks up the restraining device's activator, Gwen realizes they'll both die and that if she doesn't do anything she'll be a worse monster than the Venom could make her. Kitty begs her not to shut it off, but Gwen says that they'll both die if she doesn't and deactivates it. The symbiote rebonds to Logan and he runs off, Shadowcat berating Spider-Woman as she helps her to her feet. Shadowcat tells Spider-Woman that the device emits ultrasonic waves that inhibit her ability to turn intangible, and Spider-Woman speculates that the Venom symbiote has a mind of its own and is influencing Logan; suggesting that Shadowcat phase Logan free and then use the sonic inhibitor to destroy the symbiote. Shadowcat gripes that Spider-Woman's plan sucks, and Spider-Woman asks Kitty what will happen to Harry. Kitty quips that Norman Osborn will get him a good lawyer and keep him out of prison; picking up Logan's hat and giving it to Spider-Woman. Spider-Woman briefly puts the hat on before leaving it to cover Harry's face, Shadowcat saying she came to stop a monster and that her work's not yet done before the two women set off in pursuit of the Venomized Wolverine.
As Venomized Wolverine runs down an alley, Spider-Woman and Shadowcat arrive via web-swinging. He cuts Spider-Woman's web-line, but she tells Shadowcat to stick to the plan as she launches them towards Logan. Shadowcat phases Logan free of the symbiote, Spider-Woman noting that it was too easy. Logan comes to his senses and apologizes, telling Kitty that the symbiote got into his head; and the two S.H.I.E.L.D. assassins flee the scene as Spider-Woman holds the symbiote at bay with the sonic inhibitor. The symbiote is unaffected and breaks the device, latching onto Spider-Woman as she desperately tries to get it working again. As it engulfs her, Murdock arrives - singing along to the Mary Janes' "Face It Tiger" before gloating that if she'd called him he would have told her that sound only affects the symbiote when it has a host. Smugly stating that deep down she wanted the symbiote to take over and unleash her darkest impulses, the Kingpin watches as the symbiote cocoons Gwen. Refusing to give in, Spider-Woman snares Murdock's smartphone and yanks it into the cocoon, playing her band's music. As the now Venomized Spider-Woman - dressed in a black bodysuit and jacket with a white spider-emblem on the back, a serrated white-rimmed hood, and the symbiote's tongue forming a jagged red pattern from her neck to her waist before extending into a whip-like appendage - emerges from the cocoon, Murdock smugly asks how she feels - thinking she's succumbed to the symbiote's corruption. Lunging at him, the Venomized Spider-Woman grabs him by the throat and slams him against a wall before transforming the symbiote into a replica of her original costume and saying that she feels great. Murdock is incredulous at her ability to resist the symbiote's bloodlust, Gwen retracting her mask and stating that Murdock himself gave her the key to that: using music to suppress the symbiote and let her control it. Murdock sarcastically congratulates her for finally winning before revealing that he's still ten steps ahead. Revealing he stole her portal device, Murdock mocks her for losing track of it and the other important things in her life as he opens a portal to George Stacy's hospital room. Horrified and enraged, Gwen tightens her grip on Murdock's throat as the symbiote shifts back to its dark appearance. Murdock chokes out that Captain Stacy's coma is her fault since she trusted the police to protect him instead of being there to do so herself. Dropping Murdock, Gwen dashes through the portal and crouches next to his bed, sobbing that this can't be happening. As the police burst into her room and hold her at gunpoint, Gwen's grief bleeds over into rage and the symbiote engulfs her. Livid, the Venomized Spider-Woman snarls that Captain Stacy was one of them, and that they were supposed to protect him. Hissing viciously, she lashes out with the symbiote's tongue and slams one of the cops into the wall. The other cop opens fire, but the symbiote withstands the bullets and the Venomized Spider-Woman breaks his hand with tendrils. As she grabs Detective DeWolff by the throat, Jean gasps that Spider-Woman won't help Captain Stacy by killing her. Dropping her, the Venomized Spider-Woman - her voice distorted by the symbiote - admits that DeWolff is right, then leaps out a window as she swears bloody revenge on the one who put Captain Stacy in a coma.
Solicit Synopsis
• The aftermath of the PREDATORS storyline leaves Gwen in a VERY different place.
• Matt Murdock’s plans all come home to roost, and when you plan like our good friend Murderdock does, you know that ain’t pretty.
• WHAT IS THE NEXT EVOLUTIONARY STEP FOR SPIDER-GWEN?!