Appearing in "Monsters Anonymous"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Beast (Hank McCoy) (Appears on screen)
Antagonists:
- Toxin (Eddie Brock)
- Unnamed host to Symbiote Slayer
Other Characters:
- Unnamed woman
Locations:
- Pennsylvania
- Philadelphia
- Unnamed church
- Ruff Rick's Kennel (Pet store)
- Philadelphia
Items:
- Toxin Symbiote (Main story and flashback)
- Venom Symbiote (Main story and flashback)
Synopsis for "Monsters Anonymous"
Toxin and the cyborg fight until the cyborg bites Toxin's neck. Toxin hurls him away, and the cyborg states that he doesn't want to fight or kill but that the entities embedded in his back won't let him stop. Toxin replies that's good since both Eddie and the Toxin symbiote want to fight, then throws the cyborg through a wall. Sprouting more blades, the cyborg states that the adaptation matrix in his bloodstream and lethality equation are making him unstoppable, but Toxin rips off one of his arms, saying that he was going to use the cyborg to hunt down Agent Venom but can do so on his own as he raises the cyborg over his head. As Toxin is about to rip the cyborg in half, a pair of serrated metal tentacles rip from the cyborg's abdomen and plunge into his chest. Flinging the cyborg aside, Eddie urges the symbiote to heal him, then notes that the cyborg had more bite than he'd expected, but that he can track its scent and use it to find Venom.
On a videochat with Flash, Beast notes Flash isn't using his prosthetic legs, and Flash replies that they're uncomfortable and that using them felt like cheating. Beast commends him, saying it's Flash's decision and that he wants to make a fresh start. Flash informs Beast about the cyborg, saying he's infected with alien technology that is mutating him. Beast notes that Flash's report on his encounter speculates that the cyborg was one of the U-Foes' experiments, and says that he could at least try to help him provided Flash can capture him.
At an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Flash introduces himself to the group, darkly musing in his thoughts about how he doesn't belong, since the demon and the symbiote inside him could take over at any moment if he were to let his guard down. As the group accepts him, Flash notes it's funny how he gave them his name and life's story, and now he's part of the unidentifiable masses, which gives him time to think ahead.
That night, at a pet store, the owner hears the dogs barking and yelping in pain and goes to investigate. She finds the room spattered with blood and the cyborg clutching the half-eaten body of a poodle. The cyborg apologizes but says he has to eat and can't stop himself anymore. The woman runs away, screaming, as the cyborg lunges. Agent Venom snares the cyborg with a web-line and webs him to the hood of a car, telling him to stand down and that he can help him, but will shoot to kill if the cyborg attacks. The cyborg replies that Agent Venom can't do anything for him, and that while he might want help the creatures controlling him don't. Agent Venom mummifies the cyborg in webbing, wondering what to do if Beast can't help cure him, and that while he doesn't have it in him, maybe the man deserves a mercy killing. Toxin arrives and finishes Agent Venom's thought out loud, saying that he agrees and will take care of the cyborg as soon as he's done with Venom.
Solicit Synopsis
• It's Venom vs. Toxin in the schoolyard!
• But have these two symbiote-psychos created something far more evil in Philadelphia?!Trivia
- The alternate cover by Shane Davis is a reference to Todd McFarlane's cover for Amazing Spider-Man #316, hence the "After Todd MF" credit in the signature.