Stop it. Enough of this. You... you're always questioning yourself... always doubting if you're a good guy or a bad guy... You think you aren't good enough to be a hero? Look around, Ed. Look how far you've come! You've faced the darkest evil in the galaxy and beaten it back. You've defied every challenge that's ever been put in front of you. So you have a dark past? Well, join the club... Everyone makes mistakes. I damn sure know I have... You may not think you have what it takes to stand next to Cap and Spidey and the rest, but... Eddie... You're storming the gates of Hell to save the world and rescue your son. You're a hero, Eddie. Make no mistake. You're Venom. Now, let me be a soldier. 
Appearing in "Agents Venom"
Featured Characters:
- Eddie Brock (Deceased)
Supporting Characters:
- Dylan Brock
- Agent Anti-Venom (Flash Thompson) (Deceased)
- Tyrannosaurus (Rex Strickland) (Deceased) (Controlled by Knull)
Antagonists:
- Symbiote Hive
- Knull
- Numerous unnamed symbiotes
- Numerous unnamed symbiote dragons
- Cyclops (Scott Summers) (Freed from Knull's control; leaves team)
- Captain America (Steve Rogers) (Freed from Knull's control; leaves team)
- The Thing (Ben Grimm) (Freed from Knull's control; leaves team)
- Storm (Ororo Munroe) (Freed from Knull's control; leaves team)
- Dr. Strange (Stephen Strange) (Freed from Knull's control; leaves team) (Continuity Error)
Other Characters:
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
- Invisible Woman (Sue Storm)
- Mr. Fantastic (Dr. Reed Richards)
- Richard Parker (Mentioned)
- Mary Parker (Mentioned)
- Blade (Eric Brooks) (Cameo)
- Vampire Nation (Cameo)
- Thor Odinson (Cameo)
- Wolverine (Logan) (Cameo)
- God (Yahweh) (Invoked)
- Sym-Soldiers (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
- Humans
- Human/Symbiote Hybrids
- Symbiotes
- Dhampirs
- Asgardians
- Mutants
Locations:
- Earth
- Symbiote Hive-Mind
- Codex Purgatory
- God Hive (First appearance)
- Heaven (Mentioned)
- Hell (Mentioned)
Items:
- Spider-Man's Suit and Web-Shooters
- Fantastic Four Uniforms
- Cyclops' Visor
- Captain America's Uniform and Shield
- Mjolnir (Cameo)
- Wolverine's Suit (Cameo)
- Adamantium (On Wolverine's claws)
- Blade's Sword
Synopsis for "Agents Venom"
Spider-Man attempts to comfort the distraught Dylan Brock, telling him about the people he's lost in his own life and that he knows exactly how Dylan is feeling, and that the world can be a cruel and uncaring place that keeps turning and never stops knocking people down. Saying that for many people staying down is the only way to deal with the pain, Spider-Man states that people like himself and Dylan have the power to fight back and at least try to protect people from the world's cruelties. However, Spider-Man says that - unlike him - he wants to give Dylan a choice, and that it's okay if Dylan wants to mourn his father and stay out of the fight no matter what Mr. Fantastic blathers about Dylan being their only hope. Spider-Man states that he's confident they can beat Knull without Dylan's help if they have to, just like they've beaten every other monster, demon, and evil god to try to conquer the world. Spider-Man tells Dylan that he needs him to be brave but that sometimes being brave means admitting you're scared and need help, saying that he promised Dylan's father that he'd look after him. Mister Fantastic approaches and asks if they're ready to go, Dylan looking up - his eyes black with red spirals - and snaps that he needs to hurt something.
In the city, Blade and the Vampire Nation fight against Knull's horde of symbiote-possessed civilians, Blade brandishing his katana as he sees the symbiote-possessed Cyclops, Captain America, Thing, and Storm charging towards him; Knull gloating from his throne atop the Empire State Building.
In the Symbiote Hive-Mind, Eddie Brock suddenly lets out a scream of pain, his eyes glowing red. Rex Strickland and Flash Thompson ask if he's OK, Eddie noting that something is wrong but he's not sure what. Recovering, Eddie asks Flash how he can be here, and Flash asks Eddie if he assumed his codex died after Eddie wore it. Flash tells Eddie that the Maker was wrong about that, and that just because his codex's connection to the Venom symbiote was temporary doesn't mean he died a second time - adding that luckily for Eddie sooner or later all symbiote hosts wind up back in the Hive. Eddie awkwardly asks if Flash heard his heartfelt speech at his grave, Flash saying that he heard every word; cheerfully teasing Eddie until he brushes him off. Growing serious, Flash tells Eddie that it meant a lot to him that he wasn't forgotten and that he'd still done some good, even posthumously. Flash holds out his hand, but as Eddie reaches out to shake it he suddenly cries out in pain again. Concerned, Flash asks Eddie what's going on and Eddie says that he's somehow connected to Knull and he can feel something is hurting him. As Rex incredulously asks what could hurt Knull like that, Eddie grins and chuckles before saying it's his son.
In the world of the living, Dylan Brock blasts Captain America's symbiote off, while Thor Odinson blasts multiple symbiote dragons with divine lightning. In the Hive-Mind, Flash alerts Eddie and Rex to several of the hosts - including the captured superheroes - being freed from Knull's control, the symbiote tendrils binding them dissolving into motes of red light. As the freed hosts vanish, Flash proudly tells Captain America to give Knull hell. Turning, Eddie sees the motes of light forming into a massive glowing red gash in the Hive-Mind, Rex asking what he makes of it. Eddie states that they're not in the real Hive-Mind but a purgatory for codices, and that through the red gash created by Dylan and Thor is the Hive-Mind's core. Rex and Flash ask what he thinks is beyond the red gash, Eddie stepping through as he says that it's either Heaven or Hell.
Through the portal, Eddie, Flash, and Rex find themselves in the core of the Hive-Mind, the God Hive: a hellish red-and-black landscape with rivers and jagged spires of living abyss, prowled by countless symbiotes and symbiote dragons. As Rex - awestruck and horrified - says he had no clue this place existed and asks Eddie what they can do, Eddie points to where a group of humanoid symbiote are trapping hostless ones in translucent domes. Eddie explains that the imprisoned symbiotes have been cut-off from the Hive-Mind and freed from Knull's influence by Dylan and Thor, and that if they can get to them and free them then they can bond with them the way Flash's codex bonded to the Venom symbiote, thereby returning to the world of the living. Flash asks how Eddie knows this is possible, Eddie saying he can sense the Venom symbiote and thinks that it's trying to help them. Rex refuses to go along with Eddie's plan, saying it's a suicide mission and that Knull will notice if they try to free the trapped symbiotes. As Flash volunteers himself, Eddie tries to stop him only for Flash to remind him that this is and always has been his mission: Rex had wanted to recruit him in the first place to save the Sym-Soldiers but had to settle for Eddie instead, but that despite Rex doubting his abilities Eddie stepped up and did what had to be done. Turning to Eddie, Flash tells him to save their symbiote and kill Knull once-and-for-all. As Eddie continues to protest, Flash says that he had his turn at being a heroic Venom and now it's Eddie's; Eddie protesting that Flash deserves better and should be the one to save the Venom symbiote. Growing serious, Flash tells Eddie to stop feeling sorry for himself, saying that Eddie's always doubted himself due to his past as a super-villain and is so wrapped up in self-deprecation that he can't see that he already is a hero. Gesturing around them, Flash says that Eddie's gone toe-to-toe with one of the darkest evils in the universe and beat it back, overcoming every challenge put in front of him; and that he also started out a bad guy and made more mistakes than he can count on the path to redemption. The Anti-Venom symbiote covering his face, Flash says that while Eddie may not think he's got what it takes to join the Avengers, he's storming the gates of Hell to save the world and his son. Saying that Eddie is a hero and a badass Venom regardless of whether he believes it or not, Flash tells Eddie to let him do his duty as a soldier. Smiling, Eddie wishes Agent Anti-Venom good-luck - Agent Anti-Venom saying luck has nothing to do with it as he leaps off the outcropping guns blazing.
Pulling one of his classic hail Mary plans, Flash recklessly charges through the horde of Knull's symbiotes - narrowly evading being eaten by a symbiote dragon - and throws a grenade into the midst of the imprisoned symbiotes. The grenade explodes and frees the symbiotes - Knull sensing this and letting out a scream of rage. As the symbiotes engulf Flash, Rex reacts in horror as he thinks they're killing him, but Eddie says it's working. In the world of the living, Agent Anti-Venom erupts from a pool of living abyss as a white symbiote dragon with black spider emblems on its chest and back, sending Dylan and Knull flying. In the God Hive, Eddie jubilantly says that Flash did it, not noticing Rex's eyes suddenly turn a glowing red. Saying that they won't have much time before Knull figures out what's happening and that Rex should go next, Eddie is caught off-guard as Rex grabs him by the back of the neck, the Tyrannosaurus symbiote distorting into Knull's form as the dark god remote pilots it. Saying that his friend Rex is now gone, Knull lifts Eddie by the neck and holds him over the edge of the cliff, rhetorically asking why this feels so familiar.
Solicit Synopsis
Notes
- This issue take place at the same time as King in Black #3.
Continuity Notes
- Dr. Strange is shown being freed from Knull's control by Dylan and Thor, which contradicts the events of Black Cat (Vol. 2) #2.
- Knull's lower jaw was ripped off by Thor in King in Black #3, but here Knull is shown with it intact.