—Goblin QueenMadelyne Pryor--the Goblin Queen of Limbo. As I said, I think you might have something in common with a friend of mine. And I think we can all help each other...
Appearing in "Devil's Night"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Wilde/Tyro (Eddie Brock) (Transforms into Tyro)
- Goblin Queen (Madelyn Pryor)
Antagonists:
- Bedlam/Meridius (Eddie Brock) (Mentioned)
- Demon Alchemist (Death)
- Demon Archers
- Brother Griff (First appearance)
- Brother Gruff (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Dylan Brock (Mentioned)
- Venom Symbiote (Mentioned)
- God (Invoked)
- Demon Alchemist's apprentice (First appearance)
- Belasco (Invoked)
- Darkchilde (Illya Rasputin) (Invoked)
- Chasm (Ben Reilly) (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Garden of Time
- Hell (Mentioned)
- Limbo
- Earth (Mentioned)
- Under-Engine/Below-Beyond (Mentioned)
Items:
- Symbiote matter (Claimed by Eddie Brock and shared with the Demon Alchemist's apprentice)
- Demon Alchemist's Staff (First appearance)
- Bloodstones (Invoked)
- Transmode Virus (Mentioned)
Vehicles:
- Madelyne Pryor's palanquin
Synopsis for "Devil's Night"
In the form of Finnegan, Eddie Brock despairs that every rock, tree, and flower of the Garden of Time is the corpse of a symbiote murdered by Meridius, his future self. Feeling broken and empty inside, Eddie climbs to the top of a small mountain, where he is joined by Wilde. As Wilde wryly quips that things could be worse, Eddie turns to glare at him, recalling Meridius' statement that his rage and self-loathing will eventually consume him and turn him into the feral Bedlam, and that after his fury is spent he will become Wilde -- who spends his time sarcastically quipping because he's stopped believing he can do anything else. As Wilde starts to apologize, Eddie punches through his body and lifts him off the ground, furious at Wilde -- as Bedlam -- for having murdered their son Dylan in cold blood. Wilde retorts that attacking Dylan made sense at the time, and that Eddie's a hypocrite to get so angry about it since he's going to do it himself once he becomes Bedlam. Enraged, Eddie starts to transform into Bedlam, roaring as he rips Wilde in half. As Eddie struggles to control his rage and slowly reverts to his Finnegan form, Wilde reforms and tells him that Dylan isn't dead. Inwardly relieved and terrified, Eddie snaps that Wilde had better not be lying or he will lose what little self-control he has left, Wilde explains that as Bedlam he saw Dylan alive after he was stabbed but before he did the stabbing, and thus knew that Dylan would survive and become stronger as a result -- reminding Eddie that time is not linear for Kings in Black. Wilde speculates that the reason he stabbed Dylan was to make him stronger, though he admits he was out of it at the time and can't be sure. Eddie wonders what Meridius' motives for strengthening Dylan could be, speculating that he's trying to force the Venom symbiote to evolve. Wilde replies that he doesn't know, and hates watching Tyro -- his own future self -- sycophantically toadying up to Meridius in hopes of learning what his plan is. Wilde laments knowing that sooner or later he'll become Tyro, Eddie commiserating and saying that Meridius probably trapped them in the Garden of Time to ensure his own existence.
Surprised, Wilde tells Eddie that they're not trapped and then immediately regrets having said anything. As Eddie demands to know if there's a way out, Wilde explains that what's trapping Eddie isn't the Garden of Time as a location but the timestream, attempting to explain further and then giving up, saying it's too complicated to put into words. Starting to transform into Bedlam again, Eddie demands that Wilde tell him how to escape. Retorting that Eddie is just as beyond help as the rest of them, Wilde gives in and states that as Kings in Black they are able to project their minds anywhere there's a symbiote. Confused, Eddie says that Meridius has blocked him from time-travelling, Wilde snapping that he's saying that Eddie can not only project his consciousnesses backwards and forwards through time but sideways into other dimensions - comparing Eddie's cluelessness to a video-game character being unable to jump over a waist-high fence. Eddie promptly vanishes, and once alone Wilde berates himself for having said anything to give his past self false hope. Giving in to despair and transforming into Tyro, he slinks off to join the winning side and beg Meridius to show him the path to victory.
His hope restored, Eddie manifests in his King in Black form inside a beaker, finding himself the captive of a demon alchemist and his astonished apprentice. As the alchemist berates his apprentice for not being more careful with their sample of living abyss, Eddie smashes through the side of the flask. As the alchemist tries to blast him with bolts of blue hellfire, Eddie tries to ask the symbiote he's indwelling if it's afraid of getting scorched only to realize it's just shed symbiote matter. As the alchemist shouts at Eddie to get back into the flask, he leaps into the demon's mouth and then explodes out of his head, killing him. Shocked by his master's death, the apprentice retrieves the staff and channels the power of the Below-Beyond to cast an enlarging spell on Eddie, who in return gifts him with a sample of living abyss. Storing it, the apprentice reveals that Eddie created a time-loop in doing so and that they are in Limbo, where time moves in strange ways.
Flying over the hellish landscape, Eddie senses he's free from the pull of the Garden of Time and notes to himself he should thank Wilde. Wondering why Wilde was trying to dissuade him, Eddie narrowly avoids getting hit by a magical flaming arrow and spots a group of goblins and other monsters escorting a lavish palanquin. As the goblin archers attempt to shoot him down, assuming he's a threat to their queen, Eddie deflects their arrows right back at them. Sprouting a fanged maw, Eddie swoops down to confront the goblins directly. The ogres carrying the palanquin ask for permission to engage the threat, their Queen noting that Eddie bears a resemblance to her other new friend and orders them to test his mettle. Assuming she's referring to one of his future selves, Eddie lunges at the ogres -- one of whom punches through his head. As the ogre called Griff gloats, Eddie bonds to him and knocks the ogre called Gruff out with one punch, suffocating Griff into unconsciousness. Separating from Griff, Eddie assumes his humanoid form and asks the woman in the palanquin if she wants to throw down. Commenting that her interest is piqued when Eddie introduces himself as the King in Black and explains he's trying to get to his son on Earth, the woman says that she is also a monarch and a single parent. Stepping out of the palanquin, the woman introduces herself as Madelyne Pryor, the Goblin Queen and ruler of Limbo, and proposes a mutually beneficial alliance.
Solicit Synopsis
"DARK WEB" PRELUDE!
Forced to watch his son die from across the timestream, Eddie Brock finds himself surrounded by enemies. Alone, and with no one to trust, an unexpected ally lends a hand, and she's setting the stage for the MOST EPIC CROSSOVER OF THE YEAR!