We Know Nothing About Venom

The first issue of Venom is shown to be a chance for Marvel to build on not just the Venom Symbiote's relationship with its host but for the symbiote itself. This post will contain spoilers for Venom (2018) Issue #1. If you have not read the issue, you should, but there is also more information in this post for more background on the Venom character.

Spoilers Start Here!!!

When Eddie Brock wakes up in the dark room in the first issue of Venom (2018), he is interrogated by the man with a half-burnt face. The man, whose name is Rex Strickland, has Eddie Brock chained to a chair with a furnace behind him (the venom symbiote is weakened by fire), and reveals to Brock that he is definitely not the first person to bond with the symbiote and his symbiote is definitely not the first one to pop up on Earth. In fact, in an effort to create another Captain America, the US government created a squad of soldiers with symbiote 20 years after the initial Super Soldier Program. But all members of that squad went insane. Strickland was the only one that didn't, and Strickland needs his help saving his squad members.

Here's where the important bit comes in terms of Venom's characterization. Strickland starts by asking Brock what the symbiote's name is, and Brock doesn't know. Rex then asks what its age is and other questions about the symbiote that Brock does not know. Essentially, the scene shows that though he and other characters have developed a relationship with the symbiote through bonding, nobody knows anything important about the Venom symbiote. The panel is shown here:

This line of questioning is not just an interrogation scene for the story, but it essentially tells readers that there is a lot that both the readers and the characters do not know about the symbiote itself. What I really hope is that writer, Donny Cates, is telling the reader that there will be a whole lot of characterization for the Venom Symbiote. We may even get into why there are so many symbiotes on Earth, and other information about the symbiote race, the Klyntar. We will also likely learn how the dragon that Beowulf fought relates to the symbiote. You may wonder how they are connected, or if they connect at all, and trust me, they do.

What this scene also does is show a distinction between the way that Rex Strickland and other characters in the Marvel Universe see the Venom Symbiote. Many of the characters use the symbiote they are bonded to as a tool to further their agenda instead of a partner, and this is exactly what Strickland is noting. Brock uses the symbiote as a tool, and sees the symbiote as a tool that he needs to maintain, whereas Strickland treats symbiotes as if they are actual living, thinking beings (because they are). This dichotomy shows why Strickland knows so much more about symbiotes than other Marvel characters.

This post was a little bit shorter than most of my other posts, but I found that it would be important to talk about the Venom Symbiote, and how this story will impact the character going forward in this run and in other runs as well. I am not quite sure what my next post is going to be about, but I'm thinking of moving towards a DC Comics post or an Image Comics post. I may even do the Boom! Studios Power Rangers Run. The Power Rangers run is a darker and modern re-imagining of the classic kids series, and someone is trying to kill and take the powers of all Power Rangers in existence. Or I may just go over the Power Rangers/Justice League Crossover.

I do not own the characters, art, and panels shown in this post. The art, panels, and characters in this post belong to their respective owners.