Venom is a character due for big changes on both the big screen and the printed page this year. Venom: The Last Dance promises to live up to its name by serving as the final Venom movie starring Tom Hardy. Meanwhile, Marvel Comics is set to introduce the latest host of the Venom symbiote this December in a new ongoing series called All-New Venom.
Why is the symbiote abandoning the Brock family and seeking a new host? Which Marvel character will become the All-New Venom? To learn more, we chatted with writer Al Ewing via email. First, check out an exclusive preview of the first two issues of All-New Venom below, then read on to learn more:
Who Is the All-New Venom?
Marvel has been making waves with the Venom franchise in recent years. Even as they welcomed Eddie Brock back to the role of the symbiote's host, Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman's hugely influential 2018 series ushered in a grand new mythology for Venom, culminating in 2020's King in Black. That established a new status quo where Eddie has become the new god of the symbiotes and his son Dylan has taken over the Venom mantle.
That's the status quo Ewing and former co-writer Ram V have explored in the current volume of Venom. Their overarching storyline now reaches its climax in Venom War, as father and son battle it out for the right to wear the symbiote. But that won't be the end of Ewing's tenure on Venom. Once Venom War and the monthly Venom series wrap up this fall, they'll be replaced by All-New Venom in December 2024.
All-New Venom is meant to be a major change of pace for the franchise, and not just because the symbiote has a new host. As Ewing explains, after so many years of exploring the larger-than-life, cosmic side of Venom, the time has come to veer in the opposite direction. This is a more grounded take - a detective story framed around the mystery of who has become the new Venom.
"It's a complete shift in tone - the previous series built to a fever pitch of time-travel weirdness, chaos and cosmic mayhem, and we've pushed that to about the limit that the character and the audience can take," Ewing tells IGN. "So it's time for some contrast - take things right down to street level and work out who the Venom symbiote is after all that and what happens when you take it back to the absolute basics of Spidey's world. In some ways, it's a place the symbiote hasn't been in for a while... in others, it's a place Venom's never been in. Even as a hero, Venom was always the Lethal Protector... what does it look like when he's an honest-to-goodness hero? Does it look like the most ostentatious coping mechanism this side of Matt Murdock?"
Unsurprisingly, the new series is designed to serve as an easy jumping-on point for fans of the movies intersted in digging into the comics. The idea being that Marvel now has a healthy back catalog of graphic novels for those eager to learn more about the symbiote god Knull following his cinematic debut in The Last Dance. But those who just want a good, simple Venom story without much baggage, All-New Venom is the place to turn.
"We do provide a little of both - if you want a Venom that's absolute all-out weirdness, we have several trades' worth on the shelves and Donny and Ryan's run, that took us up to that place, before that," Ewing says. 'But if you want to start fresh with 'Who is Venom in the comics, anyway?' Well, this is a #1. And like all good #1s, it tells you everything you need to know about where the comic iteration is at."
But what about the book's central mystery? Who is the All-New Venom? The series will introduce four candidates - Hulk's BFF Rick Jones, Hero for Hire-turned-mayor Luke Cage, newspaper editor Robbie Robertson, and Iron Man's nemesis Madame Masque. The one thing these four have in common is that none have a prior connection to Venom.
"Rick Jones, for example, has never to my knowledge been within sniffing distance of a symbiote - and that's a rare quality these days," Ewing teases. "But having spent his whole life buddying up to heroes - from the Hulk to Captain America to Captain Marvel and more besides - is he, pardon the pun, jonesin' for the super-adventures of old? Or there's Luke Cage - bulletproof, unbreakable, New York's Mayor in the Marvelverse, no symbiote connections up to this point. His super hero identity is public knowledge - would he see value in a team-up that'd give him the power to fight what he couldn't fight from behind a desk? Robbie Robertson nearly lost his son to the recent supervillain gang war - after so long on the sidelines of Spider-heroics, watching his family and friends face all manner of danger, might he not decide to get in the game himself if the opportunity presented itself? And last but not least, Madame Masque. She was soundly defeated at the end of that same gang war, betrayed by her fellow criminals - wouldn't a heroic identity be the perfect vehicle for revenge? Those are the four names on Dylan Brock's list - but we'll be giving readers all the clues, issue by issue, right along with him..."
What to Expect From Venom War's Finale
Before Marvel can kick off All-New Venom, however, they still need to wrap up Venom War. Again, this crossover is all about what happens when Dylan Brock challenges his father for the right to wear the symbiote and the Venom mantle. It's a father vs. son premise with a unique selling point. The entire conflict in the main Venom War series is presented as a high-stakes pro wrestling match, complete with heel turns and all the soap opera one could ask for.
We were curious why Ewing went with such an unusual approach to cap off this era of his Venom run. As he reveals, it all sprang from a bout of COVID-induced isolation and a fascination with the wrestling scene.
"Venom War was always the endgame, but as I recall, the wrestling element came to me during a nasty bout of Covid - I've always had a passing fascination with wrestling, but I was never what you'd call a fan, but while I was laid up I had much more of a chance to really get into it, and something in the larger-than-life nature of it all really resonated in terms of Venom, even now the book was playing with this vast cosmic scope," Ewing says. "It seemed like the ideal way to capture these massive beats in a small space, more so than the original idea of a big brawl on the streets - and also it would help us transition to smaller-scale, more intimate adventures that could make more space for emotional stakes and character beats. Admittedly, my brain was being lightly toasted by a vascular virus, but I still think it was the right move."
Warning: the remainder of this article contains spoilers for Venom War #3!
The Venom War crossover reaches a pivotal turning point in Venom War #3. After first refusing to bond with either Eddie or Dylan and finding a temporary reprieve in reuniting with Peter Parker, the symbiote finally makes its choice. It divides in half and bonds with both Eddie and Dylan. Suddenly, the Marvel Universe has two Venoms. That's just the start of a bigger conflict, however. Ewing teases that the symbiote's chocie may be playing right into the hands of Meridus, the futuristic version of Eddie who serves as the main antagonist of Venom War.
"It's the first time to my knowledge that Venom's bonded with two people at once... and, as it turns out, that's just what Meridius has been pushing Venom to evolve to from the start. The symbiote's right where the evil Eddie wants it, now... the question is, is this the first step on the road to Venomworld? Or towards something even worse?"
Look for Venom War #4 to continue this epic crossover when it releases on November 6. All-New Venom will be released on December 4.
Which character do you think will become the All-New Venom? Cast your vote in the poll below and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
For more on Venom: The Last Dance, see our theories about which character Rhys Ifans is playing in the sequel and brush up on every Spider-Man movie and series in development.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
