Spoilers for Venom: The End #1.
The sentient alien symbiote, Venom
With the sequel to 2018’s Venom dropping as early as next month, we thought it appropriate for us to revisit arguably the greatest and saddest moment in the anti-hero’s comic run, Venom: The End #1.
Like most of the other Marvel ‘The End’ one-shot comics, it remains difficult to determine whether or not its story is considered canon in the wider universe.
Still, it gives us a hypothetical look at what could ultimately be the final chapter, or more aptly, the death of many Marvel favorites, such as Miles Morales, Doctor Strange, Wolverine, and Iron Man.
In January of 2020, the publisher released Venom: The End #1. It features a distant future whereby a terrifying rogue A.I. has ruthlessly taken over existence as we know it through the process of assimilating all bio-organic life.
Although much of the story features Venom’s own struggle to defeat the aforementioned A.I., it is the handful of opening panels centering on Eddie Brock and Venom’s relationship within the one-shot comic that struck a chord with most fans of the symbiote, a tear-jerking moment that, in its own way, revolutionizes how we perceive the Venom and Eddie Brock dynamic.
Venom and Eddie, from Venom: The End #1
Over the span of nearly three decades, there have been roughly four individuals who have played host to the alien symbiote. However, it is without a doubt that only one of these four bio-life individuals remained with Venom for the longest period: Eddie Brock.
Therefore, it was a sad affair to witness the final severance of the Venom/Eddie Brock relationship.
As the story takes place in the distant future, the mortal Eddie Brock begins to succumb to the natural aging process, except that Venom did not want him to die. Whenever Eddie’s organs began to fail, the symbiote replaced them with venomized analogs. When his host’s brain started to deteriorate, Venom sought to replace Eddie’s dying neurons, leaving his host to experience distorted venomized memories of his past life instead.
And so, after 500 years of prolonging the inevitable, Venom simply lets his host go, watching as Eddie Brock crumbles to dust in his arms.
It is through these series of panels that the writer, Adam Warren, ingeniously defines the relationship between the immortal alien symbiote and its longtime host; it was never that of a parasitic amalgamation that forged their relationship, but one born out of love and friendship, and the fear of being left alone in the universe.
One can only hope that we will have the chance to witness such a beautifully poignant ending to Venom on screen someday.
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