A new preview from Marvel Comics has revealed Venom's grandson Toxin is the darkest symbiote, while still technically being considered a hero. Marvel's King in Black crossover event has taken over the Marvel Universe, seeing Knull the Symbiote God overwhelming the entire globe with his symbiote army. In the midst of this, Toxin has returned, complete with a brand new host who may be struggling a bit more than the last host to keep it under control.
This new Toxin story will be featured in Planet of the Symbiotes #3, coming from writer Steve Orlando with art by Gerardo Sandoval. The 1000th in Venom and Carnage's lineage, Toxin is a fairly young but incredibly powerful symbiote, who may even surpass the abilities of his father and grandfather. Bonding to NYPD officer Pat Mulligan almost immediately after it spawned from Carnage, Mulligan would mentor the young symbiote in an attempt to mold it into a force for good, and they initially modeled themselves after the heroic deeds of Spider-Man. However, Mulligan eventually died, and Toxin faded into obscurity after a brief stint with Eddie Brock as its host.
Now, Toxin has reemerged in the midst of Marvel's King in Black with Planet of the Symbiotes #3, seeing Toxin having found a brand new host by the name of Bren Waters, a teenager who rescued him, but it seems as though he might not be able to control Toxin's more violent and malicious tendencies as Pat Mulligan was. While not nearly as bad as his villainous father Carnage, Toxin is certainly proving he's quite darker than Venom, despite Bren's efforts to motivate him to be more heroic during Knull's invasion. Here's the preview pages for the new Toxin story from Marvel Comics.
The Toxin symbiote has typically been characterized as youthfully rebellious with a morbid sense of humor, and it looks as though nothing has changed during his time away from the Marvel Comics spotlight. However, his new host Bren seems to want to help the innocents trapped in the Lincoln Tunnel. However, it looks as though Toxin could care less, and he even recommends that he and Bren spend their time elsewhere rather than dealing with the immediate threat of an escaped alien Badoon right in front of them.
Toxin also reveals that he had been so diminished before Bren found him that Knull didn't even bother to assimilate him into his army when he came to Earth, which is apparently the only reason he's hanging around with the teenager in the first place (at least the dark symbiote has some loyalty and gratitude). While this new Toxin story seen in Planet of the Symbiotes #3 will certainly be interesting, it's also just the beginning of a new era for the symbiote. It's recently been revealed that Toxin will be featured alongside his father in Extreme Carnage, a follow-up event to King in Black coming this July. In any case, fans will be able to see what's in store for Toxin when his new tie-in story releases from Marvel Comics on April 7th.