Warning! Spoilers for Venom #18 ahead!As Eddie Brock digs deeper into his role as Marvel's latest King in Black, new revelations continue to be made about the history of Venom and the symbiotes. As Eddie's knowledge of Symbiote lore deepens, a new connection between Venom and his kin makes the character's MCU introduction even cooler than before.
Venom #18 by Al Ewing, Cafu and Frank D’Armata sees Eddie Brock still reeling from the events of Dark Web, now finding his soul lost in the depths beyond Limbo. Here, Eddie meets the Eventuality, a future version of himself that lords over the Venomverse, monitoring for (and perhaps becoming) another evil King in Black like Knull. The Eventuality reveals to Eddie that every Venom is actually one and the same, each different points or branches of various timelines that all, eventually, merge into the same being: him. Separate from time, across the multiverse, each Venom ends up in the same place of godhood, as the Eventuality recreates itself in turn.
Venom's MCU and Comic Forms May be Connected
This revelation comes as another in a series of strange reveals for Eddie Brock. The current Venom series shows both Brock and his son Dylan struggling with Eddie's new role as the King in Black. While exploring the bounds of his power, Eddie becomes unstuck in time, ending up in the Garden of Time ruled by future King in Black Meridius. Eddie eventually discovers that Meridius and all other Kings in Black in the Garden of Time are future versions of himself, all drastically different at various points along a seemingly inescapable journey. After trying to reject Meridius and his twisted fate, Eddie ends up in Limbo, where Madelyne Pryor regresses him to a simpler version of Venom for her planned attack on New York in Dark Web. This sends Eddie to the Eventuality in the aftermath, meeting yet another "unavoidable" future version of himself as King in Black.
The reveal that all Venoms are the different branches of the same whole opens up a realm of possibilities, connecting the new Venomverse as possible timelines all leading to the same destination. It also adds a fascinating layer to Venom's appearance in the MCU. In the mid-credits scene of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Tom Hardy's Venom travels back to his native universe after his brief stay in the film's native reality. Before leaving, however, Hardy's Venom can be seen leaving behind a bit of symbiotic goo, supposedly causing the birth of his counterpart in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Knowing now that each Venom exists as a singular being, branched across time and reality, this scene can be read as yet another expression of the symbiote giving itself new life. By leaving a piece of itself behind to become the symbiote of a new reality, Hardy's counterpart essentially shows yet another step in the process of Venom creating Venom, as the timeless multiversal being reestablishes himself in yet another universe.
The revelation that all Venoms across the Multiverse eventually come from and to the Eventuality provides an intriguing groundwork for the Venomverse to come. As Marvel teases more and more Venoms that will collide in this Summer of Symbiotes, Venom's MCU cameo retroactively takes on a whole new meaning as yet another branch in the march toward Eddie Brock's destiny as King in Black.
Venom #18 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.