Warning! This article contains spoilers for Venom #3
Since Eddie Brock defeated the King in Black and took on the mantle of the symbiote god himself, he has passed on the Venom symbiote to his son, Dylan, who is now facing his own version of the Hulkbuster armor. In the beginning of the latest Venom comic series, Eddie Brock is supposedly killed while his consciousness lives on in a mysterious symbiote afterlife. Completely alone, without his father to guide him, Dylan is using the Venom symbiote to battle against a threat that is desperate to get their hands on the symbiote, and they're using a suit of armor designed specifically to defeat Venom just as Iron Man had done to take on the Hulk.
In Venom #3 by Ram V and Bryan Hitch, Dylan Brock is betrayed by a woman named Archer who claimed to be friends with Eddie Brock and pretended to help Dylan before leading him directly to the enemy. Venom is taken off guard by Life Foundation soldiers who ambushed him and Archer before Archer revealed that she set up the entire attack. In the end, Dylan is captured and shipped away, but fans know that Venom is never defeated so easily, which is a precaution the Life Foundation is well equipped to deal with.
In the beginning of the issue, fans are given a glimpse into the Life Foundation’s true motives in wanting to capture Venom. After the symbiote attack in the King In Black event, the head of the Life Foundation, Carlton Drake, realized that symbiotes are the greatest weapons Earth has ever seen, and those that can wield such a weapon are then themselves the most powerful. Drake reveals that they are in the middle of a symbiote arms race, and Dylan Brock is right in the middle of it. Being a powerful tool of violence and destruction, Drake knows that the symbiotes, specifically Venom, are not so easily captured and reveals a new armor developed by his company that was built specifically to take down Venom, a suit much like Iron Man’s Hulkbuster armor.
The Hulkbuster armor made its first full appearance fighting the Hulk in Iron Man #305, a suit that matched the Hulk’s size with upgraded strength and durability. Since that first fight, the Hulkbuster armor has made a number of appearances in Marvel Comics, though nearly every time, the Hulk triumphed over the armor that was built with the sole purpose of defeating him. The Hulk’s latest bout with the Hulkbuster was shown in the first issue of the latest Hulk run, showing the Hulk beating four Hulkbuster armors at once. Even though it never seemed to work, it seems as though the Life Foundation is taking inspiration from Tony Stark’s target-specific armor and is unleashing a suit just to fight Venom.
While fans haven’t yet seen the suit in action, the next issue promises to reveal the full power of the Venombuster armor in an epic showdown that will be reminiscent of the Hulk vs. Iron Man’s Hulkbuster armor. The preview cover of Venom #4 shown at the end of the issue depicted Venom fighting against the new armor, with action-packed splash pages teased to be shown in the upcoming issue. Only time will tell if the Venombuster armor will be as successful as Iron Man’s answer in defeating the Hulk. As it stands, it seems Venom has his work cut out for him as he is facing his own version of the Hulkbuster armor.