Avengers Forever has introduced a new type of Venomized creature for Marvel Comics' heroes to face off against.
A preview for the first issue of the series shows a variant of Tony Stark, the "Invincible Ant-Man," reach to pick up Thor's hammer Mjolnir. Before he gets to that point however, he comes across some dangerous foes while exploring the world of the underground. With mandibles accompanied by rows of sharp teeth and white eyes that pop against their black exoskeletons, the Venom symbiote can even take over ants now.
This is not the first instance that a symbiote has taken over or turned into animal life before, whether on screen or in comics. In 2018's Venom, the symbiote temporarily takes over a small dog after he is displaced from Eddie Brock's body as host, while in the Ultimate Spider-Man television series, the symbiote is unleashed by Loki and Doctor Octopus on various alien monsters during the special episode "The Avenging Spider-Man." In recent comics though, the symbiote has also been diversifying its palette of hosts and forms.
The 2020 Venom arc "Venom Island" by writer Donny Cates and artist Mark Bagley ended with Dylan Brock working with the Venom symbiote to turn into a giant T-Rex so they could save his father from the murderous Carnage symbiote. That arc ended with the Carnage symbiote latching onto a great white shark.
Of course, symbiotes no longer need host bodies following Cates and Ryan Stegman's run on Venom and titles like The King in Black. As seen in Venom #200, Eddie Brock himself can now be in multiple places at once with his form being assumed by many symbiotes across the cosmos. Therefore, it is possible that these Venom ants could just be manifestations of the symbiotes, as opposed to ants that have bonded with them.
The inclusion of Venomized ants highlights more of how Avengers Forever will be a combination of various elements, heroes and worlds from Marvel Comics. The series will launch after the events of Jason Aaron's Avengers #750, and promises to unite the multiverse's mightiest heroes in a very What If...? finale-kind of manor. Captain Carter herself will be leaping from the streamed series to comics for the first time in the upcoming title.
Meanwhile, in this week's Marvel Comics releases, Venom relaunches under the writing direction of Al Ewing and Ram V, featuring Dylan Brock as the new lethal protector. Venom #1 releases Nov. 10 while Avengers #750 drops on Dec. 1. Readers will have to wait until Dec. 22 to see the Venomized ants in Avengers Forever #1.
Source: Marvel Comics