WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for "Toxin" by Steve Orlando, Gerardo Sandoval, Victor Nava, Erick Arienaga, and VC's Cory Petit from the pages of King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes #3, on sale now.

The Marvel Universe has long been a place full of shadowy figures and dark conspiracies, and it still is in the wake of the King in Black event. In the fallout of Knull's campaign of terror, all manner of villains have stepped up to take advantage of the lingering chaos, and one of the least likely heroes has just stumbled right into one of those nefarious plots face first.

In King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes #3,  Toxin discovers that Alechemax has been experimenting with Brood-human hybrids that turn regular people into monsters.

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Toxin has only been bonded to their new host for a short time. The last time the spawn of Carnage was seen, they were so weak from having been used as a weapon that not even Knull deemed them worthy of repair. Still, Toxin has made a miraculous recovery and jumped right back into action, currently staring down a hulking Brood that escaped from an overturned Alchemax transport. The alien beast seems more than content to rip and tear through its captors, but when it comes to another oversized alien brute, the Brood would rather talk.

Apparently, they aren't Brood at all, or at least they didn't start out that way. Instead, this creature is a victim of Alchemax's tampering, having put Brood marrow in the bones of a human until they reached this gruesome result. Though taken aback by this revelation, Toxin isn't left with much time to continue the conversation before Alchemax security shows up.

While Alchemax held much of the possible future of Marvel 2099 in its grasp, Alchemax officially first appeared in 2013's Superior Spider-Man #17 by Dan Slott and Ryan Stegman. Founded by Liz Allan and later merged with Horizon Labs under the secret purview of Norman Osborn, Alchemax was ultimately created as a proto-empire to be left to young Normie Osborn as a legacy. Of course, nothing that Osborn touches goes untainted for long, and the corporation soon found new and horrific ways to carry out their various genetic and cloning experiments. Not only that, but they've even added a new layer of security in an upgraded Guardsman now tailor-made to take down symbiotes such as Toxin. The fight doesn't last long before the symbiote hero is forced to retreat, though this battle is far from over as far as they're concerned.

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Toxin knows full well what Alchemax is capable of, and has no intention of letting them continue with whatever they were doing to the captive human-Brood hybrid they met before being runoff.

Alchemax really is looking to take full advantage of the turmoil left in the wake of Knull's invasion, there is a good chance that they're also being set up as one of the next major threats in the Marvel Universe. With any luck, Toxin won't be alone in their hunt for the truth. Then again, it doesn't seem like symbiotes have many friends left nowadays.

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