WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Venom #35, by Donny Cates, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Ryan Stegman, Kev Walker, Danilo S. Beyruth, Ron Lim, Guiu Vilanova, Gerardo Sandoval, Mark Bagley, JP Mayer, Jay Leisten, Scott Hanna, Victor Nava, John Dell, Frank Martin, Chris O'Halloran, Jim Campbell, Matt Milla, Alex Sinclair, Chris Sotomayor, Richard Isanove and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
Venom has reached a milestone as a book and as a character with the conclusion of the King in Black storyline. This cosmic conflict left the Marvel Universe with a very different status quo for the symbiotes and for Eddie Brock in particular. Now more than ever, Venom is truly a dark hero who's stepped out of Spider-Man's shadow and weaved his own tangled web.
The end of Donny Cates' run on the character brings things to a farewell while being evocative of three other, completely unrelated superhero franchises. Here's how the relationship between the cosmic King Venom and his son evokes Doctor Manhattan, Spawn and Batman Beyond.
Doctor Manhattan Venom
Throughout the issue, Eddie Brock reflects on his new, much greater power scale which gives him access and interaction to every symbiote throughout the cosmos. While interfacing with Knull's throne in his home, Eddie sees the actions of a symbiote fighting alongside the Avengers, as well as one helping to defend Thor's home of Asgard.
He ponders on how past, present and particularly future are all being seen at the same time by him, making it increasingly difficult for him to focus on the here and now. This is shown particularly well when he speaks to Spider-Man, who can barely keep the attention of his friend. This cosmic characterization is highly reminiscent of Doctor Manhattan from Watchmen, whose power made him lose sight of his humanity as he saw time and space in the same way as a mortal would see the dirt on the ground. This changes Eddie as a character dramatically, and raises Venom up from the mere Spider-Man villain that he once was.
Spawn Venom
By the end of the issue, Eddie's son Dylan combines with the symbiote to become a particularly large and robust version of Venom. This is after he's shot at by Spider-Man villain Jack-o-Lantern, who didn't intend to injure him. Jack is brutalized by the massive new Venom, who's even stockier than his former bodybuilder father.
This Venom body is not only a bigger version of the classic Venom design, but it's also decked out with chains around his lower arms. Dylan notes that this "cool" design is based off of the comic books he grew up reading, which seems to recall Todd McFarlane's Spawn. The titular character was very similar in design to Venom, who in turn was also designed by McFarlane. The hellspawn was known for his chains and edgy design, which was the culmination of those elements in Marvel's symbiotes. This brings the visual full circle for Venom, with the son becoming the father in more ways than one.
Batman Beyond Venom
The new dynamic and status quo at the end of the issue is essentially Venom's version of Batman Beyond. Eddie is visually much older now after the events of King in Black, and his role as a sort of watchman among the symbiotes is similar to the elderly overseer version of Bruce Wayne in Beyond.
Bruce in that series was the mentor of Terry McGinnis, who was acting as the new Batman. Likewise, Dylan seems to be set up to be the new "grounded" Venom while Eddie engages in a mentor role toward his son. Future issues will likely have Eddie checking in on Dylan with his new powers, warning him not to make rookie mistakes and being a helpful voice in his head. This all shows how far along Venom and Eddie have come, with the once petty Lethal Protector having become a true hero with a legacy to back it up.