WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow #2 by Chip Zdarsky, Pasqual Ferry, Matt Hollingsworth and VC's Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
Peter Parker has taken a turn for the worst in the pages of Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow. In a world where Peter never tried to shed his symbiote suit, the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has become a cold-blooded killer, turning to murder in a bid to prevent any more harm being done by the villains among his colorful and iconic rogues gallery. Not only has this new timeline transformed the wall-crawler into a murderous maniac, but it has even driven one of his most classic villains down an even darker path than ever before. Peter Parker might be out for supervillain blood, but Eddie Brock has just revealed that he is willing to kill literally anyone standing between him and his target.
Ever since taking the life of Hobgoblin and stringing his corpse up for all to see, Spider-Man has fully embraced the dark voice that has made itself home in his mind. Though Peter and the symbiote are at odds regarding the value of his heroic reputation, they are both in full agreement about how to handle the villains they face going forward. Hobgoblin's death is soon enough followed by another, and another, and another, leaving all of his remaining rogues on edge in a way they never have been before. Otto Octavius takes it upon himself to reform the Sinister Six and take Spider-Man out of the picture once and for all. While he is successful in bringing the band back together, his dreams of seeing the Spider slain will, unfortunately, remain just that after one of his own henchmen stabs him in the back before revealing themselves to be none other than Eddie Brock.
Much like the primary Marvel Universe version of the character, the Eddie Brock of Spider's Shadow is solely dedicated to taking the life of the man who ruined his, and the changes in this timeline have driven him to drastic measures in the pursuit of doing so. How Eddie was able to infiltrate Doc Ock's operation may be unknown, but it can only be assumed that his reasons for doing so haven't changed all that much. As a journalist, Eddie Brock was lauded for his talents until it all came crashing down during the biggest story of his career.
After being contacted by a man claiming to be the serial killer known as the Sin-Eater, Eddie ran with the story for weeks until he was finally pressured into exposing the name of the alleged killer. Unfortunately, Spider-Man captured the real Sin-Eater on the very same day that Eddie's false story was published, and his life crumbled all around him. Eddie lost his job, his wife and was even disowned by what little family he had left, and Eddie pointed every ounce of blame at the hero who had saved the day. His rage couldn't outweigh his shame, though, and Eddie paid a visit to Our Lady of Saints Church to ask for forgiveness before taking his own life. This just happened to be the very same church where Peter Parker rid himself of his symbiote suit, and when it latched onto the grieving Eddie, Venom was born.
Of course, now that Peter Parker has chosen to keep the symbiote for himself, Eddie never got the chance to become Venom in the first place, and so he's been left to find another means of getting close enough to the wall-crawler to kill him. Taking out Doctor Octopus proved to be easy enough, but he was also caught completely off guard by the attack in the first place, not to mention Otto's obvious lack of a spider-sense. It isn't even the difference between a villain such as Doc Ock and Spider-Man that makes the task so daunting for Eddie Brock, though, but rather the other superpowered obstacles standing in his way. The remaining Sinister Six villains are far more concerned with seeing Spider-Man killed quickly than with any sort of personal flourish, especially at the rate that he has been cutting down their ranks throughout the city. It's hard to imagine that they wouldn't just as soon cut Eddie down as well should he prove to be more of a hindrance than a helping hand, and it's even harder to imagine he would stand a chance against them on his own. Then again, there is always the chance that he won't have to.
Eddie Brock may not have had the chance to bond with the Venom symbiote in this timeline, but that doesn't necessarily mean the opportunity won't arise. He has already proven himself capable of taking down one serious threat, so there is a chance that he could do the same again, however unlikely that is. Peter Parker doesn't seem intent on giving up his symbiote anytime soon, and it doesn't look as though the Sinister Six are in any position to take it from him just yet, though they aren't the only ones looking to do so, either. With so many people looking to stand in Spider-Man's way, someone else might just give Eddie Brock the opportunity he needs to finally get revenge on his oldest enemy.