Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Venom #17 by Donny Cates, Iban Coello, Rain Beredo and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale Wednesday, August 28.
Marvel's event series Absolute Carnage sees the bloodthirsty Cletus Kasady searching for anyone in the Marvel Universe who has ever acted as a host for an alien symbiote. Kasady's ultimate goal is to tear a codex from their bodies in order to resurrect Knull, the symbiote god.
Naturally, this has brought the two most popular symbiote hosts, Venom and Spider-Man, together in an uneasy alliance to prevent the coming apocalypse. However, another unlikely player in the saga is The Maker, who may look like a familiar Marvel hero but is anything but heroic.
The Ultimate Universe's Reed Richards has taken an interest in Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote while working for a top-secret organization. The Maker has remained mum on what his true motives are, but he is willing to help Venom combat Carnage by creating a machine that can remove a codex from a symbiote host.
Though the experimental machine has to be tested first before being used, Venom and Spider-Man have two young kids who they really care for and would love to see the codex no longer in their bodies. One is Dylan, who believes Eddie is his older brother. However, what Dylan doesn't know is Eddie is actually his father. As for Spider-Man, the boy he is trying to help is Normie, the son of his greatest enemy, Norman Osborn. And while Spider-Man and Venom are busy battling Carnage and Norman as the Red Goblin, The Maker is stuck playing babysitter.
After Dylan and Normie freak out over The Maker's appearance without his helmet, the villain tries to start the codex-removing process, which Dylan nicknamed S.C.I.T.H.E. (Symbiote Codex Isolation and Thermo-Heated Extraction) on little Normie. However, Dylan remains dedicated to following the rules established by his "big brother" and Spider-Man, which involve The Maker keeping his hands to himself.
When The Maker argues that Venom and Spider-Man may not come back, Dylan shows some of that Brock moxie by standing his ground. Considering his age and how creeped out he is at The Maker, the show of bravery by Dylan is commendable. Now, it remains to be seen whether Maker behaves himself or decides to let his experimental urges take over.
The anticipation will continue to build for this Absolute Carnage tie-in until Venom #17 arrives in stores Aug. 28.