WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Venom #27 by Donny Cates, Juan Gedeon, Jesus Aburtov and VC's Clayton Cowles, available now.
In Venom #26, Eddie Brock went up against a mysterious new masked villain who calls himself Virus. This character is armed with an old War Machine armor, a broken Goblin Glider as well as pumpkin bombs, and he attacked Eddie Brock proclaiming that he had ruined his life. For the time being, the character's identity has remained a secret. All the clues we have so far are his hate for Eddie and the old equipment he uses that he is barely able to keep together.
Now, Virus has followed Eddie into the Maker's trans-dimensional portal, and he now finds himself in an alternate dimension he knows nothing about. This new world is a futuristic landscape protected by symbiote-wearing Avengers, and it's ruled by a menacing new character named Codex. While Eddie Brock has yet to meet this Codex, Virus gets that honor in Venom #27. And the meeting between the two characters leads to the perfect homage to the DC animated series, Justice League: Unlimited.
In Venom #27, Virus takes on all of the Venomized Avengers by himself, but he is clearly no match for the symbiote-powered superheroes. Once they realize that he is armed with technology that poses a threat to symbiotes, they decide to take him directly to the Hive to face their leader, Codex.
Codex is a frightening figure that rules from inside a symbiote-themed church. He wears a sleek costume that is both futuristic and ancient, and his masked face makes him all the more menacing. It's clear he rules this world with an iron fist, and that he is being built up as the big villain in this next arc. The Avengers present Virus to their leader, explaining that he possesses forbidden technology. When they ask what to do with him, Virus instructs them to remove his helmet so that they may learn who he is.
The Avengers oblige and, once Virus's helmet is removed, Codex looks upon him. However, the dark villain has a rather humorous reaction when he raises his eyebrow and says, "I have no idea who this man is."
This hilarious reaction appears to be a nod to a fan-favorite scene from the Justice League animated series.
In the Justice League: Unlimited episode "The Great Brain Robbery," Lex Luthor's consciousness was transferred inside the body of the Flash. While he occupied the Flash's body, Luthor saw this as a golden opportunity to find out the Scarlet Speedster's secret identity.
Looking himself in the mirror, Lex removed the Flash's mask to see the face of the man underneath -- the face of Wally West. However, since Wally was just a regular man Lex didn't know, his reaction was but a simple, neutral and very anticlimactic "I have no idea who this is."
The moment is appropriately hilarious, and it's become a classic for DC fans, as well as a meme.
Now, Venom's Codex has just had a similar reaction with his unmasking of Virus. The only difference here is that the readers also have no idea who Virus is. For the time being, the character's identity will have to remain a secret, until Eddie Brock faces him once more. Perhaps he'll have better luck recognizing the face underneath the War Machine mask.