SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Venom #164 by Mike Costa, Mark Bagley, Scott Hanna, Dono Sanchez-Almara and Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
After years of being separated, Eddie Brock and the symbiote Venom have been reunited, just in time for the Lethal Protector's 30th anniversary. Though the duo began their Marvel Comics career as antagonists for Spider-Man, Venom has tried his hand at being a hero in the past, and he's making the same attempt once again in the pages of his current ongoing series.
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Venom and Eddie's time apart hasn't appeared to have affected their working relationship or chemistry, though the symbiote has been behaving... differently of late. It's experienced nightmares out of the blue and acted skittish during a fight, as two clear examples. It's as if Venom is hiding something important from Eddie. Of course, the bonding experience between a symbiote and its host is so personal, there's no way Venom would be able to keep a secret from Eddie.
Right?
When Dreams Turn Into Nightmares
Venom #164 begins with two important women in Eddie's life -- his former girlfriend, Liz Allan, and ex-wife, Anne Weying. Both are receiving pedicures from the sadistic serial killer symbiote, Carnage, as he mentions that he gathered all the kids together for a reunion. Eddie quickly reminds the reader that Anne isn't alive, and they never had kids together. We're then shown Carnage -- who is Venom's offspring -- standing alongside five other symbiotes first introduced in the Lethal Protector miniseries: Riot, Agony, Phage, Scream and Lasher.
Suddenly, Eddie screams as he wakes up from this bad dream, with his second reaction being to puke into a nearby trashcan. Obviously confused, Eddie goes so far as to question whether the symbiote is the one having the nightmare, since he normally doesn't get sick right after a dream.
Another dream sequence happens after Venom attempts to stop the Shocker from robbing a jewelry store. Now, nothing against the Shocker, but we all know he's a pretty low-level super-criminal. However, once Shocker begins hitting Venom with shockwaves from his gauntlet, the symbiote flees from Eddie's body in fear, almost as a self-preservation technique. In this second dream, a mother pushing a stroller is attacked when it's revealed her baby is a screeching symbiote.
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With the Venom symbiote reunited with Eddie after their Shocker encounter, the alien keeps using to the word "Us" -- meaning it has to protect both Eddie and itself from any potential danger. But could the symbiote be referring to something other than Eddie that it has to protect?
Revivals And Reveals
Before Eddie can get some answers from his partner, he's met by the familiar face of F.B.I. special agent Claire Dixon, who died in Eddie's arms in Carnage #16, where the two worked together to capture the vicious villain. No explanation is given to how Claire is alive again, but she's back to hunting symbiotes as she pulls out a blaster to shoot at Venom. With the help of other agents, the F.B.I. is able to apprehend Venom and place an inhibitor collar around his neck.
However, before being taken into custody, Eddie pleads with Claire to know why she's turned her back on their previous partnership. Claire promises to do everything in her power to make sure Eddie walks away clean, but she can't have Eddie and Venom working together again, especially with what's about to happen. Finally, Eddie learns the truth -- Venom is about to be a daddy.
As we mentioned before, this isn't the first time Venom has reproduced. The Venom Family Tree is actually pretty extensive, including its offspring Carnage and the five symbiotes displayed earlier. Many of the spawn were the results of forced experiments by shadow organizations to recreate their own army of Venoms, but this time it appears to be different. The alien is going out of its way to keep its spawn out of harm's way, in the same manner as an expecting human mother.
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Of course, mother and offspring can't be expected to live happily ever after once others learn of the seedling's birth. It's possible the F.B.I. is after the spawn for this very reason. Also, how long has the symbiote known it's going to have a child? And why didn't it tell Eddie? Those questions remained unanswered for now, but it's safe to say that Eddie Brock and Venom's world just got a whole lot more complicated.