Venom's New Ability is Much More Than Just Flight

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains massive spoilers for Venom #5 by Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, J-P Mayer, Frank Martin and Clayton Cowles, in stores now.

Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman have so far given us four stellar back-to-back issues of their new Venom series, and each of these four issues came with revelations about the mythology of the symbiotes -- from the alien parasites' secret history as tools of war to their rebooted origins. There is no doubt that the biggest addition to the Venom mythos (so far) came recently with the introduction of Knull, the god and creator of the symbiotes. Knull is as old as the universe, maybe even older, and he has been kept prisoner for thousands of years on the symbiote's homeworld Klyntar. Eddie Brock and his own symbiote discover some brand-new abilities along the way as we learn more about the symbiotes as a race.

The revelations keep on coming with Venom #5, which opens with Brock falling from the sky, only to be rescued by his symbiote's new ability to grow giant, dragon-like wings. But, as we come to learn later in the issue, the wings are just the tip of the iceberg. Not only do we find out how Venom can now sprout wings, the character also gets a massive power boost from an extremely unlikely source.

In Venom #4, we learned that the symbiotes shared a connection with Knull, but that over time, as the Klyntar forged bonds with other hosts such as good-hearted humans, their nature changed. They became a reflection of these hosts and embraced the light instead of Knull's darkness. Such was the case for the Venom symbiote. So, when Knull finally got his hands on Venom in Issue #3, the malevolent god tried to burn the light away, like one would an infection -- but he was interrupted by Miles Morales.

Now, in Venom #5, the symbiote explains to Eddie that Knull attempted to reconnect it to the hivemind under his control. Thanks to Miles' intervention, the connection was severed and Venom was able to retain his freedom, but he also gained a few new powers in the process, such as the ability to grow wings and alter the chemicals inside Eddie's body. But, as the symbiote explains, this means both good things and bad things. On the side of good, there are all of these new powers that come in handy. On the not-so-good side, the connection is a two-way street. As long as the symbiote is connected to Eddie, as long as there is good inside of it, Knull will be able to find it and come back to purge its light away.

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This means that as long as Knull is out there, Venom is under constant threat, which makes their inevitable rematch that much more foreboding. If the villainous god-host gets his hands on Eddie's symbiote once more, he could change it back to its original, ravenous state, with no good left inside of it. The stakes are incredibly high, and Knull's power is far too great to fight alone. Luckily, the Venom symbiote has an idea on how to fight him.

This brings us to Rex Strickland, who was introduced in the first issue of the series. Rex arrived on the scene as someone with incomparable knowledge of the symbiotes. He revealed, that long before Flash Thompson became Agent Venom, he and his platoon had been turned into symbiote-wearing soldiers as part of Project Rebirth 2.0 during the Vietnam War. However, that was only part of the truth. In the latest issue of the series, we find out that Rex has been dead for a long time -- so who has Eddie been talking to? Well, it turns out that Rex's symbiote had formed an incredibly strong connection with his human host during the military program's heyday. So, when Rex died, the symbiote took his form and kept on living as him for decades.

Like Venom, the Rex symbiote was changed thanks to its human host, and it didn't wish to return to Knull. On top of that, Rex isn't your run-of-the-mill symbiote. In fact, he is a part of Knull's Grendel symbiote, which is effectively a giant, dragon-like monster that he uses as a terrifying weapon. The Grendel lay dormant on Earth for thousands of years, and it has only now risen to free its master. However, the Grendel can't reach full power as long as Rex is detached from it. Therefore, in order to fight it, Venom proposes that they and Rex join forces.

Venom absorbs Rex and, therefore, a part of Knull's Grendel. As a result, the character becomes even bigger and more frightening than ever before. Now, the Venom symbiote has the power of two, on top of the abilities that came from its brief connection to the hive. This is a Venom you have never seen before -- and likely the most powerful the character has ever been. As the issue comes to a close, Venom declares war on Knull and, like everything else in Cates and Stegman's Venom, the results are bound to be devastating, terrifying and unapologetically awesome.

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