Marvel Reveals Why Venom Protects the Innocent

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Marvel Reveals the Heartbreaking Reason Venom Protects the Innocent

By Tim Adams

Published Feb 20, 2019

The origin of Venom's "Protect the Innocent" mantra is finally revealed, and it is heartbreaking.

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Venom #10 by Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, Frank Martin and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale now.

Eddie Brock has a rough time ever since he encountered Knull, God of the Symbiotes. He's been burned alive, experimented on by the Ultimate Universe's evil Reed Richards, The Maker, and forced to come to the realization that the Venom symbiote is now considered brain dead.

Not to be overshadowed, the symbiote has also been erasing parts of Eddie's memory during their time together. Eddie has no recollection of traveling to San Francisco to visit his abusive father. To make matters worse, Eddie discovered he also has a half-brother named Dylan he never knew existed. Dylan seems curious and excited to get to know his big brother the superhero, as Venom #10 showed the two bonding at a local diner.

Dylan peppered Eddie with questions, the most pressing being where Venom's mantra of "protecting the innocent" came from. Unfortunately, it all boiled down to a tragic day in Eddie's past that resulted in the death of a young boy.

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

There was a terrible accident in the past of Eddie Brock that forever changed him and his family. Venom #11 depicts a flashback scene to Eddie's father sitting on the front porch sipping a cup of coffee. A young blonde boy is shown chasing a cat down the sidewalk when it suddenly darts into the street. Then, a dark car comes racing towards the boy, ultimately striking him down and killing him.

We're led to believe Eddie is the boy who was struck by the car, but the truth is even more heartbreaking -- Eddie stole his dad's car to go out drinking with his buddies, and tried to drive home before he noticed. Drunk and not paying attention, Eddie hit and killed the neighbor's son. Being the son of a white, rich and powerful man in the community afforded Eddie a break, with his dad pulling some strings to make sure the whole incident was swept under the rug. The only problem was Eddie intended to plead guilty.

Eddie's dad proceeded to beat him until all he could do was repeat the words "I'm innocent" over and over again.

Of course, Eddie and his father won the case, leaving his permanent record spotless. However, Eddie's dad almost went bankrupt paying off the family, lawyer, judge and the hospital, which is a major reason why he hates Eddie to this day.

"You wanna know where the whole 'Protecting the innocents' thing came from," Eddie asked Dylan. "That'd be it. Innocents...real innocents...Someone has to protect them from people like me." Not exactly the most heartwarming story, right?

Things only got worse for Eddie after his confession. He flipped out and attacked Dylan, then doubled over as he puked blood all over the place. A trip to the hospital and diagnosis by The Maker revealed Eddie has "quite a lot of cancer," with the final page featuring Eddie wrapped in a symbiote cocoon.

With the release of Venom #11 this week, readers should get either some answers or more clues to what's really going on with the Lethal Protector. Will The Maker save his life, or will another hidden secret come to the forefront? We'll find out on Wednesday.