When Eddie Brock joined with the Venom symbiote, it unleashed his unstable nature and lethal tendencies, but what if the symbiote had bonded with others instead?
Writer Jeremy Holt (Marvel's Voices: Spider-Verse) and artists Jesús Hervás, Tadam Gyadu, Manuel Garcia, and Diogenes Neves answer that pressing question and more in What If...? Venom. Launching next month, the five-issue limited series will put a bold twist on the Venom symbiote’s origin as it's rejected by Peter Parker and tossed around on a thrilling trip through the Marvel Universe.
This amazing unearthly power will be given to the likes of She-Hulk, Wolverine, Doctor Strange, Loki, and Moon Knight, each of whom will be equipped with insane new designs as the symbiote shatters the limit of the rage, darkness, violence, hubris, and mischief within these five iconic characters.
The saga will explore how all these characters grapple with their newfound gifts and reveal who the symbiote will ultimately seek control of. Today, we have four new symbiote designs and a special first look at the first issue showing an unleashed She-Hulk embracing her deadly status quo as Venom's new host.
Could we eventually see something like this in live-action? Well, a piece of the Venom symbiote was left on Earth-616 in Spider-Man: No Way Home!
Here's the solicitation text for that first instalment:
Years ago, in a familiar church tower, the Venom symbiote was spurned by Peter Parker and found a willing host in the vengeful and wrathful Eddie Brock! Or, at least, that’s the story you know! Get an all-new look at what makes the Marvel Universe’s most sinister symbiote tick, starting with a journey that reimagines its earliest days bonded to a host with a rage and temper entirely different from those of Eddie Brock!
"Having the opportunity to play within the Venom sandbox is cool. Having the opportunity to bond five iconic heroes to the alien parasite is cooler," Holt said. "In doing so within the What If...? concept, I’ve had an absolute blast crafting a linear revisionist history that’s provided me the latitude to introduce distinct versions of the anti-hero that we’ve all come to love."
You can check out the design sheets along with a special first look below, and you'll get to see the fractured paths of what could have been for the Lethal Protector when What If...? Venom hit stands in February.
WHAT IF...? VENOM #1 (OF 5)
Written by JEREMY HOLT
Art by JESÚS HERVÁS
Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU
On Sale 2/28