Appearing in 1st story
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Big Ricky (First appearance; dies)
- Robbie Robertson (Cameo)
- Flash Thompson (Cameo)
- Thing (Ben Grimm) (Cameo)
Races and Species:
Locations:
Items:
- Venom Symbiote
- Sonic Blaster
Synopsis for 1st story
Clinging to the wall of an apartment using his symbiote, Eddie Brock watches Spider-Man - wearing a cloth version of the living black suit now bonded to Eddie - through the viewfinder of a camera. As Eddie drops down from the wall, a man leaning against a vehicle accuses him of being a peeping tom. Eddie states that he works for the Daily Globe, but the man - Big Ricky - retorts that he has clients who value their privacy and demands Eddie turn over the film. Eddie gives him the empty camera; and as Big Ricky accosts him, Eddie uses the symbiote to pull Ricky into his own car and tear him apart. Dissuading a mother and her young child from getting too close, Eddie notes that they had to kill Ricky or risk Spider-Man realizing that they've found him again.
At his apartment, Eddie works out, telling the symbiote that it's necessary to give it more to work with, and that the stronger he gets the stronger it gets. Deciding he's bided his time long enough, Eddie transforms and visits the Daily Bugle, peeking through a window while grinning and waving to get Peter's attention. As Eddie takes his time web-swinging away, Spider-Man catches up and tags him with a web-line. Eddie grabs it and slings Spider-Man through the wall of a warehouse, sneering that he knew Spider-Man was going to do that and knows all of his tricks. Displaying his reflexes and agility, Spider-Man mocks Eddie for imitating the look of his black suit. Eddie easily trounces Spider-Man, using his superior strength and the symbiote's tendrils to compensate for Spider-Man's speed and agility. Winded, Spider-Man asks who he is, and Eddie reveals his face, accusing Spider-Man of ruining his life. Spider-Man tries to warn him about the dangers of bonding to the symbiote, but Eddie is only enraged. When Spider-Man mocks his claims of being a real reporter, Eddie pins him to a wall and snarls that Peter's no better than he is - selling photos of himself as Spider-Man. When Eddie mocks him over having terrorized Mary Jane, Spider-Man snaps at him to never mention his wife again and pulls out a sonic disruptor. The symbiote is blasted from Eddie, Spider-Man mockingly asking if it told him about that weakness. As Spider-Man leaves to get the Fantastic Four, Eddie - half-conscious - sees the symbiote reaching out to Spider-Man and feels its longing for him. Caught, the symbiote fires a web-line and snares Spider-Man's foot. Fuelled by rage, Eddie yanks Spider-Man back and punches him in the head to knock him out.
Taking Spider-Man to Our Lady of Saints Church, Eddie webs him into the bell and waits for him to regain consciousness - filling the bell with webbing despite the symbiote cautioning him against overexerting its biomass. Regaining consciousness, Spider-Man asks Eddie why he's so hellbent on killing him, remarking that Eddie's twisted logic is easier than admitting he screwed up. Enraged, Eddie snaps that Spider-Man should thank him for killing him, saying he won't have to live to see his career as a hero ruined by one little mistake. As Eddie tries to crush him with the bell's clapper, Spider-Man frees his arm and catches it; stating that because he was lazy once and failed to stop a criminal, someone he loved died. As they toss the clapper back and forth, Spider-Man frees himself and states that he didn't blame the man who killed his loved one, he blamed himself. Distracted by coming up with a retort, Venom fails to catch the clapper and it strikes the side of the bell - the soundwaves destabilizing the symbiote. Spider-Man proceeds to pummel Eddie, acknowledging that the symbiote is his responsibility to deal with, since he was the one who brought it to Earth. Spider-Man tosses Eddie off the side of the church, severing the web-lines that the symbiote desperately fires to break their fall. The symbiote expends nearly all its biomass, managing to tag a street light and leaving Eddie dangling in midair.
Taken into custody by the Fantastic Four, Eddie and the symbiote are contained by a sonic wave emitter; though the symbiote has bonded to him to such an extent that they can't be so easily separated. However, Eddie is haunted by the realization that the symbiote doesn't truly want him; that it's merely using him until it can find a way to force Spider-Man to take it back. The symbiote denies this, telling Eddie it would never betray him, and Eddie chooses to believe this lie because it's easier than accepting the truth.
Solicit Synopsis
Notes
- This issue retells Amazing Spider-Man #300 from Venom's perspective.