All-New Venom #1

[mastermahan]

Who's the new Venom?

Comments

[numeronone]

I love that this version has an unsettlingly human grin under the giant tongue. Ewing loves bringing characters back to their classic looks.

I will also be happy to tolerate Paul so long as Ewing continues to employ Dylan in venting the fandom's rage at him. Maybe point out he's aided in genocide once or twice, kid. Get under his skin a bit, hey?

[iamrman]

I'm hoping on Rick Jones.

[zachbeacon]

I mean he's yet to add "Spider-Man/Venom" to his Marvel franchise Bingo card.

(I guess the Loners/Excelsior were Spider-Man adjacent but that's a stretch)

He has the connection to Miguel but that's Future Rick and I have to assume he's running the X-Men in at least one future because he's done everything else.

[scorntx]

Can Al Ewing do the impossible? Can he make Paul tolerable?
(I'd say "interesting", but let's try and set realistic goals first.)

Historically, symbiotes weren't able to bond to Luke what with the unbreakable skin and all, but that was some time ago, and the symbiote's gotten all kinds of boosts since then.
Rick was (last I checked) Genis' snarky sidekick again, but he was wearing a jacket with sleeves. He could still have the nega-bands on, just covered up.
Robbie's age might be a factor. But he is a member of Spidey's supporting cast, so that really doesn't rule out any possibility he could throw a punch should the need arise.

... though given Venom War showed it could now operate between multiple hosts, it could be more than one of them.

[cainofdreaming]

Rick was (last I checked) Genis' snarky sidekick again, but he was wearing a jacket with sleeves. He could still have the nega-bands on, just covered up.

So maybe the new Venom is Space Phantom?

[numeronone]

Robbie has held his own against Tombstone at least once (tho he had a pitchfork).

I think most important is that Venom entered the Venom War convinced that he was only able to bring misery and destruction to his human hosts -- but with a little convincing from Peter Parker, got the idea that he could always try again. He then left the event convinced he was dying and likely to kill Dylan as well, so as much as this represents a 'rebirth' it also comes with the ugly repressed truth that he deliberately abandoned his son to save him (which Dylan will NOT like because he's gone yhru that multiple times with his other parent, Eddie).

With that in mind, he's likeliest to go for a host who represents turning a leaf, is convinced they can do good in a rotten world, and who won't be as vulnerable as Eddie (mentally) or Dylan (mentally and physically).

That, to me, rules out Madame Masque (she's a bad'un and a bad'un she shall stay), and possibly Robbie if his age is a factor. It also adds considerable points to Rick and Luke:

Rick has been through literal hell and back, including most recently being a severed head, and he always bounced back; and he has long history as a snap-happy supporting act to a big misunderstood monster. Not to mention it's not without precedent: in "Contest of Champions" Ewing introduced an alt-universe Rick Hulk and then put the symbiote on him for funsies.

Luke, meanwhile, has been trying to attain the role of "world's most legit super-guy" for a while, especially under Ewing's Avengers run. That, and he's physically bulletproof. If Ven could bond with anyone and not worry about getting them hurt, it's this guy.

[numeronone]

This is all assuming it actually is Venom. As much as the Venom War ended with him looking like this, the black and yellow volouring is also the signature of his child, Sleeper - and combined with Flexo the Rubber Man, can become gold. I wouln't put it past Ewing to be running a shell game in which it really IS an "All-New" Venom - host AND symbiote - with the mystery exacerbated by the host themselves not knowing that they're Venom (as is Sleeper's M.O.).

I've also seen speculation that it might actually be MJ as she shows up in costume here despite her powers explicitly not working. But that may be wishful thinking on the part of fans. Besides, we JUST had Reign 2.

(Edit: tho I realise the obvious flaws in this theory are that on a Watsonian level, Sleepr would not be inclined to work alongside Flexo and would probably be more focused on protecting Dylan; and on a Doyleian level, this is meant to be the soft reboot that puts Venom back on a street level without the vosmic time travel shenanigans inherited from Cates.)

[scorntx]

Shame, because that Sleeper theory's pretty neat.

MJ seems an outside choice, given she historically has been afraid of it. And her behaviour doesn't read like someone who's covering up being Venom.

[akodo_rokku]

Weren't the cosmic time travel shenanigans all Ewing? Cates made Eddie The King In Black, but everything after that was Ewing.

[numeronone]

That's what I'm saying: Cates left Eddie in this incredibly powerful position, which even a talent like Ewing is going to find difficult to turn into a compelling story. There's a reason they typically publish series for the Silver Surfer rather than Galactus.

[jlbarnett]

Genis is back?

[scorntx]

Apparently he got a resurrection thanks to a mad Kree scientist in Kelly Thompson's Captain Marvel run, who was mucking around cloning people and cloned Genis, but for some reason Genis's clone was different and brought him back all the way?
Not 100% on that because the wiki can be kind of spotty.
(oh, checking the wiki he had Rick are apparently no longer bonded.)

[thanekos]

Madame Masque's almost certainly in this because her color scheme is already gold-on-black.

[alan2099]

I'm going to guess that it's either NFL SuperPro, that guy that was F.A.C.A.D.E., or a bunch of ducks in a Venom costume.

... I'm horrible at these guessing games.

[scorntx]

A bunch of ducks would be a pretty fowl move.

[full_metal_ox]

Although Alan Moore did warn us…

[zachbeacon]

If it is one of the four then I have to go with Robbie* if only because he's the only one I think Venom readers might care about. Plus he's got the whole Eddie Brock reporter thing going on but, y'know, competent.

The idea of Mayor Cage leading a secret double life for the first time ever is interesting but this is a guy who has fought against so many symbiote invasions that I can't picture him seeing an upside to being a host.

I really think Rick has bonded with enough aliens...though it would be funny to have someone who thinks they beat "All-New Venom" suddenly hear a "clang" and then get absolutely wreaked by Genis-Vell.

Does anyone care about Madame Masque? Aside from Tony Stark, I mean.

Also saw an article that speculates that these are all fake-outs and it was MJ. I really hope not since that would throw away some pretty key elements of her character and Marvel has done more than enough of that.

*I caught myself accidentally typing "Randy" because he makes far more sense than any of the named suspects, though.

[beeyo]

> The idea of Mayor Cage leading a secret double life for the first time ever is interesting

Whenever the next mayoral election rolls around, Luke is totally getting blamed for all the symbiotes.

[zachbeacon]

King in Black happened under Fisk.

..so yeah I can totally see Cage losing to Fisk because he was ineffective at cleaning up the mess the known criminal left behind but the general public's memories are too short to remember how terrible things were under Tru...er...Fisk.

[agharta75]

It's Paul.

Seriously, it's the kid, whoever he is.

[mastermahan]

Nah, the kid is Eddie's son, Dylan, and body language guy explicitly rules him out.

[cainofdreaming]

Because A.I.M. is known for its competence, right?

Not that I believe it's Dylan either. He's not really the type to pull a bluff like that.

[mastermahan]

Fair.

[cygnia]

Is body language guy an unmasked Taskmaster?

[alliterator]

Why would the kid be searching for who Venom is if HE is Venom? He WAS Venom and now he wants Venom back. That's the...premise of the entire issue.

[zachbeacon]

It just occurred to me...how public is this trial? I know some people in the US government and superhero community knew Flash was Agent Venom but is it now public knowledge? I guess the death and resurrection would make that secret harder to keep.

[scorntx]

Well, it's being filmed on television, so... pretty public?

[numeronone]

That could be any Thompson

[akodo_rokku]

It's probably none of them. We only have people GUESSING that it's one of the four, nothing even close to concrete evidence.

[knight_moves]

It'll end up being Jean Loring.

[alliterator]

It's one of the four. Al Ewing has set it up as a classic mystery and it NOT being one of the four would violate those rules and also feel like a cop out.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Awesome, I'm looking forward to this "Reign of the Venoms".

[blues32]

Talks like Rick Jones, don't he?