Marvel’s premier serial killer symbiote as officially lost its most important host — again.

Following a brutal and mind-bending encounter with the villainous future iteration of Eddie Brock known as Meridius in the pages of Venom War: Carnage #3, Carnage and Cletus Kasady find themselves at an impasse regarding what they should do next. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any reconciling those differences, no matter how similar the two might be at their respective cores. As such, what remains of Cletus takes the opportunity to simply slip away into the night and, more importantly, away from whatever the ongoing war for Venom brings next.

• Written by TORUNN GRØNBEKK
• Art by PERE PÉREZ
• Inks by SEAN PARSONS
• Colors by ERICK ARCINIEGA
• Letters by VC’s JOE SABINO
• Design by STACIE ZUCKER
• Main cover art by KEN LASHLEY & RACHELLE ROSENBERG
• Variant cover by GREG LAND & FRANK D’ARMATA

At the heart of Marvel’s Venom War crossover event is the Venom symbiote, or rather its future, with both Eddie and Dylan Brock waging war against one another in the hopes of claiming it for themselves. Each Brock has seen visions of what the future will look like should the other bond to Venom once more, and each has seen a horrifying end to the Marvel Universe as fans know it. This is even true of Peter Parker, whose experience with Venom showed him yet another harrowing vision of the future that would come about if he refused to sever his bond with the symbiote.

Among the major players in Venom War is also a future iteration of Dylan Brock who has teamed up with numerous Marvel icons in the hopes of saving the world from the future he has already lived through once for himself. To that end, Dylan has called upon heroes such as Doctor Strange, as well as some of the Marvel Universe’s most horrifying villains. Specifically, this future Dylan Brock has sought out the help of the Dark Elder God Chthon, whose powers could very well tip the scales of Venom War in any direction he chooses.

Fans have already seen at least one glimpse of what the future of Carnage will look like post-Venom War courtesy of preview images for the upcoming Eddie Brock: Carnage series from writer Charles Soule and artist Jesus Saiz. This will mark a major turning point for both Eddie and Carnage, who have long been not just enemies, but near-entirely antithetical to one another as characters. Soul recently discussed this dichotomy, explaining that “Carnage is someone that has to kill, so Eddie has to feed him deaths. In order for Eddie to be okay with that, the people he feeds Carnage are serial killers. But Carnage is also an addict, and addicts need bigger and bigger highs.”

Venom War: Carnage #3 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.

Source: Marvel Comics

Venom

Venom is a sentient alien symbiote from the planet Klyntar that has appeared in the Marvel universe since the mid-1980s. Numerous heroes have played host to Venom over the years.