Warning! Spoilers ahead for Venom #23
Any Venom fan will tell you that things have been nuts lately for Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote Venom. Dealing with the aftermath of the Absolute Carnage event, Marvel’s Venom series features the lethal protector doing what he can to prepare for the Symbiote God Knull’s arrival to Earth. However, there are some significant things going on in Eddie’s life that are causing some problems. The Avengers want to recruit him, he’s having terrible nightmares, waking up with messages carved into his flesh, and to top it all off, he has to leave his estranged son Dylan alone in order to straighten himself out. To do that, Eddie travels to Venom island, hoping to heal his other. The end result isn’t pretty and involves Captain America doing something pretty drastic.
In Venom #23, the third part of the Venom Island story arc, Eddie discovers that the reason his other, Venom, is having problems is due to an infection by the Carnage symbiote as a result of their battle in Absolute Carnage (it also explains the carved messages). Eddie is forced to separate himself from his infected other in the most violent way, losing his hand in the process. The “Carnage-ized” Venom takes over the whole island, and Eddie has to fight for his very survival. Thanks to some quick thinking, the answered prayers from a god, and his son Dylan’s mysterious power over symbiotes allowing him to see his father in trouble, the Venom symbiote is unmerged with Carnage. Eddie blacks out in the aftermath, waking up in a helicopter with Captain America standing over him.
Captain America’s involvement in Venom #23 is pretty intense. The Quinjet Eddie came in sent out an emergency beacon when it crashed on Venom Island, and Captain America rushed to the rescue. After all, Cap was the one who vouched for Venom to join the Avengers, having seen Venom’s heroics firsthand during Absolute Carnage. He’s not about to leave a man behind, which makes his next actions that much stranger. Eddie wakes up on the helicopter, his wounds bandaged. Rogers tells Eddie that he’s safe, but Eddie realizes that his other isn’t with him. His symbiote is still on the island. While Eddie wants to return to the island and get his other, Cap tells him that it’s not an option. Then, a missile is fired from their chopper, blowing up the island in spectacular fashion. This is how Venom #23 ends, with it looking like Captain America just blew up the Venom and Carnage symbiotes, much to Brock’s horror.
This is definitely a drastic move on Cap’s part. However, he was most likely thinking strategically. While he saw Venom’s heroics firsthand, he also saw Carnage’s… well, carnage. It’s possible Cap saw the opportunity to end Carnage once and for all, even if it meant the Venom symbiote becoming a casualty as a result. Fans might be worried that this means nothing will now be able to stop Knull once he gets to Earth, and that’s a valid concern. Captain America can’t really be blamed, however, as Eddie chose to keep Knull’s incoming invasion a secret, hoping to come up with a solution on his own, as it’s technically Eddie himself who is responsible to Knull being released in the first place. In any case, Venom fans will have to wait and see what the true fate of Venom (and Carnage) will be when the next issue of Venom releases.
Venom #23 is on comic book store shelves now.
More: Before Venom, Marvel’s Dark God Is Going To Fight [SPOILER]
