Issues 123-128
War of the Symbiotes
Eddie Brock returns, unaware of how he survived his last encounter with Spider-Man. He sits at a bench in Central Park, telling his story to passerbys before consuming them with the suit. Eddie explains that the closer he is to Spider-Man, the more he gains control of the suit, using this feeling to track down Peter and nearly killing him at a museum, but he is captured by Silver Sable. Eddie is taken by Bolivar Trask, the head of the corperation that hired Eddie's and Peter's fathers to create the Venom suit. Trask threatens to let the suit eat Eddie unless he works for him, which Eddie agrees. During testing, The Beetle, a heavily armed mercenary Spider-Man encountered before, breaks in and steals a sample of the suit, with Venom pursuing him. Spider-Man interrupts the chase and battles Venom again, but the suit leaves Eddie mid-battle and bonds itself with Peter once again. Controlled by the suit, Peter is forced to battle The Ultimates, who manage to defeat him and seperate him from the suit.
While venting to MJ about Fury keeping the suit for military use, Peter is confronted by Eddie, who has become addicted to the suit and demands Peter return it, threatening to reveal his secret identidy if he doesn't. Returning home trying to figure out what to do, he finds the Gwen/Carnage clone in his room, previously escaping during the Goblin's last breakout. Eddie shows up at the Parkers, but Aunt May stops him from entering. Peter grabs Eddie and takes him away from his house, with Gwen following. Peter encourages Gwen to transform to show Eddie what he's become, but being in close proximity to Gwen triggers the remenants of the suit in Eddie, causing him to transform into Venom again. He overpowers and absorbs the Carnage symbiote from Gwen, gaining full control and becoming more powerful. Eddie escapes and Peter takes Gwen back to S.H.E.I.L.D, who confirm that she is free from the suit and can live with the Parkers again. As Eddie is about to consume the latest passerby, he is captured instead, as the man reveals himself to be The Beetle and takes Eddie to Latveria.
Did You Know?
- This arc is meant to be an adaptation of the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, being faithful to the story until the end of issue 125, where it diverges completely from the source material. From this issue onward, the story becomes an original arc, but still utilizes aspects from the game, such as Peter being overtaken by a symbiote and Venom abosrbing Carnage to gain control of his own symbiote. In the game, Venom gains the spider-logo from the absorbtion, but in the comic he gains a more monsterous apperance and loses the spider-eyes.
- The story is told by Eddie as he sits on a bench telling it to random strangers, similar to Forrest Gump, except he eats them. The last passerby is revealed to be The Beetle, who captures Brock and presumably takes him to Latveria, the country ruled by Dr. Doom. Eddie is never seen or heard from again, but the suit does reapper in the Ultimate comics again, as the mantle of Venom taken by Dr. Conrad Marcus, who attempted to kill and consume Miles Morales.
- Like Deadpool, Carnage appears in the Ultimate portions in the Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions video game. It’s implied that the Carnage seen in the game is the Gwen Stacy clone and is also officially named Carnage in the level. The level itself involves Spider-Man chasing Carnage throughout the Triskellion, which is in chaos as Carnage has gained the ability to create duplicates of itself and zombies from agents the creature consumed.