In Venom Unleashed #9, we dive fang-first into the return of one of Marvel’s most fearsome villains! Knull is back, and editor Jordan D. White pulls back the curtain on how long that move has been brewing. This issue doesn’t just tease the cosmic stakes ahead in Venom #250; it delves into deep, fan-favorite topics like Eddie Brock’s morality, Dylan’s real age (brace yourself), and what the Venom symbiote truly wants.
Plus, Jordan dishes on MJ’s evolving bond with the symbiote, shares wild pitch ideas (Venom as a talking car, anyone?), and answers whether characters like Silence, Magneto, or even the Punisher might cross paths with the gooey world of symbiotes.
You’ll also find exclusive art from upcoming issues, a sneak peek at the ten-issue artistic streak that defined All-New Venom, and a brand-new fan survey at the bottom, so you can help reveal what the fans truly think!
AIPT: Jordan, we’re nearly 10 editions into Venom Unleashed, and it feels like we just started!
To kick things off, Knull is back! How long has it been in the works to get Knull into Venom #250, and where do you see him in the pantheon of villains after being dropped into the sun by Venom?
Jordan: Knull was a really fun villain of a very specific type. This is a guy who is pretty much pure evil. He’s not misunderstood. He sees all the life in the universe, and he would prefer it not to be alive. He wants to stop everything. He wants to go back to when all there was was nothing and him ruling over it as the god of the void. It’s a pretty clear and understandable motivation, even if most people don’t agree with it. There is real power in that sort of purity of character. He’s just…immediately graspable as the baddest of bad guys. And he looks creepy as hell.
It was just a matter of time before he came back, and Al had a great take on how and why he came back and where he goes from there that I was excited by as soon as I heard it. I think we started talking about it around the time of Venom: The Last Dance, if I recall correctly.
AIPT: Now let’s look at the latest polls:
A bit of a ridiculous question, of course, but it appears Dog/Wolf is everyone’s top choice. Do you have an opinion, Jordan?
Jordan: Huh, without looking at the list of options, the first animal that came to mind was a hawk.
Is MJ a dog person? Hm. I cannot recall where this idea came from, but a long time ago, I encountered the idea that all couples have one person who is the dog of the relationship and one who is the cat. I know we talked about it on my old Sailor Moon podcast, Sailor Business–Usagi is the dog, Mamoru is the cat, obviously. I think in the Peter/MJ relationship, Peter was the dog and MJ was the cat.
OH–ha, yes, of course I think of her as being with Peter first and foremost, but for all the Paul fans out there, I think she’s the cat of THAT relationship as well, even more clearly.
AIPT: For our second poll:
It seems people want Eddie to be closest to Venom and their identity.
Jordan: I really do see the influence all of them have had on it in how the symbiote reacts and acts. I think MJ is making a real difference to it and is strengthening Peter’s influence on it as well. As for Eddie, yeah–the symbiote spends the most time with Eddie of any of them, so it makes sense that he would have a pretty big impact on it…but the question is whether all of that influence is good. Would the symbiote have been all about vengeance if it hadn’t found Eddie? I am skeptical that it would have. I suspect we will hear more about this topic soon.
AIPT: One last question, Jordan! With the September 2025 Marvel solicitations out, is there a specific issue you’re editing that you particularly can’t wait for fans to read?
Jordan: Venom-wise, ALL-NEW VENOM #10 is out in September, our last issue before shifting back to legacy numbering, and that issue does feature a big change in the lives of host and symbiote. It’s also, I want to point out, the TENTH issue IN A ROW of the series by the same full creative team! Carlos Gomez drew every issue of ALL-NEW VENOM, one through ten, with Al writing and Frank D’Armata coloring! It’s pretty uncommon to put out ten issues in a row by the same creative team on a monthly schedule, and I am super proud of us for pulling it off.
And don’t worry–while Carlos is not the main artist for Venom #250, he is drawing one of the stories in the issue, and then he is taking a couple of issues off and then coming back strong to keep being the anchor of this series, art-wise. I have worked with Carlos on a ton of series over the years, and he is just absolutely getting better all the time.
But don’t forget to check out EDDIE BROCK: CARNAGE #8 and SPIDER-VERSE VS VENOMVERSE #5 to complete all your symbiote needs for the month!
Looks like the PS4 Spider-Man is appearing in the event!
Credit: Marvel
OH, and I have a new MARVEL ZOMBIES: RED BAND (read our interview all about it with the writers!) series kicking off in September that is going to be AWESOME and which will, by the end of the series, have something in it relevant to symbiote fans…
AIPT: Let’s move on to fan questions. Raul Gomez asks: Will we See More of MJ’s life, like her home life with her Sister and Mother? Her Career in the Entertainment Industry? Her Former Employees? Her Life with Peter?
Jordan: There is some discussion of her family in an upcoming issue that I have already sent to press, but I don’t think we have solid plans to have her sister or mom guest star just now. Actually, her sister MIGHT show up next year? But not locked in. Her career is, for sure, going to be showcased again very soon. Being worked on by artists as we speak. And yeah–for sure, she and Peter are going to be crossing paths soon, but I don’t think it’s going to be when folks think it is.
Courtesy Marvel
AIPT: Hanks asks: When are we gonna see Venom’s wings again? I feel like MJ would be a fan of the flare of it all.
Jordan: You know–that is not a bad point. MJ has been doing a lot of interesting stuff with the shape of the symbiote, but giving herself wings hasn’t been one of them.
Meanwhile, over in EDDIE BROCK: CARNAGE, we’ve seen him with big ol’ red Carnage wings! I guess the wings stuck with Eddie more than with the symbiote. Maybe it’s because she’s so used to associating the symbiote with the Spidey and his MO that she’s locked into thinking of it as webslinging.
Eddie sports the wings in Eddie Brock: Carnage #1.
Courtesy Marvel
AIPT: Clonegeek is wondering: How old is Dylan supposed to be?
Jordan: Oh no, you’re asking one of the forbidden questions!
So, look. There is no good answer to this. The Fantastic Four went up in their rocket less than 15 years ago. Probably more than 12 years ago, but not 100% locked in on how many. Let’s say 14 for a moment, since Peter Parker is NOT yet 30 years old, and he was 15 when the spider bit him. 14 years to contain the entire almost 65 years of comics.
Now, Dylan was conceived AFTER Eddie bonded with Venom. Venom debuted 27 years into that 65-year span of comics. That would mean he debuted about 6 years into the 14-year span of Marvel time. Even if we fudge gestation time (which we have to for reasons I am not going to get into here), that means the oldest Dylan can be is 8 years old.
And look… that’s just not how it is. My son is going to be 8 in 4 months, there is no way he is even close to being able to do what Dylan has been doing for the last few (real life) years of comics. I would say Dylan READS as twelve at the youngest, probably more like 13 or 14. And there is pretty much no way for me to justify that in the reality of the 616 universe. It’s broken.
The best I can do is refer back to Al Ewing’s in-world explanation for Marvel Time back in The Ultimates, which basically says that the Marvel Universe HAS actually been around for all that time, and reality is constantly warping around them as events are pulled forward by chronal gravity. This would allow that Dylan is ACTUALLY something like… I don’t know, probably 30-something years old, but the universe is warping him to be younger…just for some reason, not at the same proportion that it keeps Peter Parker young. And I also suspect that whatever is rewriting reality keeps everyone from being aware of this sort of discontinuity between people/events. I know that might sound far-fetched…but it could be happening to us as well, and we would have no idea.
Some of what Al Ewing was after regarding time. From Ultimates #5.
Courtesy Marvel Comics
AIPT: Pokeydokey asks: Kind of fascinated by something you said in the last Venom Unleashed about how much of 616 Eddie might be responsible for the symbiote’s more villainous actions, and I’m seeing some real symbolism giving him some Peter comparisons between him and Carnage, and it just hit me.
We know who Peter is without the symbiote…do we know who Eddie is? Have we ever seen the history of his character?
Jordan: Yeah–a lot of the things we have seen don’t make him look great. I mean, he is a pretty well fleshed-out character at this point. We have seen his childhood, which was not pretty. His father wasn’t great to him. But we have also Eddie as a teenager driving drunk and being responsible for the death of a child.
After that, we have seen him lie to get ahead and take shortcuts in his job as a journalist, culminating in the incident that cost him his job. In Eddie’s defense, he has changed and grown a lot since then–I don’t want to make it sound like I think he is pure evil or anything. Over time, with Venom, Eddie has tried to be better, and sometimes he has succeeded.
I am a big fan of people struggling to do better, even when it involves them failing a lot. But yeah–we have pretty solid evidence that before he ever met the symbiote, Eddie was not the best guy around. We actually were just looking at that a bit in the recent VENOM: ORIGINAL SIN one-shot and the Infinity Comics it collected!
AIPT: Pow asks: I’ve seen fans asking questions about Dylan getting his powers back, getting codex back, and in light of those, I’d like to propose this question instead:
Will we see Dylan keep trying to help and fight in his own way, even without his powers? He is his father(‘s) son after all, and they wouldn’t and haven’t let that stop them!
Jordan: Great question! I think Dylan’s main focus in the series so far has been tracking down Venom, but he has shown no reluctance to jump right into things with no powers at all to do that. I think the BULK of the things Dylan took on as Venom were aimed at him or were symbiote-related in some way. Would Dylan, with no powers, step in if he saw a mugging? Hm, I am not sure!
I mean, he is a teen year old kid, I am not sure how much he could do. Maybe we need to have him take on an intensive weight training program like his father did back in the day so he can get completely ripped! Imagine this super-buff 13-year-old kid. But I am looking forward to seeing where Dylan goes in all this.
Dylan Brock continues to fascinate readers.
Courtesy Marvel
AIPT: Y.Lu asks: All-New Venom’s been an exciting pivot for Ewing’s run, but I feel you guys have abandoned one vital ingredient in the process. Why did you guys stop using individual issue titles, man?
Jordan: Oh, interesting. Whether or not to do individual issue titles is an interesting question, but I think one that, in my experience, we rarely spend a lot of time deciding. I think, generally, we leave it to the writer to decide whether they want to title the issues or not. Oh–unless there is some sort of trade dress that demands it.
Back when I was on the X-Line, we had a uniform credits/recap situation, and that had a space for an issue title, so all the X-books had titles. The old Venom recaps had a spot for a title. The new one doesn’t. I just went and looked at some of the scripts for the early issues of this series to see if Al had given the issue titles and we had ignored them, and no, there were no issue titles there. So if we HAD added them, they would have been a bit of an afterthought, which is often the case. Sorry to disappoint on that!
I am sure issues 1-5 would have been called “WHO IS THE ALL-NEW VENOM? Part 1-5”. And off the top of my head, I will retcon issues 6-10 to being called “WHO THE ALL-NEW VENOM IS, Part 1-5”.
AIPT: Ol’ Monster-Face asks: We’ve talked a bit about which previous Venom hosts should get involved in Venom’s life. What characters who’ve NEVER interacted with Venom would you like to see in this book? Maybe Magneto should swing by? Could the Eternals have something to say about the legendary feud between their parents (the Celestials) and the symbiotes (Knull)?
Jordan: Those both sound interesting to me! Honestly, I would take the excuse to get Al writing Magneto again–and why not throw Storm in there as well! Honestly, Al is really highly skilled–there is pretty much no character I would not trust him with. Characters I hate, if he said he wanted to use them, I would think there was a good chance they were about to become characters I liked. You know who I would love to see him write? Punisher. I would be interested in his take on him.
The “Venomized” cover to Astonishing X-Men #3…could it happen some day?!
Courtesy Marvel
AIPT: Zac Dodson asks: In the past, the Venom symbiote has demonstrated the ability to provide an active camouflage effect to the host by rapidly mirroring the environment around it, even in motion, such as webslinging. The clothing effect is used regularly; however, this more stealthy aspect of Venom hasn’t seen much use in more recent years. Will we see a return of this capability of Venom’s being put into more regular use?
Jordan: Like I said to Hanks above, I think MJ is bringing a bit more shape-shifting style to the bond, which seems to be more resonating with her than stealth. I actually pitched a Black Widow & Sliver series that was meant to be a Symbiote Spy series–I really wanted that to happen, but it didn’t make it through the pitching process, unfortunately. But that would have been the sort of stuff I would have wanted to do with them–see how a master spy could REALLY use a symbiote. Maybe someday–Sliver IS still out there!
Would you have read a Sliver miniseries?
Courtesy Marvel
AIPT: A reverse of a question from last edition, Gwen asks: One thing I appreciate about this new version of Venom is how Mary Jane’s Venomized form is staunchly masculine despite her gender. Could we see more of this? Maybe there could be a male host with a somewhat feminine symbiote-ized appearance?
Jordan: Glad you like it! And yeah–I don’t think there would be anything wrong with that idea, if there was a story to support it. Like I’ve mentioned before, it makes sense to me that MJ is becoming “VENOM”, not just herself with a symbiote. So she is becoming part of this established identity which has, typically, been male. I know there are fans who would prefer that she become “She-Venom,” but that just wasn’t the story we were looking to tell with her.
Could MJ go She-Venom with her look someday?
Courtesy Marvel
AIPT: Carb asks: What is your take on Eddie Brock prior to when (Donny) Cates grabbed the wheel?
Jordan: So, I was a big fan of Venom way back in the day when they were a Spider-Man villain. Issue 300 of Amazing Spider-Man was a big issue very early on in my reading, so it had a big impact. I think, for a long time, I viewed Venom’s transition away from that role as having weakened the character. I was always interested in where they would go with Venom, because it seems like a lot of nutty stuff was tried, since there was no easy and obvious route.
Putting the symbiote on an established Spider-Villain (Scorpion) did make some sense, but I don’t think it ever had the resonance as the original did (plus we didn’t have Max as Scorpion anymore). Venom on Flash was such a complete departure that I really liked that. That said, there was something appealing about the idea of the symbiote getting back with Eddie…I just don’t think it ever REALLY worked until Donny came in and took a big swing, giving Venom new mythology and characters all their own.
So…I meandered a bit there, but yeah. Eddie as Venom ruled at first, then felt a little aimless to me until Donny gave them purpose.
AIPT: Pow is back with another question: We’ve seen Dylan and Miles talk in the background of another run, any possibility of another friendship in the works in spite of Miles hating the Symbiotes?
Jordan: Anything is possible, but we don’t have any plans to get them together right now.
AIPT: Symbiobro asks: Is there any chance for an Agent Anti-Venom series in the near future? I’d love to explore more of Flash’s current status quo, including with his new symbiote, Andi Benton, Liz Allen, and even old superhero friends like Black Cat or Valkyrie.
Jordan: That would be a lot of fun! I don’t think we have the audience for an ongoing right now, but I would love to do a mini.
AIPT: Not to bring up Andi again, but I thought it was worthwhile to say six different people asked about Andi Benton, including this one: When will we see Silence/Andi Benton again?
Jordan: I don’t want to downplay the Andi Benton love–it’s really exciting to get enthusiasm about characters from fans, especially characters we don’t necessarily think of as the most popular ones! That said…I sadly don’t think she is that much of a draw, such that we need to add her to books to boost their sales.
So it’s mostly going to depend on:
A) if a writer particularly WANTS to use her
B) we have a big story where it makes sense to look at where all the symbiotes are.
I am not going to strongarm Al or Charles into using her, but if we have a big symbiote blowout, I would not shy away from suggesting her to folks looking for symbiotes. And we ARE bringing Knull back, so…
Silence/Andi Benton will return…but we don’t know when.
Courtesy Marvel
AIPT: Nora Synth asks: Do you have a personal opinion on how you think symbiotes at large should be treated in Marvel? They’ve gone through a lot of phases and changes across decades and adaptations – from demons, to misunderstood aliens, to all this recent Knull stuff. Do you have a personal favorite interpretation or one you feel that should become the status quo going forward?
Jordan: This is one of those questions that emphasizes how my personal opinion doesn’t always line up with how I think I can best do my job. If you really want to know, in my PERSONAL OPINION, probably the best version of how symbiotes were treated was the original version, where we didn’t ever hear their thoughts/voices, they were just interacting with their hosts and we only knew them that way. The Venom Symbiote didn’t have an identity for us to know, it was just part of this bond that called themselves Venom. Same for Carnage. We knew the people outside of the bond, but the symbiotes were totally alien to us. So, if it were my call I probably would have shied away from the direction we were where the symbiotes became characters.
THAT SAID…I don’t have any interest in undoing decades of comics. The story went the way it went, and now I want to make the best stories I can, given where we actually are, not where I would have gone. We have heard the symbiotes speak; they are characters now, some more than others. So, I am leaning in–this is how they work, we’ve seen it, it’s very clearly established. So, where can we go with that? I am very interested in finding out!
AIPT: Alexander has a robust question: Considering Eddie’s more heroic portrayal in recent years, I wonder if Eddie would have chosen to kill these serial killers or just subdue them if he hadn’t bonded with the Carnage symbiote? This brings up a related question: If we make a rough classification, does the editorial think Eddie is a hero, an anti-hero, or a villain now? What about Venom and Carnage symbiote?
Jordan: I don’t think Eddie would have just randomly turned to murdering serial killers without the Carnage symbiote, no. I think he would gladly stop serial killers, and I think he wouldn’t cry a lot if they died in the process, but I don’t think he would have insisted that they NEEDED to die. I think he is pretty clearly an Anti-Hero–he is far from the traditional concept of a hero.
I would say the same really goes for the Venom Symbiote. MJ is pretty much a traditional hero, but the symbiote is in many ways still making up for the sins of its past. I think the symbiote is probably further on the road towards heroism than Eddie is at this point. But then, Eddie is teamed with Carnage, who is obviously a STRAIGHT UP VILLAIN. Is there a world where the Carnage symbiote never met Cletus and did not become psychotic? Yeah, I can imagine in…but I don’t know that there is any redemption for it in this world.
It’s pretty clear Carnage is a very bad villain. Image from Eddie Brock: Carnage #5.
Courtesy Marvel
AIPT: Kieken asks: Now that there has been a larger focus on the Venom symbiote being an individual being, will there be an opportunity to explore the symbiote’s goals and motivations outside of its host?
What does the symbiote actually want to accomplish while living on Earth and how does a host add or impede said goals?
Additionally, have these ideas changed for the symbiote since it first came to Earth after the original Secret Wars?
Jordan: I think when it arrived after Secret Wars, it didn’t really have solid wants. I think it was just being. And I think now it has come into being a person on its own, and it has desires and wants…but even so, I think the way you’ve phrased it makes it sound a bit more grand than it is. I think mostly what it wants is to be able to live its life and be with the people it cares about.
I don’t think its MAIN goals are like “SAVE THE WORLD” or things like that. Be free, do what it wants to, and try to be better; those are the sort of things I think it wants, and those general ideas are applied to everything as it moves through life.
AIPT: Last question from me, Jordan: So… MJ just convinced Venom to turn into a submarine, which was awesome. Should we expect more surprise transformations in the future? And follow-up: what’s the wildest or most impractical thing you’d personally love to see Venom turn into, just because you could?
Jordan: I mean, Venom turning into the Venomobile that they are also driving? Like, it could be a CARS-style car-with-a-talking-face situation, but with MJ in the driver’s seat and obviously tinted windows to protect her identity. That is important–not just a car, it’s gotta be a car with a face. Yeah.
It appears we’re getting a symbiote with a face in September in Eddie Brock: Carnage #8!
Credit Marvel
And that’s a wrap on an extra-sized Venom Unleashed. Scroll down to check out exclusive previews for upcoming Jordan D. White edited comics (including Eddie Brock: Carnage, Spider-Verse vs. Venomverse, All-New Venom, and more!).
Oh, and don’t you dare skip the fan survey. Results will be revealed next month!
Check out the next fan survey below. Can’t see it? Click here.
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