#Venom: Lethal Protector - Heart of the Hunted

[oroontheheels]

This comics tried to end me for real 😭💕

[redlight-greenelight]

Venom 3: There should have been a wedding

Fun movie! Terrible end of a trilogy.

We needed a wedding.

First order of business: You don't introduce a new Big Bad in the final installment of a trilogy. (Yeah, it's undoubtedly a call to an upcoming project). The first two movies both had the same villains: humans and symbiotes. We had The Life Foundation and Riot, and then Kassidy and Carnage.

Instead of Knull being the BBEG, have (one of) the main antagonists be the American government/military, as they were. Between the rocket and the church, there is no way they don't know about symbiotes and that Eddie Brock has one. Frame him for a murder, now you can hunt him down without anyone mentioning aliens. The public is on the lookout, you have access to police and cameras, etc.

The other main threat is the symbiotes. I like the codex thing, keep it. Instead of calling the woodchipper cats void hunters, have it call the symbiote hivemind. Make it a nice big notification: "Look at us! Look at this big planet full of good hosts and food, come join in!" Every time Eddie and Venom form together, it resets the "beacon" so the symbiotes know where to come. Some have already found their way to Earth.

Second order of business: Anne. We don't get a conclusion for that storyline. In the first movie, she and Eddie are engaged. He spends the rest of the movie pining for her. In the second, Anne is engaged to Dan and that announcement is a big event trigger. BUT Eddie, over the course of the movie, realizes Anne has completely moved on and he can start to do the same. He learns to appreciate Venom.

Now, in the final movie, Eddie should be able to completely move on as well. Whether he's in love with Venom or not, he is over Anne and has replaced her in his heart with Venom. He'll have come to a natural end of that storyline. And what better way to symbolize it?

A wedding! Have the reason everyone is in Vegas be for Anne and Dan's wedding. That's why Eddie goes with the family, that's why he wants into the casino - because his ex-fiance and his somewhat-friend are there and he needs help since he's on the run.

The dancing scene with Mrs Chen is fun and all, but it doesn't belong in the main movie as it is. Either have that be the time Venom realizes what's going on, or save the scene for an after-credits special. The whole wedding could be a montage in the credits: Venom dancing with Mrs Chen, Eddie literally and symbolically letting Anne go by walking her down the aisle, drunk shenanigans, etc.

Have the incredible security of a casino be the thing that catches 51's eye and the reason they get captured.

Third order: Eddie. I get it, he's tired, but he seemed out of character. Without going too far into things, just have him a little less bitchy with Venom, a little more into the partners/Lethal Protector thing (like in the dog scene). Have him at least try to get back to Venom when they separate. He just spent the whole last movie learning he's better with Venom than without him, there's no way a single line is going to cover all that when we just watched (how long is the movie?) an hour and a half of Eddie showing us otherwise.

...

I have a lot of thoughts and a hard time verbalizing them but this is the gist. I hope to do a summary of what the movie would look like if I changed the above points. We'll see.

OH! And, please, I needed the line "One last dance, buddy" from Eddie as they face off against a small army of symbiotes, ready to give their lives to save each other/their weird little family/the planet.

[criesincomicsans]

i will now provide textual evidence from the comics of eddie and venom being in love (featuring pet names and general shenanigans)

BEWARE POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE COMICS

"Venom Vol. 2: The Land Before Crime" (2017) by Mike Costa

"Venom Vol. 3: Lethal Protector - Blood in the Water" (2018) by Mike Costa

"Venom Vol. 4: The Nativity" (2018) by Mike Costa and David Michelinie (this whole thing is gay as fuck, they have a baby together)

"Venom: First Host" (2018) by Mike Costa

"Venom: Lethal Protector - Heart of the Hunted" (2022)" by David Michelinie

i apologize for any poor image quality. pls cite these to the homophobic marvel bros.

[evasivaardilosa]

Hi

I'm just wondering what do you think of this https://www.tumblr.com/strangeshadowdreamer/701190776033509376/venom-eddie-phenylethylalanine?source=share

Hey there! I reblogged this post on my venom sideblog @guessimabasicnerdgirlnow

The post reminded me of a recent discussion about chemicals the symbiote needs in the comics and in the movies, and people getting them wrong in fic

I watched the movie but just assumed they used the same chemical as in the comics until the post I mentioned above crossed my dash

(The one in the comics, at least in The Hunger aka the one that first talked about the symbiote needing a specific chemical, is phenethylamine)

I think the movie may have messed up the names but since I know shit about chemistry I wouldn’t be too surprised if they did it intentionally for some reason. They could as well have made up a new chemical that keeps all desired properties but doesn’t need to be loyal to the real version.

Phenethylamine is part of the queer coding of Eddie’s and the symbiote’s relationship, since it is called “the love hormone”. The chocolate, delivered in a heart shaped box is the cherry on top.

In the context of the movie, if the chemical is the same, the meaning isn’t shown clearly.

Anyway, the real question of the post is why (movie) Eddie doesn’t buy pills?

In the comics, Eddie taught himself how to produce PEA pills because he goes that hard, and it seemed a troublesome process to buy what he needed from the black market. Then again, comics Eddie is homeless and unemployed so everything will be hard for him. In the end it seems that he and Symby decided that chocolate was the best choice, and more pleasant too. Oh it’s important to say that nor Eddie nor Symby wanted to eat heads at this point, so that was not an option

In the movies, I feel like maybe the problem isn’t getting nutrition. The problem is that V has to stay hidden all the time, basically just watching Eddie’s life and not doing much on his own. I think he may insist on going hunting, specially bad guy hunting, for the thrill of the experience, plus getting to show off and be out in the open. V likes being the Lethal Protector.

I feel like if Eddie even suggested buying pills V would immediately refuse the idea

[hellzyeahwebwielingessays]

The Not-So-Amazing Mary Jane Part 10: MJ has too much faith in the POSSIBILITY of redemption

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Last time I examined how MJ was repeating Peter’s ‘original sin’ in allowing Beck to not face justice. However I also raised the idea that the situation is different as Beck/his crew are arguably seeking redemption. Does that hold up to scrutiny? Well that’s what this instalment is all about.

At face value the crooks in the story certainly seem like they are seeking redemption.

Beck in particular is trying to make some form of amends and produce something good before he dies. It’s an opportunity he wants to extend to his fellow criminals (along with former felons).

Is shutting down this opportunity really  something Mary Jane would do?

Yep.

Let’s ignore for a moment how MJ’s efforts to help her friend Lorraine failed and she was totally tricked by her. After all Lorraine might’ve been doing something illegal but she was the real victim in that situation.

Instead let’s look at some examples from Spider History where Peter encountered seemingly reforming criminals. 

Black Cat

The most significant is perhaps that of the Black Cat; a.k.a. Felicia Hardy. Mary Jane doesn’t necessarily have an in depth knowledge of the ups and downs of Peter and Felicia’s relationship. But she would know that for a time Felicia was a criminal who reformed into a fellow crime fighter and then betrayed Peter by framing him for a crime. This all came to light in Spec #129.

Felicia reformed again after that and, after a very rough (somewhat violent) start, befriended MJ and became an ally to Peter. One of the key events that led to the thawing of Felicia’s relationship with the Parker family was her aiding a temporarily depowered Spidey. This occurred in ASM #342-343.

In these issues she helped the powerless Spidey defend innocents, protected him personally and bought time for him to regain his powers. These events entailed risking her life, enduring several injuries, losing her own powers (again temporarily) in the process. Specifically she had to single handedly battle a group of villains most of whom were beyond her weight class.

During and after these events Felicia showed signs of sincerely learning to love the Parkers’ friend Flash Thompson and wanting to start a new (costume free) chapter of her life with him. This was particularly notable because she had previously been dating Flash as a way to get back at Peter for marrying Mary Jane.

However, over consequent years though Felicia vacillated between anti-hero and outright criminal. Many people regard some of these takes out of character for Felicia post-OMD. 

However, even before OMD Felicia was still vacillating in her moral alignment. Case in point, in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #5, Felicia reveals she is working for the gang lord known as the Owl. Although she claims she has boundaries she won’t cross whilst in his employ, Peter is still unhappy with her new job.

The facts are Felica was never consistently on the straight and narrow, a fact Peter and MJ were all too aware of. 

Sandman

Perhaps a more apt example can be found in the case of the Sandman; a.k.a. Flint Marko. In Marvel Team-Up #138 Sandman was trying to go straight. In the course of the story he defended his neighbours from the Enforcers and actively saved Spider-Man’s life in the process. After the battle Spidey presumes there are outstanding warrants for Sandman’s arrest and tries to bring him in.

Sandman calmly explains he’s trying to reform and requests Spidey let him go. Spidey contemplates the idea because Sandman seems sincere but also considers that he’d be repeating the same mistake he made with Uncle Ben. As such he apologetically explains he can’t take the risk and prepares to apprehend Marko.

Unbeknownst to Spider-Man the last crook standing tosses a grenade his way. Sandman warns Spidey and intercepts the blast, both actions saving Peter’s life.

Spidey leaves the scene uncertain if Sandman survived and how to feel about his alleged attempts to reform.

Spidey and Sandman encountered one another again in ASM #280-281. By chance Marko came across Spidey and mercenary Silver Sable at the mercy of several super villains. He once again saved Spidey’s life.

Soon after this Silver Sable officially hired him.  It should be bared in mind that Sable has access to advanced weapons and highly trained soldiers. Perhaps more importantly though, as the ruler of Symkaria she was international political resources. As such it’s likely that Spidey figured Sandman’s outstanding crimes were either pardoned or he was working off his debt to society. And were he to hypothetically get out of line Sable had the resources to reign him in. Later Sandman would join the Avengers, which would be enough for most people to give him the benefit of the doubt, including Spidey or MJ.

Sandman’s alignment with both Silver Sable and the Avengers was a matter of public record. MJ would’ve heard about it just via osmosis; Avengers activities are normally big news after all. Even if she hadn’t, Peter would’ve talked about it because (as discussed in prior instalments) he usually clues her into his super hero life. Sandman being one of the few villains of his to have reformed? That’d not be a topic that’d go undiscussed.

However, for reasons we need not cover extensively, Sandman returned to crime. This too was a matter of public record and MJ was very aware of it since Sandman tussled with Spidey during this time. If nothing else she’d have known he was a villain again from his alliance with Doc Ock in ‘Ends of the Earth’. 

Venom

Another Spidey villain who flirted with reform was of course Venom. There have been many ups and downs in Peter’s relationship with both the Venom symbiote itself and its most famous host Eddie Brock. For the purposes of this essay though we’re just going to be focussing upon events that transpired in the 1990s.

The first of these occurred in ASM #362 where Peter controversially formed an alliance with Venom to stop his sadistic spawn Carnage. Peter banked upon Venom’s sense of justice and desire to protect innocents as a way to gain his aid, but he also had to promise to allow Venom to walk free when their mission was complete.

As it turned out though that was a risk Peter wasn’t willing to take. This was he had secretly plotted for the Fantastic Four to capture Venom once Carnage had been dealt with.

It’s worth remembering that Mary Jane had had a particularly bad experience when Venom first showed up and dealing with him was as much for her protection as for the world’s at large.

At the conclusion of their next encounter (ASM #375), Spidey and Venom made another arrangement. This controversial deal amounted to Spidey allowing Venom to walk free in exchange for Venom staying away from him. Peter’s rationale for this deal was born from a ‘live to fight another day’ mentality as he was exhausted and would’ve likely died had he continued to fight Venom. Mere moments after agreeing to this though Peter tried to tag Venom with a spider tracer.

The very next story though (Venom: Lethal Protector) a recovered Peter tracks Venom down all the way to San Francisco and attempts to bring him in. Peter even acknowledges Venom being a disturbed killer and that his talk of ‘protecting innocents’ is bull.

During the course of the story Venom at times helped Spidey. But more importantly he refrained from killing Spidey (his life’s ambition) and asked for his help in saving countless innocents at the story’s climax. This was enough for Peter to temporarily help Brock again.

During the final battle Venom had no choice but to go through flames; fire being one of the things symbiotes are especially vulnerable to. Spidey is shocked by Venom’s selflessness, especially when Venom commented that Spidey himself would’ve done no different.

At the end of the story Peter tells MJ that he now believes in Venom’s change of heart, but qualifies that he’s returning to NYC in part because he can’t hunt Venom forever.

Essentially these experiences convinced Peter that Venom was sincere in his desire to turn over a new leaf, but that he should still be brought to justice nevertheless.

Inevitably Venom returned to his old ways and from there vacilated wildly in his moral alignment. As one of Peter’s most famous foes Venom’s activities were heavily covered in the news. Peter and MJ would’ve also kept an ear out and kept one another informed due to how personal Venom’s vendetta against them was and how dangerous he was. Basically MJ would’ve been aware Venom was rarely consistently  on the side of the angels. 

Boomerang

Next up we have a much more recent example, Spidey’s roommate Fred Myers, a.k.a. Boomerang. I would ask you to bear in mind that at the time of writing this I have only read up to ASM v5 #36 so events after that issue might further support or undermine my arguments.

One might argue that MJ giving Mysterio and his crew a chance at redemption is no different to Peter doing the same for Boomerang in very recent stories. However, there are very important nuances that differentiate the Peter/Fred situation to the MJ/Beck situation.*

The most important of these was that Myers got a full pardon for all his past crimes following H.Y.D.R.A.’s defeat in Secret Empire.

Boomerang committed crimes after his pardoning, notably robbing a museum. However, for reasons that baffled and concerned Spidey the mayor (Wilson Fisk, the ‘former’ Kingpin of Crime) allowed Myers to escape and even spun his crimes in such a way to exonerate him.

Spidey did let Boomerang initially escape but his rationale was purely because he didn’t know what Fisk wanted. This might seem contentious but it adds up when you think about it. If Fisk were the mayor then apprehending Boomerang would be tantamount to delivering him directly to Fisk, who is a far more powerful and dangerous threat. This logic would then extend to when Myers became Peter’s roommate.

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer, especially when bringing them in could potentially help a much worse enemy. In the meantime Myers living with Peter could allow him to monitor him (using a spider tracer) and gather valuable information about what he (and Fisk) were up to.

Peter remains sceptical and lays out his concerns directly to his other roommate Randy Robertson.

In ASM v5 #6-7 Boomerang took Peter (out of costume) to ‘The Bar-with-no-name’ (a hang out for super villains) for a trivia night. One might argue this situation echoes MJ being surrounded by super villains on her film set. But what distinguishes this situation from that one is the safety Peter’s abilities afford. He’s taken on groups of baddies before and most of the ones here are B-listers at best. More importantly though is that this presents an opportunity for Peter to gather valuable information, a fact that is framed as the  reason he sticks around.

True, he also begins to enjoy himself but he also begins to empathise with them through spending time with them. Nevertheless he acknowledges that tomorrow he will be back to trying to catch them.

Peter’s reluctance to turn them in immediately can be viewed as a human flaw on his part. He empathises with the villains up to a point and begins to genuinely enjoy himself. Isn’t Mary Jane allowed to be flawed as well?

Sure she is, except MJ’s ‘flaw’ in AMJ is markedly worse than Peter’s here. In AMJ Mary Jane is complicit in several crimes via her silence and is allowing dangerous crooks with outstanding warrants for arrest to operate freely. Peter might be somewhat in the wrong for not turning them in then and there, but he at least intends on apprehending them eventually and in the interim uses the opportunity to gain information that will over all help combat more crimes. In theory he could simply put a call through to the cops or the Avengers that night. MJ on the other hand seemingly has no plan to apprehend the criminals she’s working with at all.

As the story progresses the Kingpin puts a bounty on Boomerang’s head prompting the assembled crooks to turn on him and Peter. The pair are forced to fight their way to freedom, during the course of which Boomerang  provides some cover for Pete and a weapon to defend himself with.

At a critical point in the battle Boomerang selflessly takes a nasty hit meant for Peter; which leaves the latter shocked and baffled.

After Pete buys a little time Fred follows this up with an exploding boomerang and shoves Peter to safety.

Fred reveals he refrained from using his explosive earlier because he genuinely loved the bar; further exemplifying his sincere desire for companionship. In spite of this Peter still doesn’t regard Fred as redeemed nor reformed. Fred then confesses that he created robot duplicates of his old gang members (known to readers as the Superior Foes) due to missing their companionship and recognizing that his betrayals of them left him lonely. Moving in with Peter and Randy seemed like a second chance to him and Peter, in spite of his better judgment decides to give Fred that second chance.

What differentiates this from what MJ is doing (besides Boomerang not being half as bad as Mysterio and not backed up by a whole crew of crooks) is that Peter is giving Fred this chance after he has actively demonstrated  redeeming qualities.

Fred might  be lying about his desire for companionship (just Mysterio might be lying to MJ about everything else) but Fred didn’t and couldn’t have faked saving Peter’s life at risk to himself.

Actions speak louder than words and in AMJ all Mary Jane has is the word of a notorious deceiver that neither he nor his crew are up to no good and will behave themselves…you know apart from all the crimes he already fessed up to like identity theft.

In fact all of the instances listed above involve the criminals actively demonstrating redeeming behaviour. Typically these have taken the form of risking their lives to protect innocents and/or their enemy Spider-Man.**

However Peter has also not trusted them blindly. 

In Felicia’s case she lost her powers so her ability to commit crimes was reduced and she had saved his life and been a crime fighter enough that it’s likely he felt she deserved yet another chance.*** In Sandman’s case he began working for someone who could arrange for his legal situation to be straightened out and had the means to keep him under control too. In Venom’s case Peter recognized his change for the better but never fully trusted him, merely letting him go because he was physically unable to find him. And in Fred’s case turning him over the authorities could prove worse  than temporarily allowing him to walk free whilst Peter kept a close eye on him.

Mary Jane was either a witness to these incidents or at least would’ve likely heard about them from Peter. As I demonstrated in parts 3-5 Peter shares most of his experiences with Mary Jane. Additionally, her own sense of justice and responsibility is clearly shaped by Peter’s (to some extent).

So in the case of a guy she has no means or monitoring, can’t be sure she’s keeping an eye on because he’s a master illusionist (who literally has highly convincing holograms/robot duplicates), has no reliable means of restraining and has never demonstrated any redeeming actions to her she should NOT be trusting him to go straight; let alone a whole crew of villains…

…But if you are reeaaaaaaaaaalllly still unconvinced…let’s talk about the Black Fox.

The Black Fox

The Black Fox is an elderly gentlemen thief/cat burglar that Peter had an encounter with back in ASM #265. The story ended with Peter learning that the Black Fox’s latest scheme was merely his last after which he hoped to retire and be with his family. In response to this Peter helped the Fox escape, although he recovered the stolen goods first.

Years later in ASM #305 Spidey again encountered the Fox who in fact hadn’t retired. And yet Spidey once again let him go again out of pity.

In ASM #349 he once more found the Fox in mid-crime and let him go again. Afterwards Peter confessed to MJ that this cycle of behaviour with the Fox was deeply upsetting him.

Spidey allowing the Fox to go free once again actually resulted in a major incident involving Doctor Doom of all people!

After a concussion induced conversation with Uncle Ben (a creation of his subconscious) Peter realized his leniency on the Fox was born from a general sympathy for older men (who naturally reminded him of his uncle).

Having resolved his issues Peter was then capable of bringing the Fox to justice.

Mary Jane was obviously aware of this adventure as Peter actively talked to her about her hang ups with the Fox during the course of it, and it would be baffling to believe that he wouldn’t have then told her he brought him in eventually.

If MJ is aware of how Peter’s morality played out here, the repercussions of his leniency on the Fox and  the internal strife caused by letting him go there is no way in Hell she’d make the same mistakes with Mysterio. She doesn’t even have the same excuse as there is no huge trauma from her youth inclining her to be unreasonably sympathetic to Beck or his crew.

The Black Fox is honestly nowhere near as dangerous, manipulative or as unethical as Mysterio. If the Black Fox deserves to face justice for his far less damaging crimes, then Mysterio and his cohorts ethically shouldn’t be given a free pass by MJ or even the chance to do something good before they’ve paid their debts to society either.

The situation with the Fox proves the dangers of simply giving criminals the benefit of the doubt blindly, whilst every other reforming or reformed criminal has either proven themselves somehow or done so within some kind of controlled environment.

That wasn’t the case for the Fox, and it certainly isn’t the case for Mysterio from MJ’s point of view.

Finally let’s talk about one very significant instance that some might bring up to counter all I’ve said above.

Let’s talk about Mary Jane’s father.

Phillip Watson

You will recall in the last instalment I examined how MJ ultimately turned him into the cops for his crimes for the greater good and even at the risk of her sister’s freedom.

Well in the Clone Saga they met again. MJ felt compelled to settle some unfinished family business and thus confronted her sister and then (separately) her father.

For some context not only had her father committed a crime, not only had he exploited MJ’s sister Gayle and thereby caused her to wind up arrested, but in her childhood he had routinely verbally abused both girls along with their mother and physically assaulted Gayle once.

MJ had major beef with her father over this and hadn’t let it go by the time she met up with him again in ASM #292. In said issue she even referred to him as ‘Phillip’ rather than ‘Dad’, father, etc.

It could be speculated that her decision to turn him in might’ve been influenced by this bad baggage. Although she was also uncertain of that due to her attachment to him and possibly perceived guilt over her parents’ break up.

In Spec #219 MJ nervously confronts her father. After making some small talk she is enraged when she sees he’s kept a picture of her mother. She feels that after how he treated her he doesn’t have that right.

However her surprises her when he breaks down in tears admitting he’s ashamed of how he acted and that he’s haunted by how he hurt and abandoned MJ’s mother. MJ connects with this, drawing a comparison with how she abandoned her sister Gayle in her time of need. She even states this to her father.

Spec #119

She manages to emotionally connect with her father and even forgive him. Whilst it’s only a start she feels complete and like in some way she has her family back, which fills her with joy.

You could take this situation and make a strong case for MJ being willing to forgive Mysterio right?

She did it for someone who had been a criminal and personally hurt her and her family in a very serious way. So why wouldn’t she extend that so someone who had also harmed her and her family. Harmed them in ways that might be argued to be not as  bad as her father?

The problem with such a comparison is that it’s not exactly a fair equivalency at all.

To begin with, though he had been a criminal, MJ’s father had served his time and faced the legal repercussions for his crimes. MJ had no hint that he was in the midst of committing any other crimes when she reunited with him, nor that he’d be likely to go on to commit any crimes.

Even the crimes h had committed were far less numerous and far less bad than those in Mysterio’s criminal career. MJ’s father for instance never drugged and sexually violated a teenaged girl or attempted murder. And given his age, health, intelligence and history the chances of him committing further crimes if

Now there was a lot of emotional baggage and pain MJ carried in relation to her father but as evidenced in ASM #292 her feelings towards him were not black and white. A part of her felt some combination of guilt and loyalty towards him. Furthermore, when we learned of MJ’s past in ASM #259, she also revealed that  following their separation, she tried to write to her father a few times.

Why would MJ as a tween/teen do such a thing? Why try to connect with someone who abused her and her loved ones, someone she intellectually knew was bad for everyone concerned?

The sad truth is such things are often happen in real life in similar situations. It is born from an immensely strong natural and innate need  within all human beings to form bonds with our parental figures.****

MJ’s earliest (and therefore some of her most formative) memories involve her father, about how (in her mind at least) she loved him and he loved her. How he was the one man in her life who was supposed to always  love her no matter what.

So even if he wound up far from that ideal, there is still a yearning within MJ on some level for that. Hence her attempts to reconnect with him both in ASM #259 and Spec #219, along with her uncertainty in ASM #292.

And that’s the single most critical difference between this situation and the one with Beck.

Beck is not her father.

She hasn’t got any positive emotional attachment to him (imagined or otherwise) nor is there a potent need  within her to have one.

From her point of view he is simply a very bad and very dangerous person who has done horrible things, has hurt her and hurt the people she cares about.  Someone who is doing something very bad right now  and who stands a very strong chance of consequently doing further bad things that might harm other people (including herself and her loved ones).

Not to mention her father was not a slick professional liar like Mysterio was. MJ has no reason to believe his emotional breakdown is a performance whereas with Beck it’s extremely possible that he is just acting.

There is one other aspect of this example to explore though. Namely how MJ saw herself and her father as kindred spirits. Is it possible she sees herself and Beck in a similar light and thereby affords him the benefit of the doubt? Well, that’s a topic for another time.

Suffice it to say that all the experiences we’ve looked at would give Mary Jane a belief in redemption…but not a blind faith. For her there would have to be particular factors in play to justify such faith in the first place and neither Beck nor his crew fit those factors whatsoever.

Thus MJ would not give them a chance, at least not under these circumstances. In fact, in Mysterio’s case, she wouldn’t give him a chance under pretty much any circumstance. This is because, however much sympathy MJ might hold for the death of a fellow human being, her sympathy would only go so far for Mysterio. It would most certainly not stretch to believing him capable of redemption.

That’s a subject more for next time though.

*There are certain obvious physical differences in these two dynamics, but we’ll discuss those another time. Right now we’re strictly looking at MJ giving Beck and his crew a chance to make good.

**One could argue in saving Peter’s life he owes them at least the chance to prove they can turn over a new leaf.

***Of course we could just say his old feelings for her were affecting his judgement, but obviously that wouldn’t be a factor for MJ and Beck.

****There are countless examples of this within real life and fiction, a particularly poignant example can be found in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Will Smith’s character is presented the chance to reconnect with his father who abandoned him as a child and ultimately takes up the opportunity. When his father abandons him again he tries to shrug it off but his anger and grief is immense.

P.S. I shouldn’t have to spell this out but I will. Beck claims in AMJ #1 that he is trying to do something good by making his movie and giving fellow crooks a chance to help him. Despite the issue’s framing this absolutely would not count as a good deed. Not to MJ and according to just common sense.

Making a movie or a piece of art is not inherently a good thing. Even if it was as good deeds go it’s not the most meaningful or helpful. Certainly not the most actively helpful thing Beck personally could do.

It certainly doesn’t constitute a good deed when you consider the subject matter of the movie is himself. This is just a criminal’s vanity project which he is making with the aid of other criminals. Nothing more.

It is hardly equivalent to protecting innocent people or risking your life as many of the above characters did.

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[symbean]

things i’ve read/posted about

and now for the beast of this whole endeavor, an organized list of every symbiote story i’ve ever read, talked about and/or liveblogged, arranged chronologically for your convenience:

NOTE: apparently these links don’t work on the mobile app for some reason. if you want to read through them, either go on desktop, or load this post in a mobile browser.

classic venom:

birth of venom

vengeance of venom

lethal protector 93

maximum carnage

funeral pyre

the madness

the enemy within

hulk vs venom

the mace

the arachnis project

nights of vengeance

separation anxiety

planet of the symbiotes

carnage unleashed

sinner takes all

spider-man 2099

the venom claus

rune vs venom

along came a spider

hybrid first touch

the hunted

hybrid jury rigged justice

the hunger 96

tooth and claw

on trial

license to kill

seed of darkness

sign of the boss

the venom agenda

the finale

2000s venom:

shadows of the past - (peter parker: spider-man #8-10)

the dying game - (nova #6-7)

another return of the sinister six - (pp:sm #12, tasm #12, 16-17)

mirror mirror - (the amazing spider-man #19, 22-23)

the hunger 03 - (the spectacular spider-man #1-5)

venom vs carnage - (venom vs. carnage #1-4)

venomous - (marvel knights: spider-man #5-8)

the last stand - (marvel knights: spider-man #9-12)

the devil you know - (toxin #1-6)

homesick - (spider-man family #1)

undone - (spider-man family #2)

namesake - (spider-man family #3)

spider man red sonja - (spider-man/red sonja #1-5) 

the last temptation of eddie brock - (the sensational spider-man #38-39)

new ways to die - (the amazing spider-man #568-573)

black and white - (the amazing spider-man extra #2)

new ways to live - (anti-venom: new ways to live #1-3)

the return of anti venom - (the amazing spider-man #663-664)

agent venom:

project rebirth 2.0 - (venom vol 2 #1-5)

spider island - (venom vol 2 #6-9 & related tie ins)

road trip - (venom vol 2 #10-12)

circle of four - (venom vol 2 #13-14)

savage six - (venom vol 2 #15-22)

monsters of evil - (venom vol 2 #23-25)

minimum carnage - (venom vol 2 #26-27.1 & related tie-ins)

u foes - (venom vol 2 #28-30)

agent venom: toxin - (venom vol 2 #31-35)

agent venom: mania - (venom vol 2 #36-42)

gotg vol 3 - (gotg vol 3 #14-23)

agent of the cosmos - (venom: space knight #1-6)

enemies and allies - (venom: space knight #7-13)

eddie brock 2.0:

the one that got away - (carnage vol 2 #1-5)

sea devil - (carnage vol 2 #6-10)

what dwells beneath - (carnage vol 2 #11-16)

homecoming - (venom vol 3 #1-6)

heart of darkness - (venom vol 3 #150)

the land before crime - (venom vol 3 #151-153)

venomverse - (venomverse #1-5)

skin deep - (venom vol 3 #154)

blood in the water - (venom vol 3 #155-158)

venom inc - (venom vol 3 #159-160 & related tie-ins)

tangled webs - (venom vol 3 #161)

poison x - (venom vol 3 #162-163 & related tie-ins)

venomized - (venomized #1-5)

red goblin - (tasm #794-800 & red goblin: red death)

the nativity - (venom vol 3 #164-165)

first host - (venom: first host #1-5)

eddie brock 3.0:

rex - (venom vol 4 #1-6)

web of venom: ve’nam - (web of venom: ve’nam)

venom annual 2018 - (venom annual 2018)

oversight - (venom vol 4 #7-8)

the abyss - (venom vol 4 #9-12)

web of venom: carnage born - (web of venom: carnage born)

web of venom: venom unleashed - (web of venom: venom unleashed)

web of venom: cult of carnage - (web of venom: cult of carnage)

venom: war of the realms - (venom vol 4 #13-15)

war of the realms - (war of the realms #3-6 & related tie-ins)

everyone is a target - (everyone is a target: parts #1-10)

fcbd 2019 - (free comic book day 2019)

venom annual 2019 - (venom annual 2019)

web of venom: funeral pyre - (web of venom: funeral pyre)

venom vol 4 16 - (venom vol 4 #16)

absolute carnage:

absolute carnage - (absolute carnage #1-5)

venom: absolute carnage - (venom vol 4 #17-19)

absolute carnage: scream - (absolute carnage: scream #1-3)

absolute carnage: separation anxiety - (absolute carnage: separation anxiety)

absolute carnage vs. deadpool - (absolute carnage vs. deadpool #1-3)

absolute carnage: captain marvel - (absolute carnage: captain marvel)

absolute carnage: lethal protectors - (absolute carnage: lethal protectors #1-3)

absolute carnage: avengers - (absolute carnage: avengers)

absolute carnage: miles morales - (absolute carnage: miles morales #1-3)

absolute carnage: weapon plus - (absolute carnage: weapon plus)

absolute carnage: immortal hulk - (absolute carnage: immortal hulk) 

absolute carnage: symbiote spider-man - (absolute carnage: symbiote spider-man) 

absolute carnage: symbiote of vengeance - (absolute carnage: symbiote of vengeance)

eddie brock 3.0 (cont.):

oversight part two - (venom vol 4 #20)

savage avengers - (savage avengers #4-5)

incoming - (incoming)

venom island - (venom vol 4 #21-25)

web of venom: the good son - (web of venom: the good son)

scream: curse of carnage - (scream: curse of carnage #1-6)

fcbd 2020 - (free comic book day 2020)

venom beyond - (venom vol 4 #26-30)

web of venom: wraith - (web of venom: wraith)

web of venom: empyre’s end - (web of venom: empyre’s end)

king in black - (king in black #1-5 & venom vol 4 #31-34)

king in black: scream - (king in black: scream)

king in black: planet of the symbiotes - (king in black: planet of the symbiotes #1-3)

venom 200 - (venom vol 4 #35)

venom 4.0:

black white and blood - (carnage: black white and blood #1-4)

extreme carnage - (extreme carnage: alpha/omega and related tie-ins)

recursion - (venom vol 5 #1-5)

fcbd 2022 - (free comic book day 2022)

carnage forever - (carnage forever)

carnage vol 3 - (carnage vol 3 #1-???)

too late for heroes - (venom vol 5 #6-???)

miscellaneous stories:

venom: the end - (venom: the end)

lethal protector 22 - (venom: lethal protector vol 2 #1-6)

will be updated as time goes on and i do more things, obviously

[cybercitycomix]

Top New Graphic Novel Releases for the Week of November 16th, 2022.

Catwoman Tp Vol 1 Dangerous Liaisons,

Deadly Class Tp Vol 12,

Mighty MMW Namor Sub-Mariner Tp Vol 1,

One-Star Squadron Tp,

Sara Gn,

Terry’s Crew Gn,

Thor Epic Collection Tp Thor War,

Tmnt Ongoing Collection Tp Vol 2,

Transformers: Last Bot Standing Tp +

Venom Tp Lethal Protector Heart of the Hunted.

[oroontheheels]

F word

[oroontheheels]

[criesincomicsans]

having checked out these recs and looked online there are some specifications I’d like to make:

Venom: Last Host as listed above should be Venom: First Host and is absolutely worth reading

Mike Costa's best (imo) is Venom Vol 1-4 (Homecoming, The Land Before Crime, Lethal Protector - Blood in the Water, The Nativity)

All Venom Lethal Protector arcs are worth checking out, including the original, Blood in the Water, and Heart of the Hunted)

and if anyone is interested in the full comic layout check out this link!

hello if i want to read venom comics because i liked the movies where do i look??? i’m more interested in eddie/venom dynamic more than anything else but i don’t know where to start

this is ramble-y pls help