#Eddie needs his own arc of discovering his identity and then

[bibuckagenda]

I’m in this weird balancing act of being so happy that Buck is exploring this part of himself and that Tommy is there to be a guiding hand and a good experience and I get giddy thinking about Buck getting butterflies but then I turn around and start muttering to myself that if Buddie isn’t endgame I’ll change the trajectory of Tim’s life you feel me???

[mwildeboyii]

Lemme present my own Riddler Boy... [I usually write him in Portuguese on a Facebook RP btw]

My Ed is constructed by personal headcanons and interactive scenes. His back story wrote by me based on multimedia. So let me talk about the arcs.

The Ballad Of Edward Nashton

The Prince of the Puzzles: this chapter is about the classic story of puzzle competition, but on my version Ed wasn't a good student, actually Eddie had problems at school, doesn't seems he had any interest or at least that he was mentally present. But someday Teacher Nordine (who doesn't even knows Eddie's name properly) threatened him with participation or death "or you join the schools game or we will call your parents blablabla" so he did and discovered something that he was really good: games and competitions. Ed found there attention, but also rivals who doesn't liked that the boy was winning most of the logical and board games.

Materialising Thoughts: here Ed became a teenager, now he is a brilliant student and he learned to treat school as his safe place. He hates come back home and his anger became higher everyday. In this chapter Ed will struggle with lots of intrusive thoughts, some unhealthy behaviour and finally he will free himself of his dad and mother and he also run away of Gotham tho. It's a chapter with lots o fiscal violence and mental issues, some self regulation tactics and self harm too. Also we have some gender questions and a best friend x first love (and yes, happens to be the same person, a girl!).

"Are you incapable to keep you mouth shut?": After runaway, Ed found a job in a highway Amusment Park. Now he doesn't speak, he doesn't have a name, but his good ideas for gambling shines. Yes this is a side quest chapter where Ed is in a long term nonverbal, he became a golden goose of the park, but things will go wrong and Ed will take his money and runaway again. (if the working class produces everything everything belongs to it -q)

Thy name is E.Nigma: Now our riddler boy will spend his next year's solving his identity. Forging himself since the birth. New back story with echoes on his own, and a dead parents in his back. With fake documents, illegal money (well washed, thank you very much), Ed is planning his own rebirth in Gotham City.

Year One

Once Upon a Time in Gotham: Edward Nygma is a Gotha U student and a consulting forensic scientist (he is a Sherlock Holmes itself). No he doesn't work officially for GCPD, but very frequently he is hired to solve some issues for the PD (whe they does not hire Ed, he just entered without permission because he want, and this annoys alot some cops). At the University, Ed have problems with grades because he wants to study everything, so is a great mess. He also start dating Antonie, the theatre guy and conveniently became part of the company for a while, until the broke up moment. Yeah, he is living his best life, the one he planned for himself. A little bit of taxes crimes, misterys to solve, an academic life and a very very sweet boyfriend, who wait the right time... Nothing can destroy this strawberry life, right? (Oh and here we are presented to Nina/Echo, Pamela Isley (Poison Ivy) and Dinah L. Lance (Black Canary). [Pammys and Nina are Ed's bffs based on the rp dynamics between me and my Pammys🥺 who date Dinah btw].

"Seriously, Nygma. You need help.": Lack ofstimulus make him vexing... But the thing is, everything goes wrong when Ed saw his mother with another man and two kids. Twins... Now he is much more obsessed with work and please and seeking attention. He is freaking out for real, but he cant tell anyone why is that. So 3 times Ed will listen that he needs help: first time in the University from his advisor, then he will listen from Antonie during a fight that precedes the break and finally, from Bullock who is pissed with a nerd doing much more than he and also shooting riddles all the time. Well he do find help before a terrible crise wich dump him in a psychiatric hosp for a night where he will meet Doctor Albert Marin, his new PSYCHIATRIST.

The Golden Heart Episode: During this one, Ed will have to solve a strange crime, a dead body mummified with a plastic heart full of pee. The mystery will be solved in a week or something, but Ed and the detective Bullock will struggle with this for a month and so. Also, Ed is seeing Doctor Marin biweekly and taking some psycomeds... He already figured that the doc is playing him as a lab rat, still Edward feels someway motivated to keep going. I risk to say that Edward is attracted, specially because of the attention and the curiosity of the Doctor towards him. (We also have one of my favorite parts, it's a Towel Day when Ed is in his apartment with Nina listening the old audio series of hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, drinking his own version of Pangalact Dynamite when Bullock and Dinah Lance appears to discusses the Golden Heart case).

What is black, white and red all over?: Oswald Cobblepot bleeding the hell out of him? Yeah, roommates era adapted by me.

How the Riddler got his name: Robberies as spectacles, trophies and whatever else. Yep there's a connection between The Golden Heart Case and th Penguin and the lack of stimulus? Is a chapter where Ed broke the egg once again. The meds are messing up with him, he needs attention and blablabla, so The Riddler in his very very green suit. Of course: Query and Echo, a bit o kink stuffs and BDSM clubs and hmm kidnapping. Batman appears here but I never find a Batman role player who wished to rp with me. (mostly because of my communist queer subtext tbh). [[ OH AND ONE OF MY FAVOURITE MOMENTS HERE THO! Edward first time in Iceberg Cassino, very very Art Deco Themed and Oswald is such a 20's diva mommy here!

Home Sweet Asylum

Adaptation and Transference: First month in Arkham and Ed will be jumped between the doctors and therapist. He is adapting his routine and mapping the whole place, figuring every patient and being a solvers to every problem but his own. Is during this chapter that we will be presented for Harleen Quinn, she is already locked and she also force a friendship with Ed until he just accept her in his life. The chapter ends with Ed bonding with Harls and also finding a psychiatrist who wants to take his case.

Doctor Fear and The Arkham Break: Well, aren't you happy that you found a psychiatrist, Edward? NO! HE IS POISON ME, WHY ARE YOU WRITING THIS SHIT? Ha... So Jonathan Crane also using Ed as a lab rat, but now is worse because Ed is being under fear toxin without know and... oh dear... THIS IS BAD. But we have some good moments here like when Harleen decides to made clandestine therapy with Edward. We also had a Arkham break out wich one Edward and Harleen doesn't participate (Edward because he is in a horrible state of mind, dealing with fear and chemical dependency and believing that maybe he belongs in Arkham. Harley bc she is trying a Conditional.) The chapter ends with an Oswald visit and the date of Edward judgement.

The Copycat: Riddler copycat will bump on the city and Ed will help the PD to solve the crimes and claim back his identity... I mean he is almost reformed, not Riddler anymore Ahm... No, not a bit. Crime solved, Harleen released and... Why Jonathan is not Ed's psychiatrist anymore?

Good Conduct: Ed struggling with the lack of toxin in his blood, no Harleen anymore and also needing to improve his body and mind health. Dark times for our dear Eddie boy, but he is trying and in the end... Well his fight wasn't really a need because The Penguin had played for his dear boy being realised.

To be continued...? (I have 3 more arcs, a malewife one with mayoral era, a Arkham city conflict with hints of Riddler Factory and a properly Riddler factory with a Reality Show where he bonds with Poison Ivy and torture billionaires in a island with poisoned conundrums 🥺)

(@arabriddler template.

¹ Not the best English, but I was having fun writing this blog so... I AM NOT SORRY, my psychiatrist said that I do can commit mistakes, it's okay.

² If anyone would like, I am open to RP with whatever character but Poison Ivy and Lucy Quinzel. I'd really like to have a Batman, Oswald pr Jonathan. Would be funny.

³ if anything, my rp profile is: Ed Nygma :3

That's all folks

[toonbly]

Oh please do give us the essay I would LOVE to hear your thoughts.. your Freemind content is like kisses directly to my brain 's all so good.

OKAY SO LIKE. quick tw for discussions about internalized transphobia and internalized homophobia

QUICK CLARIFICATIONS: I’m a queer transmasc nonbinary and some of this is projection. A LOT of this is cherry-picking from and overanalyzing little bits of FM canon.

im gonna put this under a readmore to save yalls dashboards

HERES WHY FREEMINDS NARRATIVE IS 10X MORE INTERESTING IF HE’S QUEER:

So some things to cover: We’re cherry picking from canon and MOST of this is based off of fanon interpretations of freemind’s character. i should also clarify that I myself am asexual and nonbinary transmasc (though i only use they/them pronouns), im not entirely sure of my romantic orientation but yknow, obviously im not cishet lol. Some of it’s self projection, some of it is character study, either way I think it’s important to clarify that some of this is my OWN experience and that what im outlining here obviously isn’t the universal queer experience.

SO COVERING CANON. like okay, most of us tend to go down the route of “Freemind is gay/bi/otherwise queer in terms of attraction and he’s just in denial of it” in our freemanverse content and like, if you pick apart the source material there’s canon backing for this! (ie: Freemind saying he can’t wear earrings cause sailors do that and sailors are “kinda gay”, then later going on and on about how he wants to be a pirate and how he should’ve done that instead of being a scientist.) LIKE OKAY, OBVIOUSLY THIS WAS JUST ROSS MAKING A HOMOPHOBIC JOKE AND PROBABLY DIDN’T THINK ABOUT THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS AT ALL. obviously that is the case, but as most freemanverse content does we are casually Throwing That Out The Window and cherry-picking from canon because Freeman’s Mind is full of gross content and we are simply here to take whatever we want to and RUN AWAY AS FAR AWAY AS WE CAN WITH IT. What I’m saying is basically, yeah, there’s some canon backing for Freemind possibly being gay/bi/whatever and just in denial of it due to internalized homophobia and some toxic masculinity issues. In terms of toxic masculinity he constantly brags about how cool and tough he is, makes himself out to be an invincible genius, etc. He very much frames himself as the “Tough man who feels no emotions because ReAl MeN dOn’T cRy.”

That’s basically all we need from canon. Accidental subtext on Ross’s part implying internalized homophobia and Freemind’s constant attempts to frame himself as what a “real man” would typically be considered as resulting of toxic masculinity.

Now moving onto fanon: Many fanon narratives take Freemind’s character and try to give him a redemption or healing arc. Basically the guy learns that he’s allowed to show emotions and that this doesn’t make him pathetic or lesser than anyone else, and usually he does so with the help of those around him (typically the other Freemen, sometimes Eddie, hell sometimes h/lvrai characters like Tommy!) So here we have the narrative of “A man struggling with toxic masculinity and self worth issues learns to better himself, he lets others in and starts to be true to who he actually is strengthening both himself and the connections with the people he loves.” This is an arc I love and have incorporated into a LOT of my works involving Freemind! Hell I think it’s difficult not to take his character into that direction.

But, okay, what does this have to do with Freemind being queer? Obviously I’ve mentioned the internalized homophobia subtext and all that but up until now it seems like I’ve only really mentioned the more emotion-based aspects of Freemind’s arc. Well this is where we get into my own personal interpretation of Freemind’s story.

My version of Freemind is a gay trans man, he realized he was trans sometime in his teens but only came out and transitioned sometime during college. In my version of the story, I think Freemind grew up around a kind of rough crowd. He’d hang out with those sort of boys at school that were just the EMBODIMENT of toxic masculinity, and I think he kind of internalized a lot of what they told him? They told him things like “Boys don’t cry” and “Boys are tough” and “Boys can’t like girly things” and “Boys can’t like other boys, that’s weird.” etc etc etc. He hung out with a rough crowd and didn’t have the best support system at home, and a lot of this resulted in his more egotistical larger than life personality- He acted out a lot both because his peers told him to and because hey, at least it got him some form of attention. He was a smart kid, sure, but that was never really enough to impress anyone around him. He kinda developed this “I’m better than ALL OF YOU” attitude as a defense mechanism, and as he started coming into himself and actually accepting that he was trans he took those things that his peers told him “””real men””” do and don’t do and cranked it up tenfold, just to further prove that he was better than all of them and than he was even more of a “””real man””” than any of them could tell him. He took these toxic view points and internalized them, making them a key point of his personality just so he could prove himself and put himself above others. I don’t think he struggled too badly with internalized transphobia, at least in the “I can’t be trans cause that’d be bad” sense. I think he struggled with it more in the “I have to do all of this or I’m just lying to myself and doing this for attention” sense. Granted, he never held anyone else to this same standard, he’ll never admit it but to him things are always different when it’s him. Sure Freeman and Feetman can have their little boyfriends and do gender nonconforming things, but that’s different, they don’t have to prove themselves for anything, they’re not held on the same pedestal as he is, they’re not Gordon Freemind. It’s different whenever it’s him.

BUT, as he begins to grow and learn and not hold himself to such a high standard, Freemind begins to learn that all of these things aren’t true. He learns that showing emotion, being gender nonconforming, being attracted to men, etc. doesn’t make him any lesser than the others around him and there’s no “different standard” for him JUST BECAUSE it’s him. Hell there’s no different standard for him at all, there never has been, and the people who told him otherwise were just toxic assholes who he shouldn’t have to please in order to exist as himself. As he is, he’s good enough, he’s always been good enough, and allowing himself to be vulnerable and accepting who he is doesn’t make him lesser than those around him.

What I’m saying is this: Freemind’s narrative outlines the journey of a man learning vulnerability and learning to accept himself and allow others into his life. His character arc cannot be complete until he does these things, and in certain stories Freemind’s inability to be vulnerable and accept who he is might become a detriment to his goals and the goals of others around him. If he doesn’t learn to accept himself and open up to others he will fail to achieve his goals. Ultimately it is Freemind allowing himself to open up, accept himself, and be vulnerable that saves the day. Alone, this is already narratively interesting, but if you also mix in the ideas of him being queer in any fashion and learning to accept that and that there’s no “right way” to be himself, it adds a LOT of layers to the narrative. It becomes less a story about some dudebro learning that he’s allowed to feel emotion and more a story about a queer man learning to accept who he is, being proud of who he is, and how allowing himself to be vulnerable contributes to this acceptance. It becomes a narrative about how being open with yourself and others can lead to you discovering who you really are and accepting and loving yourself for it. Freemind’s identity as a queer man becomes DIRECTLY TIED into his character arc of learning vulnerability and allowing himself to make connections and I feel like that’s really important! Sure, not every narrative needs to be about a queer struggle and frankly I don’t like tackling it constantly myself, but Freemind’s story in particular becomes much more interesting under a queer lens especially considering how you could very easily tie the discovery and acceptance of his identity into his general character arc. It’s a story about a queer man learning to love himself and becoming a happier, better person for it.

TL;DR: As a queer transmasc nonbinary myself, I find the idea of Freemind’s narrative being queer incredibly interesting. It’s easy to tie in Freemind’s identity to his character arc of becoming more vulnerable and open about both who he truly is as a person and in an emotional sense, and I think it’s really interesting to make a character’s identity relevant to their arc somehow. Granted, this doesn’t always need to be made the case because queer struggle narratives can get tiring on some queer audiences, but in this specific case I think it’d be an interesting character study. 

[speedprofessor]

THE DEFINITIVE CANON REWRITES POST

     I have been writing Eobard for long enough that a lot of things has changed and shifted over the years and his canon on the blog really has become truly unrecognizable from the show. So if you came here expecting a canon compliant Eobard, you will be severely disappointed. So this post will hopefully be your handy dandy guide to all the retcons and divergences I have from all the seasons. 

     A final point of note is that a lot of my canon is shared with @isjustice​ as we are exclusives and I highly recommend you check out her season rewrites to get a better idea of the whole picture.

     TL:DR -Seasons one, two and the beginning of three are canon as shown, rest of season three is not acknowledged. -Legends of Tomorrow is heavily rewritten. -Legends: Eobard in charge of the Legion of Doom is in fact Hunter Zolomon before his appearance in Flash season two. Real Eobard begrudgingly teams up with the Legends to stop him, he does “die” at the end of the adventure. -Crisis on Earth X is absolutely NOT CANON. He instead teams up with the Justice Syndicate from Earth 3 to crash the WestAllen wedding because he is petty like that. -Eobard plotline of season 5 is canon, rest is not. -Crisis on Infinite Earths is HEAVILY rewritten. Eobard assumes the role of Harbinger, during the events of the crossover he and Barry make amends and he helps the heroes defeat the Anti-Monitor. -Post Crisis is fully canon divergent. Eobard becomes Professor Zoom and is counted among the Founders of the League. 

IN DEPTH BREAKDOWN:

FLASH SEASON THREE:

-Flashpoint lasts approximately six months, Eobard is still imprisoned and is keeping Barry company. Trying to be the voice of reason and make Barry revert the changes. -Flashpoint overall is a lot more fleshed out and expanded upon. Atlanteans and Amazonians, once only myths, now exist in the world and are at war with one another. -Oliver Queen has been murdered by The Condiment King. -The Atlantean - Amazonian War reaches a fever pitch and causes the destruction of the United Kingdom, upon realizing the true consequences of his actions, Barry finally lets Eobard out to ‘finish what he started’. -Upon killing Nora Allen and entering the Speed Force to take Barry home, Flashpoint!Eobard’s memories are merged with that of his season one self, leading to the restoration of Eobard Thawne proper.  -Alchemy and Cobalt Blue are the villains for the rest of season three. Savitar!Barry does not exist. -Cobalt Blue is Flashpoint Eddie Thawne who remembers that timeline and is bitter about it. Read more about it here.

LEGENDS OF TOMORROW:

-Eobard, upon attempting to run back home, is alerted to the existence of Black Flash Racer, who is an extension of the Speed Force that wants to correct the mistake that is Eobard’s paradoxical existence. -He starts running through history to find a solution to his problem, during which he discovers that there is another Eobard Thawne operating with a group called Legion of Doom. -This Eobard that is part of the Legion of Doom is in fact Hunter Zolomon, before his season two story arc in the Flash, masquerading as Eobard so his own identity is still kept a secret. -Real Eobard teams up with the Legends so the Legion of Doom doesn’t get his hands on the Spear of Destiny. -He does want the Spear for himself just to fix his paradoxical existence, but he has no desire to ‘rule’ the world. -Most of that season can happen as normal just know that ‘Eobard’ in that season is not actually Eobard -In the end, Eobard chucks Zoom back to Earth-Two but then immediately gets killed by Black Racer because time is an ironic bitch.

FLASH SEASON FOUR:

-Eobard is dead and back in the Speed Force and very desperate to go back home. -He makes a deal with the Speed Force that makes him a pure conduit of the Negative Speed Force, effectively tethering his existence to Speed Force. ( supplementary headcanon. ) -He is now a living paradox and fully connected to the Negative Speed Force, rendering him immune to timeline changes. -The moment he is out, he attempts to run back home, but Speed Force blocks him from doing so, partially as punishment for his past deeds, partially because he needs a reason to run and keep the Speed Force healthy. -CRISIS ON EARTH X DOES NOT HAPPEN, instead Eobard recruits the EARTH-THREE CRIME SYNDICATE to ruin Barry’s wedding, bitter about his new situation and his inability to run back home. -While doing so, he is starting to realize that he no longer harbors the same intense rage and hate towards Barry. -Upon Crime Syndicate’s defeat, Eobard escapes and is imprisoned in 2030 for Reasons™ -Listen the show never explained it why the fuck should I.

FLASH SEASON FIVE:

-Savit’r is the big bad of the season, Cicada gets a two-parter episode at best because he sucks. -Cicada’s dagger, however, is still in play and is what’s keeping Eobard imprisoned. -Eobard’s training of Nora takes place over a period of TWO YEARS, instead of the laughably small amount of time shown in the show. -Cicada is killed by Savit’r, who then destroys the dagger and leads to Eobard being freed. -Eobard / Nora / Barry confrontation happens as shown. -He genuinely grew fond of Nora and wanted her to survive by using the Negative Speed Force, so he is sad to see her get wiped from existence. -Upon running away from the scene, he is stopped by Mar-Novu, who promises him a way home in return for his help with the impending Crisis.

SEASON SIX (abandon all canon all ye who enter here)

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, EARTH ONE.:

-Eobard is The Harbinger, tasked with running between all the Earths and recruiting others. -He works with Oliver Queen during this time. -Over the course of Crisis, he comes to terms with the fact that he no longer hates Barry like he once did, so he buries the hatchet with him and finally lets go of his vendetta. -Watches Barry die as he destroys the Anti-Matter Cannon, the resulting tachyon explosion catapults Eobard back home. -This drabble takes place.  -The Multiverse is Destroyed.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, EARTH PRIME:

-Multiverse is Rebooted. *Eobard is back in 25th Century, having never become Reverse-Flash in this timeline. (how does post-crisis season one work, then? Shhh don’t worry about it.) -The moment the Paragons ‘awake’ in Earth-Prime, he gets struck by lightning, (re)gaining his powers and his memories of the Pre-Crisis timeline. -As he is from the future, he recognizes he has all the time in the world, so he spends five decades living with his wife, Rose, until her death by natural causes. -Upon her death, he uses his powers to restore himself to his peak physical condition and runs back to 2020 to take place in the Final Fight against the Anti-Monitor. -Due to his actions in COIE, he is given a Founder status in the newly formed Justice League.

SEASONS SEVEN AND BEYOND:

-He makes himself a new suit, and renames himself Professor Zoom. -Nora Allen is alive in this timeline and is the tether that keeps Barry in the Speed Force, so, at her urging, he kills her again to bring Barry back. -He tends to spend his time operating as the Chief Financier Officer of the League because he knows other heroes aren’t all that fond of him and he’s overall still uncomfortable with the notion of being a Hero™. -He keeps his distance from STAR Labs overall, because even though he is on ‘good terms’ with Barry, there is a lot of nasty history there. -He does help out the League and Team Flash if he is absolutely needed, however.

[multiverseforger]

In a January 2011 interview with Newsarama, Flash Thompson was revealed "by accident" as the new host of Venom.[19] Marvel confirmed Flash was to have his own comic using a military style version of Venom. Despite previously seeming to come to terms with the loss of his legs, Flash jumps at the dangerous offer of being bonded to the Venom symbiote, as the alien will be able to replace his legs with its own bio-mass, allowing him to walk again. He was written as a hero working for the military, and encountered many heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe.[20] He made his premiere as Agent Venom in The Amazing Spider-Man #654 (Feb. 2011), and continues in his own Agent Venom ongoing series following the special The Amazing Spider-Man #654.1.

He cannot stay bonded to the Venom symbiote for more than 48 hours at a time, or the symbiote may gain complete control over him. The consequences of this are first seen when the suit causes Flash to go berserk and brutally slaughter a group of enemy operatives during his second mission, and again during a brawl with the Jack O'Lantern, ending with the suit putting a grenade in Jack O'Lantern's mouth.[21] While on a mission in the Savage Land, Flash finds himself being hunted by Kraven the Hunter who mistakes him for Spider-Man.[22]

During the 2011 "Spider-Island" storyline, Agent Venom is sent in to capture a spider-like beast that is fighting Firestar and Gravity. Agent Venom manages to capture the Spider King who he later discovers is Steve Rogers enslaved. Venom disguises himself as the Spider King in order to track the infestation to its source.[23] The Queen and Jackal send him to kill Anti-Venom because he is curing people who have gained spider-powers, but his superiors order him to take him to Mr. Fantastic to help develop a cure. Flash and the Venom-symbiote fight each other because Flash wants to bring Anti-Venom to Mr. Fantastic and the symbiote wants to kill Anti-Venom for previously rejecting it. This leads to Venom and Anti-Venom fighting. Venom wins the fight and delivers Anti-Venom to Mr. Fantastic.[24] Venom teams up with Red Hulk, X-23, Ghost Rider, and Johnny Blaze to fight Blackheart.[25]

He joins the Secret Avengers as Agent Venom.[26] As an Avenger, Flash apprehends the Human Fly,[27] but the Human Fly escapes via a prisoner transport to the Raft when the new Hobgoblin attacks the transport trying to kill the Human Fly for stealing money from the Kingpin.[28] Flash tries to assassinate the third Crime Master for threatening his family, but Eddie Brock attacks him as he is about to fire. This causes the Crime Master to have his new Savage Six attack Flash and Betty Brant.[29] While trying to protect Betty from Jack O'Lantern he reveals his identity to her.[30] Thunderbolt Ross recruits Venom to be part of his Thunderbolts team.[31]

Flash relocates to Philadelphia after fighting the U-Foes there.[32] While trying to capture a serial killer infected with some of the alien technology the U-Foes were trying to sell, so Beast could try to cure the man, he is attacked by Toxin.[33] While in Philadelphia, he adoptes a protege in his teenage neighbor Andrea "Andi" Benton, who upon bonding to a duplicate of the symbiote becomes the antiheroine Mania.

Flash returns to New York when Betty Brant contacts him with information that the Crime Master has resurfaced. Flash infiltrates and attacks Crime Master and his men until the Superior Spider-Man (Otto Octavius' mind in Spider-Man's body) and his Spiderlings intervene. Crime Master then reveals himself to be a small-time hood who had purchased the name and mask from Hobgoblin and turns himself in. Superior Spider-Man then turns his attention to Agent Venom with the intent on destroying him.[34] Flash escapes in a puff of smoke and hides in a hospital before going to Peter's apartment. Seizing opportunity, "Peter Parker" invites Flash to his company to give Flash prosthetic legs. After doing so, Superior Spider-Man detains the symbiote in a cage from which it soon breaks free and bonds to Superior Spider-Man, becoming the Superior Venom.[35] The symbiote tries to flee back to Flash, but Superior Spider-Man keeps it for himself, even going as far as to injure Cardiac when Cardiac tries to separate them.[36] Iron Man arrives to Parker Industries to assist both Cardiac and Flash in order to take him to the battle-zone and reunite him with the symbiote. The Avengers are starting to fall against the power of Superior Venom who boasts about his superiority until Iron Man arrives to distract him allowing Flash (wearing Iron Man's armor) attack from behind and attempt to retake the symbiote. With the unexpected assistance from Spider-Man's conscience, the Venom symbiote finally leaves Superior Spider-Man's body and reunites with Flash, bonding together again. The Avengers are still in disbelief about Superior Spider-Man's argument until they ask Flash to check his mind-link with the symbiote to see anything wrong about Superior Spider-Man's motives. Flash replies that he sees "two different radio stations playing in the same frequency".[37]

Following the conclusion of The Superior Spider-Man and the return of Peter Parker as Spider-Man, he learns that his friend Flash is Venom and became angry at the Avengers that they did not tell him. The Avengers confess that because Flash was a good soldier and the secret identities in the Avengers' rules goes both ways.[38]

Seeking to maintain a connection with the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Avengers placed Venom on said team as their new envoy.[39] At a point the Symbiote began to act strangely considering anyone as an enemy as something was tapping into its mind signalling it. Flash became extremely worried and, since he was left behind when the other Guardians were captured, he began to try to find a way back to Earth which the Symbiote encouraged. However, in its fear it killed people if they refused. Eventually Gamora found them but they attacked her thinking her as an enemy. Star-Lord manages to subdue the Symbiote but Flash goes into a coma.[40] The Symbiote breaks out on the ship and takes the ship to its planet of origin.[41] The planet of Symbiotes explains to the Guardians their origins of the Klyntar. However, Flash and the Venom Symbiote have created the perfect savior the Symbiotes want. This heals the Symbiote and allows Flash to tap into the full potential of the Symbiote.[42]



Flash Thompson's debut as Agent Anti-Venom on Amazing Spider-Man: Venom Inc. Alpha#1 (Oct. 2017). Art by Ryan Stegman.

Venom then becomes the new intergalactic ambassador of Earth and an Agent of the Cosmos.[43]

During the 2016 "Civil War II" storyline, Flash is called back to Earth along with the other Guardians, during which he comes into conflict with Spider-Man, and repeatedly subdues him for not being the Spider-Man he knows. Prompting Miles to electrocute him with the Venom Blast, which blasted him into the open.[44] Andrea, who is host to the Mania symbiote, becomes more ruthless in her actions to the point of killing everyone she encountered. Venom manages to separate the symbiote from Mania, and absorb it into the Venom symbiote, though Andrea is corrupted by a demonic sigil called the Hell-Mark. Flash resolves to remain on Earth to care for Andi until he can find a way to remove the Hell-Mark permanently.[volume & issue needed]

Venom is later shown to have been somehow separated from Flash and it finds a new host in Lee Price.[45] It is eventually revealed that Flash was separated from Venom during a fight with an FBI agent outfitted with high-tech battle suit. The agent used a special weapon that agitated the Symbiote and sent it into a crazed state, which led to it fleeing into the city, where it eventually encountered Price, then reunites with Eddie Brock.[46][47]

Agent Anti-Venom and deathEdit

During the "Venom Inc." arc, Flash talks to Mania through her crimefighting, before she is taken down by Lee Price and a gang of thugs. Price is making good on his promise to re-take the Venom symbiote as he forcibly separates Mania from her symbiote and takes it himself. Meanwhile, Brock struggles to cope with the symbiote which has become increasingly violent and difficult to control. He turns to Alchemax to make a serum to help him out, but the medicine being created there is still experimental and may have some side effects. As Flash attempts to find Brock and get the symbiote back, Spider-Man is attempting to get rid of the symbiote once and for all, bringing the three together in a fantastic showdown as both Brock and Flash attempt to convince the symbiote to bond to them. As they struggle, Spider-Man chooses to douse them both with a vat of the Anti-Venom Serum. Instead of destroying the symbiotes, a new Anti-Venom arises: Flash Thompson. After Flash, Mania, Spider-Man, Black Cat, and Venom defeat Price, Flash entrusts the Venom symbiote to Eddie and goes back to heroics as Agent Anti-Venom.[48]

In the Go Down Swinging storyline, Norman Osborn returns with the Carnage symbiote bonded to him, making him the Red Goblin. He attacks New York City, and Silk, Clash, Spider-Man, Human Torch and Agent Anti-Venom tried to stop him.[49] Flash uses his Anti-Venom to heal any of Peter's friends and family that were infected by the Carnage symbiote, and discovers Spider-Man's secret identity in the process. Norman critically wounds Flash, who can no longer heal due to using the Anti-Venom to save the others. Peter offers to use the Venom symbiote to heal him, but Flash refuses, worrying that it would die with him and knows Peter needs an edge over Norman's new powers. He dies in Peter's arms and is honored by Peter and his friends at his funeral.[50]

Maker later obtains a piece of the symbiote taken from Flash's time as Agent Venom, which contains a copy of his consciousness. The sample is dubbed as a codex by the Maker. The brain dead symbiote absorbs the sample during Venom's escape from Project Oversight, and with Eddie Brock's permission the copy takes control and transforms into Agent Venom. Flash's consciousness burns out shortly after.[51]

King in BlackEdit

It was later revealed however, that Flash still existed within the Symbiote hive-mind. He joined Rex Strickland's army of former symbiote hosts when the dark symbiote god Knull started invading Earth, recovering his Anti-Venom symbiote replica. When Eddie Brock died and joined Rex's army, Flash was there to greet him.[52] When Thor and Eddie's son Dylan began freeing hosts from their symbiotes and fighting Knull, a red gash appeared - formed from the dissolved symbiotes of the recently freed hosts - and Flash followed Eddie and Rex through it into the core of the Hive-Mind, the place where they were before having been a "purgatory" for codices. The three of them noticed that the symbiotes freed from Knull's control were being imprisoned and formulated a plan to bond to them the way Flash once had the Venom symbiote. Despite Eddie's protests, Flash volunteered to free the imprisoned symbiotes and "download" himself into one of them, acknowledging this was his mission from the beginning and that Eddie was a hero too. Their plan worked, and Flash was incarnated in the world of the living as a symbiote dragon resembling his Anti-Venom symbiote.[53] Informed by Eddie of what had happened when Cletus Kasady's corpse had bonded to a symbiote-dragon, Flash flew to the cemetery where his body had been buried and reanimated himself, bursting from his grave in a recreation of his human form

[seeaddywrite]

give me strength so i can see (buddie; 9-1-1)

wow, okay, this is absolutely not something i should have written before i finished one of my wips, but this is what happened. i fully blame 9-1-1 & the chemistry between Buck & Eddie, because i couldn’t NOT write fic after the tsunami arc ended. this is my first foray into the fandom & their heads, so please be kind. also, this fic would not exist in its entirety without @soberqueerinthewild, who is always the best cheerleader, beta, & person around. <3 i’ve been in a bit of writing slump lately, so it feels really good to actually finish something!

warnings for self-loathing, references to depression, & excessive amounts of adverbs. 

The moment that Buck sees Christopher safely reunited with his father, all of the stress and adrenaline that had kept him going for the last several hours floods away instantaneously. He collapses forward, uncaring of the hard ground that rushes up to meet him. Hen and Chimney stop him from face-planting on the floor of the emergency hospital, but Buck barely tracks their reassurances or their hands as they try to assess the damage he’s done to himself in his frantic attempts to find Christopher. Buck wants to tell them to stop, that he’s fine, that all he ever needed was to witness the scene unfolding in front of them, with Eddie and Christopher, but he can’t quite manage the words through his chattering teeth. Blood loss is a bitch, and teamed with exhaustion, Buck knows it’ll take a while before he’s fully able to interact with the world again. 

Right now, that feels like a positive. The only two people he wants to talk to are half a hospital away, wrapped up in each other. Even when he regains feeling in his legs and is steady enough to leave the hospital, he doesn’t try to go near them. Instead, Buck watches from a distant cot as Christopher is checked out by a doctor and his father’s careful, assessing gaze, and slips through Chim and Hen’s guard to leave the makeshift hospital a moment after Chis is pronounced healthy, if tired and cold. 

It’s cowardly for him to leave like this, he knows, without so much as an apology to the brave little boy or any attempt to make this up to Eddie, but Buck is too tired to fight, and he’s not sure he could remain standing under the direct onslaught of Eddie’s entirely justified anger that night. Buck would face up to his mistakes later, but for now, it seems kinder for all of them to slip back to the apartment that doesn’t quite feel like a home and hide away under the blankets that still reek of depression and listlessness.  

It’s hard to sleep that night, despite the exhaustion plaguing him. The day’s events play on repeat in his head, waking him with a jolt every time he  manages to doze off. Every mistake is so obvious in retrospect -- had he really expected a child with cerebral palsy to keep himself steady on top of a floating fire truck? If he hadn’t had to play the hero, if he’d just stayed up there with Chris, it never would have happened. Buck would have had the little boy securely in his arms the entire time. He would never have been lost, or dependent on the kindness of strangers to get him to a hospital. Buck would never have been forced to look Eddie in the eye and tell him that he’d lost his son, or watch that familiar, impossibly deep gaze fill with grief and horror and blame before Chris’s miraculous reappearance. 

If Buck hadn’t had to play the fucking hero, maybe he would have finally been able to tell Eddie the truth about how he felt in the rush of victory, of survival and reunion. Maybe he would’ve finally had the guts to admit that being a best friend isn’t what he wants anymore, to say the words he’s been mulling over for what seems like forever. Maybe, just maybe, he could have discovered whether or not there was a chance for them to take things further -- but none of that matters now. The fear of being into guys -- or at least Eddie? Buck hasn’t quite figured that part out yet -- pales in comparison to the pain of losing a best friend and Christopher, who’d managed to get under his skin and cuddle in close to Buck’s heart when he wasn’t looking.  

In the end, Buck gets out of bed earlier than usual, giving up on sleep. There’s a slim chance that leaving his bed will stop his thoughts from continuing on that same, downward spiral, and Buck’s nothing if not a gambler. He winds up at the kitchen table, staring out at the sunrise with a beer sitting half-empty in front of him -- just staring out as the new day begins. It’s incredible, he muses, that from here, he could almost pretend nothing catastrophic had happened the day before. The sun is still rising, the birds are still chirping, the neighbors below him are still arguing at decibels loud enough to wake the dead. It’s the same as always, and just as he had for the last six months, Buck finds himself wondering how the world outside can simply keep going when his own personal world had come to a screeching halt. Only today, it’s worse than just losing his job, his identity. Now he’s lost his best friend, too, and the trust of a child he cares about. The losses are far more grievous.

A knock at the apartment door shakes him out of the self-loathing stupor, and Buck drags his aching body out of the kitchen chair with a groan. His bad leg throbs with the addition of his weight, but Buck has a lot of practice at ignoring that, these days, so he continues on with barely a limp, and opens the door, expecting to find Maddie, with her relentless optimism, or Bobby, with yet another pep talk prepared.

Instead, Eddie stares back at him from the hallway, his hands resting comfortably on Chris’s small shoulders as the little boy totters forward on his back-up crutches to hug Buck with a wide, blameless smile. Buck stands, stiff with astonishment, and pats Chris awkwardly on the back, still staring at Eddie, trying to figure out what the other man is playing at. Old instincts make him defensive, stiff, as Eddie leads Christopher into the apartment and begins rattling off the contents of the bag he’s plopped on the table next to Buck’s half-empty bottle. 

It’s hard, but Buck manages to tear his attention from Christopher, who’s sitting happily on the coffee table in front of the TV, to try to get a read on Eddie’s expression. Is this some kind of test? Is Buck supposed to play along, or is he supposed to blow up so Eddie has an easy excuse for Chris about why he’s not allowed to come over anymore? Buck has no idea, and the indecision makes him swallow harshly. He doesn’t want to fuck anything up any worse than he already has— by some miracle, he has both of the Diaz men in his home again, and God, Buck wants to keep them there. The sense of family they’ve given him in the last six months of hell is better than anything he’s had since he left home, and losing it once almost killed him. Losing it a second time, now, before he’s had the chance to say something? Buck doesn’t  think he could do it. 

“You want me to watch Christopher?” The words are incredulous, and not half as even as Buck would have liked, but he manages to keep his voice from cracking, so he takes the win where he can. 

Eddie’s less than a foot away now; Buck has closed the distance between at some point, but he honestly couldn’t pinpoint when. There’s no waver in his dark gaze, no uncertainty or anger, and Buck has no idea what to make of it, especially when his response is teasing and light. “It’s easy— he’s not very fast.”

Buck swallows the surprised response that threatens and schools his expression into something resembling calm, but his gut churns nervously. Everything about this interaction screams too easy, and if he’s learned anything through physical therapy, it’s that if something seems too easy, it probably is. No pain, no reward, his therapist is fond of reminding him, and Buck has always agreed. Then again, he’s never feared physical pain. This? The emotional toll of facing Eddie and Chris after his failures? That’s fucking terrifying.

“After everything that happened-“ 

“A natural disaster happened, Buck.”

Part of Buck wants to scoff, to point out everything that had happened after the natural disaster couldn’t be blamed on nature, not unless it was Buck’s. It is in his nature to tend toward making stupid fucking calls in the heat of the moment, after all. The other part of him soaks up Eddie’s words like a plant does sunlight. He keeps his eyes averted, though, still unable to accept it, unable to even fathom the possibility that Eddie doesn’t hate him. Because he should. Buck knows, because he’s pretty sure he hates himself. 

“I lost him, Eddie,” he manages, the reminder a low, defeated croak. Memories from the day before flicker in the spaces between words, broken images and impressions of the desperate search for Christopher, and Buck has to swallow once, twice, to defeat the nausea threatening to overcome him. Buck’s not a parent, isn’t sure he’ll ever be one, but he loves Christopher like his own, and the idea of losing him for good is more than enough to bring him to his knees.

 But Christopher is alive. He’d made it out of the tsunami despite Buck’s hubris, and is happily watching cartoons in the living room. 

The mental reminder is enough to stop Buck from vomiting on Eddie’s shoes, at least. 

“You saved him. That’s how he remembers it.” Eddie pauses, like he’s trying to let the weight of his words sink through Buck’s thick skull. And it’s not like Buck doesn’t want to believe it, doesn’t want to stop seeing every moment of that horrible day on repeat every time he closes his eyes. There’s not much he wouldn’t do to stop the sinking pit of guilt in his stomach, or the squirming sense of self-loathing when he comes close to meeting Eddie’s gaze. But he can’t. The fact that Christopher made it out alive doesn’t make up for Buck’s mistake, and Eddie knows that. Buck had read the blame in his eyes before Christopher showed up at the hospital, seen the way his entire body had shifted away from Buck and into tight, tense lines that spoke of a strong desire to punch him in the face -- at the least. 

It had hurt, torn open whatever parts of him weren’t already bleeding with Christopher’s loss, and Buck couldn’t forget it, so this entire conversation felt almost dreamlike, a fantasy that Buck isn’t sure he can trust, no matter how much he’d like to. 

“And now it’s turn to do the same for you,” Eddie continues, oblivious to Buck’s internal conflict. 

And God, Buck wants that. He wants to put the entire disaster behind him, ignore all of the ways he’d fucked up and cling to the second chance Eddie seems to be offering without talking about it -- but Buck’s played that game before. He knows how it always ends. Bottling difficult things never works for long, and the resulting explosion is usually worse than whatever the actual problem was. 

So Buck trails Eddie into his living room, staying just a step behind, and shakes his head when he feels himself become the focus on that intense gaze once again. “I was -- I was supposed to watch out for him,” he tries again, stumbling over the words he doesn’t really want to say. Buck doesn’t do shy or shrinking; his entire life has been about taking up space, being unapologetically himself, but this is different, somehow. This is Eddie, whose opinion has meant too damn much to Buck since the first day they locked eyes at the station, who’s such an integral part of Buck’s life and happiness that the idea of losing him sucks the air from Buck’s lungs. This matters, in a way that nothing but firefighting and Maddie ever had, and Buck won’t screw it up again. He can’t. 

“And what, you think you failed?” 

Damn it, did Eddie have to sound so nonchalant about this? Of course Buck failed! Christopher had been missing for six fucking hours -- no matter how that equation’s set up, the answer is still the same. 

“Buck, I’ve failed that kid more times than I care to count, and I’m his father.”

The words are layered in empathy, in a sense of understanding, that makes something constrict tightly in Buck’s chest. Eddie shouldn’t be comparing Buck’s failure to the trials of being an actual parent -- the two aren’t even remotely close. Christopher has always been safe, happy, and cared for with his father, and Buck knows it because he’s seen it. He’s seen Eddie fight for his son to have the best education, the best childcare, the best of everything. He’s seen Eddie cut himself off from dating on the off chance Christopher would get hurt, seen him leave his own home and family in order for Christopher to be closer to his. There’s nothing Eddie wouldn’t do for the boy, and knows that Eddie’s never really failed his son. Not when it counted. So he can’t help the short, instinctive shake of his head at the reassurance, because it’s just not true. 

“But I love him enough to never stop trying, and I know you do, too.”

Unnamed emotion clogs Buck’s throat, and he glances down at the floor, swallowing hard. It’s been hard to play the tough, cool guy the last several months, so Eddie’s already seen him as weak and vulnerable as Buck can get -- career-ending injuries, a lack of mobility, and obvious depression hadn’t done great things for his rep around the 118, not that Buck had particularly cared at the time. Eddie’d been around the most, though, only slightly less often than Maddie, and had seen it all. So it should be easy to admit to loving Christopher, to caring more about his best friend’s son than he cared about anyone outside of Maddie and the 118 squad. 

It isn’t. 

Buck doesn’t get a chance to say anything, which is probably a blessing. One of Eddie’s large, work-roughened hands claps his shoulder, and warmth bleeds through the thin cotton of Buck’s t-shirt and sends a thrill down his spine. He still doesn’t manage to meet the eyes waiting on him until he hears his name, the single syllable infused with an order that Buck can’t quite ignore. 

But once he gives in, Buck’s immediately lost to the intensity of Eddie’s familiar dark gaze. He’s so close, now, and the heat his body throws off is slowly seeping into the icy chasm in Buck’s chest. Maybe, he realizes, he can trust this -- trust Eddie. Because no matter what has gone on between them, no matter how much of an ass Buck has been, there’s never been any reason to doubt Eddie’s sincerity; and there’s no way he’d so cruel as to dangle forgiveness and understanding in front of Buck only to yank it away at the last minute. 

“There is nobody,” Eddie begins firmly, and the open honesty in his face makes Buck shiver. Paired with the soft tapping of his thumb against the exposed skin of Buck’s collarbone, it would be all too easy for Buck to sway into the broad chest in front of him and know that Eddie would catch him. “ -- in this world that I trust with my son more than you.” 

It’s the last thing he expects to hear, and Buck blinks rapidly at Eddie, trying to understand how it could possibly be true after the previous day’s terror -- but there’s no hesitation in Eddie’s stance, no hint of uncertainty or the blame Buck knows he caught yesterday at the hospital. Buck swallows again, the sound of his throat working audible in the sudden quiet. Thanks and emotional confessions jam in his mouth until he can’t say anything, and Eddie doesn’t give him a chance before he’s squeezing Buck’s shoulder and dropping the point of contact to go say goodbye to Christopher in the living room. 

Though his skin is cold where Eddie’s touch lingered, Buck’s grateful for the reprieve. He turns his head and wipes at damp eyes, trying to regain some of the composure he’s lost. Eddie is too good at stripping down every defense, at seeing past all of his walls and leaving Buck open and vulnerable. It’s why he was the only one who could cajole Buck into going to PT after his last surgery, when things were looking hopeless, why he alone could drag Buck out of bed when even Bobby and Athena got shown the door -- hell, Eddie had even wound up with a fucking spare key to the apartment when Maddy didn’t even have one. And Buck is tired of being weak and vulnerable, of needing constant reassurance that he’s wanted and forgiven. This broken-down, over-emotional man he’s become isn’t who Evan Buckley is, and Buck suddenly needs to make that really damn clear to Eddie. 

But Eddie’s already on his way out the door with a few teasing comments about staying in-land, so Buck lets him go with a chuckle that feels natural, even if the circumstances don’t. He pivots on his good leg to join Christopher in front of the television, only to stop short when Eddie pops his head back in the door. 

“Thank you,” he says, in that same voice that’s sent chills down Buck’s spine at least twice that morning. “For not giving up.” And Eddie’s gone before Buck can summon any sort of response beyond the frustrated yearning that builds in the pit of his stomach when he vanishes out of the doorframe. Buck stares after him helplessly -- and god damn it, it’s not fair that Eddie can be so damned perfect when Buck is still reeling. He’s had months to come to terms with the fact that Eddie is ridiculously good-looking; and it’s never been a big deal that he likes to watch him work out, once in a while. So does pretty much everyone at the station. But this want, this desperation for Eddie’s approval, for his care and closeness -- that’s not normal. That’s not straight. And yeah, okay, maybe Buck’s had a few hints that he could be into guys before, maybe he’s considered and discarded the idea a few times over the years, but it’s never been like this. It’s never been so all-consuming, so impossible to ignore. It’s never been so terrifying. Not because Eddie’s a guy; Buck could care less about that. But Eddie is Buck’s best friend. Hell, outside of the others at the 118, Eddie’s his only friend. The rest have all disappeared, lost in the gaping chasm that separates first responders from civilians who could never understand the pull of the job, no matter how dangerous it might be. And then, of course, there’s Christopher -- the kid who’s still sitting in the living room in front of the TV, patiently waiting for Buck to get his shit together and join him. 

Right. Crisis later. Babysitting now. 

He can do this, one step at a time. Eddie’s not mad at him, and if he says that Chris isn’t either, then Buck can take him at his word. Buck drags in a slow breath, straightens his shoulders, and goes to join the child on the couch with a genuine, if small, smile.

“Hey, buddy …” 

****** 

They spend the day in the apartment, this time. Buck wants to say that it’s because they deserve a lazy day after previous one’s mess, but really, there’s a large part of him that’s afraid to set foot outside with Christopher, no matter how slim the chance of a second natural disaster. So they spend hours on the floor of the living room building increasingly complex structures with Legos and order that pizza Eddie prescribed and devour the entire thing --  if Buck eats a little more than he normally would, it definitely isn’t because Eddie told him to. It’s light and uncomplicated, just easy camaraderie that Buck never expected himself capable of finding with anyone, let alone a little kid, and the ease of it all is enough to allow some of his anxiety to bleed away. For the first time in the last thirty-six hours, Buck is truly able to relax. 

Christopher’s energy starts to wane after dinner, so Buck takes the initiative to put in one of the movies shoved in the bag Eddie packed for him. They end up in a pile of blankets and cushions on the floor -- Buck’s leg is stiff and sore after yesterday’s exertions, and Christopher hasn’t said anything, but he’s moving a lot more slowly than usual, and taking extra care when he does, so Buck guesses that he’s in some pain, too. Cerebral Palsy isn’t something he knows a whole lot about, but a lack of muscle tone is pretty obvious, and clinging to poles and other floating refuse during the tsunami had to have taken a toll on his little body. Not that Christopher had ever complained -- and that, right there, is yet another reason for Buck to be in awe of what that child is capable of. 

“Buck?” 

The small voice interrupts whatever animated crap is on the screen, and Buck glances down at Chris in askance. From this angle, all he can see is blonde curls; Chris has his cheek pressed against Buck’s chest, and is curled up beneath one arm. The warm weight against his body has Buck half asleep himself, but he rouses enough to ask, “Yeah?” 

“You didn’t lose me.” The simple, sleepy words make Buck’s heart seize, and he stares down at the top of Christopher’s head, trying to form words with numb lips. “I heard you tell Daddy that you did, but you didn’t.” Buck is struck speechless. He freezes, and the silence in the room seems a condemnation of his inability to speak, but Christopher doesn’t seem to mind. He presses on, unconcerned. “You found me, and I kept swimming, just like Dory, and I found you and Daddy. And I’m safe, and you’re safe, and we don’t need to be scared anymore.”  The matter-of-fact, blunt sentiment is hard for Buck to swallow, but he runs a hand over Christopher’s disheveled curls and down his back, anyway.

“I’m sorry you had to be scared at all, buddy,” he says honestly, and manages to keep his voice level and calm, despite the uncertainty he feels. “But you’re right. You’re safe now, and that’s what matters.” It seems like the most natural thing in the world to drop a casual kiss to the crown of blonde hair, and Buck doesn’t allow himself to second-guess the impulse when it’s done. “Come on, kid, you’re falling asleep. Let’s get you up to bed, huh? Your dad won’t be here for another few hours, and I think we both deserve a nap.” It’s not his most graceful or subtle subject change, but Chris is young enough not to notice -- or tactful enough to let it go, Buck’s honestly not sure which. 

Mock complaints and grumblings get tossed around, but Christopher clings to Buck’s neck as he carries him up the stairs and helps him settle into the bed with a minimum amount of fuss. They lay on the mattress together for half an hour, until Christopher’s breathing is slow and even, and there’s no hint of wakefulness on his young face. Buck knows better than to ruin his progress with sleeping during the day; that’s a one-way ticket back to the land of depression and hopelessness, and he refuses to fall back into bad habits. Instead, he slides from the bed, careful not to jolt the other occupant, and heads downstairs. He hadn’t had a chance to do his stretches and exercises from physical therapy that day, yet, and he knows he needs to -- firefighter or no, he’s not losing any mobility. The stretches have the added bonus of requiring all of his attention and focus, so his mind won’t wander to any dark places. Or any Eddie-shaped places, which Buck is pretty sure he should avoid, too. 

So that’s how Eddie finds Buck an hour or so later, sweat-soaked and lying, arms and legs akimbo, on the living room floor. He hadn’t heard a knock, or even the door opening, over the pounding of his own heart, and Buck flails upright into a sitting position when he hears the familiar chuckle from the entryway. 

“Only you would spend an entire day fighting a tsunami and still feel like you need to work out the next day,” Eddie says lightly as he enters the room, dressed in the same casual outfit from this morning. There’s a cut above his eye that hadn’t been there before, and Buck knows him well enough to read the fatigue in the set of his shoulders and the lines around his mouth. He recognizes that look from a hundred rough shifts, and can imagine what Eddie’s seen today on clean-up duty from the tsunami. He shudders, then carefully picks himself up off the ground and leads his guest into the kitchen to grab them both a beer without asking if Eddie wants one.

“Can’t slack off on PT,” Buck explains as they both settle down at the tiny kitchen table. “I may not be a firefighter anymore, but I’m not going to get stuck working behind a desk somewhere.” He can’t quite look directly at Eddie, but it’s easier now than it had been this morning to try. The sucking pit of desolation in his chest is gone, replaced by a stupid, schoolgirl flutter of nerves in his gut when they stand too close, and Buck doesn’t really know what to do with that -- but it’s easier than waiting to hear if Eddie’s decided to close him out of his and Christopher’s life for good. 

“You’re not going to end up behind a desk,” Eddie says firmly. There’s a frown forming between his brows, and something distinctly unhappy in the way he’s staring at Buck. Before the latter has a chance to question it, Eddie stands up and grabs both bottles of beer from the table. Without a word, he shoves both of them back in the fridge, then turns to face Buck again with his chin raised in challenge. “Unless you keep drinking your breakfast, lunch, and dinner, that is. Did you even eat today?” 

Buck’s spine stiffens defensively. “Chris ate lunch and dinner,” he says carefully. There’s good reason for Eddie to doubt that Buck’s been taking good care of his son, after all, even if this morning it had seemed they were passed it. “And I wouldn’t drink when I was watching him, Eddie.” 

A complicated series of emotions flickers over Eddie’s face, but it’s hidden behind one large hand before Buck can even try to translate it. “I didn’t ask if Christopher had eaten,” he says quietly, and drags his hand down his face to rest on the table directly in front of Buck. The movement has him leaning down, leaving them so close that their faces mere inches from each other. Immediately, the speed of Buck’s heartbeat kicks up a notch, and he curses himself for reacting so inappropriately to mere proximity. “I told you this morning, man -- I trust you with my son. I know you wouldn’t drink while you were watching him, or forget to feed him, just like I know you never gave up on him yesterday.” 

Buck chews on the inside of his cheek for a moment, then deliberately leans back in his chair, trying to put some space between them before he answers. “Then what’s up with the third degree?” he demands, trying for some semblance of his usual bravado. “If you really thought I was taking good care of Christopher, why are you --”

“Because Christopher isn’t the only person I care about, Buck,” Eddie cuts in sharply. Frustration emanates from him in waves, and Buck wants to offer reassurance, but he’s too busy trying not to read too far into those words to manage it. Eddie cares about him. He’s known that for months -- caring isn’t the same as wanting to be with someone romantically. The two of them are friends. Best friends. And Buck needs to get ahold of himself before he says or does something to ruin that. 

“What --” 

“Don’t sit there and act like you don’t know what I mean!” Eddie shoves away from the table and paces in a circle around the table, never taking his eyes off of Buck as he does so. Unlike other moments when Eddie looks at him, Buck finds he doesn’t like this sort of scrutiny. It leaves him feeling like all of his weakest, most fragile parts have been put on display, and Buck’s never been good at admitting to his own problems. “It was bad enough when you were laid up from surgery, but now you’re either drinking or sleeping, or pushing yourself way too hard in PT. You’ve been losing weight for weeks, and it’s not healthy, Buck! I’m worried about you!”

Silence reigns in the kitchen for a long moment as Buck tamps down hard on the impulse to bellow that he’s fine, and no one asked Eddie to worry about him -- that’s the response of a scared man-child, not the person that Buck is trying to be. And truthfully, it’s nice to know that someone’s looking out for him. The others at the 118 and Maddy try, Buck knows, but they’re easy to reassure. A grin here, a cock-sure comment about his prowess there, a playful slug to the shoulder, and almost everyone sees him as the same old Buck who’d gotten into the fire engine the night of the bombings. 

Eddie’s not that easy to fob off, and as much as it makes Buck feel uncomfortable, it makes him feel seen. 

“I’m okay, Eddie,” he says instead, and lifts his chin to hold the skeptical gaze aimed at him. “I am, really.” The words feel honest, for the first time in quite a while, and Buck even manages a genuine smile. “You were right, when you dropped Chris off yesterday. Hanging out with him -- it was what I needed.” Buck shakes his head in remembered awe of the little boy and his strength. Even stranded in rushing water higher than his head, clinging to a pole for dear life, Christopher had been braver than Buck ever could be, and his courage and grace under pressure had shown Buck exactly how much work he had to do to deserve any part of the life he felt entitled to. “You and him -- even with everything yesterday -- you guys made me realize I needed to do something different, or I was going to end up somewhere I never wanted to be.” His smile thins, slightly, and Buck reaches out to touch one of the arms crossed over Eddie’s chest. “Even if I’m still not sure how you forgave me so easily, after what I did.” 

An exasperated huff escapes Eddie’s mouth, and gives the impression that if this were a cartoon, he’d be tossing his hands in the air. “Buck, there was never anything to forgive!” he says, voice pitched just low enough that it wouldn’t wake Christopher. “You got stuck in a tsunami. I know you’ve got an ego, but you can’t really take credit for a natural disaster. And Christopher is fine!” 

“But he almost wasn’t!” Buck interjects, tired of being the rational one in the room. If Eddie seriously wants to have this conversation, then he’s going to have to face the truth, too. “Give me a fucking break, Eddie -- those two mintues between me telling you I’d lost him and that woman showing up with Chris in her arms? You did blame me. You looked at me, and that’s all I could see, okay? You did blame me. And you were right. I messed up. I was supposed to look out for your son, and I failed, and it’s okay for you to blame me for it.” 

God, Buck’s tired. He hasn’t been until this moment, but it’s like this argument and facing these awful truths have sapped every last bit of energy from his veins, and he’s not sure how much longer he’ll be up for arguing with Eddie in his kitchen. He leans forward on his elbows over the table an exhales gustily, then lifts his chin again, determined to catch the moment when Eddie finally admits the truth to himself. 

But instead of the realization Buck has been expecting, Eddie’s face is only showing that same frustration. They freeze like that for a moment, Buck leaning against the table and trying hard to hold himself together, Eddie staring down at him from his position against the wall of the kitchen, arms folded over his chest, that guilt-laden frustration obvious in his expression. 

Then, faster than Buck can track, Eddie’s standing in front of his chair, grabbing his elbows and pulling him to his feet. It’s a gentle yank, and Buck could have ignored it if he chose, but he’s shocked enough by Eddie’s closeness that he goes along with it. They end up toe-to-toe, close enough that Buck can feel warm breath on his cheek, and there’s nowhere to look that doesn’t end with him staring back into Eddie’s dark eyes. 

“Look at me now,” Eddie tells him quietly, and Buck has to quell a shiver as two solid hands land on both of his shoulders, squeezing with just a little too much pressure to be truly comfortable. “I want you to stand here, and look straight at me while I tell you this: I do not blame you for what happened yesterday. I’m grateful to you for not giving up on him, okay? I know you love him, and I can’t even tell you how relieved I am that he has you in his corner.”

This feels like the conversation they should have had this morning, when more was being left unsaid that wasn’t, and this time, Buck isn’t going to pretend. “I do love him,” he admits, still looking straight into Eddie’s face. Vulnerability is hard, but it would be harder to keep pretending -- and Buck’s so damn tired of pretending. “And I, uh … I believe you.” Because there’s no denying reality, not when it’s quite literally staring him in the face. No matter what he saw, or thought he saw, yesterday, Eddie really doesn’t blame Buck for losing Christopher. They’re still solid, still good, and Buck’s not losing anyone. 

Relief swamps him as hard as any of the waves from the day before, even though Buck had thought he’d stopped waiting for the other shoe to drop that morning. Apparently, anxiety isn’t that easy to get rid of, even when it’s not screaming in the back of his head. He shifts to take a step back, to carry himself out of Eddie’s gravitational pull, before he ends up falling into his chest or something equally embarrassing, but Eddie’s grip just tightens on his shoulders, not allowing Buck to go anywhere. 

A second passes, two, and Eddie leans in a little closer, until they’re sharing the same breath. Buck swallows convulsively, telling himself over and over that he’s misreading the situation, that this can’t be what it feels like, but he can’t stop his eyes drifting down Eddie’s face to catch stubbornly on his mouth.  Full lips quirk up in a smirk, and heat rushes to pool in Buck’s belly. He doesn’t know what this moment is or how they got here, doesn’t know where they’re going next, but that smirk tells him everything that he needs to know: Eddie knows what Buck wants. Knows how he feels. Probably has for a while. 

And he hasn’t gone anywhere.

“I keep waiting for you to figure it out,” Eddie says in a low voice, and Buck’s eyelashes flutter before he can remind himself that he wants to be wholly present in this moment and doesn’t want to miss a damn thing. “I don’t go around telling everyone I meet that I trust them with my son’s life, Buck. Outside of my family, you’re it, do you get that?” It’s Eddie’s turn to swallow, and Buck tracks the movement of his throat with wide eyes. “You’re it.”

There’s a different meaning to the words the second time Eddie says them, and Buck feels like a kid at the eye doctor, putting glasses on for the first time. When he looks back at every interaction he’s had with Eddie since the bombs, he can see the same want reflected in Eddie’s face that has stared back at him in the mirror every day. When he runs his eyes over Eddie’s expression, he can read the same nervous hope, the same uncertainty, beneath his confident exterior. 

And this time, when Eddie leans further into his space, Buck leans back. 

Their lips bump together, almost incidentally, a soft kiss that’s more of a test than it is a true embrace. Buck’s heart leaps, and the anxious flutter in his stomach is back as he tips his head to correct the angle. The second time their lips meet, it’s better -- Eddie lets out a soft, surprised huff of air, and Buck takes advantage, pulling him closer with impatient hands at the belt loops of his jeans. He’s not thinking anymore, stopped sometime around when Eddie’s fingers tightened around his shoulders, and it feels so good to lose himself, to trust that Eddie will catch him as he falls. 

“You could’ve just said,” Buck mutters against Eddie’s lips, his hands roaming over the forearms revealed by the style of his button-up shirt. “I thought I was going crazy.” He wants to be annoyed that Eddie’s known all this time and waited for Buck to make the first move, but he can’t quite work up to it. As much as he doesn’t want to admit it, he needed the chance to wrap his head around this new truth about himself, and if Eddie had made a move before he was ready, Buck knows he wouldn’t have reacted well. 

“I’m pretty sure your sanity has been in question for way longer than I’ve been in LA,” Eddie shoots back with another teasing smirk. At some point, his hands slid from Buck’s shoulders to the planes of his back, and Buck’s not ashamed to admit that he pushes back into the touch, arching his spine like a cat seeking attention. He rolls his eyes at the joke and presses his face into Eddie’s neck, taking a long, slow breath to steady himself. The last two days -- hell, the last several weeks -- have been a riot of emotion that he’s still trying to sort, and as happy as he is in this moment, Buck knows that there’s still a lot for he and Eddie to talk about and work through. And Buck’s life is still a shambles, no matter how unexpectedly good his personal life has become. 

“You’re thinking too much,” Eddie tells him, his arms snug around Buck’s waist, holding him comfortably against his chest. “The world is complicated, Buck, but you and me? That doesn’t have to be. We can figure it out as we go.” A steady hand smooths over Buck’s spine, and he relaxes incrementally. It sounds too good to be true, but Buck has no intention of giving this up now that he’s got it. And Eddie’s gone to great lengths to make sure Buck knows that he can be trusted when he says something, today -- it wouldn’t make any sense to stop now. 

Buck lifts his head and smiles at Eddie with an echo of his old, rakish grin. “You’re going to have to do better than one kiss if you want me to stop thinking,” he says daringly, throwing caution to the wind and jumping headfirst into the unknown. Overthinking and panicking isn’t who Buck is, and he’s not going to let recent events change him. He’s stronger than circumstances, and Evan Buckley is more than a job title or a patient ID bracelet. 

He’s a fighter, and this time, all he wants to fight for is happiness for him, Eddie, and Christopher.

“Hmm, that sounds like a challenge,” Eddie observes, head cocked to one side in a faux-thoughtful expression. “I guess I don’t have much choice but to try harder then, do I?” 

Buck lets his satisfaction show on his face as he meets Eddie in another kiss. As in everything, practice makes perfect; this time, his knees get weak embarrassingly quickly, and he finds himself with his arms tossed around Eddie’s neck to keep his balance. He’s still smiling as they trade kisses back and forth, unable to quell the overwhelming contentment swelling in his chest. Eddie’s flushed and breathing hard, too, though, so Buck doesn’t waste a moment on embarrassment. They both want this; there’s no reason to start overthinking now. 

“Da-aad!” The whine from behind them stops the kiss in its tracks as both men take a hurried step back and spin to face the doorway. Christopher is leaning heavily on his crutches just past the arch, a blanket draped over his shoulders and hair mussed from sleep, and staring at them crankily. “Buck’s s’posed to be taking a nap with me. You can kiss him when we wake up.”

Eddie and Buck glance at each other, and the bubble of tension - romantic and otherwise - surrounding them bursts with a synchronous peal of laughter. Christopher gives them an unimpressed look, and Eddie recovers first, stifling another chuckle to tell him, “Sorry, buddy. But everyone’s awake now, right? So maybe we can watch a movie or something, and we can both spend some time with Buck before we have to go home.” He shoots a sidelong glance Buck’s way, like he needs permission or something stupid to talk about them with his son, or to stay longer. Like Buck is going to complain about getting more time with them. 

“What you think, Chris? Should we let your dad watch the rest of Hotel Transylvania with us?” Buck asks, and reaches out to grab Eddie’s hand -- just in case he’d gotten some ridiculous idea that this thing between them was going to be a secret. 

Christopher isn’t the kind of kid who’s grumpy for long, even right after a nap, so he beams at them and nods excitedly. “We have to start over, though,” he says seriously. “Daddy hasn’t seen the beginning, and he might get confused.” 

Buck nods his agreement, and Eddie just laughs. He tosses his free hand over Chris’s shoulders, and the three of them start toward the living room together, as a unit. As they settle together on the couch with tangled limbs and shared quips and laughter, Buck takes a second to breathe in the reality of this moment. He’s truly, incandescently happy, and he wants to take the memory and hold onto it forever -- through whatever job-related heartbreak and medical emergency comes next.

Because now, Buck’s got Eddie, and he’s got Christopher, and that’s more than enough to make him want to keep fighting. 

[the-stark-bunch]

List of Kids

Peter Benjamin Parker-Stark: Tony Stark’s oldest adopted son. Adopted at age five when his aunt and uncle were killed over the research that gave him his Spider abilities in the same fashion as his mother and father.. Serves as the hero Spider-Man and Iron Spider.

Harlen Tyler “Harley” Keener-Stark: Tony Stark’s second adopted son. Adopted at age 10 when his mother passed away. Has an arc reactor for a heart after unable to find a heart downer when told his Cardiomyopathy would kill him Serves part time as Successor, becoming the successor to the War Machine and Iron Man tittle (though the public still calls him Iron Lad).

Riri Williams: The successor to the Iron Man mantle along with Harley known as Iron Heart. Tony loves her as though she were his own daughter, making her Peter and Harley’s surrogate sister.

Cassandra Eleanor "Cassie" Lang: Daughter of Scott Lang, Ant Man. Her step mother is Hope Van-Dyne, The Wasp and daughter of the original Ant Man and Wasp. She is secretly operating as the hero Stature with the help of Tony Stark, her godfather and uncle. She has Congenital heart disease that was mysteriously cured for a reason her parents are not aware of.

Shuri: Princess of Wakanda and the second Black Panther, also known as Aja-Adanna. Works with Tony very often in the labs, and has developed a close friendship with Riri, Peter and Harley.

Ned Leeds: Peter, Harry And Gwen S’s best friend since diapers. Got a Stark Internship at the end of sophomore year and started dating Betty Brant.

Yukio: accidentally stumbled into her Stark Internship and a relationship with Wade’s friend Ellie. Became good friends with everyone else who lives/works in SI.

Nathaniel Richards: The part time Iron Lad and foster son of Reed Richards.

Elizabeth “Betty” Brant: Ned’s girlfriend and one of Harley’s best friends. The drummer in MJ’s band and one of the only people (along with Ned, Flash and Yukio) who knows about everyone at SI’s secret identities.

Michell Jones: Peter and Ned’s other friend, though she’s closer with Harley who has the same kind of sarcasm as her. Black Lives Matter, Feminist and LGBT Rights. Has a band called The Mary Janes where she is lead singer, Betty is on drums, and Gwen S is the guitarist.

Harry Osborn: Almost a bigger feminist than Michell. The son of Norman Osborn and future owner of Oscorp. Peter, Ned, Gwen S and Harley’s childhood friend.

Gwendolyn “Gwen” Maxine Stacy: Harry’s best friend, as well as Peter and Ned’s. Daughter of the Captain of the NYPD and trained Jr Officer. Secretly the masked vigilante Ghost Spider who is deeply hated by the public and her father.

Eugene “Flash” Thompson: Used to bully Peter, Ned and Harley until Harry and MJ put him in his place. Now he’s good friends with them all, and extremely protective over Harley.

Wade Wilson-Howlett: resident pansexual and one man pride parade. Attends the same STEM school as everyone else, despite being no where near qualified. Adopted son of a history teacher at the school in Westchester that he got kicked out of. Had cancer growing up to the point that doctors said he wouldn’t live to see 16 (he proved them wrong).

Gwendolyn "Gwen" Poole: Seemingly normal girl who works at a McDonald’s in Brooklyn and is the best friend is Miles Morales. At first they believe that Gwen is simply Miles’s best friend and madly in love with Gwen Stacy, but when caught in crossfire they realize she has the regenerative mutant gene just like the Howletts. After her parents and brother are supposedly killed by Ghost Spider, she is fostered by Logan.

Liz Allan: Daughter of The Vulture, a villain Peter fought in freshman year. Really popular and smart. One Harley’s best friend’s (along with Flash, Betty and MJ).

Edward Charles Allan “Eddie” Brock: President of the journalism club at the school with Peter as vice prez. A really sweet guy, but a bisexual disaster at the same time. He got cancer in freshman year, but it disappeared entirely right after Peter met the latest villain Venom...

Miles Morales: A boy in Laura’s class who she later discovers to be the kid Peter is mentoring. He is slated to take over the Spider-Man title. He is currently known as Arachnid or Kid Archnid. Due to his father being the captain of the Brooklyn Police Force he grew up knowing George and Gwen Stacy. He went to the police academy early with Gwen S, and is the only one who knows that she is the Ghost Spider.

Anne Weying: Eddie’s ex and his best friend. Really smart, but doesn’t know how to keep out of bad situations. Almost as popular as Liz, and after her leaving the school, took her place in the power vacuum.

Dan Lewis: Anne’s boyfriend who attends the school with everyone so that he can take as many medical field classses as he can. Wants to become a doctor, but is willing to put his hard work on hold to help a friend in need.

Laura Howlett: Wade’s sister who also attends the STEM school. Has the same sarcasm and pride as her father and brother. Very little patience and is mostly mute due to the pain she feels when she speaks. When she does speak, it is usually in Spanish.

T’Challa: Tired king doing his best to take care of his sister in America when he can. Is engaged to Ororo Munroe, though no one besides he and Shuri know.

Ellie Phimister: Yukio’s girlfriend and Wade’s friend from his old school.

Viv Vision: The Vision’s daughter. She gets back from her tour of the world and decides to start working at SI.

[aion-rsa]

Venom: Marvel Comics Reading Order

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Eddie Brock and his symbiote have been through so many adventures. Here's a Venom comics reading order for beginners.

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Feature

Movies

Gavin Jasper

venom

Sep 20, 2018

Marvel

Spider-Man

On October 5, we are getting a Venom movie. Kind of crazy, right? At least this one won’t have any dorky dance sequences in it. Anyway, if you want to read up on Venom before he hits the big screen again, it’s a bit of a tall order because there’s been a handful of different guys under the black goo and many comics with his name on the cover. Luckily, we have a streamlined list of stuff to get you going.

Now, we’re going to focus on Eddie Brock stuff because that’s what Sony is doing. That said, if you’re interested in the Mac Gargan era, I highly recommend Dark Reign: The Sinister Spider-Man. If you want some Flash Thompson Venom action, read the Rick Remender run of the 2011 series. If you come across the 2003 Venom series by Daniel Way, run in the opposite direction unless you’re one of those people who gets their kicks from reading bad comics.

VILLAIN DAYS

The origin story of Spider-Man’s black costume isn’t too imperative. It says something that every later retelling of that story had Peter Parker wanting to bite people’s faces off when the original take was, “Man, I sure am tired for some reason!”

It helps here that Eddie Brock wasn’t an established character before attacking Spider-Man as Venom. He offers a flashback during his first storyline to get us up to date and from there we get plenty of fighting with an interesting dynamic. Not only is Venom stronger than Spider-Man, but he’s invisible to his spider-sense and knows his identity, meaning that in order to even survive, Spider-Man has to think outside the box at every turn.

For these first couple of years, Venom gets increasingly interesting, especially in the ways Spider-Man has to deal with him. This culminates in the creation of Carnage, which not only means Spider-Man has to undo taking Venom off the table, but the two have to team up against the big, new villain.

In terms of trades, there are two ways to go about it. Spider-Man: Birth of Venom has all of his origin appearances and Carnage Classic has that initial story arc, but you aren’t going to get that cool fight on the island or the other early Venom appearances. They’re releasing a hardcover called Spider-Man vs. Venom Omnibus that will have pretty much every Venom appearance pre-Lethal Protector. It’s really expensive, but it’s an option.

THE ORIGINAL ANTI-HERO RUN

Amazing Spider-Man #374-375 is this great two-parter that temporarily wraps up the Spider-Man/Venom rivalry and sets the stage for Venom to spinoff with his own solo run. It’s just a shame that it’s part of the previously-mentioned omnibus and not part of the Venom: Lethal Protector trade. As a prologue with the same creative team, it really makes for a perfect companion piece.

Anyway, Venom movies to San Francisco for a while to get in his own adventures. Co-creator David Michelinie starts this off with Lethal Protector, where he builds up a new status quo with supporting characters, villains, a more sympathetic rewrite of Eddie’s backstory, and a new home where he guards an underground society of squatters. Afterwards, the series becomes a revolving door of creative teams with each writer essentially turning it into “Venom Team-Up.” Soon the whole San Francisco concept is dropped completely and he returns to New York City to make these crossovers easier to handle.

The whole thing is very mixed bag, but there’s some fun stuff in there. If anything, it shows that we really need more Venom/Morbius team-ups.

Eventually, Larry Hama starts penning the series and mostly remains on it until cancellation. That gives it some much-needed stability, even if we get some bizarre storylines like Venom and Carnage duking it out inside the internet and Venom and Wolverine flying through space inside a silver football.

What makes it all work is the take that Venom is a more sci-fi, yet honest Punisher. Frank Castle tends to be perfect in his behavior. Argue about his morals, but if the Punisher thinks a bunch of drug dealers need to die, he will succeed in only killing those drug dealers and not a single innocent civilian. Venom is the kind of guy who will mistakenly kill a guy he thinks is a drug dealer then move on with his life because at the end of the day, this is just an excuse for him to give into his violent impulses.

The true highlight of this run is when Len Kaminski and Ted Halsted do an arc called Venom: The Hunger. It’s easily one of the best Eddie Brock Venom stories, based on the idea of the symbiote leaving Eddie and Eddie deciding that it’s too dangerous to leave alive. Eddie proceeds to go full prep work in an attempt to kill the creature, only with the challenge that the two of them can see things from each other’s point of view.

Oh, and at one point, Venom kills some dudes while singing David Bowie. Sure.

In terms of reading these, there’s a hardcover Venomnibus Vol. 1 with Venomnibus Vol. 2 coming in February.

With paperbacks, the order is Venom: Lethal Protector, Venom: The Enemy Within, Venom: Separation Anxiety, Venom: Carnage Unleashed, Venom: Along Came a Spider, and Venom: Tooth and Claw.

CALLING OUT SICK

With his anti-hero series winding down, Venom goes back into straight-up villainy. The stories that come out of that are...not so good. More specifically, it’s Spider-Man writer Howard Mackie coming up with cool concepts but never following up on any of them. In other words, any given Mackie comic.

It isn’t until Paul Jenkins and Humberto Ramos’ Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 1: The Hunger that we get something worth reading. In this story, it’s retconned that Eddie Brock has been suffering from cancer since his very origin. The symbiote is the only thing keeping him alive and part of Eddie’s drive to kill Spider-Man comes from knowing that it prevents the costume from choosing the better host and leaving Eddie to die.

This leads to the events of Marvel Knights Spider-Man Vol. 2: Venomous by Mark Millar and Frank Cho. Eddie comes to terms with his situation and decides to auction off the Venom symbiote to the criminal underworld while giving the money to charity. This alters the status quo like crazy and separates Eddie and the symbiote for well over ten years.

Within the pages of Peter Parker Spider-Man: Back in Black, there’s a two-parter from the pages of Sensational Spider-Man called “The Last Temptation of Eddie Brock.” This Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa/Lee Weeks joint is about a withered Eddie discovering that he share the same hospital as a comatose Aunt May. With the "voice" of Venom constantly egging him on to kill the woman in order to get revenge on Parker, Eddie ends up on one hell of a crossroads.

REVERSAL OF FORTUNE

In the late 00s, a book came out called Venom: Dark Origin. Ignore that book. Not only is it not very good, but it was a story that made Eddie look like a total asshole, released in a time when Eddie was being reintroduced into Spider-Man comics as a decent guy.

This brings us to one of the cooler stretches of the character’s existence, the days of Anti-Venom. Dan Slott and John Romita Jr. give us Spider-Man: New Ways to Die. The cocktail of cancer and the symbiote remnants in Eddie’s bloodstream meet with the powers of Mr. Negative to create a new kind of organism that cures Eddie and turns him into a violent vigilante with the power to heal. While he has no intent on killing Spider-Man, unfortunately his very healing presence has a negative effect on Spider-Man’s powers and shuts them off when they’re near each other.

Anti-Venom gets his own miniseries in New Ways to Live, where he teams up with the Punisher during the days when Frank is hanging out with Jigsaw’s son and has access to a lot of villain tech. It’s a small dose of throwback to the 90s anti-hero stuff that really works, but man, three issues just isn’t enough.

Anti-Venom would make another appearance in Spider-Man: The Return of Anti-Venom, where we finally get some closure on the whole Mr. Negative storyline. Anti-Venom would then be written off via Spider-Island, but that’s not exactly high on the list of Venom stuff you should check out. He’s a minor supporting player for the most part and his role is more of a plot device to keep the game-changing healing powers away from the Marvel public.

I’M MY OWN GRANDPA

Back during the whole Venomous storyline, a miniseries came out called Venom vs. Carnage. The Venom symbiote was such a hot potato at the time that the comic didn’t even make it apparent who was under the fangs and tongue. Anyway, the series introduced Toxin, the spawn of Carnage. Toxin got his own miniseries and then fell into obscurity around the early days of Bendis’ New Avengers.

Fast-forward to the Flash Thompson era of Venom. There’s a good guy Venom in existence, but he’s a far more respectable figure to the point that guys like Captain America respect him and allow him into the Avengers. Eddie Brock ends up the new Toxin host during Venom: The Savage Six and gets a return in Venom: Toxin with a Vengeance.

Honestly, while they’re fine stories, Eddie’s time as Toxin is little more than a footnote. He does have a supporting role in the Gerry Conway Carnage ongoing series (featured in Carnage Vol. 1: The One That Got Away, Carnage Vol. 2: World Tour, and Carnage Vol. 3: What Dwells Beneath). In it, there’s a task force put together to capture Carnage and, ultimately, prevent him from unleashing some kind of religious, Lovecraftian apocalypse. Eddie doesn’t get to do too much, but his Toxin appearance is kicking rad and it does give us some closure on Toxin as a concept.

REUNITED AND WE FEEL SO GOOD

After two cancelled ongoings and a finished tenure as a Guardian of the Galaxy, Flash Thompson’s role as Venom host comes to a close. Mike Costa is given a new Venom book and it starts off with a new host in Lee Price. While the symbiote really wants to be a hero based on its time with Flash, Price is actually a terrible person and wants to use this newfound power to take over the criminal underworld.

This is all a roundabout way of bringing Eddie Brock back into the picture and giving us a new era of the original Venom. Through Venom Vol. 1: Homecoming, Venom Vol. 2: The Land Before Crime, and Venom Vol. 3: Lethal Protector – Blood in the Water, we see a modern attempt to retry the old anti-hero days. There’s even a subplot about Venom being the protector of an underground society, only this time it’s a bunch of dinosaur people.

To give Eddie a supporting cast, he ends up acting as muscle for Liz Allen’s organization Alchemax, in return for Dr. Steven trying to figure out why the symbiote has been acting so erratic lately.

There are two big crossover stories through this run. One is Amazing Spider-Man: Venom Inc, which is a big team-up between Spider-Man, Venom, Agent Anti-Venom (Flash), and Black Cat against Lee Price as the new symbiote criminal Maniac. It’s basically Peter Griffin’s Big Jaws, only with Venom.

The other crossover is Cullen Bunn’s Venomverse saga. As a cash-in answer to the Spider-Verse event, there’s this multiversal war involving alternate universe Venom hosts and creatures called Poisons. Poisons are usually harmless creatures, but if they make physical contact with a symbiote and its host, it turns them into an even more powerful creature with the Poison in control and none of the usual weaknesses. So regular Venom has to join the war alongside Captain America Venom, Rocket Venom, Mary Jane Venom, and so on against Poison Thanos’ attempts to subjugate the multiverse.

For this one, the order is Edge of Venomverse, Venomverse, Venom & X-Men: Poison-X, and Venomized. Yeah, the X-Men Blue team gets heavily involved for the latter half of that. Mixing the symbiotes’ ability to see in all directions and Cyclops’ powers leads to some fun shit.

The main Venom series then comes to an end with Venom Vol. 4: The Nativity. It has a strong ending that acts as a cliffhanger, but it’s apparent that it isn’t for the next writer to take on. Released concurrently with the newer Venom ongoing is Mike Costa’s Venom: The First Host. This miniseries follows up on Costa’s run by introducing a Kree warrior who used the symbiote originally as a way to fight fire with fire against the shapeshifting Skrulls. Years later, this warrior ventures to Earth to get his weapon back and violence ensues.

GOD IS COMING

Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman give us Venom Vol. 1: Rex, a beautiful and darker direction for the character. Since Brian Michael Bendis threw the symbiote race’s origins out the window to come up with his own, Cates decides to retcon THAT origin as well and reveal a new big bad with Knull, God of Symbiotes. Through this book, Eddie discovers that there is much, much more to his costume than he ever knew, mainly in terms of Knull’s insane backstory.

Like, there’s a giant dragon made of symbiotes called the Grendel and it’s coming to wipe out Earth. Comics!

He also discovers that the government was using symbiotes since way back in Vietnam. This not only introduces new character Rex Strickland, but a one-shot spinoff called Web of Venom: Ve’Nam gives us a good look of where he came from.

And that’s all I heard about Venom and Eddie. Can’t tell you more ‘cause I told you already, and here we are waving Venom and Eddie goodbye.

Gavin Jasper writes for Den of Geek and feels that you should read All Access #1 for the sake of seeing Venom hand Superman his ass while boasting about the time he beat up the Juggernaut. Yeah, that was a thing. Read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @Gavin4L

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