Venom is Going to Infect the Entire Marvel Universe

Marvel’s 2017 is jam-packed with event comics. Monsters Unleashed is underway, Secret Empire is around the corner and Generations is set to take place this summer. But on Thursday, Marvel announced Edge of Venomverse, a five-part series set to launch this June in which Symbiotes — the alien parasite that created Spider-Man nemesis Venom — are unleashed “across the Marvel Universe.” Heroes like Iron Man, Wolverine, and even Ghost Rider look like they’re going to be infected by the parasites, basically creating a planet of Venoms.

The press release doesn’t specify how an onslaught of Symbiotes arrive or who exactly they’ll infect, but the teaser art shows Iron Man, Wolverine (X-23), Old Man Logan, Ghost Rider, and even the return of the multi-headed Venom from Venom: The Madness. The whole Edge of Venomverse stems from the Venom-themed variant covers scheduled to hit this month, which features Marvel characters like Totally Awesome Hulk, Tippy Toe, and Captain America under Venom’s thrall. Basically, Edge of Venomverse is turning these fantasy concepts into a reality.

Deadpool is also infected with the virus, which is odd since the Merc with a Mouth has already carried the Symbiote before. In last year’s Deadpool: Back in Black by Cullen Bunn, we learned that Deadpool was the host before Spider-Man in Secret Wars, though Deadpool’s personality may have been the one to drive the Symbiote completely insane.

The comic, which does not yet have any confirmed writers, will spin-off from Mike Costa’s new Venom series that began last November. Costa’s Venom brought the character back to basics as an urban terror after recent storylines turned Venom into a galactic do-gooder as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Venom famously started off as a Spider-Man foe in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 in 1988 (though Symbiotes appeared in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8 a few years prior). The character to first become “Venom” fully was Eddie Brock, a disgraced journalist who used his powers to exact revenge on Spider-Man.

After Eddie Brock’s tenure, several other hosts became Venom, including Eddie’s wife Ann Weying and Patricia Robertson of the U.S. Army. In 2010, Peter Parker’s old high school bully Flash Thompson became the new host and worked for the government as a hero, dubbed Agent Venom. Recently, the Symbiote left Flash and found a new host in Lee Price, who is now using the powers for personal gain.

Marvel’s Edge of Venomverse is slated to begin in June.