I post this panel literally all the time, but I continue to be so into the characterization shift Marvel’s been giving Eddie for the past 2 years. I think part of it is just attributable to shifting narrative preferences in character writing, of course, but viewing it as a continuous narrative makes me so emotional.
Complete lack of reflection and an inability to accept blame used to be hallmarks of Eddie’s character. When his life is ruined, it’s Spider-Man’s fault. He believes that in all sincerety. Spider-Man ruined him thus Spider-Man is dangerous and it is for the best of all to eliminate him. Hell, he tries to protect Peter’s own parents from Peter and he means it sincerely – that is how far he pushes this narrative and how genuine he is about this delusion. Eddie Brock means well but he is literally not capable of the reflection necessary to translate this into action that is perceived as ‘good’ by others.
That’s the tragedy of his character. It is often presented in a funny-sad way by the comics. This page is a good example, but there are many more.
Then over time, Eddie begins seeing his actions as bad and begins to wonder if the symbiote is at fault. It is not, the symbiote only does what Eddie wants and learns what is ‘right’ from what Eddie considers to be so. The two are stuck in a loop where they enable each other to kill – and neither is ill-intentioned. Here, still, Eddie does not accept responsibility. He first gently negotiates this with the symbiote, then violently rejects it and distances himself from it fully (those are all the weird 2000s comics) – but Eddie Brock isn’t at fault.
Only recent comics have this era of seperation end on reflection. Eddie is alone in his head and the longer he’s there, the more he talks to people, the more distance he has from the symbiote trying to please him and echoing his deluded judgements back at him… Eddie realizes that he is responsible. Ever since the Sin-Eater incident, Eddie’s been stuck in a spiral of depression and obsession and he’s never been able to break out. Now, finally, he’s able to accept something this simple: his actions are his own.
And he takes the symbiote back, now knowing that the symbiote isn’t to blame, now knowing that they’re partners who need to negotiate their actions together. He can realize with more clarity and distinction than ever before that he loves the symbiote but that he also wants them to be better. Both of them, together.
“I don’t know what I have to live for. I don’t know if I’m a good man. Or if I can ever be one. But I know one thing. I know it with every blow I take, with every bone I break. With every drop of blood that fills my mouth. With every breath in my lungs. I’m not ready to give into the darkness. I’m not ready to die.”
We get to an Eddie who can say THIS and mean it. We’ve met this man as unreflected and rampantly suicidal. And we’re with him now, when he is realizing that he has to grow as a person, when he is doubting that he can, but when he is facing those challenges all the same without flinching.
And as much as I sometimes miss early comic characterization, I am so proud of Eddie Brock for getting to this point. @ Marvel MAKE HIM HAPPY COWARDS
I can’t stop laughing at these panels of the Venom symbiote without a host. It looks like Flat Stanley had a baby with a windsock, or maybe a grimdark reboot of Gumby. That last panel of it floating off over New York like a shitty magic carpet is the least dignified thing I’ve ever seen.
Tbh Ant Man and the Wasp and Venom showing that people can have good relationships with their exes (and their ex’s partner) is very good and should be continued
i know that venom is shiny and wet-looking in canon, but i also really like the idea of vantablack venom where the symbiote looks like a black hole of pure nothingness with eyes and teeth. like they’re a void… that literally stares back.
couple of folks have asked why I’m so harsh on comic book Spidey when I talk about his experiences with the symbiote.
and I get that, i do! the story was set up to make the reader feel sorry for poor noble victimized peter, as so many spiderman stories are, and to direct the reader’s attention away from the suffering of the ‘bad guys’. that is just how the overwhelming majority of spidey stories work and have always worked. it’s the formula. i get it.
that said, if you really want to know why i personally come down hard on him, why i still hold peter primarily culpable for the toxic mess that situation became, then the first thing you have to bear in mind, and a few marvel writers have not been so good at bearing this in mind, is that
the symbiote is a person.
i cannot stress enough how important that point is. like, if you don’t agree then turn back now.
if we do agree on that point, then consider the following:
1. comic book peter is not a child. comic book peter is an adult and a scientist who encountered an alien life form. he is a scientist who, in fact, served as humanity’s first representative to said alien life form. and he made NO attempt to determine whether said life form was sentient or even whether it had feelings. (and that type of oblivious callousness is not in any way uncharacteristic for classic peter parker. he really is a completely different guy than mcu peter.)
2. he brought an ALIEN LIFE FORM to earth, to a completely unfamiliar environment, and just started wearing it as his clothes. that’s not a normal, sensible thing to do, especially for – again – a scientist.
3. symby was completely unfamiliar with human ideas of right and wrong. in their view, everything they did for and to peter was the right, ethical thing to do. in addition; when they first encountered peter, they were a prisoner, probably traumatized to hell, and prob would have really benefited from not being treated like fucking clothes.
4. when reed got them off peter, did peter feel even a small amount of remorse? did he spend much time brooding over the possibility that he’d re-traumatized an already-damaged person? did he worry that reed keeping the symbiote – a person – in a tiny, tiny JAR to be studied like some animal was maybe unethical? nope. what did he do? he went away and felt sorry for himself, because that is 50% of what classic peter does.
5. for years after he learned symby was a person, peter kept referring to them as a costume, a suit, or a thing. again: peter. is. a. scientist.
6. since he brought the symbiote to earth, the symbiote has been 1. tortured 2. enslaved 3. abused 4. rinse and repeat. they have had a HORRIBLE time at humanity’s hands. now, that isn’t peter’s fault directly, but it also wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t brought a vulnerable person into a strange and hostile environment and then abandoned them.
7. when the symbiote says peter ‘betrayed’ them? they’re right. the fact that peter did what he did out of ignorance rather than malice does not change the fact that peter did what he did. if you call yourself a *hero*, then when you hurt someone, you apologize. you don’t start making excuses and blaming it on the person you hurt. that’s not how a hero should behave.
all of this, god.
MAKE PETER APOLOGISE. it makes me aggravated that Marvel hints that Peter is sympathetic towards people who try to turn around, and he believes in villain rehabilitation, but never show it. especially to have Peter ignore that Symbie is a person who is trying to make a better change with Eddie.
the only good thing that came out of recent is this part…
and i fear it’ll be forgotten in favour of continuing Dumbass Peter™
who never grows or learns as a person.
that was a good moment, thank you for reminding me of it ❤
also, yes, unfortunately that’s an aspect of Peter’s character that Amazing Spiderman 2018 has chosen to keep around:
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