There’s a pretty solid maxim that the more you explain something in fiction the less interesting it gets. Before, the mysterious symbiote that fell from the sky and briefly bonded with Spider-Man before finding Eddie Brock and creating Venom was a fascinating unknown and just another example of the boundless imagination and possibilities of the Marvel Universe. Now? Well, with Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman’s latest issue in their Venom series, things have gotten a whole lot more complicated (and in my humble opinion, dumber).
The issue finds the God of the Symbiotes explaining the history of the race to Venom. It transpires that the Symbiote God was actually the ruler of all space until the Celestials showed up. The two tangled for supremacy in the universe, with the God of the Symbiotes creating a magic sword called (sigh) the Necrosword (first featured in Jason Aaron’s Thor: God of Thunder series back in 2013). The Necrosword was forged in the fire of a dead Celestial and was molded with a big hammer. Said hammer made a lot of noise, which is apparently why symbiotes are weak against loud noises and fire.
Displaying a certain lack of organization, the God of the Symbiotes then proceeded to lose this magic sword. But it’s okay, because he then learned how to make other stuff, including the host-symbiotes like Venom. These soldiers were used to invade planets and perpetuate the species across the universe, which they did until they met their match in…the Vikings. Said Vikings called for help when the symbiotes invaded, ending up summoning Thor who did his thunderbolt thing and zapped the symbiotes away.
After being zapped by Thor, the symbiotes suddenly realized the God of the Symbiotes was actually bad and decided to imprison him. They did this by wrapping him in an inescapable planet-sized cage, which became the symbiote homeworld of Klyntar, which also turns to be the symbiote word for ‘cage.’
So, it seems that Klyntar isn’t a planet after all. It’s all symbiote all the time, baby! And since then, the species has been evolving to contain the evil of the dark Symbiote God who still hatefully hides within his planet-sized prison.
I mean, look, maybe if this story was told with Jack Kirby art I’d be on board, but it sure does sound pretty damn goofy and unnecessary to me. It also falls into the trap of everything having to have been of universe-changing proportions, with these just-introduced characters having apparently once ruled the entire world but no one’s ever mentioned them before.
What do you guys think of this Venom retcon, though? Does it work for you? Let us know in the comments section down below.
