By the time Venom War comes to an end, a new character will be the host of the Venom symbiote. Marvel is keeping this person’s identity a secret so it doesn’t spoil Venom War, but we know that whoever they are, they’ll be starring in a new ongoing series titled All-New Venom. Al Ewing will continue to pen Venom’s adventures, and artist Carlos Gómez will join him. In the lead-up to All-New Venom, Marvel is releasing a set of variant covers from a group of acclaimed creators to show off Venom’s new design, which adds a touch of golden flare to the symbiote suit.
The variant covers from All-New Venom #1 come from Adam Kubert, Humberto Ramos, Skan, Stephen Platt, Erik Larsen, and Chris Giarrusso along with a gold foil cover by Iban Coello, the first part of Giuseppe Camuncoli’s connecting cover series, a special Marvel vs. Capcom variant cover, and more. All-New Venom brings the Lethal Protector back to the streets of New York City after spending time tending to cosmic affairs. Instead of worrying about bleak futures and time-travel shenanigans, All-New Venom is taking a narrower approach to storytelling, with the mystery behind the symbiote as one of its main plot points that will unravel through its opening story arc.
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“So we take a swing away from the big cosmic thing,” Ewing told Polygon when All-New Venom was announced. “The pendulum swings away from that and back into a much more intimate, character-based story, but also has a lot of that ground-level super hero action, where it’s less about cosmic entities battling in each other’s mindscapes, or mysterious zones beyond time, and much more on the street — slinging webs, slinging chains, doing the Venom thing. It’s almost like my return to an old-school sort of super hero comic, but with a couple of twists that we’re gonna have fun bringing in.”
Marvel reveals four suspects for the All-New Venom host
The four individuals who are identified to be potential hosts for All-New Venom are Robbie Robertson, Madame Masque, Rick Jones, and Luke Cage. The synopsis for All-New Venom #1 characterizes these four characters as “the Journalist…the Terrorist…the Sidekick… or even the Mayor.”
On Rick Jones, Ewing said, “It’s good writing a version of Rick that has come through a lot of stuff and out the other side. This is a much more laid-back, joke-telling, wisecracking Rick than we’re used to from me. No longer going through it… unless he’s now going through something else. Who can say…”
Next up is Madame Masque. “Madame Masque is another great suspect. She’s coming direct from the Gang War, which is where we last saw her in a Spidey context. She’s got plans. Do those plans involve commandeering a symbiote? Do they involve getting revenge on other gangs in an identity which nobody would ever suspect? The ultimate mask for Madame Masque? I couldn’t possibly comment…,” said Ewing.
“Robbie Robertson is somebody else who was touched by the big Gang War and Spidey. He’s never been tempted by power or superpowers. Has that changed after his son got so involved with the New York criminal underworld and falling in love with the Beetle? Does Robbie want to find a way to get things under control in a way that you know he can’t as a newspaper man? Is this one of the great secret identities, like Clark Kent, a newspaper reporter — or newspaper editor, in Robbie’s case — hearing about trouble, then going out and dealing with it?”
And finally, we have Mayor Luke Cage: “We’ve seen heroes get symbiotes to get a little more done. And we’ve seen that Luke Cage has had trouble hitting the streets and doing what he loves to do while behind the desk of the mayor. Would this be a way to do that? Would this be a way to pull on another identity, kick the ass that he knows needs kicking, but in a capacity where he’s not dealing with it in an official capacity? He doesn’t have to answer questions that he would if he went out on the streets in his mayor outfit and did what he used to do for the community. Maybe a symbiote is the perfect cover for him. Again, who can say? I’m merely saying words. These are all just possibilities…”
All-New Venom #1 goes on sale December 4th.