Warning: SPOILERS for Venom #17The metamorphosis of Eddie Brock is still not over in Marvel Comics, as the most famous host of Venom gets killed by the fabled Soulsword only to transcend (or perhaps descend) to another plane of existence, where he will be reborn as a powerful new force, and perhaps gets his chance to oppose the nefarious plans of his future evil self, the King in Black Meridius.
In Venom #17, by Al Ewing, Cafu, and Frank D'Armata, readers learn what happened to Eddie Brock after his involvement with Madelyne Prior and Ben Reilly in the Soulsword, one of the most powerful weapons in the Marvel Universe, and he is killed by Darkoth. However, Eddie transcends his Bedlam form and falls into "the next place", a mysterious dimension where a severed Venom hand awaits, ready to guide him on "the path of the magician".
Eddie Brock Had To Die To Receive His Greatest Power Yet
Following a dramatic confrontation with his son Dylan, who is now the host of the Venom symbiote, Eddie/Bedlam lost an eye and was then unwillingly involved in the battle between Madelyne and Ben. That proved to be only a small respite in Eddie's tortuous and enigmatic journey that began ever since he got "lost in time and space" after overextending his King in Black abilities. Eddie is now a victim of a future version of himself, Meridius, the final King in Black who is using Eddie as a pawn in a mysterious plot that transcends time. This led him to hurt his son, who has decided to kill Eddie to free him from his plight.
However, there could be another option for Eddie Brock, who could soon acquire incredible magical powers. While trapped in Meridius' Garden of Time, Eddie was briefly able to reach the "heart of the hive," the engine room of the King in Black, where a mysterious voice told him that he is walking "the path of the magician." Eddie will have to choose between two paths: "white magic," which tries to remake the world by staying away from it, and "black magic, which the voice defines as "that which works in the world and for the world" and that, according to Venom #17, leaves hands "heavy with Venom". It is also worth noting that Eddie recently lost an eye, which is the same thing that happened to both Odin and Thor (both in Norse mythology and in Marvel's stories) before he acquired even greater power and knowledge of magic.
Venom Is About To Give Eddie Brock Mystical Powers
The same transcendence could be happening to Eddie now, and it is great to see Venom finally reconnect to the story first told in the Free Comic Book Day 2022 Spider-Man/Venom that introduced the "path of the magician". While it's still unclear what this entails, the severed hand of Venom resembles a real-world alleged magical item, the Hand of Glory, created from the hands of convicted murderers. Writer Al Ewing has a penchant for using religious and mystic traditions in his stories, as he showed with the critically acclaimed Immortal Hulk. After being killed in his Bedlam form, Eddie Brock will probably be reborn with new mystical powers to thwart Meridius' scheme once and for all.
Venom #17 is available now from Marvel Comics.
