Warning! Spoilers ahead for Venom #1
In Marvel Comics' new Kang the Conqueror are surprisingly best friends. Despite having never really interacted in any sort of meaningful way thus far, it seems as though their bond will likely be formed due to Brock's new powers as the current King in Black. Likewise, this first issue sets the stage for a new cosmic adventure for Eddie, and it looks as though it will include all sorts of time-travel shenanigans that can explain how Venom and Kang become buddies.
In Venom #1 from Al Ewing, Ram V, and Bryan Hitch, Eddie Brock's duties as the new King in Black have led to him transferring his consciousness and leaving his human body more and more often, assuming command of the various symbiotes in the galaxy that he now controls. As an example, Brock is instantly able to send his mind into a symbiote squadron as they attempt to save a ship being attacked by pirates. However, Brock gets a warning that his throne will soon be empty, the threat coming from one of his own symbiotes that has left his control, being possessed by something else entirely.
Fearing what could soon be on the horizon, Eddie decides to try and look forward in time. Having control and being connected to every symbiote in the universe, Venom has access to the whole hivemind including the memories and experiences of symbiotes in the past and future. Untethering himself from his present existence, Eddie is overwhelmed by a collage of moments from the future, and one of them is of Kang the Conqueror, surprisingly referring to himself as one of Eddie's oldest friends.
Putting Kang's dire claim about whatever's coming for Venom aside, it seems as though Eddie and Kang's friendship has yet to begin. However, given Venom's new power to exist outside of time (like Kang himself), perhaps it already has. Thanks to the wonder that is time travel, it's likely that Kang and Venom's friendship isn't at all linear, and that their friendship has developed in past, present, and future points in time (not necessarily in that order).
In any case, the new reveal that Kang is apparently "Venom's oldest friend" is certainly a surprise, and it's likely a pairing many fans didn't see coming. As a result, it's going to be interesting to see where Venom and Kang the Conqueror's relationship goes next as Eddie Brock ventures the cosmos in search of this new threat while his son Dylan takes over as the new Venom of Earth.
