Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Poison War #4
For decades, Poison
and his loyal partner, Eddie Brock, were known as the Lethal Protector of the streets. Now, Eddie Brock is the King in Black, the god of all symbiotes, and destined to become the next Anti-All. However, the King in Black is just one piece of a larger cosmic puzzle, and Eddie Brock may have just created a new one.
The King in Black is more than just a title, it is an ordered task. To maintain the cosmic balance between creation and nothingness, the Celestials created the King in Black to consume what the Beyonders produce.
However, in Poison War #4 – by Al Ewing, Iban Coello and Frank D-Armata – Eddie Brock simply broke the mold to become something the Celestials had never predicted or planned. Where was it once
the Beyonders
who were known as the Kings in White, Brock has claimed a kingdom of his own.
Anti-Venom is Marvel’s next cosmic god
Poison War #4 Written by Al Ewing; Art by Iban Coello; Color by Frank D’Armata; Lyrics by VC’s Ariana Maher
When
the Celestials first introduced creation
In the fledgling multiverse, they created guardians to oversee the natural flow of creation. These are known as Beyonders, the Kings in White. But to combat the Beyonders’ creation drive, the Celestials created a bottomless void that would consume everything over time. These are the Kings in Black. However, to break Meridius’s control over the zombie hordes, Eddie was forced to adopt an old, familiar face while embracing a completely unprecedented new power that opposes everything he was forged to be. Eddie Brock has once again become Anti-Venom.
Considering the scope of the Marvel multiverse, there are fewer than ten Anti-Venom variants across all realities. Where the Symbiote Hive extends beyond the limits of space and timethe Anti-Symbiote phenomenon that originated on Earth-616 is almost an entirely unique occurrence. The Kings in Black were designed to be a cosmic void. Only through Knull’s creation of the symbiotes did mortals find the power to reverse the powers of the Void. A symbiote alone isn’t enough to change these multiversal powers, but one bonded to a King in Black is.
Anti-Venom is an anomaly that changes the rules of the multiverse
The Celestials Never Planned This
Within moments of bonding with an Anti-Venom symbiote, Eddie exerted a power over the Hive Symbiote that he had never been able to achieve before. Despite his godlike status and supposed control over all symbiotes, Eddie Brock could do nothing as the King in Black to stop
Meridius and his horde of zombies
. But as Anti-Venom, the Anti-King in Black, Eddie is capable of projecting a multiversal wave of healing and restoration. His divine power even regenerates Flash Thompson’s corpse, something he couldn’t do as the King in Black.
These anomalous beings have rewritten the Celestials’ original plans, creating new powers that exist outside of their pre-ordained sacred balance.
Just like Carnage, Anti-Venom is an anomaly. A fraction of a sentient cosmic void, warped by the genetics of powerful hosts. Venom’s offspring infused themselves with Cletus Kasady’s blood, creating the godlike monster destined to become King in Crimson. Anti-Venom was born through fractions of Venom integrating Eddie’s white blood cells into his herd. These anomalous beings have rewrote the Celestials’ original planscreating new powers that exist outside of their pre-ordained sacred balance. Although Eddie was unable to maintain this form for long, the presence of a new King still major implications for the future of Marvel cosmology.
The Anti-King in Black is more than creation, it is existence
Eddie Brock may have created a new abstract entity
Although the title of “King in White” may already be assumed by the Beyonders, this does not necessarily mean that they were ever the antithesis of the King in Black. The Beyonders oversee the flow of creation, but the Kings in Black do not represent destruction. The King in Black is the void, it is nothingness incarnate. Put
Introducing Anti-Venom
in the cosmic flow of power that holds the multiverse together, a new power that truly rivals the King in Black exists. The opposite of nothing is not creation, the opposite of nothingness is existence. Although the concepts may be similar, there is a distinction.
With the design of a Anti-King in BlackThere is a new cosmic champion who inherently challenges the concept of nothingness. Creation requires a tabula rasa to work with, but existence simply exists.
Marvel Cosmology
it is already full of beings that represent concepts; Eternity, Death, Order and Chaos. In a single Hail Mary passage, Eddie Brock has consolidated a new power that will echo throughout the multiverse. Marvel’s cosmology is changing rapidly, and as Anti-PoisonEddie Brock unwittingly created a force, surpassing the King in Black, the effects of which will be felt throughout this multiverse and the next.
Poison War #4 is now available from Marvel Comics.