Warning: Spoilers ahead for Spider-Man: The Black Suit and Blood #4!A new man-made Poison symbiote was introduced into Wonder canon, and has the powerful potential to change the future of the franchise universe. Venom’s popularity since his introduction in the 1980s has had a strong impact on Marvel history, as he saw the beginning of a major new branch of alien villains such as Carnage and Knull. This extensive tradition proved to be so beloved by fans that it spawned the creation of the Venom verse. However, a new artificial symbiote is paving the way for a big change in future Marvel comics.
In Spider-Man: Black Suit and Blood #4the story “Achilles’ Shield“introduces readers to a new villain with the titular name. Originally one of Peter’s teachers, Professor Hensley is shown to have created a suit made from a unique polymer that he calls”liquid steel.” He decides to test its durability on himself by applying it to a speed skating suit. However, he quickly discovers an important side effect that may seem familiar to fans of Venom and the symbiotes. Hensley mentions that after putting on the suit, he couldn’t take it off because it stuck to his skin, even through his clothes.
Additionally, with the material building up on his nerves, he can no longer feel anything either. Essentially, this is an artificial version of a symbiote, and seeing the suit in action further highlights the interesting parallels between the two.
What This Artificial Symbiote Means for Marvel’s Future Weaponry
Professor Hensley’s suit has the potential to be as strong as poison, with one lethal exception.
What’s notable about Hensley’s creation is how much she matches in power the infamous Lethal Protector. Just like organic symbiotes, its polymer makes it bulletproof. When the police storm his laboratory, they open fire on him, only for the bullets to be repelled from the speed skating suit. This is due to the material he created being as strong as steel. Additionally, with its durability causing bullets fired at it to ricochet off its body, it makes the suit as useful as a deadly offensive weapon rather than a simple shield.
Of course, given the name, the Shield of Achilles proves to have a major weakness that puts the organic symbiotes over Hensley’s artificial creation in terms of strength. When he falls from a building after being cornered by the police, Spider-Man is unable to web him up because his web can’t stick. This causes him to fall to the ground, dying instantly. Although the material is strong enough to deflect any incoming projectile, the crushing impact of the ground falling at terminal velocity shows that Hensley’s material has its limits.
Our Take on the Future of Marvel’s New Artificial Symbiote
The Shield of Achilles paves the way for an interesting future for symbiotes
Although Hensley’s design has a clear flaw in its design, The introduction of the Achilles Shield polymer shows that humans on Earth-616 are on the path to creating their own version of symbiotes. Since Hensley’s polymer is not a living being like Venom or Carnage, humans can benefit from the positive aspects of the Achilles Shield without fear of the material feeding on their organs for food. Furthermore, under the microscope of some of Marvel’s smartest characters, this material could be perfected to remove the flaws in Hensley’s design to make humanity stand a chance and defend itself should another Venom War event arise in the future. .
The best thing is that, since the stories of Black Suit and Blood were crafted as lost stories during the Alien Suit saga, Hensley’s story is canon to the Marvel universe. Thus, this makes it possible for Achilles’ Shield to undergo improvements in the laboratory without any of the Avengers knowing. If perfected, it is man-made Poison symbiote has the potential to change things forever in WonderIt’s the huge universe.
Spider-Man: Black Suit and Blood #4 is now available from Marvel Comics.