Marvel’s New Venom Makes the Original Look Pathetic

WARNING: Spoilers for Venom #5 ahead!

The next major threat facing Marvel Comics‘ reformed villain Eddie Brock is a truly horrifying god-like King in Black whose symbiote form makes Venom look like a child. Meridius, a King in Black who acts as ruler of the symbiote-made “Garden of Time,” was first introduced at the end of Venom #1, but it is not until the recent Venom #5 that Meridius’ true intentions and disturbing visage are revealed.

The recent run of Venom follows the line-wide crossover event King in Black, which saw the cosmic symbiote god Knull take over Earth and almost kill a number of major heroes. Eventually Eddie Brock’s Venom was able to defeat him with the help of his son Dylan Brock, before becoming the next King in Black himself. The first four issues of the new Al Ewing-penned Venom series have seen Eddie allowing the Life Foundation to destroy his physical body, while his mind and consciousness continue to survive within the symbiote hive-mind. His young son Dylan has donned the Venom symbiote, becoming Earth’s newest Venom. By the end of Venom #1 it is unclear if Meridius is a new friend or a deadly new foe to the reawakened Eddie. But the most recent issue definitively shows that Meridius is very evil, and potentially even worse than Knull.

All of the hardships that Eddie and Dylan have gone through, especially Dylan witnessing his father’s body being destroyed in front of him, have made this run of Venom one of the character’s most emotional storylines. The jealous, holier-than-though Meridius is clearly loving the pain he is causing both of the Brocks. Finally, in Venom #5 – written by Al Ewing with gorgeous art by Bryan Hitch – it is revealed the Meridius has been behind all of these traumatizing events, as he uses his immense time-traveling power, ability to mimic other beings, and the terrifying symbiote Bedlam to ruin the Brocks’ lives and gain control of Venom for himself.

Throughout Venom #5 Meridius’ inner thoughts are on display for readers, showing that he hates the other Kings in Black, like Wilde and Tyro, to an intense degree. He has been playing a centuries-long game through time with Eddie in an attempt to gain the Venom symbiote for himself. Meridius is so scary, and makes Venom look pathetic in comparison, for several reasons including his time-traveling, something even Knull could not do, and his ability to produce Bedlam from his own matter and leave him behind without needing to stick around. What finally cements Meridius as the most horror-inducing symbiote is the last panel of the issue, when the usually humanoid-looking Meridius lets his full symbiote persona out and unleashes a massive snake-like jaw with rows of horrible teeth and a vicious tongue.

When Venom was first introduced in the 1980s he was a truly brutal villain, and his eventual transformation from villain to anti-hero inspired his nickname the “Lethal Protector,” but in recent years the Venom symbiote has just not been as terrifying as it used to be. Ewing and Hitch’s Meridius is a great addition to the Venom cast because it introduces another symbiote variant that can bring the fear and horror Venom used to cause back into main continuity, one who may be even more vicious than Carnage, Bedlam, or Knull. Make sure you pick up Marvel Comics newest Venom #5 to dive into the twisted mind of Eddie Brock’s latest nemesis, the newest King in Black, Meridius.

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