Red Skull and Venom Combine in Marvel’s Heroes Reborn

Marvel’s upcoming Heroes Reborn event promises some shocking new status quos for their heroes and villains, and none may be more surprising and terrifying than the Red Skull bonded with Venom’s symbiote. This new villain, named the Black Skull, is spotlighted in a special variant cover for Captain America #29 by artist Carlos Pacheco.

In the world of Heroes Reborn, someone has altered reality so that the Avengers never existed—Thor was never worthy enough to lift the hammer and Captain America remains frozen in ice. In the absence of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the Squadron Supreme has taken their place as Earth’s champions. Even more intriguing are the mash-ups that exist in this new world, such as Doctor Doom and Juggernaut. Marvel is shining a light on some of these new characters in a series of variant covers running in their April titles.

The cover, titled “The Skull of Venom,” shows the Black Skull in all his horrifying glory. Clad in a black and red symbiote suit complete with a distorted skull logo and flanked by darkly-clad HYRDA agents, the Black Skull is ready for battle and ready to crush the Squadron Supreme. Symbiotes can be grotesque in appearance, and the Black Skull is no different—he has Venom’s claws and fangs mixed with Red Skull’s head. It all goes a long way in creating a sense of dread and unease.

Marvel is remaining silent on how the Black Skull came to be, so the main question raised by this cover is: how did the Skull get a symbiote in the first place? Peter Parker never became Spider-Man in this universe, so what brought the symbiote to Earth? Could it have been attached to another being and the Skull killed them and took it? A symbiote is a potential weapon, so will the Black Skull try to bond his HYDRA underlings to symbiotes, and create an unstoppable army to fight the Squadron Supreme? Whatever the case, a murderous fascist like the Red Skull controlling a Venom symbiote is a terrifying thought. It takes a truly despicable villain and makes him even more powerful.

The world of Heroes Reborn promises a bold new Marvel Universe, with fresh spins on existing characters, and the Black Skull may be one of the most notable. Readers have seen the destructive power of symbiotes in Venom and especially in The King in Black, so the idea of a genocidal despot like Red Skull controlling one will make him one of this new Earth’s premier villains. The issue, written by Ta’Neshi Coates with art by Leonard Kirk, will be available in stores and on all digital comics platforms April 4^th, 2021.

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Shaun Corley
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Shaun Corley is a pop culture enthusiast living in the Pacific Northwest. After stints in both customer service and academia, he’s turned his attention to writing about comic books–his lifelong passion. He is a graduate of Radford University, with a degree in English. When not reading comics, he enjoys spending time with his fiance and their dog.

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