Eddie Brock is the former-villain-turned-anti-hero Venom. A reporter whose fall from grace was unwittingly caused by the actions of Spider-Man, Brock would go to Our Lady of Saints Church to ask God forgiveness before attempting suicide. However, a symbiote that had been earlier discarded there by Spider-Man sensed his anger and merged with Eddie, combining their shared scorn to become one of Spider-Man's deadliest foes.
Going by the alias of Venom,[7] he would give birth to another symbiote that bonded with the serial killer Cletus Kasady to become Carnage.[29] For a time, Eddie agreed to a truce with Spider-Man and moved to San Francisco, where he became the anti-heroic "Lethal Protector" of an Underground City, but returned to villainy following a failed stint as a black ops government assassin. Parting ways with the Venom symbiote, Eddie began to seek redemption for his dark past - bonding to the Anti-Venom and Toxin symbiotes,[4][6] before finally returning as Venom and attempting to become a true hero.[30][31]
Coming into conflict with the God of the Symbiotes, Knull,[32] Eddie eventually discovered he had a son named Dylan.[33] Eddie freed Knull from his prison to save his son from Carnage,[34] but redeemed himself after vanquishing the dark god during his invasion of Earth. He became the new King in Black,[17] and passed on his mantle of Venom to his son.[35] However, Eddie received a cryptic warning from the future that his son and his other were in danger, but while trying to save them, his physical body was killed by an organization called the Absent Throne.[28]
Unstuck in time thanks to the power of the King in Black, his codex was transported to the Garden of Time.[28] There, he met other Kings in Black: Finnegan, Bedlam, Wilde, Tyro, and the Garden's creator, the evil Meridius.[36] Eddie learned that these were all future versions of himself and that he would turn on his own son, but he also learned that there was also seventh iteration of himself, the Eventuality.[16] Having received answers from this god-like being about the true nature of the King in Black, Eddie used his power to return to life and vowed to save his son.[37][38]
