Disgraced and fired from the Daily Globe, Eddie’s marriage to Anne Weying has come to an end. The only work he can get now is writing for trashy supermarket tabloids.[1] One evening, Anne calls and get the voice mail and congratulates him on the new job and to remind him that they are meeting with the lawyer to finalize their divorce. Eddie isn’t answering the phone because he’s bought a gun and is planning on committing suicide. He goes to the Our Lady of Saints Church, the place of his downfall. He stands before a statue of the Virgin Mary to make his peace with God, saying that Spider-Man reveals a blackness that exists inside him and that he doesn’t deserve any forgiveness for his sins as all he can think of is how he wants to kill the accursed wallcrawler.[2] As he puts the barrel of the gun under his chin, he suddenly notices that the statue of the Virgin is weeping a single black tear. Suddenly, the tear leaps off the statue’s face and goes into Eddie’s eye, soon every orifice is attacked by a strange black liquid. Eddie’s screams turn into maniacal laughter as the priest enters the room and tells him to keep it quiet or he’ll call the police. He is horrified to see the black liquid stretching up Eddie’s face in a horrific smile. Brock’s mind is flooded with images of a massive war between many of Earth’s heroes and villains on a strange alien world. As he struggles against the alien creature attacking him, he sees images of it being freed by Spider-Man and becoming his black-and-white costume and later,[3] He then sees Spider-Man rejecting the alien creature, ripping off his own clothes while mimicking Spider-Man’s own actions in his mind.[4] As the creature continues to merge with him, he realizes that Spider-Man tried to kill it as well and he collapses naked on the floor.

Moments later, the priest returns with two police officers. When they try waking Eddie up, he gets up and then vomits up the symbiote and it quickly wraps itself around him and begins whipping tendrils around to force these attackers away. When the one of the officers tries to shoot Eddie, the symbiote deflects the bullet. It then attacks one of the officers as his partner runs out for back up. The priest is not far behind and once outside of his church he begins praying to god. Moments later, Eddie comes crashing out and asks the priest for forgiveness for his past sins. When the other officer tries to ram Brock with his car, the symbiote grabs it and throws it into the church, and also asks for absolution for that as well. Fearing for his life, the priest gives Eddie his forgiveness. He thanks the father and walks away from the scene, the symbiote taking on the form of normal street clothes. As he arrives at his apartment he spots Anne waiting outside with her lawyer. He begins to panic, thinking his wife can’t see him looking like some kind of bum. The symbiote responds to this by forming a straight razor out of its mass to shave his face and then takes on the form of an expensive suit.[5] When Eddie comes out from around the corner, Anne is surprised to see how good he looks and he dismisses her apology for showing up so suddenly. In fact, he is more than happy to sign the divorce papers, telling her that it is time for him to move on with his life. When the lawyer offers him a pen, Eddie refuses, signing the papers with his symbiote instead. Anne is pleased that Eddie is handling this lie an adult and he finally stopped blaming Spider-Man for his problems. Hearing the web-slingers name angers him and shouts at her, saying that Spider-Man is responsible. She points out that Spider-Man couldn’t have personally ruined his life, and he realizes that he won’t get through to her.

Entering his apartment, he wills the symbiote to assume its true form and he realizes that he now knows who Spider-Man really is. Looking in the mirror he can’t help but laugh and as he does so he makes the symbiote form a mouth full of jagged teeth as he assumes a larger more monstrous form than the one Spider-Man used when he used to wear the symbiote.

Recurring Characters

Venom, Anne Weying

Continuity Notes

1. This story takes place in the aftermath of the Sin-Eater murder spree that ran from Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #107-110. As originally explained in Amazing Spider-Man #300 (and last issue), Eddie wrote a series of articles of his interviews with Emil Gregg, a copycat who claimed to be the real Sin-Eater. When the truth came out after Spider-Man caught Stan Carter, the real Sin-Eater, Eddie was disgraced and lost his job at the Daily Globe. Eddie’s attitude after he lost his job led to the dissolution of his marriage as detailed in Amazing Spider-Man #375.

2. Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #5 Eddie states that he went to the church to commit suicide because he also discovered that he was dying of cancer. It’s later revealed in Venom (vol. 4) #11 it is revealed that Eddie’s cancer diagnosis was a false memory implanted by the Venom symbiote to make Eddie more dependant upon it. However, that doesn’t mean Eddie didn’t go to the church to blow his brains out as this story demonstrates (as cancer is not mentioned once in this story) so I think we can safely assume that Brock was going to commit suicide one way or the other.

3. These images depict the events of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1-12. Spider-Man obtained the Venom symbiote in issue #8 of that series.

4. Spider-Man wore the symbiote until he discovered it was alive and trying to bond with him in Amazing Spider-Man #258. It later made another attempt to bond with him and he seemingly slew the creature by using the bells in the church to exploit its weakness to sonic waves. That happened in Web of Spider-Man #1.

5. There is some graffiti on the wall here that reads “Omega the Unknown”. Omega was a strange hero of sorts that used to run around the Marvel Universe from Omega the Unknown #1-10 and Defenders #73-77. Although this probably a plug for the Omega reboot series Omega: The Unknown #1-10 which was being published at the same time as Venom: Dark Origin.

Chronology

• Amazing Spider-Man #300 (page 23 panel 3-4) ~ Amazing Spider-Man #375 (page 6, panel 5-6) ~ Venom: Lethal Protector #3 (page 14, panel 4) ~ Uncanny Origins #7 (page 2): Carl Brock disowns his son when it's revealed that he identified the wrong person as Sin-Eater.

• Amazing Spider-Man #375 (page 6, panel 7) - Eddie blames Spider-Man for his lost job. He and grows distant from Anne. Uncanny Origins #7 (page 3, panel 4): Eddie begins working for a tabloid newspaper.

• Amazing Spider-Man #300 (page 24 panel 4) ~ Uncanny Origins #7 (page 3, panel 5): Eddie starts working out.

• Amazing Spider-Man #300 (page 24 panel 6) ~ Uncanny Origins #7 (page 4, panel 1): Eddie starts obsessing about Spider-Man, taping all the stories about him on the walls of his apartment.

• Amazing Spider-Man #300 (page 25, panel 1) ~ Uncanny Origins #7 (page 4, panel 2-3) ~ Venom: Dark Origin #3 (page 1) : Eddie goes to Our Lady of Saints to contemplate suicide.

• Amazing Spider-Man #300 (page 25, panel 2) ~ Uncanny Origins #7 (page 5, panel 1-3) ~ Venom: Dark Origin #3 (page 2) The Venom symbiote bonds with him.

• Venom: Dark Origin #3 (page 3): A priest watches Eddie being possessed by the symbiote and goes to get the police.

• Venom: Dark Origin #3 (page 4-7) Uncanny Origins #7 (page 6 panel 1-6): The symbiote shares its memories with Eddie, revealing Spider-Man's secret identity.

• Venom: Dark Origin #3 (page 8-18, panel 1-5): Eddie becomes Venom for the first time. Kills the cops that arrive. Gets forgiveness from the priest. Leaves.

• Amazing Spider-Man #300 (page 25, panel 4): Venom web slings for the first time. Venom: Dark Origins #3 (page 18, panel 6-page 22): Eddie returns to his apartment and signs his divorce papers. Realizes that he knows Spider-Man's identity. Assumes his trademark Venom form for the first time.

• Amazing Spider-Man Annual #26 (2nd): Eddie comes home after bonding with the Venom symbiote. Declines his neighbor Ernesto Mendez's invitation to celebrate after finishing his latest invention. Ernesto is murdered by goons from the Markham Company thugs who kidnap his son Pablo.

• Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #12 (2nd story): After escaping the authorities. Eddie begins investigating the Markham Company. He tracks down their factor to rescue Pablo only to learn that he was working with Markham to betray his father.

• Web Of Spider-Man Annual #8 (2nd story): Venom informs Pablo that Bruno Markham killed his father. Confronts the businessman. When Bruno burns Ernesto's plans, Venom kills him.

• Code of Honor #4: Venom is observed by Officer Jeffrey Piper while on duty.

Topical References

• Outdated technology: An answering machine.