Venom (vol. 2) #23
Monsters of Evil Part One
Heading to a rendezvous, Agent Venom thinks about how being a superhero was not what it was cracked up to be. He thinks how his life had gone from being a high school bull abused to his father, to being a proud soldier. His life was going good until he lost his legs in combat. However, he got a second chance when he was selected fro Project Rebirth 2.0 and became Agent Venom. He got to save the world and became an official superhero endorsed by Captain America himself and became a member of the Avengers. However, he made some mistakes along the way, which put his friends and family at risk. Flash Thompson tried to reconcile these mistakes, but Hawkeye — the leader of the Secret Avengers — has since put him on notice, a stern warning to do better in the future.[1]
Flash arrives at an abandoned warehouse to meet with Katy Kiernan, a reporter for the Daily Inquisitor. Agent Venom is taken aback by how attractive she is and that scares her. She is curious to know why he’s seeking information from a tabloid writer, and he explains that his usual connections aren’t as well versed in what he is investigating. She knows he’s looking for information about the Department of Occult Armaments, and warns him that this secret Nazi occult weapons division is dangerous. He assures her that this is strictly a reconnaissance mission and he has no intentions to engage.
Unfortunately, despite Agent Venom’s best intentions he ends up tripping the larms at DOA’s headquarters and finds himself in a fire fight with an army of cultists that make up the organization’s foot soldiers. Unable to contact the outside due to radio interference, Flash has no choice but to fight his way through the cultists.[2] The fight takes him into a room full of men in strange pods. After taking out the last of the guards, Flash decides to free the people trapped inside. Flash gets one of the men free and is horrified to discover that he has been possessed by a demon. The demonic presence is about to attack Flash when it sees the Hell-Mark that is invisible to all but the most mystically entuned.[3] It bows to him and asks for him to give it a command. When Flash tells it to get the fuck out of there, the demon willingly leaves its host body.
As Flash tries to make sense of what just happened he and the man he saved are struck by hellfire. Although Flash survives, the man he was trying to save is burned down to the bone. The attacker turns out to be Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan. As Agent Venom evades blasts of hellfire he realizes that he is way out of his league here.[4] Ultimately, the Son of Satan manages to strike Venom with his hellfire and is surprised when it doesn’t have the full effect it usually does. Venom manages to fight back and pins Daimon to the ground and puts a gun to his head.
Demanding answers, Agent Venom is told that the possession engines speak for themselves and that he is trying to build an army, and everyone involved are volunteers loyal to DOA. However, Hellstrom knows that Venom is bothered by something else, namely why he betrayed all his friends by siding with DOA. He tells Flash that there is a fine line between hero and monster and that they aren’t that different. He points out how little it will take for Flash’s friends to think he has crossed the line and strip him of everything. He also knows that Flash is a killer and that terrifies him and what it would mean to lose control again.
Blasting Flash with energy from his own Hell-Mark, and Daimon is surprised to see that he Venom survived this. Renewing his attack, he explains that the reason why he turned against his friends was because he saw the Hell-Mark that was placed on Venom himself and wishes that Flash could see it with his own eyes as it would make him understand that they are all monsters. One of the blasts sends Venom crashing into the open possession engine and as the green slime within drips on him he feels his body undergo a horrific transformation as the Venom symbiote is possessed and takes on a demonic form.
Recurring Characters
Agent Venom, Katy Kiernan, DOA (Son of Satan)
Continuity Notes
This of course recaps Flash Thompson’s early life and the previous Venom story arc. Here are the details:
Flash Thompson was first depicted as a bully in high school, regularly taunting Peter Parker dating back to Amazing Fantasy #15.
This recap also touches on the fact that his father was abusive to Flash while he was growing up. This was first explored in Spectacular Spider-Man #-1.
Flash mentions how he was inspired to be a better person by watching Spider-Man’s acts of heroism. Flash was one of Spider-Man’s early fans (unaware that he was actually Peter Parker) and even formed a fan club for the web-slinger back in Amazing Spider-Man #17.
Flash joined the military back in Amazing Spider-Man #43. A second stint in the military cost him his legs in Amazing Spider-Man #574.
He was later selected for the new Project Rebirth and bonded with the Venom symbiote in Amazing Spider-Man #654. Flash’s missions for Project Rebirth were chronicled in Amazing Spider-Man #654.1 and Venom (vol. 2) #1-8.
Flash states that he even managed to save the world. This is reference to Venom (vol. 2) #13-14 when he, X-23, the Red Hulk, and Ghost Rider prevented Blackhart from unleashing Hell on Earth.
Flash was inducted into the Secret Avengers in Secret Avengers #23.
He also makes mention of the mistakes he made in his career. This all started in Venom (vol. 2) #2 when Crime-Master learned his identity and used that to blackmail Flash by threatening his family and loved ones. See Venom (vol. 2) #2-3, 10-12, and 17-22.
Flash mentions how DOA was inactive for a while until they recently resurfaced. The organization first appeared in Nightstalkers #2 and were active until issue #11 of that series. They went to ground for years before resurfacing again in Fear Itself #7. Prior to their appearance here they had been trying to recover the mystical hammers summoned by the Serpent. See Fear Istelf: The Fearless #1-12.
Flash was given the Hell-Mark after he entered a pact with Mephisto during his mission to stop Blackheart. See Venom (vol. 2) #13.3
Venom mentions how it is rumored that Hellstrom is the son of the devil. This is true, or rather, he is the son of a devil since the Marvel Universe has a number of so-called Hell Lords. For more on the Son of Satan’s origins see Marvel Spotlight #13.