Venom Vol 4 19

 My brother... Carnage. He is hunting hosts across the city as we speak. Hunting the one who gave me life. Many have fallen. More soon will. Your brother... Eddie. He is alone in his fight against them. He will not survive without help. We must help our family, Dylan. Are you ready to join the fight? 

—Sleeper

Appearing in 1st story

Featured Characters:

• Dylan Brock

Supporting Characters:

• Venom (Eddie Brock) (Main story and recap)
• The Thing (Ben Grimm)
• Captain America (Steve Rogers)
• Normie Osborn
• Wolverine (Logan)
• Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
• Sleeper Symbiote
• Hawkeye (Clint Barton)
• Dr. Bruce Banner

Antagonists:

• Cult of Knull (Main story and recap)
  • Carnage's Hive
    • Carnage doppelgängers (Ravencroft Inmates) (Only in recap) (Controlled by Carnage)
    • Carnage (Norman Osborn) (Only in recap)
    • Spider-Man (Miles Morales) (Bonds to the Dark Carnage Symbiote's offshoot and joins team in recap)
    • Hybrid Symbiote (Controlled by Carnage) (Apparent death)
    • Hybrid (Reed Richards) (Controlled by Carnage) (Loses the Hybrid Symbiote)

Other Characters:

• Scorpion (Mac Gargan) (Only in recap)
• Carnage (Cletus Kasady) (Mentioned)
• Knull (Mentioned)
• Symbiote Imperium (Mentioned)
• Sadie (Mentioned)
• Billy (Mentioned)
• Sadie's father (Mentioned)
• Tess (Mentioned)
• Tel-Kar (Mentioned) (Deceased)
• "Rex Strickland" (Mentioned)

Races and Species:

• Humans (Main story and recap)
• Symbiotes (Main story and recap)
• Human-Scorpion Hybrids (Only in recap)
• Mutants
• Wolves (Referenced)
• Dogs (Mentioned)

Locations:

• Earth (Main story and recap)
  • United States of America (Main story and recap)
    • New York (Main story and recap)
      • New York City (Main story and recap)
        • Manhattan (Main story and recap)
          • SoHo (Only in recap)
          • Rex Strickland's Warehouse
          • New York City Sewer System
    • Los Angeles, California (Mentioned)

Items:

• Dark Carnage Symbiote (Only in recap)
• Scorpion's Suit (Only in recap)
• Spider-Men's Suits and Web-Shooters (Main story and recap)
• Venom Symbiote (Main story and recap)
• Spider-Man's Symbiote (Only in recap)
• Fantastic Four Uniform
• Captain America's Uniform and Shield
• Wolverine's Suit
• S.C.I.T.H.E.
• Hawkeye's Suit, Bow, and Trick Arrows

Events:

• Vietnam War (Mentioned)

Synopsis for 1st story

Horrified, Venom watches as Carnage grabs the Scorpion and rips the codices from his spine. Before Carnage can kill Gargan, Miles Morales hits Carnage in the face with a Venom Strike-augmented punch. Grabbing the Scorpion, who whimpers that he can't feel his legs, Venom is only able to watch as Carnage vengefully bonds Miles to an offshoot of the new Carnage symbiote; mentally lamenting that Dark Carnage is going to win and hoping that his son Dylan is alright.

Elsewhere, Dylan and Normie Osborn flee from the Hybrid-controlled Maker; Spider-Man, Captain America, and the Thing struggling to hold him off. Slamming Captain America to the ground and snarling that he's pathetic, the Maker prepares to rip out his spine and claim his codex for the Cult of Knull. The Thing grabs Spider-Man in preparation for a makeshift Fastball Special, ignoring Spider-Man's protests that Wolverine is literally standing right next to them. The Maker counters by casually lobbing Captain America into Spider-Man's trajectory, the Thing and Wolverine cringing as they crash into each other.

Inside the warehouse, Dylan leads Normie to the S.C.I.T.H.E., responding to his protests that they should just run for it by saying that they're getting backup. Dylan opens Sleeper's canister, the symbiote telepathically thanking him and asking if Dylan is ready. In response to his confusion, Sleeper tells Dylan that Carnage is hunting former hosts across the city and that Eddie will die unless he has help. Dylan agrees to bond to Sleeper, but the moment the symbiote's tendrils make contact Dylan's eyes turn solid black and he speaks in the symbiotes' eldritch language, stating that God is coming. Sleeper instinctively recoils, lashing out at Dylan and snapping at him to get away. Retreating to a safe distance, Sleeper states that Dylan's mind is unlike that of anything it's encountered before, asking what he is. Restored to his senses, Dylan stares fearfully at his hands and stammers that he doesn't know.

Outside, Hybrid mockingly tells the assembled heroes that Dark Carnage only needs a few more codices to be able to rejoin the Hive, gleefully asking which of them wants to die for his cause as he trounces them. An arrow embeds itself in Hybrid's chest before unleashing a debilitating sonic wave; Hawkeye perched on the hood of a speeding jeep. Apologizing for taking so long, Hawkeye leaps off as the jeep slams into the stunned Hybrid and crushes him into the wall of the warehouse. Tossing the jeep aside, Hybrid furiously asks if they know who he is. His eyes solid black, Dylan replies that they don't, but that his new friend might; siccing Sleeper - shapeshifted into the form of a massive wolf - on him. Roaring, Sleeper pounces and bites down on Hybrid; Dylan vetoing Spider-Man's declaration that they have to get in there and help it.

Sleeper releases Hybrid and returns to Dylan's side, leaving its gestalt sibling coated in gelatinous ooze. As Hybrid mockingly asks if Dylan thinks a little slobber will stop him, Dylan retorts that Sleeper is capable of producing any chemical compound it wants and that the ooze covering him is napalm. Smirking, Hawkeye nocks a flaming arrow and shoots it at Hybrid, setting him ablaze. As the heroes shield their eyes from the ensuing inferno, Hybrid shrieks in agony before suddenly falling silent. Eyeing the crater scorched into the cement, the Thing wonders where the Maker disappeared to; the evil Reed Richards slinking away through the sewers, having escaped through a nearby storm drain.

A few hours later, Bruce Banner arrives and apologizes for being late. Bruce notes that the Maker's machine works and that he even managed to fix the calibration error that caused the Life Foundation symbiotes' hosts excruciating pain. As Normie is loaded into one of the capsules, Spider-Man assures him that he's there for him. Dylan asks if his new friend is going to be okay, Spider-Man assuring him that Normie will be thanks to him before adding that Eddie would be proud of him. Worried about his "brother," Dylan walks over to where Sleeper - still in the form of a wolf - is laying and sits next to it.

Sleeper angrily tells him to never do that again, Dylan apologizing and saying that he had no clue he could even do that and it happened almost instinctively. As Sleeper snaps that controlling another living being against its will is unethical, Dylan calls it out on its hypocrisy by pointedly asking it how Tel-Kar is doing. Sleeper glares at Dylan before admitting that the napalm was a nice touch, asking why he'd had it take the form of a wolf. Dylan notes that he'd been inspired by Rex Strickland's memos from the Vietnam War and what Eddie had done with the Venom symbiote; admitting that he's not really a dog person.

Returning to its amorphous form, the Sleeper symbiote takes the shape of a cat and asks what he thinks. Smiling, Dylan says that he likes it; but their reconciliation is interrupted by Venom's return. Retracting the Venom symbiote from his face, Eddie greets Dylan; who leaps into his arms for a hug. Speaking telepathically, Sleeper vows to protect Dylan to the best of its ability, but asks if he is going tell Eddie what he really is; Dylan nervously staring at the Venom symbiote's writhing tendrils.

Solicit Synopsis

See Also

• 16 image(s) from Venom Vol 4 19
• 5 reprint(s) of Venom Vol 4 19

Links and References

References