How Donny Cates' Venom run changed the Marvel antihero

The Venom character has been a fixture of Marvel Comics for years. In recent years, he's become a global phenomenon to mainstream audiences too through his Tom Hardy-led movie trilogy, but the character has had a hardcore fanbase for decades since the character's emergence in the later 80's run of Spider-Man comics.

However, while the Venom mythos has received much criticism, backlash and the like for just as long as the character has been around, there was a recent run of comics that many would say was not only a great run in and of itself, but it improved the Venom character overall.

With that in mind, let's dive into Donny Cates' acclaimed run and explore why it's so beloved.

What you need to know about Donny Cates

Donny Cates has been in the comics business for years, working for publishers such as Marvel and Image, creating a great many works for both companies. For Image, he made Redneck, Crossover, The Ghost Fleet, and his most well-regarded work from Image, God Country. For Marvel, he has had runs on Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Thanos just to name a few. Most of these comics came either before or concurrently with his Venom run, but there are some that came after it too, such as Thor and Hulk for Marvel and Vanish for Image.

Cates is very good at taking bombastic, cosmic ideas and concepts and seamlessly merging them with grounded storylines or characters dealing with the ramifications of these particular events as well as their past sins. Case in point, his run on Doctor Strange introduced the talking ghost dog named Bats, and from the description, you might think it would be too outlandish or strange for the comic (pun intended of course). However, Bats was such a fun and hilarious character that he fit perfectly within the Doctor Strange canon, despite his very weird origins and appearance.

Cates' Venom run is no exception to the rule.

Where things stood before Cates' Venom run

Venom was such a popular character when he was first introduced that Marvel ordered a slew of Venom -related titles to be released with various creative teams throughout most of the 1990s. Unfortunately, because the character was everywhere, readers eventually grew tired of Venom, thus the character was rested for a few years. That is, until he made a comeback in the early 2000s.

Throughout most of the 2000s and 2010s, the Venom symbiote found its way to other host bodies that weren't Eddie Brock, most infamously when long time Spider-Man villain, The Scorpion, became the new Venom. Unlike Eddie Brock, who was considered an anti-hero, Scorpion was a fully-fledged villain when he bonded with the symbiote. He was a very bloodthirsty Venom, surpassing all the horrible things Eddie Brock did. But Scorpion's time as Venom came to an end when the symbiote was given to another long time character in the Spider-Man mythos, Flash Thompson.

Flash Thompson, to most casual fans of Spider-Man, was a long time bully to Peter Parker in high school, but the two settled their rivalry and became best friends. Later, Flash served in the military where he lost both of his legs during combat, but because of his record, skills, and valor, the U.S. government gave him the opportunity to become involved in a secret program, which was eventually revealed to be having the Venom symbiote given to a soldier under U.S. government control. Thus, the era of Agent Venom began. And this era was very popular amongst fans, because to them it felt like a fresh and new take on a character that had became stagnant.

But where was Eddie Brock during all this? Brock was diagnosed with cancer, and the Venom symbiote felt that he was useless to him, eventually abandoning him altogether. While the symbiote jumped from host to host for years, Brock was left to deal with the consequences of his time as Venom while also dealing with his cancer. However, through some comic book shenanigans, he formed a new symbiote within himself that was separate from Venom, and became Anti-Venom.

What made Anti-Venom so dangerous was that only with his touch he could kill any symbiote. He could even cure Spider-Man of his powers, as well as being able to cure any diseases. However, Brock became more deranged than ever before, believing himself to be a Christ like figure, inspiring masses of people to follow in his footsteps.

Brock eventually lost the Anti-Venom symbiote, but he ended up merging with another symbiote called Toxin, until he and the Venom symbiote reunited in a new ongoing Venom series in 2016. After this run, Donny Cates took the reins of the series in 2018.

About Donny Cates' Venom run

Donny Cates began his run in Venom No.1 in May of 2018 and concluded with No. 200 (the number changed to 200 because it was Venom's 200th issue anniversary celebration) in June of 2021. The run consisted of the main Venom comics, as well as two crossover events - the first being Absolute Carnage and the last being King in Black - as well as one-shot stories, including Web of Venom, where the new lore established by Cates in the main Venom run is further developed and expanded upon.

Eddie Brock is once again Venom in this series, but over the course of many nights he's been having nightmares related to ancient soldiers being overrun by a huge monster bathed in shadow, but it never goes further than that, and it leaves him with a sinking feeling of impending doom. These dreams are the catalyst that bring Eddie and Venom to confront the true origins of the symbiote race, and the dark entity behind it all: Knull, the God of the Symbiotes, the King in Black!

Knull's initial arrival on Earth was met with resistance from Venom and some other Marvel heroes, but they are unprepared for the power in Knull's command, and the legions of symbiotes at his beck and call. Knull requires a piece of the Venom symbiote that would allow him to break free of his prison and wreak havoc on the universe - a storyline that was adapted in Venom: The Last Dance - but it's revealed that Knull is also after anyone who's worn a symbiote at one time or another (which is many of Marvel's heroes), as implanted a "codex" in their DNA that could free Knull from his imprisonment.

Venom barely beats back Knull, but the rest of the series deals with revealing more about the backstory of the villain and his creation of the symbiote race, as well as Eddie dealing with the sins of his past coming back to haunt him.

During this run, Cletus Kasady returns and becomes Carnage again and Knull's right hand man in the crossover event Absolute Carnage, Eddie has a little brother he knew nothing about and becomes his anchor to the goodness inside him that was thought lost, and it all culminates in Knull invading Earth in the crossover event King in Black.

Reviewing the Venom run

What makes Donny Cates' Venom run so groundbreaking is that he not only reinvented the Venom mythos, but also the character of Eddie Brock. I mentioned earlier that Venom began to run out of steam during the '90s, but most of the fatigue was directed at the host of Venom, Eddie Brock. Many felt that Brock's character didn't have any more interesting stories left to tell, and while Brock continued to be a part of Marvel Comics for many decades, he was replaced by other characters to wear the symbiote and eventually relegated to the background. While Rick Remender's run on Venom gave fresh life to the Venom character with Flash Thompson becoming Agent Venom, Donny Cates not only made the Venom mythos more interesting, but Eddie Brock most of all.

Cates expanded on Brock's early upbringing, his strained relationship with his father, and the revelation of his little brother Dylan's existence. This all made the character of Eddie Brock much more compelling and sympathetic than he's ever been before. During the early years of the character's existence, he was a psychopathic monster with a warped sense of justice, but Cates redeemed both the Venom symbiote and Eddie Brock in ways I couldn't even dream of thinking of on my own. The writing itself remained very consistent and engaging throughout, even if certain storylines after the Absolute Carnage event weren't as strong as the earlier parts of the story. But the momentum was regained with the final epic confrontation with Knull in the last few issues of the main Venom series and in the King in Black crossover.

There were a few artists who worked on this run, such as Iban Coello, and legendary Spider-Man and Venom artist Mark Bagley also contributed to the series, but to me the best art this series had to offer came from frequent Donny Cates collaborator Ryan Stegman. Stegman drew the first six issues, plus both crossover events, and his art is both big and bold, while also showcasing tender and emotional moments very authentically. All of the artwork in this saga is fantastic, but Stegman's artwork really felt impactful, exciting, and epic in ways that fit Cates' overall stories extremely well.

Venom by Donny Cates is an exceptional comic book run that I would consider a modern classic. This series is perfect for those who haven't read a single Venom comic before, because while there are some references to past stories, Cates does a great job of filling people in on the important details while also reinventing what most people thought they knew about Brock and Venom. So do yourselves a favor and read this series, you won't regret it!