Post by Admin on Apr 27, 2011 22:08:08 GMT -5
Venom...Carnage...Anti-Venom...oh, my! With so many symbiotes now playing bigger roles in the 616 Marvel Universe, is there really any room for the return of Carnage's offspring, Toxin?
If you know me, then you know it's no secret I'm a pretty big fan of Toxin. Just like other lesser-known characters I love (Cardiac, Splice, Slayback), I thought it was fair to assume it might be a decade or more before we saw the character grace the panels again. So, you can imagine how psyched I was when our fellow ledger, InnerVenom123, showed me the following from the letter column of Venom #2.
Now that you know yet another symbiote will take center stage, why should you care? First, I'll tell you a bit about the character. The man under the symbiote, Patrick Mulligan, made his debut in the first issue of the 2004 run Venom/Carnage. The premise was simple. Venom's child, Carnage, was about to have a child of its own. During the asexual pregnancy, he encounters a New York City cop (who happens to be Patrick) and forces the newborn to bond with him. Carnage later realizes he wants to kill the symbiote before it becomes too powerful, but Venom (Eddie Brock) wanted to make it an ally. One issue later, Mulligan discovers these superhuman abilities and easily defeats the two popular Spider-Man villains. Seeing how strong Toxin has become, Venom agrees with Carnage and the two attempt to kill him. But once again, Toxin smacks them around effortlessly. Yes, Toxin is that powerful.
Just like the other symbiotes, Pat begins to struggle with the blood-lusted and immature nature of the young alien. Now I know you're thinking "but that's exactly what the CURRENT Venom is going through!" but fret not! Toxin works out those issues during his 2005 run appropriately titled Toxin. In this 6 issue series, Pat essentially earns control over the symbiote. There were times where Toxin had outbursts and even took control, but in the end Pat proved he was in charge. When faced with his father's killer, Razorfist, Pat refused to take his life. Even when Razorfist egged him on, claiming his father begged for his life and such, Toxin shrugged it off. This final act proved he's a true hero and even earned him with the thumbs up seal of approval from Spider-Man.
But just like many other characters, Patrick then vanished. He was briefly mentioned in Civil War: Battle Damage Report as a potential recruit for the Initiative program, but nothing happened. Now that we know he's coming back, how can he be re-introduced? One thing is for sure, Marvel has done something completely new with their symbiotes---they've created one that is a true hero. Sure, Eddie Brock thinks he's a hero (and still is trying such as Anti-Venom), but at the end of the day we all know he's a darker anti-hero. Just look at the body count he raked up during his short run as Anti-Venom! Then there's Carnage who we all know is pure evil. And then we have the current symbiote host, Flash. While in control he's an anti-hero, but he's only being used for special operation missions...And to top it off, I believe writer Rick Remender is making it clear this has more of a Jekyll and Hyde vibe to it. Flash is going through the motions that Toxin has already faced in dealing with the symbiote and its nature.
Long story short, Toxin is Marvel's first street level true symbiotic hero. We always see symbiotes tip-toeing the anti-hero line or they're just entirely bloodlusted. Toxin patrolling the city as a legitimate hero is something I'd love to see expanded on and given more depth. So how do I believe Remender will bring Toxin back? I can see a few possibilities.
1) Will Flash be assigned to take down Toxin, despite Toxin being a hero? Perhaps the government views all symbiotes as a threat due to their history and wants him brought in and controlled (just like with Venom). This seems logical because it was implied Toxin would continue to use the symbiote to fight crime, and sooner or later that's bound to gain some attention.
2) The traditional "random encounter" while Flash is in the field. It's funny how often characters tend to bump into one another, despite the vast size of the cities they operate in. From there, it could be a simple team-up.
3) Will Toxin serve as Flash's Yoda in gaining control over the symbiote? There's a nice sense of irony there since Toxin is actually Venom's grandson and he would be teaching his "elder", but the two interacting could prove interesting if done well. I'm guessing this option is rather unlikely, but I thought it would be fun to speculate!
What do you guys think? Are you excited to see Toxin eventually return? Do you like any of the 3 options I've proposed or do you view any of them as likely? Do you have any ideas of your own? Discuss!
If you are not already a member, Sign Up! to join the community and take part in the discussion!
If you know me, then you know it's no secret I'm a pretty big fan of Toxin. Just like other lesser-known characters I love (Cardiac, Splice, Slayback), I thought it was fair to assume it might be a decade or more before we saw the character grace the panels again. So, you can imagine how psyched I was when our fellow ledger, InnerVenom123, showed me the following from the letter column of Venom #2.
Now that you know yet another symbiote will take center stage, why should you care? First, I'll tell you a bit about the character. The man under the symbiote, Patrick Mulligan, made his debut in the first issue of the 2004 run Venom/Carnage. The premise was simple. Venom's child, Carnage, was about to have a child of its own. During the asexual pregnancy, he encounters a New York City cop (who happens to be Patrick) and forces the newborn to bond with him. Carnage later realizes he wants to kill the symbiote before it becomes too powerful, but Venom (Eddie Brock) wanted to make it an ally. One issue later, Mulligan discovers these superhuman abilities and easily defeats the two popular Spider-Man villains. Seeing how strong Toxin has become, Venom agrees with Carnage and the two attempt to kill him. But once again, Toxin smacks them around effortlessly. Yes, Toxin is that powerful.
Just like the other symbiotes, Pat begins to struggle with the blood-lusted and immature nature of the young alien. Now I know you're thinking "but that's exactly what the CURRENT Venom is going through!" but fret not! Toxin works out those issues during his 2005 run appropriately titled Toxin. In this 6 issue series, Pat essentially earns control over the symbiote. There were times where Toxin had outbursts and even took control, but in the end Pat proved he was in charge. When faced with his father's killer, Razorfist, Pat refused to take his life. Even when Razorfist egged him on, claiming his father begged for his life and such, Toxin shrugged it off. This final act proved he's a true hero and even earned him with the thumbs up seal of approval from Spider-Man.
But just like many other characters, Patrick then vanished. He was briefly mentioned in Civil War: Battle Damage Report as a potential recruit for the Initiative program, but nothing happened. Now that we know he's coming back, how can he be re-introduced? One thing is for sure, Marvel has done something completely new with their symbiotes---they've created one that is a true hero. Sure, Eddie Brock thinks he's a hero (and still is trying such as Anti-Venom), but at the end of the day we all know he's a darker anti-hero. Just look at the body count he raked up during his short run as Anti-Venom! Then there's Carnage who we all know is pure evil. And then we have the current symbiote host, Flash. While in control he's an anti-hero, but he's only being used for special operation missions...And to top it off, I believe writer Rick Remender is making it clear this has more of a Jekyll and Hyde vibe to it. Flash is going through the motions that Toxin has already faced in dealing with the symbiote and its nature.
Long story short, Toxin is Marvel's first street level true symbiotic hero. We always see symbiotes tip-toeing the anti-hero line or they're just entirely bloodlusted. Toxin patrolling the city as a legitimate hero is something I'd love to see expanded on and given more depth. So how do I believe Remender will bring Toxin back? I can see a few possibilities.
1) Will Flash be assigned to take down Toxin, despite Toxin being a hero? Perhaps the government views all symbiotes as a threat due to their history and wants him brought in and controlled (just like with Venom). This seems logical because it was implied Toxin would continue to use the symbiote to fight crime, and sooner or later that's bound to gain some attention.
2) The traditional "random encounter" while Flash is in the field. It's funny how often characters tend to bump into one another, despite the vast size of the cities they operate in. From there, it could be a simple team-up.
3) Will Toxin serve as Flash's Yoda in gaining control over the symbiote? There's a nice sense of irony there since Toxin is actually Venom's grandson and he would be teaching his "elder", but the two interacting could prove interesting if done well. I'm guessing this option is rather unlikely, but I thought it would be fun to speculate!
What do you guys think? Are you excited to see Toxin eventually return? Do you like any of the 3 options I've proposed or do you view any of them as likely? Do you have any ideas of your own? Discuss!
If you are not already a member, Sign Up! to join the community and take part in the discussion!
)