The Black Symbiote

Once upon a time, in the great city of New York, there was a bit of black goo that would not go quietly.

You remember the Venom symbiote, don't you? The black living goo that Eddie Brock once wore, long ago? Well, when Eddie let it go, the goo did not simply vanish. Goo like that always looks for someone new to wrap around. And this time, it found a man named Mac Gargan.

Now, Mac Gargan had been a villain for a very long time. Once, people called him the Scorpion. And when the black Venom symbiote curled around him, Mac did not use it to help anyone. He used it to frighten people, and to take what was not his. He grew big and mean, a brand-new Venom stomping through the streets of the city.

Far across town, Eddie Brock heard about it, and his heart grew heavy.

Because Eddie knew that black goo better than anyone alive. He had worn it. He had listened to it whisper. And now, as the white hero Anti-Venom, he held the one power in all the world that the black symbiote truly feared — a healing touch that could dissolve it, soft and quick.

But here is the part that makes Eddie special, dear one. So listen closely.

Eddie did not want to hurt Mac Gargan. Not even a little.

He wanted to free him.

You see, Eddie remembered what it felt like to be trapped, and to be feared, and to feel like there was no way out. And he remembered how Martin Li's healing light had given him a second chance when he needed one most. So Eddie thought, "If I can peel that black goo away from Mac, then maybe — just maybe — I can give him a second chance too."

They met during dark and stormy days.

Spider-Man was already busy, for a whole team of villains had come after him at once, and Mac Gargan's Venom was the biggest and hungriest of them all. Thunder rumbled. Rain poured down. And into the middle of it all stepped Anti-Venom, glowing soft and white.

Oh, what a battle it was!

Mac swung his long black tendrils — grab, snatch, swipe! But wherever the black goo touched Anti-Venom's white skin, it sizzled and shrank back with a squeal. Eddie walked straight through the storm of attacks, his gentle white antibodies burning the black goo away, layer by layer by layer.

The Venom symbiote shrieked. It was being cured — and it did not want to be.

"Hold still," Eddie said, his deep voice steady and calm. "I am helping you. Even if you don't want it."

He wrapped his healing hands around Mac and pushed the warm white light in deep. And the black goo began to boil and thin and peel away from Mac's body, flaking off like old paint from an old door, dissolving into nothing at all.

For one shining moment, Eddie very nearly washed the whole symbiote clean away.

But a battle is a loud and tangled thing, and before Eddie could finish, the other villains rushed in and pulled Mac free. The black goo clung on, wounded and weak, and Mac slipped away into the rain and the dark.

Eddie stood alone in the downpour, breathing hard, the raindrops running down his big white face.

He had not saved Mac that day. And that made him sad.

But standing there in the storm, Eddie also understood something true and important, something that would stay with him always.

"I am not a monster who hunts other monsters," he said softly. "I am a healer."

Because to Eddie Brock, even the scariest black goo in all of New York was never something to destroy.

It was only ever something to cure.

And that, dear one, is the difference between fighting to hurt and fighting to help. The bravest heroes always choose to help, even when it is harder, even when it does not work the first time, even when nobody is watching.

Eddie wiped the rain from his big white eyes and turned toward home. He was tired, and a little disappointed. But somewhere deep inside, a warm and steady feeling had settled over him — the feeling of finally knowing who you are meant to be. And that feeling, he decided, was worth more than any battle won.

So snuggle down now, and close your eyes. The rain has stopped. The city is quiet. And somewhere out there, a gentle white hero is still hoping, always hoping, to give someone a second chance.

Goodnight, Eddie. Sleep well.