10 Modern Comics That TOTALLY Changed Marvel History

Armed with a boatload of symbiotes and seemingly free reign for a storyline, writer Donny Cates managed the impossible with the fourth volume of Venom: making the lore surrounding the symbiotes into something completely new and fascinating.

First and foremost, Cates totally changes the way we perceive symbiotes by creating Knull, a dark god who made the gloopy beings to serve as his personal army. With symbiotes long being thought to have been inherently evil, this can be seen to pretty much change everything, by showing that the aliens aren't themselves evil, but rather taught to be violent by a cruel and tyrannical leader.

The creation of Knull himself is also a pretty big deal, as with it, Cates tied the origins of the symbiotes back to the very beginning of the Marvel universe. It also ties into Jason Aaron's work on Thor, with Venom confirming that the very first symbiote was actually All-Black the Necrosword.