Is This How Marvel Plan To Introduce Symbiotes To The MCU?

Venom #4 is going to get A LOT of people talking...

by Ewan Paterson
Marvel Comics

Since around 2011, Marvel have made great efforts to explore and develop the origin of the symbiotes - the alien beings that gave Spider-Man his notorious black suit, and later birthed the likes of Venom, Carnage, and numerous other beings as well.

Though the common perception of the creatures is that they've always been an evil influence, the truth is actually the opposite. Explored fully in Guardians of the Galaxy a few years back - during a period where Flash Thompson's Venom was a member of the team - it was revealed that the symbiotes' real name were the Klyntar, a noble, alien race that were once corrupted by an evil group of outsiders. The key reveal there was that the bond between a Klyntar and its host was a sacred, positive thing, and that the arc also coincided with the book's strongest months.

Now, thanks to Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman's new Venom comic, that origin has just been developed further - and it's one tailor-made for the MCU.

The pair's stint on the character has already proven to be one of Marvel's best, but now in Venom #4, they've truly managed to lift the lid on the meaning of the symbiotes, and may have potentially clued us all in on how Disney could look to introduce them to the MCU further down the line...

Advertisement
Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.