Venom's new host revealed (spoilers)

So lately Marvel have been spoiling their own twists, and today they revealed the identity of the new Venom. It's Flash Thompson which was the safe bet all along but now that it is confirmed I just realized this makes no sense for the character. Flash is Spider-Man's biggest fan and supporter, this is a major aspect of his character and the central dynamic of his relationship with Peter. My question is why would Flash, of all people, choose to adopt the identity of his hero's evil counterpart, especially considering Venom's recent activities while part of the Dark Avengers where he actively used Spider-Man's identity just to smear it. Honestly I don't see how this can work without tossing out nearly five decades worth of characterization.

Who said he's going to choose to become Venom. Think about it being forced to fight his hero. Not able to control his body. The anguish of it all.

Hidden Masta said:

Who said he's going to choose to become Venom. Think about it being forced to fight his hero. Not able to control his body. The anguish of it all.

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The set-up of the story, as I understand it, is that this Venom is going to be a black-ops agent for the United States. In no way could I seriously see anyone trying have a story where the US government forced a disabled veteran into undergoing a dangerous experiment to turn him into a killing machine. Could you imagine the **** storm that Marvel would get for that? They have to have Flash volunteer for this, there is no other way to handle this story that wouldn't come back on Marvel.

http://comics.ign.com/articles/114/1146703p1.html

After reading this, I'm more willing to give it a try for the first few issues.

Ragna "D" BloodEdge said:

http://comics.ign.com/articles/114/1146703p1.html

After reading this, I'm more willing to give it a try for the first few issues.

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I am sure on a technical level the book is going to fine, but it suffering from a major problem that all the recent Spider books have: character's action just don't ring true. This a major problem for any title but especially Spider-Man books since the characters are as important (sometimes more) as the action.

If it was anyone else writing this, I'd be more concerned, but Rick Remender's been doing an outstanding job with Uncanny X-Force, so that gives me more hope.

I don't personally like this type of book but for what it is I agree Remender is the best bet. I am not faulting him at all, the set-up is what I am having issue with. I can not see Flash using the name and appearance of Venom, everything else could work it is just that doesn't. It is just part of this rather stupid "legacy" concept Wacker is pushing these days. Like how Julia is the new Madame Web, Anya is now Spider-Girl, and Phil is Hobgoblin. These identities being forced onto these characters is just lazy and hurts them in the long run.

I've always wanted Flash to be a web-swinger, I had a few ideas about him learning Peter's identity and somehow becoming Spidey for a few months or up to a year in the comics, glad they've gotten him in a posistion to exploit his Spidey-fandom

Blue Saint said:

The set-up of the story, as I understand it, is that this Venom is going to be a black-ops agent for the United States. In no way could I seriously see anyone trying have a story where the US government forced a disabled veteran into undergoing a dangerous experiment to turn him into a killing machine. Could you imagine the **** storm that Marvel would get for that? They have to have Flash volunteer for this, there is no other way to handle this story that wouldn't come back on Marvel.

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It's the Captain America story all over again.

A man who wishes to serve his country, but cannot, is given the chance to do so if he participates in an experiment.

And they've made it clear that he supposed to be a heroic figure with a dark drawback.

Rather interesting story hook and I trust Remender to use it well. He goes into it in the interview:

"We have to define the suit and make it interesting, but Flash is the character that we're zeroing in on," said Remender. "He's here to serve his country. He's here to be a good guy. But he's got dependency issues and he's got a temper and some character flaws which obviously don't jive very well with the suit. We'll see some consequences of that right in the first issue. "

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I'll go with it just cause he looks cool like Deadpool and Punisher made a baby.

But last I checked(no 100% up to date with comics) doesn't Flash um....not have legs....