The sequel sneakily introduces a new symbiote, taking a cue from Venom’s late-act Carnage reveal via Woody Harrelson’s take on Cletus Kady.
Stephen Graham, an actor, shows off the glowing blue eyes that Pat Mulligan, a seemingly possessed officer of police. Mulligan shares his name with the first host for the Toxin biote in Marvel’s many Venom spinoff comics.
What does Toxin have to do Carnage? It’s funny, convoluted, but fun, like all the best Venom stories.
The 2004’s Vs. Carnage miniseries was four issues long. It was written by Clayton Crain and illustrated by Peter Milligan. This series introduced readers to Carnage, a pregnant woman who was about to give birth to a symbiote baby. One of many symbiote offshoots that Marvel comics has produced over the years.
Similar to how the Venom symbiote, Eddie Brock, originally spawned Carnage (and other symbiote characters that inspired the Life Foundation Venom). Carnage’s pregnancy is part an asexual process in which a symbiote creates a child as a reaction to threat or panic.
The children of Symbiote parents tend to be more powerful than their parents. Kasady, Carnage and others were furious at the thought of anyone taking their place. They set out to end their goo-kid, and were followed by a sympathetic Venom throughout the series who initially believed that Toxin might be a powerful ally.
Pat Mulligan, a police officer, was unwittingly made Carnage’s child by Symbiote, who tried to plant Toxin somewhere else until Cletus, who was becoming increasingly sicker, could return to destroy it.
It was indeed risky as Toxin became terrifyingly powerful within Mulligan and outperformed Venom and Carnage in strength and gooeyness. Toxin was able to sense its enemies in the entire NYC metro area and had all their symbiote abilities. Brock needed to ask Cletus to grant a temporary truce to allow them to mutually address the threat to their lives.
Toxin made friends with its own but was supported by Black Cat and Spider-Man in a win against their grandparent and parent. The series finale saw Mulligan and Toxin embark on a new life, leaving Mulligan’s newborn child and wife behind to protect them.
Toxin and Mulligan would have a shared semi-storied career. This included a solo series that explored Toxin’s unusual allyship with Spider-Man and its inability to survive on its own like Venom or Carnage can. It also molded from childhood under Mulligan’s rules not to commit homicide arson or theft. After Mulligan’s death, Eddie Brock became the temporary host for the Toxin Symbiote.
This is all good material for the inevitable Let There Be Carnage sequel — but only if Andy Serkis really wants to go crazy with it.
