Absolute Carnage #5 delivered the epic confrontation teased by the last issue’s cliffhanger ending. Venom was last seen flying after a massively overpowered Carnage as the two seemed ready to level the city during their fight. But, Venom manages to bring out a brand new ability to give it the upper hand in this struggle. Down under this massive flying battle, a small contingent of Avengers including Captain America, Wolverine, The Thing, and Spider-Man are doing their best to buy Venom some time. All corners of the Marvel universe have felt the encroachment of the sinister symbiote at some point in this event. Now, it is time to settle things once and for all. But, as the final pages show, things may be waiting for Eddie Brock after he deals with the power-mad villain in front of him. Even Brock’s son Dylan had his part to play in this issue as things drew to a close. *Spoilers for Absolute Carnage #5 coming up*

Venom and Carnage’s struggle is one of the most visceral things put to page over the course of this entire event. Carnage has god-like power and is dangerously close to summoning the symbiote deity Knull. Once unleashed, Knull will wreak havoc on the people of Earth. Venom is pretty tired of the constant struggle with Kasady at this point and wants things to return to normal. As the struggle continues, it becomes clear that Eddie is more than holding his own after absorbing a number of symbioses himself. Carnage senses a moment of opportunity and decides to hold Dylan hostage and bargain. If Eddie chooses to save his son, he dooms the universe by unleashing Knull or if he sacrifices Dylan, he can save the world.

(Photo: Marvel Entertainment)

It is at this moment that Brock’s frustration just boils over and he manifests an impressive blade to effectively end Carnage with one swing of its power. But, that resolution comes at a terrible cost because by killing Carnage, Eddie has unwittingly unleashed Knull anyway. The comic breaks away from the immediate scene of the battle to the symbiote homeworld where the deity breaks free of his constraints to begin his flight toward Earth. And just like that, an unpleasant surprise is waiting for all the planet’s heroes at some point down the line. All Carnage wanted to do was unite all the symbiotes so he could get the signal to their location out to Knull. It didn’t matter if he won or lost, everything went according to plan anyway.

Now, Danny has some sort of weird symbiote destroying powers as evidenced by his black glowing eyes. He vaporized one of the monsters threatening his friend. The boy also demonstrated some control over other more hospitable symbiotes over the course of the event. His father doesn’t know all about that yet. Also, that parentage question is one of the elephants in the room and now the kid knows that Eddie Brock is not his brother, as he had been told, instead the Venom host is his dad. That will be an awkward conversation for sure. But, after everything else that’s happened, it might be relatively easy to discuss.