Extreme Venomverse #1 (2023)

In the bell-tower of Our Lady of Saints Church, Spider-Man stands before the ringing bells -- having realized that the symbiote bonded to him is weak to sound. Noting that the vibrations from the bells will kill him but that he would rather die than be its puppet, Spider-Man says that if the symbiote doesn't leave him it will die too. As the symbiote sloughs away from him, Peter Parker collapses and laments never having gotten to make amends with his Aunt May, who was furious with him for quitting grad school, to get to know his new godson Normie Osborn, or tell Mary Jane Watson he loves her. The symbiote retreats down the steps of the belltower, seething in rage at having been rejected again, but -- its time spent bonded to Peter having imprinted a complex spectrum of human emotions onto it -- it turns back to save him. Reaching out to check his pulse with a tendril, the symbiote realizes Peter is dead. Distraught, it flees into the main area of the church, where it finds Eddie Brock praying for forgiveness for his impending suicide. Landing behind Eddie, the symbiote engulfs and bonds to him. Narrating, Eddie says that although Peter Parker died that day, the best part of him survived in the symbiote. Noting that Peter Parker is to the symbiote what Uncle Ben was to Peter -- a loved one killed through a moment of selfish weakness -- Eddie says that the symbiote blamed itself for Peter's death and sought to atone by internalizing everything that made him who he was -- his responsibility and desire to do good. Bonding to Eddie, who only wanted to die in that moment, the symbiote found a kindred spirit in their mutual desire for forgiveness and atonement, and that their thoughts and emotions intertwining through their bond makes Eddie want to help it atone for failing to save Peter by saving others in need of help. However, Eddie notes that his own soul is still damned because the best parts of himself aren't him but an echo of Peter Parker forced onto him by the symbiote. Web-swinging through the city, Spider-Man hears someone crying out for help and spots Doctor Octopus carrying several bags of stolen money and a hostage. Noting that he told Otto to leave New York the last time they fought, Spider-Man kicks Otto through a brick wall of a warehouse, causing him to drop the hostage. Furious at Spider-Man interupting his plans again, Otto lashes out with his tentacles while mockingly telling Eddie to reveal how his predecessor died so he can kill him in the same way. Saying that he wouldn't have such a problem with Otto if he didn't attack innocents, Spider-Man webs him to the wall of the warehouse; Otto sneering that Eddie is just as self-righteous and arrogant as the original Spider-Man. Extending one of his tentacles, he snaps a steel I-beam overhead, attempting to smash Spider-Man with it from behind. Alerted by the symbiote, Spider-Man leaps over it, the momentum sending the girder straight towards Otto's face. Deflecting it with a tentacle, Otto notices Spider-Man reeling in pain and realizes he's vulnerable to sounds. Gleefully clanging his tentacles together, Otto causes the symbiote to slough away from Eddie, realizing that without it he's just a normal human. Throttling Eddie with one tentacle and picking up the stunned ssymbiote with the others, Otto contemplates taking it for himself before deciding to just kill it and Eddie. Free from the symbiote's bettering influence, Eddie furiously grabs a brick, noting that while he's killed and wallowed in avarice, doing terrible things to good people, he no longer wants to kill himself; instead wanting to do better and atone for his actions. Deciding that it doesn't matter if the best parts of himself come from the symbiote, but that he chooses to accept them, Eddie throws the brick at Otto's head, knocking him unconscious. Wanting to be worthy of mercy, Eddie rushes over to the motionless symbiote and prays for it to still be alive. Regaining consciousness, Otto sneers that Eddie got a lucky shot in but that his luck has run out because he's not the real Spider-Man. As it rebonds to him, the symbiote agrees, saying that he's not Spider-Man on his own, but that Eddie and the symbiote together are Spider-Man. Restraining Otto with tentacles, Spider-Man knocks him out and leaves him webbed-up for the police. Hearing a voice address him, Spider-Man is shocked to see his ex-fiancée Anne Weying bonded to a Venom symbiote resembling body armor. Narrating, Eddie notes that at the time he thought he and the Spider-Man symbiote were inseparable and that they'd finally figured everything out, but that meeting her changed everything.