Episode #26: The Drunk History of Anti-Venom

🍺 The Drunk History of Anti-Venom: From Eddie Brock to Flash Thompson and Back Again

Welcome back, symbiote squad! On the latest episode of Comics & Brews, your favorite intoxicated comic historians, TazAlGhul and Just Abby, crack open some cold ones and uncork the wild, gooey saga of one of Marvel’s most underrated badasses: Anti-Venom.

If you think Venom is the wildest symbiote in the Spider-Verse, buckle up—because Anti-Venom brings healing powers, redemption arcs, and more emotional damage than a bottle of whiskey on an empty stomach. Let’s dive into the drunk history recap for those who want the cure and the chaos. Be sure to watch the video below! If you want a quick breakdown of what we talk about be sure to keep scrolling and get the cliff notes with some beautiful comic spreads and photos of the beers of the episode!

🧬 Who Is Anti-Venom?

Anti-Venom is what happens when guilt, leftover alien goo, and a supervillain’s mystical healing powers collide.

It all starts with Eddie Brock, the original Venom host, who, after a terminal cancer diagnosis, tries to atone for his crimes by selling the Venom symbiote and donating the cash to charity. He ends up volunteering at the F.E.A.S.T. Center, run by none other than Martin Li, AKA Mister Negative—a man with the power to heal and corrupt.

During one of Li’s “healing sessions,” remnants of the Venom symbiote still in Eddie’s bloodstream fuse with his white blood cells. The result? Anti-Venom, a new kind of symbiote born not from space… but from Eddie’s need for redemption.

💪 Powers That Cleanse and Crush

Unlike traditional symbiotes, Anti-Venom doesn’t have a mind of its own. It functions more like a super-powered immune system:

• Cures illness & detoxifies toxins
• Repels and neutralizes other symbiotes
• Immune to fire and sonic attacks
• Disrupts Spider-Man’s powers (thanks to that one time it “healed” Peter Parker)

Basically, it’s Venom’s squeaky-clean cousin who hits the gym and does charity work.

🕸️ Eddie Brock’s Redemption Run

Once bonded with Anti-Venom, Eddie goes full antihero mode:

• Saves the F.E.A.S.T. Center from Norman Osborn’s Thunderbolts
• Beats down Mac Gargan, the Venom host at the time
• Lets go of his grudge against Spider-Man (growth!)
• Becomes a street-level vigilante, helping folks like Jenna Cole
• Teams up with The Punisher to take down crime cartels
• Exposes Mister Negative‘s identity alongside Spider-Man and Wraith

But his most selfless act? Sacrificing the Anti-Venom suit during the Spider-Island event to help cure a city-wide infection. Eddie literally gives up his powers to save New York.

🔥 Flash Thompson: The Second Coming of Anti-Venom

Eddie’s story might’ve ended there, but enter Flash Thompson—former Agent Venom, war hero, and Peter Parker’s old schoolmate.

In Venom Inc. Alpha (2017), Flash gets hit with Anti-Venom serum during a symbiote showdown. The serum reacts with trace Venom cells in his body and transforms him into Agent Anti-Venom—a new version with the healing and anti-symbiote powers Eddie once had.

Flash’s time as Agent Anti-Venom is legendary:

Ultimately sacrifices himself to save Spider-Man

Fights symbiote-controlled criminals like Maniac

Helps stop the Poison invasion in Venomized

Takes on the Red Goblin (Norman + Carnage symbiote!) and heals his allies in the process

🐉 Death, Rebirth, and the Symbiote Hive-Mind

Even in death, Flash isn’t done. His consciousness lives on in the Symbiote Hive-Mind, a kind of spiritual afterlife for past hosts. When Knull, the God of Symbiotes, invades Earth in King in Black, Flash bonds with a symbiote again—this time becoming a massive Anti-Venom dragon.

With Eddie Brock’s help, Flash reanimates his human body and returns as Agent Anti-Venom once more, ready to fight Carnage’s new cult of symbiote madness.

🔥 Anti-Venom Today: Fighting Cults and Carnage

Now, in Marvel’s Carnage (2023) series, the stakes are higher than ever. Carnage, newly empowered and even more unhinged, is building a creepy symbiote religion through ritual killings.

Flash, as Agent Anti-Venom, is all that stands between Carnage and total symbiote domination. He’s joined forces with Iron Man and symbiote allies, but the fight is far from over. This entire little war they have going on is an absolutely unreal read. Carnage has gone completely off the rails and is easily making every character in the spider-verse minced meat. If you haven’t read this storyline just yet I’d say it’s a MUST!

🍻 Final Thoughts: Why We Love Anti-Venom

Anti-Venom is one of the few Marvel characters who fully embodies redemption, sacrifice, and second chances—and he does it while rocking a badass white symbiote suit and beating the snot out of villains.

Whether it’s Eddie Brock finding peace, or Flash Thompson rising from the dead, Anti-Venom proves that even in a universe filled with monsters, healing is still possible—even if it gets a little messy. This is one Amazing Spider-Man storyline you have to read if you haven’t. I myself read it well after it released in the trade paperback and sweet berry wine was it well worth it. I wish I had been pulling these covers as they dropped though because they’re absolute FIRE!

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Beers of the Episode

Beer #1: Cerebral Brewing – Terpene Trait: IPA with Pineapple Terpines and Just Abby said “It was pretty freakin good” at 6.5% – Very light hint of pineapple flavor which hat TazAlGhul giving it a 4.5 out of 5.

Untappd Rating: 4.13 – Our Rating 4.5

Beer #2: Brewing Projekt: Famous Last Words – Hazy IPA brewed with Nectarine and Nelson Sauvon hops and sits at a percentage that we couldn’t find at the time but have now conjured it and found out it is a 6.9% banger. HA!

Untapped Rating: 3.94 – Our Rating 4.0

There were about 2343 beers had at Lone Tree Brewing in Parker, Colorado before this … hence TazAlGhul’s struggle to read. What a time. Below are the only photos I got – Sorry Cerebral … it was too delicious so we made it disappear before I even thought of ripping a picture.

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