Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Venom War: Lethal Protectors #1! When it comes to Venom lore, an ‘Avengers-type’ group of symbiote heroes has never really been possible – or, at the very least, it’s never really been successful. Aside from the mainstay symbiotes like Venom and Carnage, others always seem to kind of blend together without enough individuality to make them memorable. But now, that’s about to change, as Marvel’s wild new symbiote team finally gives Venom lore its own ‘Avengers’.
In Venom War: Lethal Protectors #1 by Sabir Pirzada and Luca Maresca, Silver Sable and her Wild Pack have been hired to break into a Life Foundation laboratory and secure a ‘package’ that’s of great importance to her client. Given that this job is taking place during the ongoing Venom War – meaning populated areas are overrun by undead symbiote monsters called zombiotes – the Wild Pack have come prepared. Every member of the Wild Pack has been given their own symbiote, ones that Venom fans should find familiar.
Each symbiote is one of the five that the Life Foundation forcibly spawned from Venom back in the early days of the Lethal Protector series from the ‘90s: Riot, Phage, Lasher, Agony, and Scream – with the addition of a new symbiote, Flicker. However, unlike their previous appearances in Marvel Comics canon, this time, these symbiotes will finally be memorable as an Avengers-esque symbiote squad.
The Life Foundation Symbiotes Finally Got the 1 Thing They were Missing: Cool Hosts
The Hosts were Always Generic for Venom’s Offspring, Now They’re Interesting
The current members of Silver Sable’s Wild Pack are: Puma, Lightbright, Tarantula, Carl Stricklan, and Lina Abbas (following the death of the final member, Navvab Tadjvar), plus Silver Sable herself. Granted, these aren’t the most A-list characters in Marvel Comics, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less interesting, especially once bonded to their personal symbiotes.
Wild Pack members like Tarantula and Puma have their pre-existing superpowers enhanced by and integrated into the physical forms of the symbiotes, altering their appearance and making them stand out from one another in terms of abilities. Not only that, but with Silver Sable, for instance, the symbiote changed completely, as she bonded with Agony to become something entirely new: the Silver Symbiote.
In other words, the bonding process fans are seeing here is unique in that the symbiotes are molding to their hosts like never before, and the results are spectacular. Each symbiote brings something different to the table, from appearance to abilities, which is something that’s been sorely lacking from symbiote teams in the past (including with these symbiotes in their team’s original form).
The Future is Bright for This Avengers-Esque Symbiote Superhero Team
The Lethal Protectors Already Have Rich Lore in Marvel Comics
While this team is technically still Silver Sable’s Wild Pack, the symbiote enhancements they initiated is called “Lethal Protector Mode”, which is a perfect name for this symbiote team moving forward. These symbiotes made their debut in Venom: Lethal Protector #4 as the enemies of Venom when he was known as the Lethal Protector (during his early days as an antihero). Now, the symbiotes have come full circle, becoming the Lethal Protectors themselves long after Venom dropped that title, redeeming their villainous past to become a team of Avengers-like heroes.
These symbiotes are familiar yet underutilized, they have a rich history in Marvel Comics lore with a team name that reflects that, and their modern redesigns and superhuman hosts make them more interesting than ever. In other words, the future is bright for this wild new symbiote team, as it finally gives Venom lore its own ‘Avengers’.
Venom War: Lethal Protectors #1 by Marvel Comics is available now.
Venom
The Venom franchise is a series of superhero films based on the Marvel Comics character Venom, produced by Sony Pictures as part of their Spider-Man Universe. The franchise began with the 2018 film Venom, which tells the story of Eddie Brock, a journalist who becomes the host for an alien symbiote, giving him superhuman abilities. Despite mixed reviews, the film was a commercial success, leading to a sequel and further expansion of the franchise.
