Marvel is slamming the breaks on a major Venom storyline for the sake of the status quo. An announcement regarding plans for the character at SDCC 2026 came just ahead of what promised to be an exciting new beginning for the Lethal Protector.
November 2024 saw the start of the All-New Venom series about a new host trying to turn the symbiote into a hero. The new host was ultimately revealed as Mary Jane Watson in March 2025. This unlikely pairing came about out of mutual desperation, with both needing a connection to survive the events of the Venom War event.
To describe Venom and MJ as an odd couple would be putting it mildly. The symbiote originally had hostile feelings towards Mary Jane after she distracted Peter Parker from bonding with it. These feelings lingered even after MJ and Peter broke-up and the symbiote gave up on rejoining Peter.
Contrastingly, Mary Jane had PTSD as a result of her encounters with Venom. This made their interactions all the more intense. It also strengthened the idea of Mary Jane as a hero in her own right, as she had to conquer her fears to use the symbiote to help others. This conflict culminated in the two achieving an understanding and adopting a more feminine look in June 2026.
However, this new direction for Venom is coming to an abrupt end. A panel at SDCC 2026 revealed a new Venom series premiering in October 2026. The new monthly comic will see the symbiote reunited with Eddie Brock. Mary Jane will also return to her classic role, giving up superheroics to become a producer in a new Friendly Neighborhood Mary Jane miniseries.
Why Marvel is ending Mary Jane’s Venom era too soon
There is no clear reason for this sudden shift beyond nostalgia for Eddie Brock as Venom’s host. The timing is also odd. The week after SDCC 2026 is the premiere of Marvel’s next big symbiotic event, Queen in Black. The story centers around a war between Hel, Norse Goddess of Death, and the void god Knull, for control of the symbiotes.
Queen in Black had been billed as the first grand battle for the Lethal Protector in their new form. However, it seems that first battle will also be their last. This is unfortunate, because Mary Jane becoming Venom’s host is the most interesting thing done with either character in years.
The Venom/MJ bonding also injected new life into the Spider-Man comics. Peter’s feelings towards Mary Jane were already complicated given the circumstances of their second break-up. Adding the symbiote into the mix created a new level of drama. Ironically, it also enabled the two former lovers to open up to each other in a way they hadn’t in years by bonding over being heroes. Unfortunately, it seems MJ is doomed to once again regress into being the eternal girlfriend.
