Mary Jane Builds Her Own Empire as Eddie Brock Reclaims Venom After ‘Queen in Black’

Marvel’s post-Queen in Black era will launch two major new chapters this fall, including a new Venom ongoing series from Charles Soule and Tommaso Bianchi and Friendly Neighborhood Mary Jane from Ashley Allen and Phil Noto.

Marvel Comics pulled back the curtain on the aftermath of Queen in Black during its Next Big Thing panel at San Diego Comic-Con, revealing major new directions for Eddie Brock, the Venom symbiote, and Mary Jane Watson. Once the dust settles from the crossover, Eddie and Venom will finally find their way back to one another, while Mary Jane steps away from symbiote life and begins building something entirely her own. Two characters are getting fresh starts, but neither one is walking away from the chaos untouched.

Launching this October, Venom #1 reunites Eddie Brock with the symbiote that helped define him. After years apart, the two are once again Venom, and Eddie is determined to make the reunion count. He wants to become the best host the symbiote has ever had and prove that they can operate as heroes, even if the rest of Marvel’s superhero community has something to say about it. Considering Eddie’s history, that approval probably is not coming with a handshake and a fruit basket.

Charles Soule will write the new ongoing series with artwork by Tommaso Bianchi, and Soule is clearly coming into the relaunch ready to swing big. “I am so thrilled to be relaunching Venom with an all-new #1 this October with art by Tommaso Bianchi, who is doing astonishing work,” Soule said. “Every panel leaps off the page into your eyeballs, it takes up room, it nests in your mind, which is a good thing in this case.”

Soule also made it clear that the series will not simply recycle the greatest hits from Eddie and Venom’s past. “We are doing new things with the character that have not been done before,” he explained. “It is thrilling, it is fast-paced, and perhaps a bit provocative. Venom is the best. Venom rules. Venom. Venom. Venom.” When the writer starts chanting the character’s name like he is summoning him through the floor, you know the energy is serious.

Mary Jane Watson, meanwhile, is preparing to take control of her own narrative in Friendly Neighborhood Mary Jane, a five-issue limited series launching this November. After spending several months bonded to the Venom symbiote following Venom War, MJ emerges from Queen in Black with a new outlook, bigger career ambitions, and a mysterious top-secret gift. Instead of returning to business as usual, she launches Watson Productions and adds producer to a résumé that already includes model, actress, hero, and survivor of more superhero insanity than most people could handle in ten lifetimes.

Writer Ashley Allen and artist Phil Noto will guide MJ through this new chapter, which brings Black Cat, Iron Man, and other familiar faces into her orbit. Mary Jane’s new entertainment venture quickly attracts the wrong kind of attention when Chameleon decides to sabotage her plans. To protect her company and the future she is trying to build, MJ will have to rely on her instincts, her connections, her ability to understand people, and whatever secret Venom left behind.

“I’m so excited to be taking Mary Jane on this next chapter,” Allen shared. “MJ has always understood people in a way few can, and that’s what makes this series so exciting to write.” Allen added that Mary Jane’s storytelling ambitions will place her behind the camera, but the entertainment industry may prove more dangerous than expected. Someone sees MJ’s empathy as a threat, and that puts her directly in the path of a larger scheme.

That angle gives Mary Jane room to grow without pretending her time as Venom never happened. She is not being pushed back into somebody else’s supporting cast or reduced to waiting around for Spider-Man drama to knock on the door. She is becoming a business owner, a storyteller, and the center of her own adventure. Eddie Brock gets the symbiote back, but Mary Jane may walk away with something just as valuable: control over what comes next.

The road toward both new series begins with Queen in Black #1, arriving in comic shops on Wednesday, July 29. Queen in Black: Venom Unchained #1 and Queen in Black #2 follow on August 5, alongside the Mary Jane: Face It, Tiger 60th Anniversary Special. Venom #1 launches in October, followed by Friendly Neighborhood Mary Jane #1 in November.

Eddie Brock and Venom are back together, Mary Jane Watson is opening the doors to her own production company, and Chameleon is already lurking in the shadows. Marvel is not easing these characters into their new beginnings. It is throwing them straight into the fire, fam, exactly where the best stories usually begin.