New Spider-Man Villain Killed Peter Parker’s Relatives, Targets Mary Jane Watson Next

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Marvel heavily promoted the recent crossover event featuring Spider-Man and Venom, called ‘Death Spiral,’ and its new villain, a serial killer named Torment. The first issue of the storyline, ‘Amazing Spider-Man / Venom: Death Spiral #1,’ reveals that Torment has targeted Mary Jane Watson. It also establishes that, despite being new to the scene, Torment is already working with another supervillain.

Amazing Spider-Man / Venom: Death Spiral #1 is written by Joe Kelly, Al Ewing, and Charles Soule, who currently write the Amazing Spider-Man, Venom, and Eddie Brock: Carnage comics. The majority of the issue focuses on setting up the current storylines for these characters. Throughout the issue, each page also includes a small panel detailing the story of someone affected by the villain, Torment. It’s eventually revealed that these victims are all distant relatives of either Spider-Man (Peter Parker) or Venom (Eddie Brock).

The tangled web of Spider-Man comics right now

Peter Parker is back on Earth after a long time in space and is struggling to balance his normal life with his superhero duties. He’s found out that Norman Osborn has been pretending to be Spider-Man, and his clone, Ben Reilly, was secretly taking his place at work. However, Ben wasn’t able to keep up with Peter’s personal life, making Peter’s friends and family believe he was intentionally distancing himself from them.

Meanwhile, Eddie Brock has been trying to contact Spider-Man for a different reason: Carnage now knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Eddie, the original host of Venom, was forced to team up with Carnage, but they surprisingly reached an agreement. Eddie would use his skills as a journalist to locate killers for Carnage to eliminate. However, Carnage warned Eddie that he could ditch him for someone even more unstable if the opportunity arose.

Mary Jane Watson found herself in an unusual situation, similar to a deal made previously. After nearly dying while using a special gauntlet as the hero Jackpot, the weakened Venom symbiote attached itself to her, saving her life. However, neither of them are pleased with this arrangement, and Venom still longs for his previous host, Eddie Brock. To make things even more complicated, Mary Jane believes Spider-Man knows she’s now operating as a hero and is avoiding her, especially since she mistakenly revealed her identity to Ben Reilly, believing him to be Peter Parker. She’s also developing a connection with Flash Thompson, who is currently using the Anti-Venom persona.

This publication clearly explains the situation and successfully portrays Torment as a resourceful killer who cleverly evades capture. The story gradually reveals that Torment is receiving help from someone on the inside, who is providing him with information about potential victims.

Carnage is helping Torment in choosing targets

The comic’s ending shows that while Eddie Brock is asleep, the Carnage symbiote has been communicating with Torment. Torment views his killings as interconnected patterns, understandable only to himself. He willingly followed Carnage’s suggestions, expanding these patterns to include relatives of Carnage’s most hated foes.

The comic ends with Carnage telling Torment to go after Mary Jane Watson. Carnage wants to hurt the woman he and Eddie believe is Spider-Man’s greatest love. But now that Venom has bonded with MJ, Carnage’s plan probably won’t work as he expects.

Amazing Spider-Man / Venom: Death Spiral #1 is now available in comic shops everywhere.

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2026-02-25 17:08