So somewhere out there... beyond Meridius, beyond my most evil self... there's a seventh Venom. 

—King in Black / "Finnegan" (Eddie Brock)

Appearing in "The Cage Opens"

Featured Characters:

• King in Black / "Finnegan" (Eddie Brock) (Past and present) (Ghost, soul or spirit)

Supporting Characters:

• Venom (Dylan Brock) (Cameo)

Antagonists:

• Absent Throne
  • Bedlam (Eddie Brock) (Past and present)
  • Meridius (Eddie Brock) (Identity revealed)
  • Wilde (Eddie Brock) (Identity revealed)
  • Tyro (Eddie Brock) (Identity revealed)

Other Characters:

• Spider-Man (Peter Parker) (Mentioned)
• Carlton Drake (Mentioned)
• "Seventh Venom" (Vision or hallucination)

Races and Species:

• Humans
• Symbiotes

Locations:

• Symbiote Hive-Mind
• Timestream
  • End of Time
    • Garden of Time
  • Earth-616
    • Earth
      • United States of America
        • California
          • Baywater

Synopsis for "The Cage Opens"

Horrified by the realization that Bedlam is himself, Eddie Brock's codex wonders if the crimson King in Black is an alternate version of himself consumed by the hatred, rage, and bloodlust he'd fought so hard to leave behind. Trapped inside Bedlam's mindscape, Eddie is helpless to do anything but watch as his evil counterpart stabs his son Dylan through the heart. Cursing himself for underestimating Meridius, Eddie wonders how the leader of the Kings in Black managed to trap him in Bedlam's mind. Manifesting in his mental world, Bedlam roars that everything is Eddie's doing and tries to devour him. As Eddie laments that he's too weak to stop Bedlam, Bedlam speaks aloud -- sneering that the point of all of this is that pain makes him stronger. As Dylan passes out, Bedlam contemptuously tosses him and the Venom symbiote aside and sneers that they're too weak. Eddie's codex is swallowed by Bedlam's astral form, and pulled back into the Timestream by Meridius.

Appearing in the Garden of Time as the King in Black dubbed "Finnegan", Eddie screams his son's name. Smirking, Meridius says that the time for pretences and masks is over. Crawling towards him, Eddie demands to know why Meridius is doing this, and Meridius smugly retorts that he's doing all of this because he was trapped in a time-loop of his own making until he gave into despair, was broken, and was reforged into a cruel and merciless god; and now seeks to continue that time-loop through Eddie. As Eddie says that he never met Meridius or the other Kings in Black before arriving at the Garden of Time, Meridius mockingly says that Bedlam isn't an alternate universe counterpart or evil clone, but the future self of Eddie Brock himself. As Eddie gawks in horror, Meridius smugly says that Eddie is going to kill his own son because he tells him to. Shouting that Meridius is lying, Eddie attacks him with a flurry of tendrils only to be grabbed and absorbed into Meridius' body; Meridius sneering that he created the Garden of Time from the brain-dead remains of the Symbiote Hive after consuming their minds to grow more powerful.

Saying that time is the cage that binds him, Meridius sprouts wings and soars into the sky, revealing that the Garden of Time is a spiral similar to Knull's, but with a straight line from the end to the centre that intersects with the spiral seven times. Meridius states that the straight line embodies the "present" -- the moment of "now" -- and the spiral represents Eddie's life; meaning that what appears to be a path with seven branches is actually a single path that intersects seven times. Meridius exposits that Bedlam is the third iteration and embodies the infinite rage this knowledge drives Eddie to; Wilde comes after Eddie's rage is spent, leaving him empty save for cynical sarcasm; and Tyro is Eddie at his most-broken, when -- desperate and willing to do anything to escape his fate -- he turns to Meridius, his future self. Calling himself the ultimate evolution of Eddie Brock, Meridius says that Eddie cannot escape this fate, only embrace it. Ejecting Eddie, Meridius mocks his helplessness and how he's already degenerated into the second iteration -- dubbed "Finnegan" by Wilde -- that embodies his despair at realizing his hopelessness and powerlessness to escape his fate. Protesting that Meridius is wrong, Eddie staggers through the Garden, overcome by shock and despair as he struggles to comprehend and process Meridius' revelations, until he stumbles across Meridius, Wilde, Tyro, and his own past self newly-arrived at the Garden. Eddie desperately tries to warn his past self, but Bedlam attacks. Witnessing the time-loop in action, Eddie snaps, giving in to self-loathing and urging Bedlam to kill their past self.

As before, Bedlam grabs "Finnegan" instead, and Eddie urges him to follow through with his threat to devour him and destroy his mind to erase them from existence. Meridius appears and orders Bedlam to travel to the past, manifest in the office of Carlton Drake, and hunt down Dylan Brock. Bedlam attacks Meridius, who reforms and chidingly states that Bedlam can kill "Finnegan" in an attempt to erase himself, Wilde, Tyro, and Meridius himself from existence, preventing Dylan and the Venom symbiote from learning what he knows comes next until it's too late... or he can follow orders and attack Dylan in order to teach him suffering and hatred, which will strengthen him and possibly even enable him to defeat Meridius in the future. Bedlam snarls that he hates Meridius and wants him dead, but Meridius chidingly asks who Bedlam hates even more than his future self. Bedlam turns to grin wickedly at Eddie, who is powerless to stop him as he disappears into the past. Meridius smugly states that Eddie always has been all-too-easy to manipulate, and that he'll drive himself insane trying to break free of the time-loop. As Meridius states that escape is impossible until Eddie becomes him, Eddie mentally notes that Meridius said there were seven intersections but only six of them present in the Garden of Time -- meaning that somewhere out there, past his most evil self -- is a seventh iteration of Venom.

Solicit Synopsis

Notes

See Also

• 5 image(s) from Venom Vol 5 10
• 1 reprint(s) of Venom Vol 5 10

Links and References

References