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Venom Vol 5 25

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Appearing in "The Butterfly Collectors"

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Synopsis for "The Butterfly Collectors"

As the Time Platform crash-lands in the Late Cretaceous Period, Doctor Doom notes that most people misunderstand the potential impacts of time travel due to Ray Bradbury's short story A Sound of Thunder, from which the expression "butterfly effect" originates. Doom notes that events carry a temporal weight and are nigh-impossible to shift, so minor changes like killing a single butterfly rarely impact anything due to the timestream adjusting to account for those occurrences. Doom notes that true time-travellers--who use the method he invented--refer to this phenomenon as the Cage of Events, and that to escape it and actually change the past one would need to kill a lot of butterflies. Picking himself out of the crater, Doom notes that he despises such confinements and takes pride in breaking any and all limits placed upon him. Contemptuously crushing a butterfly underfoot, Doom thinks to himself that all times are as one to him: dirt to be crushed under his heel. Dismissing his opponent as a proud fool who wears his cage--his Klyntar--like a suit of armor, Doom mockingly asks Eddie Brock if he's coming. Picking himself out of the crater, Eddie asks how his driving was and Doom retorts that he drove nothing: from the moment he smashed its controls, the Time Platform began repairing itself and initiated an emergency landing. Gesturing at the crater, Eddie incredulously asks how Doom could call that an emergency landing, Doom citing the expression "any landing you can walk away from" before scoffing that he's walked away from multiversal annihilation. Doom tells Eddie that the Time Platform is a fusion of science and magic, and that the latter creates synchronicities that introduce a dangerous element to time travel. Doom wonders what could await Eddie in the Late Cretaceous other than his impending demise at Doom's hands as he charges an energy beam. As Eddie sarcastically remarks that they were getting along so well, Doom retorts that Eddie insulted him and his hospitality, the penalty for which is death. Dodging, Eddie bonds to Bedlam and says that Doom's forgetting that he has backup. Doom dismisses Bedlam as nothing more than an insane temporal copy of Eddie's own mind, sneering that it will take a far greater symbiote than that to impress him. As if on cue, a symbiote T. rex sporting Venom's white spider emblem emerges from the underbrush and roars. Doom asks if it's a relation of Eddie's, though Eddie is nonplussed and says he has no idea what's going on. As the Venomized T. rex snarls Eddie's name, Doom shoots a skeptical glance at Eddie, who is more confused than ever. Charging at them, the Venomized T. rex roars at Eddie to die, Doom blasting it with energy beams and snapping that he swore to kill a Venom that day and it will do just as well as Eddie. As the repaired time Platform rises from the crater, Eddie points it out to Doom... who promptly blasts him with an energy beam, intent on leaving him to face the Venomized T. rex on his own. As Doom mocks Eddie, Eddie snaps that Doom's forgetting he always loses against opponents with stretching powers. As Eddie elongates his four arms, Doom curses that it's like fighting two Reed Richards at the same time. As Doom tells Eddie to stop, Eddie smashes the Time Platform's controls again. As the Time Platform activates, Doom laments Eddie having done so a second time. Climbing on, Eddie says that where and whenever it goes, he's going too--to the end of the line. After they disappear, the Venomized T. rex echoes Eddie's words, revealing itself to be a transformed Meridius and scoffing that that phrase has more truth than Eddie knows.

In 1942, a fighter plane soars through the skies over Nazi-occupied France. Eddie telepathically calls out to its payload, which deploys to the pilot's confusion. Impacting the ground in the middle of a village, the payload is revealed to be Flexo the Rubber Man, repurposed into a super-soldier to fight the Nazis. Nearby, Doom rampages through the village killing every Nazi he can find, shouting that he has been sent by time itself to bring righteous justice down upon them. Flexo pauses to watch Doom's massacre, Eddie scolding it for getting distracted and directing it to a nearby church. Entering, Flexo finds Eddie waiting for it. Eddie remarks that the symbiote T. rex gave him the idea to call for backup, and that it doesn't matter if Flexo is a vassal of Knull or a member of the Agents of the Cosmos--as a symbiote it must obey him as a King in Black. Eddie orders Bedlam to protect the civilians hiding in the basement while he goes to try to calm Doom down. When Flexo doesn't respond, an annoyed Eddie enters its mind and sees a memory of a soldier and a general discussing Flexo's deployment on an extremely time-sensitive mission to assassinate the Nazi Party's top brass, especially Adolf Hitler. Horrified at the realization that he's just saved the Führer's life and condemned Europe to several more years of hell, Eddie rushes out of the church. Doom bluntly informs Eddie that they will return to the present after he's finished killing every Nazy in the village, whereupon he will summarily execute Eddie. Eddie begs Doom to help him make it so that they never arrived in France, but Doom refuses, sneering at Eddie's despair and saying that what they've done is what they were always fated to do per the laws of time-travel, and that trying to undo it would erase them from existence. As Eddie tries to seize control of the Time Platform, Doom mockingly calls him a base villain who would risk destroying the space-time continuum just to placate his bruised conscience. As Eddie grapples with Doom, Bedlam crushes the controls and the Time Platform warps through time, Flexo emerging from the church and surveilling the ruins of the village.

Mortified at having lost conscience as they time-jumped, Doom comes to and notes that the time-jumps are becoming more unstable and volatile. Unable to locate the Time Platform, Doom consoles himself with the knowledge that no matter where and when he is, he is the master of all he sees; finding himself at the gates of the Latverian Embassy in New York City.

Elsewhere in Manhattan, Eddie regains consciousness, Bedlam informing him that the Time Platform exploded six-thousand feet in the air and that he's been waiting for Eddie to regenerate from street pizza. Mocking the fragility of Eddie's human body, Bedlam contemplates attempting to seize control again but Eddie snaps that he's the only one of them capable of thinking things through. As Eddie begins workshopping a plan to find the time platform before Doom does, a voice asks if he's okay. Turning, Eddie is shocked to see a teenaged Peter Parker, who says that even if Eddie says it's not any of his business that he's learned the hard way that it's better not to look the other way.

Entering the Latverian embassy, Doom notes that just as he warned Eddie that magic creates strange coincidences, even he isn't immune to this. Running into his past self, Doom notes that he doesn't remember this encounter, which automatically suggests how it will end. Mistaking his future self for a Doombot, Past Doom orders Future Doom to find and destroy the second life sign he's detected within the building. Wryly commenting on their tendency to use robotic doppelgängers, Future Doom decides to test his past self's humanity by reciting the Doombot control codes. Confused, Past Doom realizes he's dealing with his future self, Future Doom marvelling at how young Past Doom looks.

Elsewhere, Eddie mutters to himself that Peter isn't much older than Dylan, Peter mistakenly assuming he's talking about Bob Dylan. As Eddie remarks that he can't believe he's looking at Peter Parker, Peter wonders how Eddie knows his name. Bedlam chastising him for screwing things up, Eddie claims to have been a friend of his Uncle Ben. Growing suspicious, Peter warily remarks that he's never seen Eddie come by the house or to his uncle's funeral, Bedlam mocking Eddie for having forgotten that Peter's uncle was murdered. Assuming that Eddie's trouble, Peter readies for a fight and tells him to tell the truth. Sighing, Eddie says that he's everything Peter isn't: a black sheep and a screw-up who only makes things worse no matter how hard he tries to make them better.

In the Latverian embassy, Future Doom surmises that going by Past Doom's appearance he's roughly fifteen years in the past, after his failed attempt to blackmail the US government but before his failed attempt to recruit Spider-Man. Intrigued and insulted, Past Doom scoffs that if Future Doom really was his future self he would know that Doom never fails. As his past self charges an attack, Future Doom contemplates the hypocrisy of his arrogance, noting that his past self is correct that Doom cannot fail, only suffer setbacks... but that as his past self, Past Doom is inherently inferior to him--having seen less, done less, and knowing less. As Future Doom rankles at being ordered around by an inferior, even if said inferior is his past self, Past Doom commands him to speak or suffer the consequences. Noting his past self is growing hostile and that he must choose his next words with utmost care, Future Doom bluntly tells his past self to place a call to Reed Richards, saying his longtime nemesis would be of more help than his past self.

Choosing his words carefully, Eddie explains that there was a time where he hated someone more than life itself, and that his hatred had consumed him, turning him into a literal and figurative monster who'd gleefully murdered and even eaten people. As Peter reacts in disgust, Eddie continues, saying that the man he'd dedicated himself to hating had shown him a better way forward, and that in time he'd stopped hating that person and come to admire him, asking "What would Parker do?" when faced with difficult decisions. Peter interjects to clarify that they're talking about his Uncle Ben, Eddie awkwardly asking who else he could be referring to.

Assuming that Future Doom is an imposter, Past Doom attacks, furious that Future Doom would dare claim to be future self while suggesting to solicit help from his most-hated enemy. As Past Doom vows to kill Future Doom for this insult, Future Doom effortlessly blocks his attack and mockingly asks how Past Doom will do that when he is everything Past Doom is and more--a true master of the mystic arts and sciences. Boasting that he humbled the entirety of existence and looked upon the face of God to see his own, Future Doom proves his identity by removing his mask, mocking Past Doom for not even knowing where to begin accomplishing these feats when he has yet to save their mother from the Devil.

Growing frustrated, Eddie notes that Peter is just a kid, a far cry from the man he'd come to be after years of adversity; lamenting that he'd tried to take responsibly for once, to save as many lives as he could in order to atone for the horrible things he'd done. Lashing out in rage, Eddie smashes a nearby brick wall and snaps that he was a fool for thinking he could atone, for even trying, and that Peter never had the answers he heeds. Slumping against the smashed wall, Eddie disparagingly asks Peter how his dedication to the "with great power there must also come great responsibility" mantra is working out for him, dismissing it as a curse and saying that he's done with it.

Past Doom redoubles his attack on Future Doom, declaring him a corruption of himself that he will erase from existence. Wryly remarking that he's finally done something worth approval, Future Doom remarks that Past Doom's reaction is a commendable response... to a lesser Doom. Putting his past self to sleep, Future Doom erases his memories of their encounter lest he risk altering the past. Lamenting that they might have gotten along had Past Doom shown proper deference, Doom notes he can't be too surprised since he would react the same way if confronted by his own future self. As Doom exits the embassy, the Time Platform appears before him, but he contemplates a different course of action to rid himself of Eddie Brock's interference. Rather than keep trying to kill him and continue their battle across space and time, Doom decides to simply foist him onto a rival time-travelling warlord. As Peter leaves to go get Eddie some help, telling him not to eat anyone's brain while he's gone, Doom arrives and proposes a truce--saying that while he still won't let Eddie take the Time Platform there are other time machines that should suffice.

In the distant future of the 602nd Century, Kang the Conqueror's fleet wages an eternal war. Onboard his flagship, the Nathaniel, Kang notes that he's searched all throughout recorded history for the Missing Moment, wondering if the razed library of Phearthon held a clue. His computer alerts him of intruders, and he is intrigued to see Victor von Doom and Eddie Brock wandering the halls of his ship. Elsewhere, Eddie comments that he recognizes the ship, Doom recalling that Kang considers Eddie a friend for reasons beyond his comprehension. Pointing to some pillars containing flowing globules of energy, Doom informs Eddie that they are the 67th century equivalent of a lava lamp. Doom scoffs that Kang literally robbed his tomb and wonders if he left no great works for the self-proclaimed conqueror to steal, sneering that while Kang may know everything about conquest he knows nothing of value. Approaching them, Kang scoffs that Doom only values himself before greeting Eddie and asking where on the timeline he's from. Eddie informs Kang that he needs a time machine and Doom said he could have one of Kang's, but Kang refuses--reminding Eddie that he can project his consciousness through time but that doing so physically risks cluttering things up. Eddie replies that that's the point, mockingly asking if Kang will reconsider given they're such good friends. Saying that they're not besties yet, Kang summons three copies of himself--all of them saying that he's his own best friend. Disgusted, Doom notes that what Kang's done is use time travel to create chronoclones of himself--simultaneously creating three new timelines in the process. As three of the Kangs attack Eddie, Doom wonders if they intend to use time travel to repeat the process for each timeline before contemptuously scoffing that that's not how time-travel works. As Bedlam emerges from Eddie and snares one of the Kangs, Doom briefly wonders if Kang used his technology to perform true time travel with no chronal divergence... only to decide not as Bedlam devours the Kang chronoclone--leaving a timeline without a Kang. Incredulous at the remaining Kangs' uncaring reaction to the death of their alternate self, Doom vaporizes one of the chronoclones with a beam of energy. The Kangs admonishe him, but activate their force fields as Bedlam declares his intent to eat them too. As the last chronoclone boasts that he can activate it with a thought, the original Kang deactivates it and smirks as his alternate self is devoured by Bedlam. Mocking his alternate self's last moments, Kang gloats that he now has three brand-new Kang-less timelines to conquer. As Doom disparages him, Kang says that he's just biding his time for Doom to catch up and provide him with a worthy opponent. Annoyed, Eddie asks why they're all suddenly playing nice and is told he'll find out once he becomes Meridius. Eddie declares his intent to break the time loop, Kang chiding Eddie that even forked paths are part of the same garden. Kang leads them to where he has the Fantastic Four's old Time-Sled, Doom disparaging the design and grumbling at Reed Richards' obsession with making all his vehicles family-sized. Kang offers it to Eddie for a price: the same bargain he made in Limbo, a piece of his symbiote in exchange for help. Alarmed by Kang's knowledge of this, Bedlam warns Eddie that it's either a trick or a trap, but Eddie agrees to it nevertheless. As Eddie takes the time-sled and jumps through time, Kang tells him to give Meridius his regards and asks Doom if he's staying longer. Indicating the sample of Bedlam's symbiote-body, Doom asks why Kang wanted it when he has other symbiotes under his command. Grinning, Kang says that Bedlam's offshoot is special and has an important role to play, giving it the name Rascal.

At the Garden of Time, Meridius watches Bedlam, Eddie's King in Black form, and Finnegan fight with each other. Before he can finish his disparaging remark to Wilde, the Time-Sled rams into him at terminal velocity and destroys his manifestation. As Wilde and Tyro wonder what just happened, Bedlam, Finnegan, and Space Venom watch incredulously as Eddie emerges from the crater and says he has a bone to pick with them.

Sipping wine, Doom clarifies that Eddie's attempts to change the past are doomed to fail, Kang agreeing. Producing a whiteboard and some pens, he sketches a crude representation of Eddie's path through time until he reaches the Garden of Time, a spial-shaped knot in the timeline where it crosses itself over and over seven times. Noting that what happens to Eddie is set in stone, Kang notes that Eddie passing through Limbo changed things, splitting the timeline to create a rogue element outside the structure. Sketching the path of Eddie's temporal offshoot, Kang explains that by going to the Garden of Time he's changed things again, unwittingly splitting the timeline a second time to shunt the original time-loop into an alternate timeline from which Meridius has been travelling all along without even realizing it. As Kang excitedly remarks that Eddie will doubtless create more alternate timelines, Doom interrupts to scoff that all Kang has done is outline a particularly complex case of Mark Gruenwald's laws of time travel. Doom scoffs that Kang will never truly master time without studying magic, which he will only do as Immortus. Furious, Kang shoots Doom with a beam of energy that warps him into the Timestream.

Reclaiming the time platform, Doom renews his vow for revenge against Eddie Brock. Travelling to the near future of Earth-616, Doom observes a battle between Eddie and his son, the current host of the Venom symbiote. Observing that while scientifically the fight could end any number of ways, Doom notes that mystically he senses there can only be two outcomes: Eddie Brock's salvation or utter damnation. Deciding to tip the scales, Doom travels back to the ruined French village and conscripts Flexo as the instrument of revenge against Eddie, with Dylan as their weapon.

Solicit Synopsis

A TIME OF DOOM! SPECIAL OVER-SIZED ANNIVERSARY ISSUE!

Eddie Brock needed access to Doctor Doom’s time platform – and in getting to it, got more than he ever bargained for, battling the most notorious super villain in the Marvel Universe through time itself! Luckily, Eddie’s well versed in navigating the timestream thanks to his recent adventures. He’s poised to take his conflict with Meridius to its frenetic and fist-filled finish – if he survives DOOM! PLUS! Eddie’s battle with Doom will land him, briefly, in a very unexpected place…MIDTOWN HIGH SCHOOL! But what, or who, could he find there?

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