Headscratchers / Venom (2021)

• Why does Meridius hate Eddie?
  • Because he is Eddie — the epitomization of Eddie's self-loathing refined for countless millennia.
• If Eddie was destined to become a King in Black through bonding to the symbiote, what does this mean for all the alternate versions of Venom across the multiverse who aren't Eddie Brock, or universes where Eddie and/or Venom have died?
  • Someone else would simply take his place. As the Eventuality explains, someone has to be the King in Black. If anything can happen in any world in the multiverse, theoretically that would mean that anyone has the potential to be the destined King in Black of their universe.
• If the King in Black is supposed to use the black goo of symbiosis to maintain the Multiverse from within, what does that mean for universes without extraterrestrial symbiotes — like Earth-1610 or Earth-12041 — or universes where they weren't created by Knull, like Earth-9997?
  • If the Maker's experiments with the codices and Earth-1610's Venom symbiote are any implication, artificial symbiotes are similar enough to the living abyss Knull forged his creations from to merge with it, and thus the two materials would both fall under that umbrella.
    • Symbiotes seem to be capable of merging with just about anything, though — for example, Iron Man and Iron Heart's suits of armor in King in Black and Venomized respectively — so that doesn't 100% track.
• Was Knull the first King in Black in the Multiverse or just the Seventh/Eighth Cosmos, and if he was the first in just the Seventh/Eighth Cosmos, who or what filled the role in prior cycles?
  • From my understanding, the cycle began with Knull at the beginning of the Seventh Cosmos. The Sixth Cosmos doesn’t seem to have symbiotes or an equivalent species.
• Does the Eventuality's revelations regarding the role of the King in Black impact King in Black's supposition that Knull was a pawn/avatar of the One-Below-All and Defenders: Beyond's implication that Knull is an incarnation of the Anti-All? And more pointedly... why would the Celestials think such a being would protect the Multiverse?
  • First possible explanation, Knull either is not an incarnation of Anti-All and it is merely speculation on the part of Dr. Strange or he was not an avatar of Anti-All at the time the Celestials chose him.
  • Alternatively, the Celestials may not have sensed Knull's connection to Anti-All and, even if they did, they were evidently still fine with bestowing the King in Black position upon Knull.
    • The Celestials are imperfect beings/entities and are just as capable of making mistakes and logical errors as any mortal scientist or they could have intentionally chosen Knull because of the element of chaos and adversity he would introduce into the universe, much like with the creation of The Black Vortex
  • Finally, Knull may have been chosen as the King in Black simply because he was the only candidate available and the Celestials were either unwilling or unable to delay in choosing the new recipient of the title.
• Why was it so crucial for Eddie to get his body back?
  • Because Meridius can't control it or shut him out of it like he can symbiotes.
• How will Bedlam become Meridius now that he's bonded to Eddie? Or is every temporally-displaced version of Eddie Brock a Paradox Person. The Eventuality seemed to imply just that.
  • Perhaps it falls in with the nature of the King in Black as a Non-Linear Character. At some point, the Bedlam that killed Darkoth might have diverged at some point during or after his escape from Limbo, with one of these versions being defeated by the Eddie Brock of the present while the other goes on to become Meridius.
  • Issue #25 reveals this to be exactly the case. Eddie travelling to the Garden of Time after regaining his physical body results in the timeline splitting again, with Meridius being the result of that split.