The final days of...[Insert villain here.]

[CyberHubbs]

A while back, we did a thread about how we'd bring Peter Parker's story to a close. Most were fine with Peter dying a celebrated hero. But what about his rogues? What are their last days like? Do some find redemption in their final hours? Do others go out in a hail of gunfire after a bank robbery that goes terribly wrong? Who just withers away in some hospice, their best years behind them, now forgotten?

Get to it, True Believers!

[Chris N]

Judging from Kraven, Mysterio, Chameleon, Green Goblin... I'd guess his villains will die by their own hand, either accidentally or not.

[CyberHubbs]

Judging from Kraven, Mysterio, Chameleon, Green Goblin... I'd guess his villains will die by their own hand, either accidentally or not.

True. Does Spidey's villains have an especially high suicide rate?

"I've been fighting a guy dressed up like a spider for years. Should've put a bullet in my brain long before now. Ahh, sweet release..."

[Gabe De Los Muertos]

Aleksei lives the rest of his days with Oksana.

[Schmed]

Aleksei lives the rest of his days with Oksana.


I agree. It's seems odd that after countless years of "Rhino Smash" stories that it only took one very well written story to make me actually feel for that character. Odd in a good way...

[RDMacQ]

Eddie Brock/ Venom-upon urging from the symbiote- has decided to take his revenge upon Spider-Man once and for all. Venom plans to draw Spider-Man into a final conflict, slay him, and take his place as the defender of New York. The symbiote tells Venom that he will be celebrated and admired, that he will become the greatest hero the world has ever seen. All he has to do is get rid of Peter Parker.

To that end, Venom attacks places that Peter Parker usually frequents, and kidnaps his loved ones. Harry, May, JJJ, Robbie Robertson, Betty Brant, MJ and more are all abducted by Venom. Spider-Man engages Venom in combat on several occasions, and during one skirmish manages to secure a sample of the symbiote. Desperate for a final solution to Venom, Spider-Man takes the sample to Reed Richards to find some way to remove the symbiote away from Brock permanently since it is warping his personality so. But Reed reveals to Spider-Man a terrible secret about the symbiote that he has uncovered over the years, one that could shake Venom to his very core.

With most of Spider-Man's friends and family as his hostages, Venom calls Spider-Man out to meet him at the cathedral where they had their first battle. Venom clearly has the upper hand in their bout, taunting Spider-Man with the fact that he has his friends and family and that Spidey will never see them again. Spider-Man retaliates by challenging Venom's modus operandi, and how he could have been a hero at any point and he didn't need to be obsessed with vengeance. Venom says that it isn't his fault, that it is the symbiote that is evil, that it drove him to evil and that it if Spider-Man is gone the symbiote will let Venom do whatever he wants. Spider-Man then tells Venom what he learned from Reed Richards- the symbiote has no consciousness of its own. It reacts on instinct and instinct alone- it is neither good nor bad. When it bonds with a host, it will adopt the host's mental characteristics. So any malice expressed by the symbiote was merely reflective of Brock's own psyche, and the monster the symbiote became was because it was adopting Brock's own rage and hatred into itself. The symbiote was never evil, it was all Brock.

Faced with that revelation, Brock begins to wrestle with himself. Distraught that he was the monster all along, Brock reveals the location of Spider-Man's loved ones, apologizes to Peter for all he has put him through, and then hurls himself off the roof. Finally in control of the symbiote now that he knows its true nature, Brock prevents the symbiote from saving his life and impacts on the street below. Both Brock and the symbiote die, with the symbiote turing to ash and drifting away into the night. Spider-Man saves his friends and family, but his thoughts are haunted by the memory of Eddie Brock- a person tormented by his own demons made real, and to whom that Spider-Man wishes has finally found the peace in death that eluded him so in life.