Published Apr 10, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT
CBR senior staff writer Brian Cronin has been writing professionally about comic books for over fifteen years now at CBR (primarily with his “Comics Should Be Good” series of columns, including Comic Book Legends Revealed). He has written two books about comics for Penguin-Random House – Was Superman a Spy? And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed and Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent? And Other Amazing Comic Book Trivia! and one book, 100 Things X-Men Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, from Triumph Books. His writing has been featured at ESPN.com, the Los Angeles Times, About.com, the Huffington Post, Vulture and Gizmodo. He features legends about entertainment and sports at his website, Legends Revealed and other pop culture features at Pop Culture References. Follow him on Twitter at @Brian_Cronin and feel free to e-mail him suggestions for stories about comic books that you'd like to see featured at brianc@cbr.com!
The "Death Spiral" crossover event that has taken place in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man and Venom has been one of the most momentous Marvel crossovers in recent memory, as both the longtime Spider-Man villain, the Shocker, and Mary Jane Watson's most recent boyfriend, Paul Rabin, have both been seemingly killed by the mysterious new villain, Torment (the Shocker is DEFINITELY dead, while Paul certainly appears to be DEAD dead, as well, it's probably best to wait for this event to end to start throwing dirt on him just yet).
In Venom #256, the Carnage symbiote split from Eddie Brock (who had been its most recent host, trying to control the symbiote by promising to let it kill, but only serial killers) and bonded with Torment. This had been the Carnage symbiote's plan all along, to maneuver Eddie and Torment into a position where Carnage could "jump ship" as it were.
Now, in a CBR exclusive preview of Venom #257 (by Charles Soule, Javier Pina, and Matt Hollingsworth. One issue of Amazing Spider-Man and one issue of Venom have been treated basically as "secret" issues of Eddie Brock: Carnage, the series that Soule wrote that was canceled before it could cross over with the other two books), we see who the next target of this new Carnage/Torment combo will be!
VENOM #257
Charles Soule (W) • JESÚS Saiz (A) • Cover by GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI
NINE-PART CONNECTING VARIANT COVER BY IBAN COELLO
CLASSIFIED TARGET VARIANT COVER BY MARK BAGLEY
VARIANT COVER BY MAHMUD ASRAR • VARIANT COVER BY TBA • VARIANT COVER BY TBA
DEATH SPIRAL PART EIGHT!
Anna Watson and May Parker are caught in the Death Spiral, and their only hope is…Flash Thompson?! Will Spider-Man and Venom save the day, or will MJ and Peter’s old wounds create a new tragedy? And where’s Carnage in all this? Even when you find out – you STILL won’t believe it!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99
In the preview pages, we get confirmation that rather than targeting Anna Watson or May Parker, Torment/Carnage's plan is to kill them BOTH! May Parker, you see, is the director of the charitable organization known as F.E.A.S.T., and her longtime friend, Anna Watson, has come out to help her friend at the opening of a new F.E.A.S.T. Center in lower Manhattan. As they begin to feed the homeless people, one of the homeless people is revealed to be TORMENT!
Torment then unleashes the Carnage symbiote that it is now bonded with, and May quickly throws hot soup on to Torment. Torment is shocked that the hot soup did not hurt him. It is learning the benefits of bonding with an alien symbiote.
Carnage, though, is stuck following Torrment's particular compulsion, which is that he has to kill in a "spiral," starting with distant relatives of his victim, and getting closer and closer until all that is left is the victim, and then he can finally kill his victim.
Here, May Parker and Anna Watson, the aunts of Peter Parker (Spider-Man) and Mary Jane Watson (Venom) are the next step in the spiral for both Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. In a crossover with a lot of death already, could Anna Watson be next? To find out, you need to pick up a copy of Venom #257 next week!
English (US) · 