While Captain America and the Avengers are dealing with their Armageddon, Marvel Comics adds more problems for Earth’s Heroes on top of that, as writer Al Ewing and artist Iban Coello launch a new symbiote nightmare with Queen in Black!
Since the end of the King in Black event, Al Ewing has been writing the Venom series, leading us into the Venom War, introducing a new Venom, and also revealing what happened to the fallen King, Knull. The event follows the fallout of Hela seizing Knull‘s former throne. She has claimed the mantle of the Queen in Black, commanding a legion of the galaxy’s deadliest symbiotes. However, Knull is far from defeated, he has conquered the Lightforce Dimension and become the God of the Void, leading a new army to reclaim his dominion… but Hela may have been faster than him and taken control of it. And now, they are at war, and the Son of Venom is getting mixed up in it as well as everybody else, as Hela unleashes her assault on Earth.
As usual for a Marvel Comics crossover event, Queen in Black revolves around a miniseries (5 issues) and numerous tie-ins. So, let’s follow our reading order to not get lost during the war.
What to read to be ready for the Queen in Black event?
The road to Queen in Black starts with the King in Black, Knull. For a complete overview of his story in the Marvel Comics up to that point, I invite you to check out our Knull Reading Order. But for a quick introduction, Knull is the primordial God of the Symbiotes and master of the Living Abyss, an ancient deity who predates the universe and seeks to plunge all of creation back into eternal darkness. The essential read is the King in Black about his attack on Earth and how he fell.
- King in Black (Collects King In Black#1-5) or the complete event collected in the King in Black Omnibus (see our reading order of the event)
✨After that, Knull was thought to be dead and gone for good, until his reappearance in Venom #250, which teased his comeback in the Knull miniseries that set up the Queen in Black event. It’s a must-read before the event as it works as a prelude for it. Also, if you want to skip King in Black, the limited series provides the character’s story.
- Knull: Coming to the Light [2026] (Collects Knull #1-5)
To be up to date with Venom and the Brock Family, you don’t need to start at the beginning of Al Ewing’s run, but with the fallout from Venom War.
Eddie Brock, who was the new King in Black for a time, bonded with Carnage. This was chronicled in Charles Soule and Jesús Saíz’s 10-issue series Eddie Brock: Carnage (collected in Eddie Brock: Carnage Vol. 1 – Killing Me and Eddie Brock: Carnage Vol. 2 – The Killing Muse [2026]), before jumping on Amazing Spider-Man/Venom: Death Spiral [2026] for the conclusion.
His son Dylan was taken in by Mary-Jane Watson and Paul in All-New Venom. Al Ewing and Carlos Gomez’s series introduced a new Venom. It’s optional for the event, but it’s a good read, and it helps to be more aware of the characters’ relationships:
- All-New Venom: Who is All-New Venom? [2026] (Collects All-New Venom #1-10)
✨After that, Marvel Comics went back to the legacy numbering to celebrate Venom #250. All of this deals with the Symbiote business on Earth, but it’s only on the last page of issue #258 that the Queen in Black story starts connecting directly with Venom. So, Venom #259 is the one issue that led to the event.
- Venom (2025) #250-254 (collected in Venom Vol. 2: Coming To Terms)
- Issues 255-257 are part of the Amazing Spider-Man/Venom: Death Spiral crossover set after the end of the Carnage series (it goes: ASM/Venom: Death Spiral #1|ASM#23|V#255|ASM#24-25|V#256|ASM#26|V#257|ASM#27|ASM/V: Death Spiral Body Count #1).
- Venom (2025) #258-259 (collected in Venom Vol. 2: Coming To Terms)
What’s up with Thor? Al Ewing is also writing Thor, and with an antagonist tightly connected to Asgard, the God of Thunder will also be involved (Beta Ray Bill is also there to fight). Lately, though, Thor is not the same, he is Sigurd Jarlson, The Mortal Thor. To know more about his dire situation, I invite you to read the following trades, but this is really completely optional for this event.
- The Mortal Thor Vol. 1: No Gods, No Masters [2026] (Collects Thor (2025) #1-5)
- The Mortal Thor Vol. 2: Come at the King [2026] (Collects Thor (2025) #6-10)
Collecting the Queen in Black comics (in 2027)
Before going into the detailed reading order, here are the books collecting the issues related to the Queen in Black crossover event:
- Queen In Black [2027]
Collects Queen in Black (2026) #1-5, Queen in Black: Hela (2026) #1 - Venom Vol. 2: Coming To Terms [2027]
Collects Venom (2025) #250-254, 258-262 - Queen In Black: The Light and the Dark [2027]
Collects Queen in Black: Venom Unchained (2026) #1-3, Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark (2026) #1-3, Queen in Black: Thor (2026) #1
Queen in Black Reading Order
This Queen in Black Reading Order is a work in progress. It will be updated weekly while it is ongoing.
Prologue
- Comics Giveaway Day 2026: Amazing Spider-Man / Queen in Black #1
- Knull #1-5 – Knull is back, but Hela takes his power and becomes the Queen in Black. How will Knull survive?
- Venom #259 – MJ learns about the growing menace of the King in Black.
The Main Event
- Queen in Black #1 – Knull is en route to Earth, but Hela has her own plans for the planet.
- Queen in Black: Venom Unchained #1 – Eddie Brock is in jail with no hope of getting out, even as a Symbiote invasion hits Earth.
- Queen in Black #2 – The invasion continues, greater menaces appear…
- Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark #1 – Earth sends teams to stop Hela and Knull.
- Queen in Black: Thor #1 (one-shot) – A tale of two Thors. Set during Defenders of Light and Dark #1 & Mortal Thor #9.
- Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark #2 – The fight continues
- Queen in Black: Hela #1 (one-shot) – The tale of how Hela captured Knull.
- Venom #260 – A trip into Dylan Brock’s head.
- Queen in Black: Venom Unchained #2 – Back in action.
- Queen in Black #3 – Attack of the monsters.
- Venom #261 – Family reunion in Reed Richards’ lab.
- Black Cat (2025) #14 – Sent into space by the FF (around QiB#3), Felicia is on a mission to stop the Symbiote Intelligence.
- Queen in Black #4 – The heroes keep fighting all around the world.
- Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark #3 – It’s time for Plan B.
- Queen in Black #5 – One king vs one world.
- Venom #262 – Battle of the mind. Those events are the same as in QiB#5, but from MJ’s perspective. One spoils the other. You can read it here or before.
- Queen in Black: Venom Unchained #2 – Explains the end of QiB#5 concerning the Throne in Black and sets up Eddie and Venom’s reunion for the relaunch.
What to read after the Queen in Black event ended?
There’s a new King in Black, a new (old) Venom, and MJ is still kicking while the symbiote-free world keeps on turning! So, where do we go from here?
- Eddie Brock and Venom are reunited! Charles Soule and Tommaso Bianchi are the new creative team behind the latest relaunch of Venom (starting October 2026).
- Mary Jane Watson is free of Venom (but still has a few little powers to help in case of). She starts a new career as a producer, which will not be without a villain or two to kick off the stage in Friendly Neighborhood Mary Jane, a five-issue series written by Ashley Allen and drawn by Phil Noto (starting November 2026).
- Fred Myers is Boomerang, but now that he’s bonded with the Symbiote Passenger, he is Comeback. His story is told in The Amazing Venom comics by Jordan Morris and Luke Ross.