Skip to content

When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Thank you for your support.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Thanks!

Home » Marvel Guides

Venom War Reading Order: The Symbiote Family Feud by Al Ewing and Iban Coello

One year after the Summer of Symbiotes, Marvel Comics decided to deliver another Symbiote event, but this one is bigger and slimeyer. Coming from writer Al Ewing and artist Iban Coello, Venom War is the culmination of the first part of Ewing’s Venom run, which began after the King in Black event. Once again, Eddie Brock is at the heart of the story, but his son is also playing a major role.

After experiencing conflicting visions of the future, both father and son become convinced that the other will lead the Venom symbiote toward a catastrophic destiny. This ideological rift escalates into an all-out conflict for sole ownership of the symbiote, drawing in Peter Parker, Meridius (a future version of Eddie Brock), and various factions across the Marvel Universe. Things get even more complicated by the emergence of “Zombiotes,” artificial, flesh-eating symbiote variants that spread across New York.

Of course, this being an event, it’s not just about Eddie and Dylan fighting over Venom. Agent Anti-Venom (aka Flash Thompson), Red Goblin (aka Normie Osborn), Widow (aka Natasha Romanov), Carnage (aka Cletus Kasady), Spider-Man (aka Peter Parker), Jackpot (Mary Jane Watson), Sleeper & Toxin (aka Bren Waters), Lee Price (!!!), Meridius, and Bedlam (another future version of Eddie Brock, controlled by Meridius) are taking part in this war. Other Marvel superheroes like Wolverine, the Fantastic Four, Deadpool, Elektra, Doctor Strange, and Loki get involved. It’s a lot of people, for a lot of chaos, so let’s dig into the Venom War Reading Order to not get sidetracked. 

What to Read Before Venom War

Venom War serves as the culmination of the long-running Venom storyline written by Al Ewing, bringing together plot threads introduced throughout his Venom series, particularly the conflict surrounding Meridius and the fractured timeline of Eddie Brock. As a result, I’d recommend you familiarize yourself with Ewing’s Venom run before beginning the event.

You can check out our Venom Reading Order, but the essentials are as follows:

The event also concludes several storylines from Torunn Grønbekk’s Carnage series, making that title an important companion read.

Marvel’s Venom War: The Collected Editions

Like with most of the massive crossover events from Marvel Comics, you can get by just with the main Venom War miniseries, but if you want the complete story, with what was happening in New York with the other heroes, everything is collected in an omnibus.

  • Venom War Omnibus [2026]
    Collects Venom War (2024) #1-5, Venom (2021) #35-39, Venom War: Spider-Man (2024) #1-4, Venom War: Lethal Protectors (2024) #1-3, Venom War: Fantastic Four (2024) #1, Venom War: It’s Jeff (2024) #1, Venom War: Wolverine (2024) #1-3, Venom War: Deadpool (2024) #1-3, Venom War: Carnage (2024) #1-3, Venom War: Zombiotes (2024) #1-3, Venom War: Venomous (2024) #1-3, Black Widow: Venomous (2024) #1, Venom War: Daredevil (2024) #1.

The same stories are also available in multiple trade paperback collections, sorted here by their importance in the overhaul event.

Venom War Comics in Order: Issue-by-Issue

The Venom War event is tightly connected to Ewing’s Venom comics, but the writer left his book in the hands of Torunn Grønbekk while he was in charge of the main Venom War miniseries. As a result, while the Venom tie-ins have an impact on the story in the end, it’s more of a complementary reading. If you want the essential, just stick with the miniseries. Beyond that, I’d also recommend reading Venom War: Carnage for a better understanding of the Kletus/Carnage relationship; Venom War: Venomous for a complementary view of the Alchemax situation; and Venom War: Spider-Man for the Peter/Mary Jane story which became crucial later on.

Prelude To Venom War

  • Carnage #8
  • Venom #35
  • Black Widow: Venomous #1 – For a little background about Black Widow’s symbiote. Check out In Venom (2021) #23 where we see her tracking a terrorist group and meeting a symbiote. They bond together and team up with Venom in issues #26-28.

The Main Venom War Event

  • Venom War #1 – Eddie Brock sets the stage for a fight with Dylan to get Venom back. Venom reaches out to Spider-Man for help.
  • Venom #36 – The adventures of Old Man Venom. 
  • Venom War: Spider-Man #1-2 – These issues take place during Venom War #1.
  • Venom War: Carnage #1-3 – Explains what happened to Cletus Kasady before Carnage’s involvement with Meridius.
  • Venom War: Venomous #1 – Picking up the story of Black Widow and her team.
  • Venom War #2 – In the arena, the fight began, while Meridius takes over Alchemax.
  • Venom War: Venomous #2 – An unexpected team-up.
  • Venom War: Lethal Protectors #1 – Silver Sable and her symbiote-enhanced Wild Pack get involved.
  • Venom War: Wolverine #1 – Wolverine is bonded to a zombiotes and has to go back to a dark chapter of his past to save life (barely connected to the event).
  • Venom War: Zombiotes! #1 – The Zombiotes are taking over the city. She-Hulk, Hellcat, Shocker, Overdrive, and Speed Demon have to fight them.
  • Venom War: Deadpool #1 – Deadpool tries to flee and seek the help of other monsters.
  • Venom #37 – Old Man Venom teams up with Doctor Strange.
  • Venom War: Daredevil #1 – There are Zombiotes in Hell’s Kitchen.
  • Venom War: Zombiotes! #2 – The fight continues.
  • Venom War #3 – Carnage enters the scene.
  • Venom War: Spider-Man #3 – Peter witnesses a potential future.
  • Venom War: Fantastic Four #1 – Doom and Kang play a deadly game of chess.
  • Venom #38 – Old Man Venom makes a deal.
  • Venom War: Wolverine #2 – Wolverine gets pulled back in. 
  • Venom War: Deadpool #2 – The battle for the Monster Metropolis.
  • Venom War: Venomous #3 – Widow and Liz Allan try to contain the outbreak.
  • Venom War: Lethal Protectors #2 – The Wild Pack are on the offensive.
  • Venom War: Zombiotes! #3 – Battling Zombiotes til the end.
  • Venom War #4 – Venom makes a choice.
  • Venom War: Spider-Man #4 – Hitting the Jackpot.
  • Venom #39 – Old Man Venom deals with Loki.
  • Venom War: Wolverine #3 – The Zombiotes caught up with Wolverine.
  • Venom War: Deadpool #3 – A monster mash. 
  • Venom War: It’s Jeff #1 – Jeff the Land Shark gets a Zombiote.
  • Venom War: Lethal Protectors #3 – Silver Sable’s last play.
  • Venom War #5 – Old Man Venom arrives in time to change the future

What to read after the Venom War ended?

Once the Venom War ended, Marvel was already dealing with what was coming next with the “All-New Venom” series launched by writer Al Ewing with a new artist, Carlos Gómez. As Eddie Brock had lost everything and joined with Carnage in the new “Eddie Brock: Carnage” series by Charles Soule, a Venom-less Dylan is taken in by Mary Jane Watson and Paul. So, who is the new Venom that starts fighting crime in the streets of New York like a proper superhero? The answer is in the All-New Venom: Who Is All-New Venom? storyline.

All of this will later culminate in a new event, during summer 2026, when Knul find is way back in Queen in Black!

Pin
Tags:

1 thought on “Venom War Reading Order: The Symbiote Family Feud by Al Ewing and Iban Coello”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *