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Symbiote Hive-Mind

Symbiote_Hive-Mind_from_Venom_Vol_4_33_001

The Symbiote Hive-Mind is a mental and metaphysical realm that psychically connects symbiotes and their ilk to one-another and their god, while also serving as an afterlife for deceased symbiotes and their hosts.[6] Created by Knull, the King in Black, the Symbiote Hive-Mind was usurped by the Agents of the Cosmos following Knull's imprisonment, with symbiotes who relapsed into evil being cut off and cast-out.[7][8] Upon his release, Knull reasserted dominion over the Hive-Mind until his physical body was destroyed by Eddie Brock, who succeeded him as the King in Black.[4]

The Symbiote Hive-Mind enables the King in Black to telepathically communicate with symbiotes and their hosts, impose their will on symbiotes to influence or corrupt them, and even create avatars by projecting their consciousness across space and/or time to "remote-pilot" symbiotes, either forcibly or with consent.[8][5][9] With practice, a King in Black can project their consciousness through time to indwell any symbiote that has ever existed, though they cannot change their past.[10][11][12][13] The Hive-Mind can even reach symbiotes from other universes, as Knull contacted Venom from Earth-1048.[14] As a result of all this, the King in Black is described to be nonlinear.[15]

History

Origins

Experimenting with his ability to give life to the primordial darkness, the dark god Knull created an army of draconic monsters, shadow-men, and amorphous creatures capable of bonding to hosts. As their divine progenitor, Knull was telepathically connected to these creatures, creating a hive-mind with himself at its nexus.[8] While lacking traditional names, these creatures possessed unique psionic wavelengths within the Hive-Mind that distinguished them from one another; though most lacked the capacity for complex thoughts and emotions, serving as vessels for Knull's hatred and hunger.[16][17][11][18]

Agents of the Cosmos vs. Symbiote Empire

After Knull's connection to the Hive-Mind was weakened by Thor Odinson,[8] the symbiotes were left without a purpose or culture beyond the context and meaning their hosts gave them.[19] The symbiotes who had bonded to benevolent hosts introduced the Hive-Mind to concepts such as nobility, compassion, and honor; and these symbiotes rebelled against Knull and imprisoned him in the core of his Throneworld -- renaming it and themselves "Klyntar" after their word for cage.

Unable to fully rid themselves of Knull - who was still the core of the Hive-Mind - but desiring to bury their sordid past and redeem themselves,[8] the symbiotes of Klyntar established the Agents of the Cosmos by bonding to "worthy" hosts. Attuned to the "Voice of the Cosmos", the Agents of the Cosmos set out to bring peace and stability to the galaxy. Symbiotes who bonded to "unworthy" hosts and relapsed into their original bloodthirsty states were initially exiled from the Hive-Mind, but retained a limited connection in the form of a genetic memory and began to spread across the cosmos; establishing a warlike spacefaring empire dedicated to the subjugation, consumption, and destruction of civilizations.[7][20] With these corrupted symbiotes sabotaging their efforts to reinvent themselves, the symbiotes of Klyntar began capturing and "cleansing" the corrupted symbiotes by erasing and modifying their memories; executing them if they relapsed. The Venom symbiote was one such symbiote who had its memories modified by the Klyntar Hive-Mind -- first to cleanse it of the "corruption" it had accumulated in the centuries following its exile, and again when it relapsed.[7][21][22][23]

The Return of Knull

Some symbiotes remained loyal to Knull, establishing cults dedicated to facilitating his awakening and escape from Klyntar; and one such cult was formed on Earth by worshipers of the symbiote-dragons Grendel and "Big Mother".[24][25][26] When Knull began to re-awaken and assert his influence over the Hive-Mind, an increasing number of symbiotes began succumbing to his will -- including Venom, Scorn, Scream, and Hybrid.[27][24][28][29] Fully awakening with the aid of Carnage, who he had reanimated and empowered through an offshoot of the Grendel, Knull destroyed Klyntar and seized control of the Hive-Mind once more.[30]

At various points during his invasion of Earth, Knull used the Hive-Mind to create avatars in order to confront individuals who piqued his interest;[31] and pulled Black Knight, Sword Master, and Ghost-Spider into the Hive-Mind to interrogate them.[32][33] He also used the Hive-Mind to reach back through the Timestream in an attempt to change the past by facilitating his premature escape from Klyntar, resurrecting and empowering the proto-symbiote Mister E, but was foiled by Kang the Conquerer and Uatu the Watcher.[34]

As Dylan Brock and Thor Odinson worked to sever symbiotes from his control, Knull had the symbiotes' astral selves imprisoned to prevent them from turning against him. The codices of deceased hosts Rex Strickland, Flash Thompson, and Eddie Brock infiltrated the core of the Hive-Mind in order to pilot these symbiotes and incarnate in the Living World. Flash Thompson was able to incarnate as a white-and-black symbiote-dragon, alerting Knull to their activities; and Knull seized control of Rex's symbiote -- destroying his codex in the process -- to confront Eddie Brock. With help from the Venom symbiote, Eddie was able to escape and incarnate as a giant version of Venom before being resurrected by the God of Light, Knull's ancient antithesis.[6]

Under New Management

Following the destruction of his physical body at the hands of the God of Light-empowered Eddie Brock, Knull's consciousness attempted to use the Hive-Mind to take over the body of Dylan Brock but was stopped by Eddie -- who in vanquishing Knull became the new King in Black and nexus of the Hive-Mind.[4] However, Carnage's codex -- using the power Knull had granted him -- posthumously began to usurp rulership of the Hive-Mind by establishing a rival Hive under his control.[5][35][36][37][3][38][39]

A few months into Eddie Brock's reign as the King in Black, a mysterious being from the far future called Meridius used the Hive-Mind to reach back through time, creating a shadowy cabal called the Absent Throne with the intent of using various symbiote-related organizations like Alchemax, the Friends of Humanity, and the Life Foundation as pawns to kill Eddie and capture Dylan and the Venom symbiote. When Meridius seized control of a symbiote to deliver a sinister message warning Eddie of his impending demise, Eddie attempted to use the Hive-Mind to see into the future but was unable to prevent his own death; his codex being jettisoned into the far future and incarnated from a pool of living abyss on Meridius' Garden of Time.[9]

Going to war with the Absent Throne Dylan began garnering a group of his own of symbiotes and their hosts. These included his symbiote father Venom,[40] Sleeper,[41] Rascal,[42] Toxin,[43] and Flexo,[44] but to keep them from being controlled by the King in Black Dylan used All-Black the Chainbreaker on them to sever their connection to the Hive-Mind, freeing them of any potential influence and making their own separate hive.[45] Meanwhile, Meridius took charge of the Hive-Mind,[46][47] asserting his dominance on the symbiotes and his recently created Zombiotes which he could easily manipulate. During the culmination of the symbiote war, Dylan ended up stabbing Eddie with All-Black, cutting his connection to the Hive-Mind and stripping him of the King in Black position,[48] and after Meridius himself was killed the Hive-Mind was left without a King in Black.[49]

Alternate Reality Versions

Image Description Source
Symbiote Hive-Mind from Venom The Last Dance 001

Sony's Spider-Man Universe (Earth-688)

On Earth-688, the Venom symbiote explained to Eddie Brock that the Symbiote Hive-Mind transcend the multiverse, allowing the symbiotes to access the memories of their alternate universe's counterparts. It was through this, how Venom learned of Spider-Man's secret identity as Peter Parker from Earth-199999.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (mentioned), Venom: The Last Dance
Symbiote Hive-Mind from Marvel's Spider-Man 2 001

Earth-1048

On Earth-1048, the Symbiote Hive-Mind was a metaphysical plane that connected the minds of every symbiote host. The hive mind took the appearance of a red space inhabited by floating symbiote structures in which hosts were trapped inside cocoons. When Miles Morales and Mister Negative entered Peter Parker's consciousness to free him of a symbiote that had taken over him, they saw how his mind had been corrupted by symbiotes, and worked together to not only save Peter from this darkness but also sever his symbiote from the hive which resulted in the creation of Anti-Venom. Later, Miles was pulled into the Hive-Mind when Venom attempted to also infect him, but he managed to free himself and discover the location of the meteorite that was powering the symbiotes.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2

Points of Interest

  • Void: An endless void resembling Knull's primordial kingdom, described as a black ocean of hatred and hunger.[50] Hosts can be plunged into this layer of the Hive-Mind by their symbiotes, pulled in by those with the power of the King in Black, or learn to enter it at-will.[35][37] While typically appearing as an endless exapnse of darkness, the Void can be used to show visions and illusions to those trapped in it.[51][37] The regions of the Void under Cletus Kasady's control often appear to be comprised of flesh, blood, and viscera, or Carnage's signature red-and-black ooze.[5][3][38]
  • Codex Purgatory: A plane located in the depths of the Void, where the consciousnesses of hosts who have succumbed to the control of their symbiotes are trapped, ensnared by symbiote tendrils. The codices of hosts who have been bonded to symbiotes for significant periods of time are able to roam freely and even see into the mortal world.[52]
  • God Hive: The God Hive is the supposed core of the Symbiote Hive-Mind, a pocket-dimension under the King in Black's control. Under Knull's control, the God Hive was a hellish crimson wasteland with abyssal fissures and jagged spires of living abyss; populated by the astral forms of symbiotes and symbiote-dragons.[53]
  • Un-Beyond: The Un-Beyond is the true core of the Hive-Mind and home of the King in Black; when visited, it takes the form of a vast engine fuelled by living abyss.[42][14] The Eventuality dwells there, supervising his past selves.[15]

Residents

Notes

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #23
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 King Thor #2
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Extreme Carnage: Toxin #1
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 King in Black #5
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Extreme Carnage Alpha #1
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Venom (Vol. 4) #32–34
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 3) #23
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Venom (Vol. 4) #4
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Venom (Vol. 5) #1
  10. ↑ Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black #5
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Venom (Vol. 4) #35
  12. ↑ Venom (Vol. 5) #9–10
  13. ↑ Venom (Vol. 5) #24
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Venomverse Reborn #1
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Venom (Vol. 5) #18
  16. ↑ Venom #154
  17. ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 6) #10
  18. ↑ Venom (Vol. 5) #3
  19. ↑ Venom (Vol. 3) #3
  20. ↑ Venom Super Special #1
  21. ↑ Venom: Space Knight #7
  22. ↑ Venom: Space Knight #10
  23. ↑ Venom: Space Knight #12
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Web of Venom: Carnage Born #1
  25. ↑ Web of Venom: Cult of Carnage #1
  26. ↑ Scream: Curse of Carnage #4
  27. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #1
  28. ↑ Absolute Carnage: Separation Anxiety #1
  29. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #18
  30. ↑ Absolute Carnage #5
  31. ↑ King in Black: Scream #1
  32. ↑ King in Black: Black Knight #1
  33. ↑ King in Black: Gwenom vs. Carnage #2
  34. ↑ Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black #1–5
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 Extreme Carnage: Scream #1
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Extreme Carnage: Phage #1
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 Extreme Carnage: Lasher #1
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Extreme Carnage: Agony #1
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Extreme Carnage Omega #1
  40. ↑ Venom (Vol. 5) #12
  41. ↑ Venom (Vol. 5) #15
  42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 Free Comic Book Day 2022: Spider-Man/Venom #1
  43. ↑ Venom (Vol. 5) #23
  44. ↑ Venom (Vol. 5) #22
  45. ↑ Venom (Vol. 5) #26
  46. ↑ Venom (Vol. 5) #5–16
  47. ↑ Venom War: Lethal Protectors #3
  48. ↑ Venom War #4
  49. ↑ Venom War #5
  50. ↑ Venom #158
  51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 Venom (Vol. 4) #25
  52. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #32–33
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 53.2 53.3 Venom (Vol. 4) #33
  54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 Absolute Carnage: Symbiote of Vengeance #1
  55. ↑ Venom (Vol. 5) #13–14
  56. ↑ King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes #1
  57. ↑ 57.0 57.1 57.2 Absolute Carnage: Scream #1
  58. ↑ 58.0 58.1 Venom (Vol. 4) #32
  59. ↑ King Thor #2–4
  60. ↑ Carnage Reigns Omega #1
  61. ↑ Venom (Vol. 5) #5
  62. ↑ 62.0 62.1 Web of Venom: Empyre's End
  63. ↑ 63.0 63.1 Black Panther (Vol. 7) #15
  64. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #27
  65. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #30
  66. ↑ Web of Venom: Wraith #1
  67. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #8
  68. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #24
  69. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #34
  70. ↑ Absolute Carnage #4

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