All-New Venom #1 explained - Everything you need to know about the four potential mystery hosts, their new enemies, and the classic Venom host who's still in the picture

Venom swinging through New York City saying "We're an all-new Venom!" — (Image credit: Marvel Comics)

All-New Venom #1 is here, and as promised, writer Al Ewing, artist Carlos Gómez, colorist Frank D'Armata, and letterer Clayton Cowles deliver a promising mystery around the new human identity of the eponymous symbiote hero.

With four suspects, each somehow stranger than the last - Luke Cage, Rick Jones, Robbie Robertson, and Madame Masque - the possibilities are just opening up. And that's not even counting the former Venom host who is suddenly in the mix. We'll explain it all right now.

Spoilers ahead for All-New Venom #1

All-New Venom #1 opens with the trial of Madame Masque for her role in the previous Gang War crossover in which multiple gangs in Marvel's New York City battled it out in the streets for turf. Along with Madame Masque herself, all three other suspected Venom symbiote hosts are also present.

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Luke Cage is there because he's the mayor, and this is a high profile trial. Robbie Robertson is there reporting on the story for the Daily Bugle. And Rick Jones is present as the Bugle's new reporter on the superhuman beat.

Because Madame Masque and the Maggia (Marvel's version of the Mafia) worked with the villainous super-science group AIM in the event, an AIM witness who is an expert on superhuman body language testifies that he is certain it's the real Madame Masque on trial, as her mask is not removable.

An AIM trooper interrupting Madame Masque's trial as Luke Cage, Robbie Robertson, and Rick Jones all scramble to safety. — (Image credit: Marvel Comics)

But as he's testifying, AIM warriors in special armor that absorbs and redirects kinetic energy burst into the courtroom to capture Madame Masque. Luke Cage engages while both Robbie and Rick run out of the room. As Luke battles the AIM warriors, he's thrown out the window - just in time for the AIM troopers to realize that Madame Masque has somehow escaped.

This means all four suspects are out of the room when the new black and gold Venom comes in, taking down all the armored AIM troopers. And as Venom departs, Luke, Robbie, and Rick all reconvene in the courtroom. They all quickly realize that the three of them and Madame Masque are the only real possibilities for who could be the new Venom, who was apparently already on the scene when AIM attacked.

Venom fighting and defeating an AIM trooper and then swinging off into the city. — (Image credit: Marvel Comics)

And they're not the only ones who figure that out, as the TV news reports the same thing. This leads none other than Dylan Brock, the son of the original Venom Eddie Brock, to vow to track them all down and figure out which one of them is Venom, so he can take the symbiote back.

Dylan and Eddie were both rejected by the Venom symbiote in the conclusion of Venom War, with the symbiote itself slinking off to find a new host, leading directly to the sort of 'whodunnit' around the current mystery host. It seems that Dylan Brock is determined to put himself in the mix, so can Eddie be far behind?

The story continues in All-New Venom #2, on sale January 8.

Eddie Brock tops the list of the best Venom hosts of all time.

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011, and now I'm the Entertainment Writer at GamesRadar+. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)