Recaps

Gwen Stacy discovered that an alien symbiote named Venom had bonded with her, and she fought it into agreeing not to eat people by risking a fall from the Empire State Building. After finding that chocolate could satisfy Venom’s hunger, Gwen faced an armed robbery at a convenience store, where Venom asked whether it could eat the robbers.

• Gwen woke up hanging outside the Empire State Building and learned that Venom had bonded with her, giving her heightened senses and strength.
• Venom tried to take control of Gwen and feed on human brains, but Gwen resisted and threatened to make them both fall to their deaths.
• Venom agreed not to eat people and saved them from the fall by swinging Gwen into an alley.
• Gwen took Venom to a convenience store and discovered it craved chocolate because it contained phenethylamine.
• Four masked men robbed the store, and one threatened Gwen with a switchblade as Venom asked if it could eat them.

Gwen Stacy used Venom to stop a convenience-store robbery without letting the symbiote eat anyone, then shared chocolate with it above New York. The next day, Gwen confronted Peter and Felicia at Empire State University, while Venom sensed something unusual in both of them and Gwen began connecting Peter to recent events before walking away.

• Gwen Stacy transformed with Venom, disarmed four robbers, and left them bound for the police.
• Gwen shared boxes of dark chocolate with Venom atop a water tower.
• Peter encountered Gwen at Empire State University and struggled to explain why he had been absent and injured.
• Felicia linked arms with Peter and challenged Gwen, prompting a tense exchange that Harry Osborn watched and mocked.
• Venom sensed a beast-like mutation in Felicia and powerful radiation-induced mutations in Peter, leading Gwen to suspect a connection between Peter and recent events.
• Gwen shouldered past Peter and walked away, leaving him convinced their relationship was over.

Dr. Connors’s new serum successfully regrew a chimpanzee’s leg, but Norman Osborn planned to begin human trials without Connors’s consent. Norman then received an anonymous photograph of a black-and-white figure at the docks, labeled as a new test subject.

• Dr. Connors injected the new serum into a chimpanzee, which regrew its missing leg without the deformities that plagued earlier experiments.
• Norman praised Connors’s achievement and asked when human trials could begin, but Connors insisted on more testing and informed volunteers.
• Norman privately ordered Dr. Erskine to take three serum vials and send them to the St. Joseph Veterans Welfare Institution for unauthorized human trials.
• Norman opened a Green Pumpkin-Shaped Metal Device and received an anonymous email with a photograph of a figure at a warehouse and the message, "[New test subject discovered.]"

Erskine delivered Norman Osborn’s experimental serum to Dr. Sean, who tested it on three injured veterans. Benjamin regained his leg but the serum awakened buried memories and revealed that the veterans’ former comrades were still alive, leaving the experiment—and the threat those survivors represented—unresolved.

• Erskine delivered three doses of serum to Dr. Sean at the veterans’ institution, where Sean planned to test it on the residents despite the risks.
• Benjamin, Pete, and Chris signed consent forms after recalling how they had uncovered organ trafficking by military personnel and were injured in a deliberately mishandled mine-clearing mission.
• Sean injected Benjamin with the serum, which rapidly regrew his missing leg and restored sensation.
• Benjamin’s recovered memories triggered a violent episode in which he relived the village shooting and blamed his commanding officer for the order.
• Benjamin revealed that the people hidden in military coffins were still alive, then buckled the metal bed with his strength.

Benjamin, Pete, and Chris transformed into lizard-like monsters and massacred the staff and guards at St. Joseph Welfare Institution in Queens. Peter Parker, Commissioner George Stacy, and Gwen Stacy responded to the emerging crisis, with Gwen leaving home in her black-and-white Costume to reach the institution.

• Benjamin transformed into a scaled monster, killed Sean, and Pete and Chris underwent similar mutations while retaining their tactical skills.
• Benjamin, Pete, and Chris killed the underground security team, then charged into the lobby and began slaughtering the veterans at the institution.
• Peter Parker woke to his Spider-Sense and headed for Queens after hearing gunfire and sirens.
• George Stacy received word of the attack, left to lead the response, and told Gwen to stay home.
• Gwen heard Venom describe the bloodshed, ordered it to quiet down, and raced toward Queens in her black-and-white Costume.

Peter and Gwen fought the Lizard Men in Queens while Yang Ming evacuated civilians and treated an injured officer. With the officer breathing again, Peter and Gwen faced all three attackers as Yang Ming asked them to hold the street for another minute and a half.

• Peter webbed the airborne ambulance to a bank column, rescued its driver, and warned officers not to retreat south as the Lizard Men cut communications and blocked escape routes.
• Peter called Yang Ming, who used portals to evacuate an elderly man and a veteran while setting up a casualty collection point at the bank.
• Yang Ming began treating a critically injured officer and asked Peter to keep the Lizard Men on the empty street for two minutes.
• Gwen Stacy pulled George out of Chris's charge, shielded him from debris, and directed him toward the safe area without revealing who she was.
• Peter and Gwen teamed up to bring Pete down, but Benjamin and Chris turned their attention to Gwen as Yang Ming reported the injured officer was breathing again.

Gwen Stacy and Spider-Man coordinated against Benjamin, Chris, and Pete while Yang Ming evacuated injured people through portals. After Gwen stopped Venom from taking control, Spider-Man was trapped inside a burning bus, and Gwen prepared to rescue him despite Venom’s fear of fire.

• Gwen and Spider-Man divided the fight between the ground and the bank wall, then coordinated their attacks to hold off Benjamin, Chris, and Pete.
• Yang Ming and the paramedics continued evacuating the injured through a portal as the fight raged around them.
• Pete used Gwen’s pull to swing into the portico, but Yang Ming sent him through a portal before he could reach a stretcher.
• Benjamin struck Spider-Man into an overturned bus while Gwen was left facing Chris and Benjamin alone.
• Venom tried to make Gwen bite Chris, but Gwen regained control and restrained him instead.
• Gasoline ignited beneath the bus with Spider-Man trapped inside, and Gwen pulled a web line taut while telling Venom she would protect him.

Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker worked together to rescue people from a burning bus, each risking their life to hold back the wreckage and evacuate the injured. After the bus exploded, their masks came away and they recognized each other as Gwen Stacy and Peter, while Venom confirmed Peter was Spider-Man.

• Gwen Stacy broke open the burning bus door and discovered that the trapped Spider-Man was the talkative Peter from her laboratory.
• Gwen Stacy and Peter worked together to free injured passengers, with Peter holding up the bus frame while Gwen cut through the wreckage.
• Gwen Stacy and Peter evacuated the passengers as the bus’s fuel tank exploded, and Peter held back the collapsing roof so she could reach safety.
• After Gwen Stacy checked that no one remained inside, the fuel tank exploded again and threw both of them through the air.
• Gwen Stacy and Peter recognized each other after their masks were damaged, and Venom identified Peter as Spider-Man.

Peter and Gwen Stacy fought together to stop Benjamin and protect the wounded as the National Guard attacked the welfare facility. Benjamin escaped through the sewers with the storage device, and Gwen Stacy ended up at Yang Ming’s clinic, where she insisted she and Peter would talk once she recovered.

• Gwen Stacy confronted Peter about avoiding her and hiding the truth while George ordered officers to protect the wounded and keep the creatures away from the bank’s portico.
• As the National Guard helicopters prepared to fire, Peter and Gwen Stacy worked together to bring Benjamin down in the street.
• Benjamin tore an implanted storage device from his chest, identified Sean as the person behind it, and swallowed the device before escaping into the sewers with Pete and Chris.
• Peter and Gwen Stacy chose to protect the wounded rather than pursue Benjamin, but the helicopters opened fire and destroyed the welfare facility.
• Peter carried Gwen Stacy through Yang Ming’s portal to the clinic, where she told Peter they would discuss his Spider-Man identity after she healed.

Connors discovered that Norman had used the New Lizard Serum on veterans, turning three men into monsters and causing a deadly attack. After Connors refused to continue human trials, Norman moved to frame him as the project’s public scapegoat, while the surviving test subjects remained at large.

• Connors saw the news of the attack at the St. Joseph Veterans Welfare Institution and found that all three doses of serum were missing from Oscorp’s safe.
• Connors confronted Erskine and then Norman, who admitted the serum had been used on three veterans and argued that the experiment had succeeded despite their mental deterioration.
• Connors demanded the data and refused Norman’s order to begin phase two human trials, tearing up a recruitment list of twenty-seven vulnerable people.
• Norman summoned security and threatened to blame Connors for the human trials using his signed research documents and electronic signature.
• Connors warned Norman that the surviving test subjects would return for him, and Norman told him to let them come.

At Yang Ming's Clinic, Peter told Gwen Stacy that Norman Osborn had authorized human experiments and planned to continue them, then decided to protect Dr. Connors. Gwen and Felicia insisted on joining him, leaving Peter facing an uneasy trip to Oscorp with both of them.

• Yang Ming treated Gwen Stacy and warned that Venom was weakened by sonic attacks and flames.
• Peter revealed that he was Spider-Man and told Gwen Stacy about the evidence connecting Norman Osborn to the human experiments.
• Yang Ming urged Peter to protect Dr. Connors, and Peter prepared to go to Oscorp despite his injuries.
• Gwen Stacy said she would accompany Peter, and their concern for each other prompted Yang Ming to tease them about their relationship.
• Felicia arrived, teased Peter and Gwen Stacy, and then demanded to join the trip to Oscorp; Gwen Stacy agreed that all three should go.

Peter, Felicia, and Gwen infiltrated Oscorp to find Norman’s test-subject list and evidence while Benjamin and his allies attacked the basement. Peter reached the top floor, where the Green Goblin ambushed him with a Pumpkin Bomb.

• Yang Ming treated Peter with a short-acting tissue repair agent, warned him about the Oscorp ambush, and gave Gwen and Felicia high-frequency filters.
• Peter led Felicia and Gwen past Oscorp’s sonic and thermal security using Felicia’s sabotage and Gwen’s analysis of the sensors.
• Peter sensed something climbing through the tower, and Felicia confirmed that multiple large figures were approaching from below.
• Benjamin smashed into Oscorp’s basement security room, destroyed the consoles, and announced that Sean was dead before heading for Norman.
• Gwen and Felicia went to find Connors while Peter headed upstairs to retrieve Norman’s list and evidence.
• The Green Goblin burst through the top-floor glass dome and threw a Pumpkin Bomb at Peter.

Peter fought Green Goblin through Osborn Tower, found evidence of the human trials, and discovered that Norman Osborn was behind the experiments. As Norman’s eyes began to glow and Yang Ming approached the top floor, Peter faced the next confrontation.

• Green Goblin attacked Peter, who battled him through Osborn Tower and recovered Connors’s experimental data.
• Peter learned that Green Goblin knew the details of Connors’s experiments and had manipulated test subjects into becoming Lizard Men.
• Gwen told Peter that she and Felicia had found Dr. Connors in the underground experimental area, while Peter continued fighting Green Goblin.
• Peter knocked Green Goblin’s mask loose and recognized Norman Osborn, who admitted that he had orchestrated the experiments to stay alive.
• The Green Pumpkin Device lit up, Norman’s eyes glowed green, and Yang Ming told Peter over the Communicator to hold on until he arrived.

Peter and Gwen Stacy fought to rescue researchers from the collapsing laboratory while keeping Norman Osborn alive and holding back the Lizard Warriors. Peter escaped through Yang Ming’s portal with the survivors, and Yang Ming placed Norman under arrest at the Clinic.

• Norman triggered the building’s alarms and destruction, transformed, and attacked Peter as Benjamin, Pete, and Chris pursued him.
• Peter and Gwen Stacy fought to protect the trapped researchers while Yang Ming told them to get the living out first; Gwen reported that Felicia and Dr. Connors were evacuating the underground laboratory.
• Peter and Gwen Stacy restrained Benjamin and cleared a way for the researchers, while Gwen and Venom held off Chris and Pete.
• Peter disrupted the pumpkin device in Norman’s chest, restored him to human form, and pulled him away from Benjamin’s grasp.
• Peter, Gwen Stacy, Felicia, Norman, and the rescued researchers escaped through Yang Ming’s portal as Peter brought down the ceiling to block the Lizard Warriors.
• Yang Ming arrested Norman at the Clinic for illegal human experimentation, murder, kidnapping, and endangering public safety.

Harry watches Norman receive a life sentence for his crimes, then returns to Osborn Manor and discovers a letter explaining his father’s motives and the family’s inherited heart condition. Norman’s key leads Harry to an underground laboratory, where a screen reveals that a sample was recently collected from Harry himself.

• Harry watches Norman’s trial, hears a victim’s family describe her husband’s fate, and sees Norman sentenced to life imprisonment.
• Harry tells Peter and Gwen Stacy about his disillusionment with his father, then returns to Osborn Manor alone.
• The old butler gives Harry a note with the code to Norman’s safe, where Harry finds a brass key and a letter.
• Harry reads that Norman pursued lizard serum because of an inherited heart disease and feared Harry might suffer from it too.
• Harry uses the key to open a hidden passage to the underground laboratory and finds a screen recording Harry as a subject with a sample collected fourteen days earlier.

Harry discovered that Norman had secretly built a serum and life-support armor to treat his inherited heart disease, while documenting his worsening condition and conducting lethal experiments. Facing the choice between dying, risking the serum, or seeking Spider-Man’s blood as a possible cure, Harry rejected both the injection and the armor for now and left them intact as a fallback.

• Harry entered the hidden laboratory and learned that Norman had built the armor long ago and predicted Harry had less than a year to live.
• Norman’s recording revealed Harry’s inherited heart defect, the serum’s dangerous side effects, and the experiments Norman had conducted on test subjects.
• Harry found medical reports showing Norman had tracked his declining heart health since childhood and had considered implanting a neural locking node.
• Norman admitted he had lost control of his experiments and told Harry he could refuse the serum, though he would die, or risk becoming like Norman.
• Norman revealed that Spider-Man’s blood might offer a third path because Spider-Man had recovered from severe injuries without the serum’s harmful cellular growth.
• Harry refused to activate the life-support system or take the serum, shut down the laboratory, and left the armor and serum intact.

Gwen Stacy and Venom detected signals from beyond Earth, as Klyntar pursuers tracked Venom and a hostile force marked Earth for invasion. The chapter ended with Venom sensing another Symbiote above New York.

• Venom’s sneeze knocked out power at the Underground Clinic, and Gwen detected a moving signal that Venom recognized as distant minds.
• Gwen traced the signal beyond the solar system and learned Venom might have been tracked through a stolen transport.
• A Klyntar retrieval team confirmed Venom’s signal and launched probes, ordering that Venom be brought back alive and Gwen protected.
• A warship carrying hostile Symbiotes marked Earth for an assault and ordered its advance force to seize hosts and destroy resistance.
• Gwen copied the disappearing signal while Venom suggested leaving Earth, then sensed a Symbiote passing above New York.

Lightning and the other Symbiotes arrived on a farm, where Lightning, Rock Shatter, and Shadow Veil gained willing hosts while rescuing people and animals. As Lightning’s group set out to find Venom, Carlton Drake moved to capture another group of stranded Symbiotes, who spotted an approaching speedboat.

• Lightning, Shriek, Rock Shatter, and Shadow Veil emerged from their crashed pod and found Allen rescuing a calf and an injured farmhand.
• Lightning bonded with Allen after Allen agreed, then healed his shoulder and promised to help the farmhand and the cows.
• Rock Shatter rescued a white-haired old man, who agreed to consider becoming its host, while Shadow Veil bonded with Amy after agreeing to save her injured sheepdog.
• Lightning’s group gathered at the farm and decided to find Venom and persuade Venom to return to Klyntar.
• Carlton Drake learned of seven Symbiotes stranded on an Atlantic island and ordered the Life Foundation to seal it off and capture one alive.
• Absolute Slaughter’s group found a speedboat approaching the island and prepared to seek hosts.

Absolute Slaughter and the other symbiotes defeated the Life Foundation hunters and learned that Venom was in New York, while Lightning and his companions set out to find Venom first. Both groups headed toward New York, with Absolute Slaughter intending to begin a new age of symbiosis.

• Captain Holt’s team attacked the weakened symbiotes with liquid nitrogen and sonic weapons, but Blood Butcher and the others killed or possessed the mercenaries.
• Absolute Slaughter controlled Holt, learned from his memories that Venom was in New York, and ordered him to take the symbiotes toward the city.
• At an abandoned barn, Lightning identified Venom in the news footage and said he would protect them if they refused to return to Klyntar.
• Lightning and Shriek left for New York in a modified farm truck, with Lightning warning Shriek not to attack or forcibly bond with humans.
• Absolute Slaughter and six symbiotes sailed toward New York as she vowed to begin a new age of symbiosis.

Peter agreed to arrange a meeting between Harry and Spider-Man, but Harry revealed that he wanted Spider-Man’s blood to investigate a possible treatment for his hereditary heart defect. The chapter ended with Peter confronting the danger of Harry’s request and the revelation that Harry had only a year to live.

• Felicia and Gwen competed for Peter’s attention on the ESU lawn before Harry arrived and asked for Spider-Man’s contact information.
• Peter promised Harry a meeting with Spider-Man in Brooklyn that night, despite Gwen’s suspicion that Harry was hiding something.
• Peter met Harry on the abandoned sugar factory rooftop, where Harry took a photo and asked for Spider-Man’s autograph.
• Harry told Peter he needed Spider-Man’s blood and revealed that he had an inherited heart defect, irreversible heart damage, and at most a year to live.
• Harry explained that Norman had researched Spider-Man’s tissue-repair abilities as a possible way to save him, and Harry said he would decide whether to use the blood after studying it.

Peter refused Harry’s request for a vial of spider blood, promising to keep searching for a safer treatment as Harry questioned whether he must go further. Thor returned to Yang Ming’s clinic and was put back to work, just as Absolute Slaughter’s group reached New York and Crimson Thorn attacked the clinic.

• Harry offered Peter half his fortune for a vial of blood, but Peter refused because its effects on Harry could be dangerous and unpredictable.
• Peter promised Harry he would keep looking for a way to help, and Harry said he would make his own choice after Peter left.
• Thor returned from his trip with Jane and learned that Yang Ming had been running the clinic alone for two months, so Yang Ming ordered him to clean the bathroom.
• Absolute Slaughter sent her companions to gather information around New York and search for Venom while avoiding attention.
• Crimson Thorn found Yang Ming and Jane at the clinic, then shattered the window and surged inside as Thor came out of the bathroom.

Yang Ming fought Crimson Thorn as she attacked his clinic and tried to pierce his skin with parasitic spikes. He drove her off and nearly captured her, but she escaped through a sewer grate, leaving him wondering who had sent her.

• Crimson Thorn broke into the clinic, and Yang Ming sent Thor and Jane toward the stairs before confronting her.
• Yang Ming used his strength and Observation Haki to counter Crimson Thorn’s attacks and blasted her through the clinic wall into a taxi.
• Yang Ming drew Crimson Thorn away from the clinic, identified her ambush tactics, and struck the roots of her back blades.
• Yang Ming pinned Crimson Thorn to a brick wall and demanded to know who had sent her.
• Crimson Thorn escaped Yang Ming’s grasp through a sewer grate, and Yang Ming chose not to pursue her.

Crimson Thorn returned to Absolute Slaughter after Yang Ming defeated her, and the alien leader ordered her symbiotes to hunt Venom while avoiding Hell’s Kitchen. Yang Ming identified the attackers as a coordinated threat and warned Peter Parker, who rushed to rescue Gwen Stacy from her university laboratory.

• Crimson Thorn escaped through the underground tunnels and reported that Yang Ming had shattered her with a bare-handed punch.
• Absolute Slaughter dismissed Crimson Thorn’s injuries, ordered her forces to search Queens and Brooklyn for Venom, and threatened to eat anyone who disobeyed.
• Yang Ming recorded $91,000 in damage to his clinic, and Thor identified the attacker as a violent symbiote connected to a corrupt hive.
• Yang Ming called Peter and warned him that stealthy, coordinated symbiotes were hunting Venom, then told him to get Gwen Stacy and avoid fighting them with his fists.
• Peter learned Gwen was working late at the school laboratory, put on his Spider-Man costume, and swung toward Empire State University.

Gwen Stacy listened as Lightning warned her that Venom’s deep fusion could blur the boundaries between host and symbiote, but she defended Venom’s right to stay as her partner. Peter then burst into the laboratory and attacked Lightning, only for a man to emerge from Lightning’s protective layer and reveal that Lightning also had a host.

• Lightning entered Gwen Stacy’s locked laboratory and asked Venom to return to Klyntar for assessment.
• Lightning warned Gwen Stacy about the risks of deep fusion, while Venom denied forcing her and objected to being detained.
• Gwen Stacy questioned Lightning’s incomplete evidence and refused his attempt to examine the bond without her consent.
• Gwen Stacy told Lightning that Venom was her partner and had never hurt her, and an unfamiliar voice inside Lightning agreed that she had a point.
• Peter crashed through the window, kicked Lightning, and pulled Gwen Stacy behind him.
• A middle-aged man emerged from Lightning’s protective layer, and Lightning accused Peter of almost hitting its host.

Peter and Gwen Stacy were trapped in the university lab when Absolute Slaughter and her hunters attacked, seeking to devour everyone inside. Lightning fought to protect them while Peter tried to find a way out, and the chapter left them surrounded by the attackers.

• Lightning identified itself as a Klyntar agent and demanded that Venom return for evaluation, while Venom denied that it harmed Gwen Stacy.
• Peter began negotiating with Lightning, but his Spider-Sense flared as the lab plunged into darkness.
• Blade Hunter melted through the ceiling vent, and Skull Crusher burst through the reinforced door.
• Absolute Slaughter appeared outside the window and declared that she would devour everyone in the lab.
• Peter triggered the sprinklers and tried to escape with Gwen Stacy as Lightning charged the hunters, but Absolute Slaughter blocked the window and Peter realized they were surrounded.