Warning! Spoilers ahead for Venom #3
In the latest issue of Marvel Comics' After the recent King in Black event, the powers of the world have become obsessed with obtaining symbiotes and the power they provide their hosts. On top of that, with the recent death of Eddie, Dylan is now on his own as a fugitive being pulled into the fray against his will.
In the aftermath of Eddie Brock's murder in the recent Venom #1 from Al Ewing, Ram V, and Bryan Hitch, Dylan is on the run with only Venom and Sleeper by his side, taking the forms of a dog and cat to remain inconspicuous. While Dylan naturally misses Eddie, he hardly has any time to mourn his father before Life Foundation agents are sent to capture him. However, Dylan doesn't yet realize that, while his father's body was destroyed, Eddie is still alive, having transferred his consciousness to another symbiote in the vast hivemind he was still connected to.
Now Venom #3 sees Dylan learning from one of Eddie's old s, Archer Lyle, that a major symbiote conspiracy involving the world's biggest organizations is underway which Eddie had only begun to uncover before his death. Apparently, a shadow organization known as the Absent Throne has been manipulating various corporate entities and the movement of large sums of money, all in the interest of obtaining symbiotes. Not only is the Life Foundation involved, but also Senator Krane and his anti-symbiote group Friends of Humanity (last seen in Extreme Carnage). The Beyond Corporation (the new Spider-Man's bosses) is tangled in the mess as well.
Unfortunately, it seems as though the Absent Throne got its hands on Archer before Dylan met with her, resulting in him being betrayed and taken hostage by the Life Foundation at the issue's end. While Dylan did have Sleeper with him, Venom was left behind seeing as how Dylan currently has no interest in taking his father's place. To make matters worse, the Life Foundation's Carlton Drake confirms that the world is about to be caught in a major symbiote arms race, and Dylan is right in the middle of it all, whether he wants to be or not.
As agents are being sent to capture Venom in the next issue, it looks as though Eddie's former symbiote will be Dylan's only hope. Likewise, if Dylan is to survive and get to the bottom of The Absent Throne, who likely had his father killed, he'll probably have to trust and finally bond with Eddie's symbiote for the long term, becoming the next Venom in a more official capacity to prevent the coming arms race that's about to begin in the Marvel Universe.
