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Before Eddie Brock bonded with the Venom symbiote, the Marvel antihero met another symbiote in a story that was as dark as it was tragic.
When the word “symbiote” is thrown around, Venom, the alien parasite that’s usually bonded to Eddie Brock. is rightfully the first thing that comes to mind. But Venom is not the first symbiote to cross Eddie’s path. In his early days as a young, eager and ethically questionable journalist, Eddie had a very close encounter with another symbiote, Krobaa, a creature of a very different nature from Venom and his fellow Klyntar parasites.
A dark, swirling creature of black liquid, Kobraa’s origin is a mystery. In his introduction, he made no mention of his exact species, nor his planet of origin. The only thing he made clear was his desire to explore the universe and primitive planets and share his knowledge with an unknown galactic society. And he would do so by fusing with native inhabitants as hosts.
Krobaa had one appearance, in Venom: Seed of Darkness #-1, by Len Kaminski, James Fry, Chris Ivy, Tom Smith and Jim Novak. Dr. Nigel Donlevy, a scientist in Morristown, New Jersey, just finished his latest invention–the Klystron Monitor. On its first use, Kobraa seized control of it and created a portal, allowing him to emerge and fuse with a terrified Dr. Dunlevy.
Krobaa got the host he wanted. But he was unprepared for the complexity of the human mind and instantly went mad. He descended upon Morristown and went on a mad rampage, slaughtering bystanders in the process. Eddie Brock, camera in hand, dashed across the Hudson River to catch the story firsthand, only for Krobaa to attempt to kill him. But he made the lethal mistake of revealing his weakness–the power of light. Eddie defeated Krobaa using the flash of his camera. As the symbiote lay dying, he thanked his opponent for destroying “the seed of darkness” that would eventually spread throughout the universe and lamented humanity’s evil. He killed himself and vanished, leaving Dunlevy mentally broken and Eddie dumbfounded.
Krobaa was a tragic character and a victim of humanity’s darkness. His villainy came from him being corrupted by the primal instinct, or “id,” of the human mind. This stands in stark contrast with the other Klyntar symbiotes. They thrive on the emotions of their human hosts without losing their own equally identities, even projecting their will and desires onto the beings they have bonded with.
Dr. Dunlevy’s unwilling subconscious makes his innocent symbiote go mad, while Eddie is an active agent and the moral chain to hold back Venom’s less-than-gentle tendencies. Krobaa seemed to have little will of his own until he was defeated, while Venom and his symbiote children have some agency, even when bonded with their human hosts. Krobaa, on the other hand, is devastated by humanity’s inner evil and destroys himself to prevent its spread. Venom and the other Klyntar symbiotes clearly do not share such sentiments and have some form of morality of their own to act upon, sometimes sharing it with their hosts. Krobaa saw humanity’s evil impulses as a threat, while Venom and other symbiotes see it as a strength.
While his only appearance is stymied by the preachy message about humanity’s corruption, Krobaa had a lasting influence on Eddie and his future as a symbiote carrier and the eventual King in Black. His story also calls into question the origin and individual nature of symbiotes. They’re a wild and ferocious bunch, but time and again their more ambiguous, moral, and even empathetic sides are shown–and perhaps Krobaa’s brief but meaningful appearance led the way for this side of the symbiotes to be explored further.
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