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Marvel creates the most startling Loki variant yet: Venom Loki

The fourth issue of What If? ...Venom pairs two of Marvel's most untrustworthy anti-heroes and the result is... trouble

Published on Thu Feb 15 2024

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Think of it as two great tastes that taste great together, as two iconic Marvel anti-heroes get mixed up together in an upcoming issue of the alternate-reality series What If? …Venom. Is anyone ready to see what happens when the symbiote attaches itself to a legitimate trickster god? Popverse has an exclusive sneak peek, and it’s not a pretty sight (but it is a cool one).

May’s issue of What If?…Venom sees the spurned symbiote set its sights on Loki, having previously possessed Doctor Strange, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk in earlier issues of the series. As you might expect, things didn’t really work out with any of those heroes, but surely it’ll go much better when a morally ambiguous, untrustworthy near-immortal gets his hands on the unstoppable alien parasite… Okay, maybe not.

In fact, Marvel’s description of the issue suggests that things might be worse than ever when Loki and Venom team up, with the description for What If? …Venom #4 looking something like this: “THE SYMBIOTE OF MISCHIEF! As the Venom symbiote’s tendrils have slithered through every corner of the Marvel Universe, they’ve now drawn the attention of LOKI, who believes this incarnation of the Venom symbiote and the hosts it has chosen to bond to stand poised to become the most DANGEROUS BEINGS IN THIS OR ANY REALITY!”

Sure sounds like trouble, doesn’t it? We have Jeremy Holt and Diogenes Neves to thank for this particular multiversal monstrosity; the issue, released on May 15, has a cover by Leinil Francis Yu, which you can see below:

What If? …Venom #4 goes on sale May 15.

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Graeme McMillan: Popverse Editor Graeme McMillan (he/him) has been writing about comics, culture, and comics culture on the internet for close to two decades at this point, which is terrifying to admit. He completely understands if you have problems understanding his accent.