Throughout 63 years of history, Spider-Man has faced no shortage of dreadful antagonists. The wall-crawler has held his own against a serial killer bonded with a red parasitic alien, a master of illusions capable of bringing your worst nightmares to life, a literal vampire, and, worst of all, Monster Ock (if you played Neversoft’s Spider-Man, then you know how horrifying that last villain is). But amidst all the chaos that the wall-crawler has endured so far, it appears the worst could be yet to come.
Symbiotes have undergone a massive status quo shift on comic book pages in recent years. Mary Jane is now the one and only Venom, Eddie Brock bonded with the Carnage symbiote, and Knull has returned from the abyss, even though fans thought he was long gone. Now, the list of unexpected changes is about to get even longer with the introduction of Marvel’s deadliest serial killer since Cletus Kasady.
Torment, Spider-Man’s newest villain, will debut in Amazing Spider-Man/Venom: Death Spiral
Soon, the Marvel Universe will change with the introduction of Torment, a serial killer whose killing spree will bring together Peter Parker’s Spider-Man, Mary Jane’s Venom, and Eddie Brock’s Carnage. However, the arachnid reunion itself is a ticking bomb, as Peter doesn’t know that his former partner is now bonded to the Venom symbiote. The three characters will need to team up under less-than-ideal circumstances, as they face their biggest threat yet.
The million-dollar question is: Who exactly is Torment, and how exactly will the villain come into the fold? Well, Marvel has teased that the newcomer has ties to Peter’s past. Furthermore, they sport the slightly terrifying Knull spiral on their face, so it’s clear they bonded with a symbiote. However, we’ll have to wait until the release of Amazing Spider-Man/Venom: Death Spiral (2026) No. 1 on Feb. 25, 2026, to finally get some concrete answers.
The upcoming symbiotic crossover event will have nine issues under its belt and will continue through April. Furthermore, it will be penned by three creators who have been heavily involved with the Spider-Man mythos in recent years: Joe Kelly (writer behind the latest iteration of The Amazing Spider-Man series), Al Ewing (the mastermind behind the ongoing Venom run), and Charles Soule (writer of Eddie Brock: Carnage).
Spider-Man editor Nick Lowe teases that Torment will make Carnage’s work seem like child’s play:
“When Carnage hit the comic page it made you think Venom wasn’t that bad. Torment does that to Carnage here. He’s not a symbiote… he’s something much, much worse. And when you read what Charles Soule and Kev Walker serve up here with his origin… you may want to get a nightlight”.
“New” Spider-Man villains often fail to make an impression on fans or stay around for long (Mr. Negative excluded). So it will be interesting to see the response to Torment and to discover whether they can live up to the claim of being more terrifying than Carnage. Fortunately, it won’t be long before we learn about Torment’s backstory and what their true mission really is.
Amazing Spider-Man/Venom: Death Spiral (2026) #1 will be released on Feb. 25, 2026.