The Amazing Avengers Issue 12

“Symbiote Crisis” is the 12th issue and chapter of The Amazing Avengers.

Featured Characters

 * Venom / Eddie Brock (flashback and main story)
 * Venom Symbiote (flashback and main story)

Supporting Characters

 * Pandora / Anne Weying (first appearance)
 * Pandora Symbiote (first appearance)

Villains

 * Life Foundation (disbanded)
 * Riot / Carlton Drake (first appearance as Riot) (dies)
 * Riot Symbiote (identity revealed; dies)
 * John Jameson (single appearance; dies)
 * J. Jonah Jameson (dies)
 * Crimson Spider / Flash Thompson (flashback and main story)
 * Carnage / Red Skull / Johann Schmidt (flashback only)
 * Carnage Symbiote (flashback only)

Other Characters

 * Maria Jameson (flashback only; full name revealed; deceased)
 * Avengers (flashback and main story)
 * Captain America / Peter Parker
 * Redwing
 * Captain Marvel / Mary Jane Watson
 * Jocasta
 * Black Panther / Felicia Parker-Reilly
 * Black Widow / Teresa Parker
 * Winter Soldier / Jack Parker
 * Mecha-Hulk / Amadeus Cho
 * Quasar / Gayle Watson / Phyla-Vell Neramani
 * Hulkling / Theodore "Teddy" Altman / Dorrek VIII
 * Star-Lord / Kevin Quill
 * Groot
 * Mantis
 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Tony Stark
 * Marla Madison
 * Hank Pym

Premise
Returning to Earth, Eddie Brock has managed to fully master the Venom Symbiote inside him and the two have agreed to only hurt criminals and villains. However, they must still surpass the challenge of facing enemies as powerful as (or more powerful than) they are. While the Avengers work to solve the secrets more about the Symbiotes' origins, Venom and Brock must stop Carlton Drake, who had merged with tyrannical Symbiote Riot and plans to bring in the rest of the Symbiotes from Klyntar to Earth.

Plot
Eight years ago, Maria watched disappointed news of her father J. Jonah Jameson firing her lover Eddie Brock for his actions on Life Foundation (which led to Marla Madison being fired by Carlton Drake). Blaming Crimson Spider for not sticking up for Brock and seeing him as a menace and fraud, Maria vowed to end his life before the Venom Symbiote (which had duplicated some bit of Crimson Spider's powers) made its way to her and bonded with her, eventually revealing Crimson Spider's identity of Flash Thompson in the progress.

In Present Day, Brock (still bonded to Venom) had returned to Earth after a crew of Life Foundation astronaults was sent to retrieve him. Recently taking shelter in a apartment in San Francisco, Brock and Venom (inspired by the Avengers' heroic acts) had also agreed to only hurt and kill criminals instead of innocent people like they tried to do to Tony Stark's daughter Sally. Along the way, they once again confront and beat Crimson Spider down, but before they can kill him, they notice the Avengers coming and retreat as no one believes Crimson Spider when he tells them that Venom returned, which leaves Brock satisfied with the news that he had ruined Thompson's repultation after unmasking him in front of Sally. Meanwhile, the Avengers are reported to be preparing to travel to Klyntar (the homeplanet of the Symbiotes) to solve the secrets more about the Symbiotes' origins.

Along the way, Brock also encounters Anne Weying, Carlton Drake's former attorney who dissociated from Drake following the Avengers' last battle with the Red Skull and the fall of Life Foundation. Brock is soon convinced by Venom that they must still kill Drake and John Jameson, who are bent to renew Life Foundation's repultation. They first chase after Jameson, who had broken his father out of prison, and kill the pair in a alley before hiding their decapitated bodies in a trash car. While hiding from S.H.I.E.L.D. agents sent by Tony Stark, Riot (using Drake's pod) manages to track Venom down while voicing his plans to bring the other Symbiotes from Klyntar to Earth.

Brock spends a night with Weying in where it was once Maria's home to have sex, but their moment is interrupted by Drake, who had been fused by Riot (the alpha of the Symbiotes in Klyntar) and seeks to forcibly retrieve Venom, and a fight issues, taking place at a restricted construction site. As she hides in a safe room, Weying sees small symbiotic fragments which dropped from Riot's body and soon fuse with her, transforming her into "Pandora", who soon joins Venom's fight. They defeat Riot and bury him into a vat of molten steel, killing Riot and Drake in the progress as Venom and Pandora vanish before S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrive. As the Avengers reportedly investigate the incident (and Captain Marvel encounters Weying's cat Chewie), Brock and Weying are shown to have taken refuge in Malibu, California, while vowing to hunt and kill criminals together.