There’s a brand new Venom coming, and it could be Luke Cage, Madame Masque, or another prominent Marvel character

Marvel Comics has been promising that the current Venom War crossover event will end with the crowning of the “one true Venom” – but as it turns out, who that is will actually be quite a big mystery when the dust settles on the event. Starting in December, writer Al Ewing and artist Carlos Gómez will create All-New Venom, which puts one of four well-known Marvel characters in the symbiote.

But here’s the catch – it’s definitely not Eddie or Dylan Brock, as may have been expected. Instead, there are four potential suspects for the new host of the infamous symbiote. As announced by Polygon, the potential new Venom host could be Luke Cage, Rick Jones, Robbie Robertson, or Madame Masque. Here’s a look at the symbiote’s new look, designed by Carlos Gómez:

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

There are potential clues that it could be any of these four. Robbie Robertson is one of the few Spider-Man supporting characters who doesn’t have an alternate super-powered identity, so it may finally be his turn. At the same time, the gold elements of the new suit may hint at Madame Masque or Luke Cage – though the latter has the complication of being mayor of New York City at the moment. And for Rick Jones, well, he’s been a version of almost every other hero in the Marvel Universe, so why not Venom?

The story is also a big change from the cosmic sci-fi of Ewing’s time as writer and co-writer of Venom so far, bringing the action back down to Earth. And it’s actually Dylan Brock who will be taking the lead on investigating the new Venom. So what does that mean for Eddie? We’ll likely have to wait till the end of Venom War to find out.

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

“If people have a strong hankering for something different from me, this is that. It’s almost more like a Spider-Man-level story,” Ewing explains. “It is set on Earth, very much in the normal New York City. Everywhere we go in the story is a place you could go, or at least the type of place you could go.”

All-New Venom #1 goes on sale in December with a cover by Adam Kubert, seen above.

Read all about the best Venom hosts of all time.