Comic Book / Death Spiral

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Death Spiral, also known as Amazing Spider-Man/Venom: Death Spiral, is a 2026 crossover story arc between The Amazing Spider-Man (2025) and All-New Venom, and a continuation of Eddie Brock: Carnage.

Peter Parker is finally back on Earth after a jaunt in space thanks to Hellgate. Unfortunately, he returns to find his life's a mess; although standing in for him in his absence, Ben Reilly has driven away almost everyone Peter knows, with the only his Aunt May welcoming him back with open arms. Worse, he has no time to rest as he finds a message for him from the missing Eddie Brock, informing him that Carnage knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man.

Unbeknownst to either party, Carnage has also hired a contract killer named Torment, who now hunts anyone associated and/or related to Peter and MJ.

All spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man (2025), All-New Venom and Eddie Brock: Carnage will be unmarked. You have been warned.

Death Spiral provides examples of:

• Achilles' Heel: As usual, Symbiotes are vulnerable to flame and loud noise. The story emphasizes just how effective the Shocker's gauntlets are against symbiotes because of said weakness to loud noise.
• Ambiguously Human: Torment looks human, but is implied to be anything but. His bodysuit is pure white, but the carving of his red spiral motif has what looks like cut flesh, and has what looks like a serrated whip attached to his body, as seen when he kills Shocker. Amazing Spider-Man #26 confirms Torment is human, though that simply raises the question as to whether he's an enhanced human of some kind or a regular human who is incapable of perceiving people normally. It's suggested Torment has some kind of psychic sense he perceives as spirals that guide him to everyone he plans to kill, but then also links to everyone Carnage kills at random while they're bonded, causing him agony.
• Ambiguously Related: The crossover implies there's some connection between the Carnage symbiote and Torment, with the latter being familiar enough to use Carnage's signature calling card (CARNAGE RULES) to frame Eddie for Shocker's murder and later using it as his own (TORMENT RULES). The symbiote also knows Torment well enough to have his number, though it's unclear how exactly they know each other. Amazing Spider-Man #24 even has Carnage call himself Torment's "old friend", further implying they know each other somehow. Amazing Spider-Man #25 reveals Carnage is actually a fan of Torment's work, enough so he deems him a potential worthy host.
• Ambiguous Situation: In the final clash, Torment is thrown off the roof, though neither MJ nor Venom are sure which of them is responsible for the deed, having reacted poorly to Torment threatening Peter. Peter tries to get answers, but MJ shuts him down and says they should be glad Torment is gone, regardless of how it happened. The two later agree that Venom was likely 90% responsible for the decision, but Mary Jane didn't actively protest against it.
• Anti-Hero: Discussed and implied. Neither MJ nor Venom are sure which of them killed Torment, only that they acted in defense of Peter when Torment threatened to kill him, though Mary Jane wonders if she was acting on darker impulses. Peter himself suspects this might be the case and tries to question MJ about it, but she side-steps the issue by pointing out that regardless of how it happened, Torment was dealt with, and they should be glad the matter is settled.
• Asshole Victim:
  • In Issue #255 of All-New Venom, Carl Brock is added to the list of Torment's victims. Considering he was an abusive parent to Eddie and Dylan, and during his final moments his response when receiving news of their relatives dying shows his attitude hasn't improved, it's hard to feel sorry for him.
  • MJ/Venom (even they aren't sure who is responsible) murder Torment by dropping him off a roof. It's framed as a sign that Mary Jane and/or Venom are going down a darker path, but considering Torment was a serial killer who murdered entire families it's hard to feel bad for Torment.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite Paul adopting Dylan, the two didn't really get along very well. Dylan made it clear he didn't respect Paul while Paul struggled to connect with him. Nonetheless, Paul tells Torment that he has to kill him first if he wants to go after Dylan since he'd "die for the kid" and that makes them family. When Dylan realizes later that Paul died, he's driven to tears.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Since all the way back in Eddie Brock: Carnage, the Carnage symbiote made no secret of its intent to leave Eddie for a worthy, more powerful host. It eventually abandons Eddie in favor of Torment after finally getting fed-up of the former's refusal to murder indiscriminately, though it's quickly made apparent that while Carnage and Torment are cut from the same cloth, Torment's insistence on following a set pattern of killing conflicts with Carnage's simplistic blood lust. Ultimately, it's Torment himself who forces the symbiote off of him when it goes on a random murder spree, causing Torment to see more "spirals" than he can properly handle.
• Big Bad: The main antagonist of the crossover is Torment, a Serial Killer who's been hired by Carnage to hunt down people related to Eddie and Peter. After Carnage learns that MJ is Venom's host, her relations get added to Torment's hunt, unexpectedly starting with Shocker.
• Bittersweet Ending: Torment's threat has come to an end at Venom's hand, but Mary Jane and the symbiote is uncertain who did the deed — Mary Jane submitting to her dark urges or the symbiote protecting Peter. Eddie Brock, for his role in the murders, is locked away. Dylan is still angry with Eddie, and the Carnage symbiote is still alive, now forced to survive off rats and cockroaches until it can find another suitable host. Meanwhile, the man Torment claimed to be Spider-Man's first cousin goes to have a DNA test to find out what's going on.
• Black Blood: Paul's blood after he gets stabbed by Torment is pitch black and looks more like ink than hemoglobin.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Torment's origin comic reveals that he started by killing the family of his girlfriend to remove the "spirals" that he perceived as keeping people trapped, but he's never been able to find anyone who agrees with his view that killing families is a good thing.
• Broken Pedestal: One of the reasons MJ and the Venom symbiote don't get along is because the latter insists that Eddie has changed, and even if he hasn't, it can help him change, something MJ finds doubtful. Venom's faith in Eddie plummets to rock bottom when it learns that not only did Eddie bond with Carnage despite knowing how dangerous it is, he's indirectly responsible for all the tragedy and grief that's happened throughout the crossover, including putting Dylan in danger. When Eddie tries to make excuses, still thinking he can control Carnage, Venom finally has enough and tells its old friend and former host it never wants to see him again.
• Bully Turned Buddy: Discussed. When Peter begins to believe that MJ might have developed feelings for Flash Thompson, a man who used to relentlessly bully him in high school, Peter essentially gives MJ his blessing as he understands how much Flash has changed for the better over the years.
  Peter: Look, if that happened—
  MJ: It didn't—
  Peter: But if it did—
  MJ: Didn't—
  Peter: If it DID, I would get it. Flash has come a long way. I'd get it.
• Care-Bear Stare: After Eddie weakens Carnage with the Shocker's gauntlet, Peter is able overwhelm it with happy thoughts and faith in people. Carnage is left catatonic afterwards.
• Cassandra Truth: When reuniting with Venom after a run-in with Shocker, Peter mistakingly assumes the symbiote is with Eddie again, which annoys both it and MJ, who both angrily correct him, unaware they revealed themselves to Peter's clone. It's only after realizing Peter's shock is genuine and speaking with him after he's calmed down that Peter tells them he's been in space throughout the Earth/Spaceside storyline.
• Celebrity Casualty: While his name's never stated, it's heavily implied that John C. Reilly is caught up in the death spiral, as the narration mentions several Bland-Name Product versions of his films (particularly Smash-It Fred and the fact that he's assassinated at the premiere of "Curators of the Cosmos").
• Character Death:
  • Shocker is killed by Torment, due to unknowingly being related to Mary Jane Watson.
  • Carl Brock, Eddie's abusive father, is also killed by Torment.
  • Paul Rabin is also killed by Torment while protecting Dylan.
  • Torment himself bites it at the end of the arc when Mary Jane and Venom throw him off a building.
• Copycat Killer: Invoked. Torment's murder of Shocker is done in a way that frame Eddie for the deed, since he's bonded to the Carnage symbiote. That said, it's a poor attempt at imitation as the symbiote points out Torment spelled its signature calling card wrong, albeit as a form of mockery since the symbiote isn't as effective of a serial killer as it used to be due to Eddie's preference for targeting other serial killers as opposed to general criminals. After murdering Carl Brock, however, Torment takes to using Carnage's calling card as his own. This is an early indication that Carnage views Torment as a suitable host and in fact offered up Peter, Eddie, and MJ's relatives as a twisted "dowry".
• The Corruptor: Carnage tries to be this for Spidey, trying to tempt him into giving up his morals in favor of letting loose. It fails on account of Peter's mental fortitude, even successfully forcing the symbiote out of him after it heals most of his injuries.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: When being confronted by the others over why he thought being bonded to Carnage of all symbiotes was a good idea, Eddie tries to insist he could and still can control it, even though he himself knows how dangerous it is. He even tries insisting he saved others from being Carnage's host by taking that burden upon himself. MJ calls him out on it, likening his behavior to a drug addict trying to justify his vices.
• Downer Ending: For Eddie's side of the story. His "partnership" with the Carnage symbiote has been a disaster on all fronts, his father is dead, and both Venom and Dylan want nothing to do with him after he insists he can still control Carnage when it leaves him in favor of Torment. He's locked up at the end of Death Spiral, though he's seemingly no longer at the risk of dying anymore.
• Everyone Is Related: Torment's powers are implied to invoke this: in Amazing Spider-Man #26, in Carnage's recollections of Torment's civilian identity, a maskless Torment sees people as golden spirals against white silhouettes that connect to others.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Carnage tries to drive Spider-Man to commit murder during his brief time bonded to Spidey, but Peter's focus on his own belief in people allows him to force the symbiote down and out of his own body after Carnage has healed enough of his injuries.
• Evil Is Not a Toy:
  • Despite knowing how dangerous the Carnage symbiote is since back in Eddie Brock: Carnage, Eddie believed he could exert some measure of control and find some way to keep it in line. Unfortunately for him, Carnage wasn't satisfied and planned to jump ship, which is exactly its plan in Death Spiral. It even succeeds by excising itself from Eddie in favor of Torment, who it finds to be a much better host on account of them being fellow serial killers. Pretty much everyone, especially Venom, make it clear Eddie was an idiot for thinking he could try and control Carnage.
  • Carnage itself ends up on the other end of this trope with Torment. Carnage deliberately sought out the equally Ax-Crazy serial killer because it wanted a kindred spirit as its new host. Unfortunately, Carnage's long-held habit of overriding its host's free will when they don't want to go on random killing sprees For the Evulz results in Torment deciding the symbiote is more trouble than its worth. The results are very painful for the symbiote.
• Evil Plan: Peter realizes Carnage's true goal was to leave Eddie behind, having gotten fed-up with Eddie's strict "guidelines" on who and who not to kill. Carnage setting him, Peter, and MJ up to be killed was its way of bonding with Torment, who it finds to be a more suitable host as the latter is a fellow serial killer, albeit with his own "code" of murder.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!:
  • In Venom #255, it happens twice:
    • When Spidey and Venom talk to Tombstone, the latter reveals that the killer, believed to be Carnage, stole something. The two realize that that is out of character for him... unless it's being used for killing. Worse, they realize the killer made off with Shocker's gauntlets with the explicit purpose of using it against symbiotes.
    • At the same time, Eddie went to a library to investigate recent unsolved murders and discovers a recent bus explosion where the bus and half of its passengers were all "Brock"... then discovers two of his relatives were recently murdered and not only realizes his father might be next, but that the Carnage symbiote is working with the killer.
  • In Amazing Spider-Man #25, when Peter, MJ, and Eddie hunt for Torment after learning he's going after their families, they first assume he's heading for MJ's Aunt Anna in Queens. Peter uses his tech to track the gauntlets Torment stole from Shocker after the latter's murder, but is confused when he sees the tracker not heading to Queens but to MJ's place in Manhattan, and the horrified Eddie realizes Torment is hunting Dylan, who's currently there with Paul.
• Eye Scream: In Venom #255, the Carnage symbiote pops out of Eddie's left eye and "wears" it.
• Failed a Spot Check: Subverted. Torment frames Carnage for Herman Schultz's murder by writing his signature calling card...except its spelled "CARNAGE RULED". The symbiote itself points this out, noting this was deliberate and is used as a point of mockery toward Carnage for not being as an efficient killer these days compared to when Kasady was in the driver seat. When he kills Carl Brock, Torment uses his own variation, "TORMENT RULES".
• Fair-Weather Mentor: Norman Osborn has nothing but absolute respect for Peter as a hero, but acknowledges how Peter has also fallen painfully short when it comes to actually mentoring the numerous young "proteges" he has taken in over the years. Norman even argues how if he, in his declining health, was able to successfully fend off Miles, Gwen, and the other NYC-based Spiders single-handed; then they won't be ready when an actual threat does come their way.
  Norman: Peter is one of the best men I know. He saved my literal soul and taught me that change is possible. But when it comes to working with his protégés...he's kind of a menace.
• Family Extermination: Torment's M.O. is tightening a "spiral" around chosen targets by first killing any relatives they may have, by blood, marriage or adoption, saving them for last. His three targets happen to bring him down on the Parker, Watson and Brock families, at Carnage's suggestion.
• Frame-Up: Carnage is made out to be Shocker's killer, which Eddie isn't thrilled about since it puts a target on his back. It's implied the Carnage symbiote itself is fine with this, if not having encouraged Torment to frame him for Shocker's death. Worse, Tombstone reveals the killer made off with Shocker's gauntlets, making both Venom and Peter believe Carnage intends to use it on the former, leading to their confrontation at the end of Venom Issue #255.
• Freak Out: Peter is shocked to discover MJ is Venom's new host, so much in fact he starts hyperventilating into his own mask.
• Friendly Enemy: Spider-Man basically relies on his and Boomerang's status as this to get Boomerang to help him find information about Shocker's death. Peter also notes that he considered the dead man at least a potential example of this, as he admired his opponent's equipment and the criminal never did anything worse than property damage, to the point that Spidey would wonder if it would be possible for him to turn his life around if given the chance.
• Friendship Denial: When Eddie tries to express sympathy to Peter over Paul's death and called Paul Peter's "buddy", Peter denies that he was his buddy. He then goes on to say that the deceased was simply "a human being who tried his best", and that's enough for Peter to feel terrible about his death.
• From Bad to Worse: Venom #256 ends with the Carnage symbiote bailing on Eddie and bonding with Torment. Venom #257 tops that by ending with the Carnage symbiote bonding to Peter after Torment rejects it.
• Godzilla Threshold: At the end of Venom #257, all of the heroes are incapacitated leaving Torment free to hunt down and kill May and Anna. Peter in particular is mortally wounded. The also dying Carnage asks Peter to let it join him so they can save Aunt May...and Peter accepts the offer.
• Greater-Scope Villain: While Carnage is playing ball with Eddie at the moment, it nonetheless sets the events of Death Spiral in motion by hiring Torment to hunt down and kill people associated and/or related to the Parkers, Watsons, and Brocks. Eddie realizes this in Venom #255 and rages at the symbiote for basically setting him up to be killed and putting Dylan, his son, in the crossfire.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Paul's last act is to convince Torment that he needs to kill Paul before going after Dylan due to Paul being related to Dylan by adoption. In doing so he buys Dylan enough time to escape.
• Heroic Willpower: Despite the Carnage symbiote's best attempts, it fails to corrupt Peter on account of the latter's belief and sincerity of others. It's this same willpower that lets him drown out Carnage and eventually force him out of his body after its healed most of his injuries.
• Honor Before Reason: Torment targets his intended target's families before finishing off the one he wanted. This means it gives Mary-Jane, Peter and Eddie time to realize their families are being targeted first before Torment intends to finish the job.
• Hope Spot: Part 4 features Spider-Man, Venom and Carnage cornering Torment... and then Carnage attacks the other two, revealing that the symbiote is in control while Brock is unconscious.
• Hypocrite: Torment apparently started by killing the family of his girlfriend as he perceived them as "holding her back", but rejects the idea of killing his family because he loved them.
• In Love with Your Carnage: Unsurprisingly, Carnage seems to approve of Torment as a fellow serial killer. So much, in fact, he's willing to bond with the latter, and offers Peter, MJ, and Eddie's loved ones as a "dowry". The symbiote ultimately does so after Eddie keeps rejecting the idea of murder.
• Insane Troll Logic: Torment appears to be convinced that he can only kill Peter, Eddie and Mary Jane once "the spirals" have been "tightened" around them, objecting to the idea of facing them "early" just because he hasn't killed all the people on his list yet. This causes some friction with Carnage when they bond, since the symbiote has no such "rules" about who and when it can kill its victims.
• Internal Reveal: The Amazing Spider-Man #23 has MJ learn Peter's been in space this whole time and was replaced by his clone, Ben Reilly. Likewise, both Peter and Eddie learn MJ is Venom's newest host from the pair and Dylan respectively. All-New Venom #255 has Peter and MJ learn Eddie has the Carnage symbiote.
• Kick the Dog: As if stabbing a man to death wasn't already bad enough, Torment pours salt in the wound by telling Paul he has no meaningful connections to anyone and is just in the way while stabbing him.
• Kill Tally: Torment keeps a chart board of photos with every Brock and Parker relative he has killed and will kill. May, Peter, Dylan, and Eddie are the final targets on his chart when he learns about Mary Jane, so presumably MJ and her relatives then get added, with Shocker the first Watson relative killed.
• Kryptonite Factor: The gold on Venom's body isn't a stylistic choice on MJ or the symbiote's part — it's the Anti-Carnage formula from Venom War.
• Late to the Tragedy: To Eddie's dismay, he arrives at his father's apartment to see him dead on the floor, with Torment there waiting for him.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: To protect Paul, Dylan uses the Jackpot Gauntlet and ends up trapping him in a glass cocoon. When Torment breaks out of it, not only does Dylan get stabbed in the thigh, Paul is equally stabbed by the shards.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Torment's hit list includes several victims named Reilly, due to their relation to Peter Parker's Aunt May Reilly Parker. One of the victims, though not named on-panel, is described as "the Hollywood actor, star of such movies as Strut Tough, Ape-X: Headbone Peninsula, and Smash-It Fred." That's right, Torment killed John C. Reilly (or his Earth-616 equivalent).
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: In contrast to Torment, who waits to kill his targets until "the spirals have tightened", Carnage would rather go for the quick and easy solution of killing his targets on sight. It's because of their clashing philosophies that Peter has a chance to stop them, as Torment refuses to kill Peter, MJ, and Eddie until he's killed their closest relatives (Aunt May, Aunt Anna, and Dylan, respectively), to the Carnage symbiote's annoyance.
• Operator Incompatibility: While Carnage and Torment can work together, Torment's desire to work on one victim at a time clashes with Carnage's desire to just murder everyone in sight. This is because if Torment started killing people at will, he would be overwhelmed with his "spirals" and be locked in an overwhelming desire to complete all of them. It reaches a breaking point in Venom #257 when Carnage kills random people while trying to kill May and Anna. Torment rejects Carnage for opening up more "spirals" and blasts the symbiote with Shocker's gauntlet for good measure.
• Poorly Disguised Pilot: In ASM #25 during Death Spiral, a subplot that focuses on Norman Osborn proposing to mentor Miles Morales and the other Spiders, and has nothing to do with the main story regarding Torment and Carnage, sets up the upcoming Spin-Off mini-series, The Amazing Spider-Man: Spider-Versity, of which issue #1 is released the same week as ASM #27, the final chapter of Spiral.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • In Amazing Spider-Man #25, Paul asks why Dylan seems to hate him so much. Dylan replies he doesn't remotely care enough for Paul to hate him. What he hates about Paul is how he does nothing but sit around and expects everyone to like him.
  Dylan: I hate that you simp around like Mr. Tryhard Topknot hoping people are gonna like you when everyone knows you're an interdimensional #$%& who never got his #$%& together.
  • In Venom #256, as Torment kills Paul, he tells him that, of all his victims, Paul has absolutely no connections to anyone and ultimately tells him he's just in the way.
  • In Amazing Spider-Man #26, both Mary Jane and the Venom symbiote lay it out on Eddie for what they perceive as him making excuses and causing the mess they were in due to his belief that he could control the Carnage symbiote. The Venom symbiote makes it quite clear to Eddie that their partnership is over.
• Related Regardless of Distance: Part of Torment's MO is "spiralling in" a target, by starting from a very distant familial relation until closing on a specific person, thus ending the "spiral". In the initial one-shot, a character Imogen Kilarny dies on a Scotland-Australian flight, thus being distantly related either to the Brock or to the Parker-Reilly families.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Tombstone reveals to Spider-Man and Venom that Shocker's killer, thought to be Carnage because of his signature calling card, stole Shocker's gauntlets, which can be a potent weapon against symbiotes. They take this to mean that the killer intends to use Shocker's gauntlets to kill Venom. While they're correct in guessing the intended purpose, they're wrong about target. Torment stole Shocker's gauntlets to kill Eddie, who is bonded to the Carnage symbiote.
• Rule of Three: In Death Spiral one-shot, Torment is attacking distant relatives of Peter Parker and Eddie Brock. With a nudge from the Carnage symbiote via phone texting, the creature adds Mary Jane Watson in his spiral of death.
• Same Surname Means Related: Part of Torment's MO is "spiralling in" a target, by starting from a very distant familial relation until closing on a specific person, thus ending the "spiral". In the initial one-shot, characters with the surname Brock, Parker or Reilly end up dead, indicating some familial connection to the Brock or Parker-Reilly families.
• Sequel Hook: After the events in the last few issues of the crossover, the man (surname, "Crane") who Peter saved from Torment, and is supposedly another relative and cousin of Peter's, goes to take a DNA test in the hopes of finding answers as to why Torment targeted him in the first place. Plus, Carnage remains on the loose, bonded to a cockroach.^note The same week of the final issue's release, Amazing Spider-Man: Spider-Versity #1 is released with cockroach-Carnage appearing.
• Sequel Series: The story arc follows up on the recently cancelled Eddie Brock: Carnage series.
• Serial Killer: The crossover's antagonist is Torment, a killer-for-hire who sets the events of Death Spiral in motion by hunting down and killing relatives of the Parkers, Brocks, and Watsons. Eddie figures out Torment's modus operandi as a sick and twisted way of "working his way up" to his actual targets. Venom Issue #255 and Amazing Spider-Man Issue #24 later reveal that Torment only kills his targets when he feels the "circles" have "tightened", after having killed enough of their relatives.
• Shout-Out:
  • ASM #25 features a scene where Dylan Brock is explicitly playing Marvel Rivals, with Paul Rabin even venting frustration over how the developers at NetEase haven't nerfed Gambit yet.
  • In ASM #26, Carnage mentions Uzumaki while looking through Torment's memories, describing it as obsessive spirals killing a town.
• Smug Snake: In the end, while being held injured and weaponless over a tall building ledge by Venom, a smirking Torment taunts MJ that he'll recover, get out of imprisonment, and then kill Anna and May and Peter.
• Stranger Behind the Mask: After all the mystery around Torment's identity, he turns out to be a random guy completely unconnected to any of his targets.
• String Theory: Parodied. In the one-shot leading up to the crossover, the Carnage symbiote uses its appendages to text Torment. In Torment's lair, there's a board with two concentric spirals that join in the center, focusing on Peter Parker and Eddie Brock. The photos of the remaining people along the red spiral lines suggest a connection between them and both heroes. By the time of the comic, Torment's added MJ to the list when Carnage mentions she's someone close to Peter.
• Symbol Motif Clothing: Torment has a featureless white bodysuit with a triskelion wrapped around the upper body, with the detailing looking like grooves gouged out of flesh.
• Taking You with Me: Eddie threatens to do this to Carnage, rightfully knowing the symbiote cannot be trusted and is wholly willing to kill himself if it means he can rid the world of it.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • Continuing from Eddie Brock: Carnage, Eddie's tense relationship with the Carnage symbiote remains as volatile as ever. He's obviously furious that Carnage has basically painted a target on his back and put Dylan in danger by hiring Torment, a serial killer who goes after his targets' relatives and in-laws before going after them, but he can't kill it because they need each other to survive. At one point, Eddie threatens to throw himself in an incinerator and rid the world of both of them if it continues testing his patience. Things ultimately come to a head when the Carnage symbiote finally ditches Eddie for Torment after the latter kills Paul Rabin.
  • While Peter can work with Eddie just fine, MJ is a whole other story as she rightfully hates him as much as she does the Venom symbiote for all the trouble he caused her in the past when he was part of Spidey's rogues gallery. The symbiote has to play peacemaker to keep them focused on dealing with Torment, and later, the Carnage symbiote.
• This Cannot Be!: Upon seeing Eddie bonded to the Carnage symbiote, Venom is left totally in shock and disbelief. Eddie uses the distraction to stun Peter, leaving MJ to focus on him and leave Eddie alone while he tries to save his father.
• Through the Eyes of Madness: A shot from Torment's POV at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man #24 reveals that he literally sees jagged green spirals encircling and connecting people, in this case Venom, Spider-Man, and Carnage.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Spider-Man is doing this bit again, though he has a very good reason — knowing that Torment has killed so many people, he wants his victims to have closure and to find those he might have killed.
• Unknown Relative: The comic mentions characters who are apparently relatives of the Parkers, Brocks, and Watsons but have never been mentioned until now. Herman Schultz (Shocker) is actually a relative by marriage of Mary Jane Watson, as his cousin (from his mother's sister) married a Watson. This puts him in Torment's crosshairs and is killed in Amazing Spider-Man #23. Venom Issue #255 also has Eddie mention an Aunt and Uncle, who were also killed by Torment in a bus bombing, coincidentally having attended the funeral of another Brock. Amazing Spider-Man #26 introduces Peter's hereunto unknown first cousin that looks like the Ditko version of him with grey streaks in his hair, who Peter manages to save from Torment and Carnage in time. That same first cousin goes to have a DNA test in the final issue of Death Spiral, hoping to find some answers as to why he's targeted and if he's really related to Spider-Man.
• "The Villain Knows" Moment: Peter finds a voice message from Eddie on his answering machine, warning him that Carnage knows he is Spider-Man. This greatly unnerves and distresses Peter as he relays this info to MJ, rightfully worried the Carnage symbiote might target him and his friends and family. Worse, his fears are proven as by that point, Carnage has seemingly hired Torment to hunt down MJ's close friends and associates, with Shocker being his first victim due to being an Unknown Relative by marriage.
• Villainous Breakdown: Downplayed. When Torment is confronted by Spider-Man, Venom, and Carnage, he's less concerned that the heroes found him and more that he's being forced to confront them early, begging them to stop since "the circles aren't tight enough" just yet.
• Villain Team-Up: Carnage sees Torment as a potential host worthy of its time and has been secretly hustling to win the serial-killer's favor behind Eddie's back by selling out his, Peter's, and MJ's respective loved ones to Torment as potential targets. In ASM #25, Carnage straight up offers the three heroes' lives as a "dowry" to convince Torment to become its new host. Their fusion only lasts for one issue before Torment gets fed up with Carnage's wanton slaughter (which opens up more spirals that overload Torment's mind) and blasts the symbiote with Shocker's gauntlet at point blank range.
• We Can Rule Together: After Carnage bonds to Peter Parker, it's immediately impressed with its new and powerful host and tries to convince him to make the arrangement permanent.
• Wicked Cultured: After bonding with Torment, Carnage mentions they could like Uzumaki on their reading list.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • When Eddie shows up at Paul's doorstep to see Dylan, the latter is understandably not happy to see him. So much in fact he slugs his father in the face, with both Dylan and Paul making it clear he's not welcome.
  • Dylan lashes out at MJ and Venom after they catch up to him out of fear Torment's caught up to him, asking why they didn't do anything when Torment attacked him and Paul. It's only after seeing their reaction that Dylan realizes Paul actually died and breaks down into tears.
  • In Amazing Spider-Man #26, MJ and the Venom symbiote make it clear they blame Eddie for Torment and Carnage by thinking he could hold some control over the latter.
• White and Red and Eerie All Over: Torment is clad in a white bodysuit with a red spiral motif. He's also a contract killer, if not an outright Serial Killer, with his almost nonchalant murder of Herman Schultz being his Establishing Character Moment.
• You Are Too Late: When investigating cold cases related to Torment, hoping to have some idea of his M.O., Eddie realizes Torment targets his victims' relatives and in-laws and immediately rushes to save his father. When he arrives at Carl's apartment, he finds him already dead, with Torment having seemingly waited for him.
• You Killed My Father: Eddie hated Carl for being an abusive jerk, but he still wants to make Torment pay for murdering Carl. Eddie points out to Torment that if he's willing to go that far for a man he hated, then Eddie would do much worse to Torment for threatening Dylan.