Venom

In recent years, the symbiote monster known as Venom has been under the control of Flash Thompson, who has mastered and tamed the menace and harnessed its powers as a force for good. However, in the upcoming Venom #1 by Mike Costa and Gerardo Sandoval, there's a new symbiote host, and it seems they have every intention of returning Venom to his his villainous ways. Ahead of its release next month, Marvel has provided us with an unlettered preview of the first issue.

Spider-Man has one of the most colorful rogues’ galleries --- partially due to the fact that he’s been around for so long --- but the creators behind Spidey have always just supplied him with variety from the get-go. Whether it’s any one of them alone or teaming up in groups like the Sinister Six to take down the high-flying webslinger, Spidey’s baddies come from all walks of life and create awesome threats for our hero and his friends to overcome. These are the best Spider-Man villain cosplays.

Our chief cosplay correspondent Betty Felon was on hand at New York Comic-Con to document as much of the amazing cosplay as she could find. Check out more of the very finest cosplay from New York.

Sideshow Collectibles doesn't often venture to New York Comic Con, but when it does, the company manages to roll out more than enough surprises for fans. While the booth at NYCC was decidedly smaller than that at San Diego Comic-Con --- which was a bit of a relief, to be honest --- that doesn't mean there weren't some great new statues and figures on display. This NYCC in particular was especially good for Sideshow's Premium Format Figure line, which debuted a half-dozen new pieces.

Hasbro hasn't been bashful about dropping Spider-Man Marvel Legends waves a few times a year. Alongside the Avengers, Spidey has provided the foundation on which the Marvel Legends collections these past few years have been built. With that in mind, it's getting to be a bit of a challenge to find new versions of Spider-Man to include. Using Spider-Verse as a bit of inspiration, Hasbro's turned out a terrifically diverse set that gives us a new twist on Peter Parker, Miles Morales and Venom --- all characters that have been seen in the Legends line before. Coupled with those three, we also get our first Silk, a fantastic Electro and a delightfully creepy Hobgoblin. In a year when we were fast approaching Spider-saturation, Hasbro found a way to keep things fresh.

The Venom Symbiote bonds with Deadpool, giving him new powers and a stylish monochromatic look, in Deadpool: Back in Black #1 by Cullen Bunn and Salva Espin, the team behind Deadpool and the Mercs for Money. The comic follows directly on Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars, also written by Bunn, which shows the Merc with a Mouth briefly wearing the Symbiote on the original Battleword, before Spider-Man ever did.

In honor of the caped crusaders of the convention scene, ComicsAlliance has created Best Cosplay Ever (This Week), an ongoing collection of some of the most impeccable, creative, and clever costumes that we’ve discovered and assembled into a super-showcase of pure fan-devoted talent.

Since the dawn of the Silver Age, legacy characters have been a staple of superhero fiction, and having a new character step into a well loved role can open up new opportunities for writers and artists to tell different kinds of stories. In The Replacements, we’ll look back at the notable and not-so-notable heroes and villains to assume some of the most iconic mantles in the superhero genre. Spider-Man discovered the mysterious symbiote while on Battleworld, but after returning to Earth it proved to be a malevolent and obsessive force that craved a permanent bond. After Spider-Man freed himself from the symbiote's influence, the alien has gone on to bond with some of the toughest heroes and villains in the Marvel Universe.

Marvel and TinyCo's hit mobile game Avengers Academy has charmed fans with its fun and breezy approach to familiar characters and addictive gameplay. Recently the game finished the first act of its Spider-Man special event, which introduced Spider-Ham, Black Cat, Mary Jane Watson, The Lizard, Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin to the game, and today it's launching Act 2, which promises to be bigger and better.

Marvel’s reveal of its Marvel NOW line of comics set for release in the wake of Civil War II has taken the form of a steady drip of announcements over the past week and a half, but now news is flooding in, and not all from official sources. Leaked scans of this week's Marvel NOW Previews magazine revealing the publisher's line-up for October and beyond have hit the internet via sites such as Reddit and 4chan. We’ve rounded up all the information we could find to give you a sense of the new landscape of the Marvel Universe this fall.