King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes #3
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeKing in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes #3 (April 2021) is the first appearance of Bren Waters, the teenage third host of the Toxin symbiote — a character who went on to star in the Extreme Carnage event and become a recurring figure in Marvel's post-King in Black symbiote corner. The issue also marks Toxin's dramatic return to continuity after the symbiote had been left for dead following the Chthon battle, effectively resetting the character with a fresh dynamic: a sardonic alien bonded to an inexperienced kid rather than a seasoned cop or an anti-hero bruiser. As the concluding chapter of a three-issue anthology series running alongside Donny Cates's King in Black event, it doubled as a de facto backdoor pilot for a Toxin ongoing that never materialized in that form, but whose world-building seeded multiple subsequent stories. The Cloak and Dagger lead story, written by Rodney Barnes, brought that long-absent duo back into mainstream Marvel action during the Knull invasion, offering one of their more prominent spotlight moments of the era.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue shipped April 7, 2021, and was edited under C.B. Cebulski's tenure as Editor-in-Chief, with Edward Devin Lewis serving as the direct editor. It contains two anthology shorts: the Cloak and Dagger story written by Rodney Barnes with pencils and inks by Danilo S. Beyruth, colored by Rachelle Rosenberg; and the Toxin story written by Steve Orlando with pencils by Gerardo Sandoval, inks by Victor Nava, and colors by Erick Arciniega — both lettered by VC's Cory Petit, with a cover by Philip Tan. The Bren Waters/Toxin short was conceived as an audition piece for a new era of the character, and Orlando and Sandoval were subsequently tapped to reunite for Extreme Carnage: Toxin #1 (2021), confirming the anthology served an explicit development function within Marvel's editorial planning. The series as a whole was designed to give rotating creative teams room to explore corners of the King in Black event outside the scope of the core title.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Bren Waters (Earth-616), a teenage boy who becomes the third host of the Toxin symbiote, following Patrick Mulligan and Eddie Brock.
- First appearance of NYPD Officer Daysha Denton.
- Marks the in-continuity return of the Toxin symbiote after it was left critically weakened — so diminished that Knull did not bother to assimilate it during his invasion of Earth.
- The Toxin story is written by Steve Orlando with art by Gerardo Sandoval and Victor Nava; the Cloak and Dagger story is written by Rodney Barnes with art by Danilo S. Beyruth.
- Cover art by Philip Tan (cover inks by Philip Tan, cover colors by Jay David Ramos); lettering throughout by VC's Cory Petit.
- The issue is a two-story anthology (the format used across all three Planet of the Symbiotes issues), featuring Cloak and Dagger in the lead slot and Toxin in the backup.
- Collected in the King In Black: Planet of the Symbiotes trade paperback (ISBN 9781302928100), which also includes issues #1–2 and King in Black: Black Knight #1, and again in the King In Black Omnibus.
- The Bren Waters incarnation of Toxin later appears as an unlockable playable character in the mobile game Marvel Future Fight, giving the debut issue a modest multimedia footprint.
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Reprints
Reprinted in King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes #[nn] (2021), King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes #3 (2021), King in Black Omnibus #[nn] (2022)
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