The Avengers' Worst Idea Since Adding Wolverine

'You know how I know this is a shit idea? Because it's really obviously a shit idea.' - Jim (Cillian Murphy), 28 Days Later.

I'm not a fan of symbionts. Or symbiotes. I was burned out on them by the mid-90s (Maximum Carnage at the earliest), and nothing's happened to revise that opinion. I'm biased when it comes to the idea of Venom, sorry, Agent Venom, joining the Secret Avengers. That said, I still don't think Hawkeye is unreasonable to object to it. He didn't need to yell at Flash Thompson about it, but sometimes you have to yell so all the people who are giddily excited about their terrible idea will pay attention. The quote above sums up my feeling about the whole idea. In case it isn't really obvious, though, let's take a look.

First, the whole situation is questionable ethically. The symbiont is capable of thought, planning, emotion, it's aware of itself as a separate and distinct entity, different from it's hosts. How would it recognize the drive to bond with one? In short, it's a sentient being. Near as I can tell from their technobabble, the two Hanks are shutting its mind down so Flash can control it.

They're taking a living, thinking organism, and reducing it to a second-rate Iron Man armor. That kind of action seem wrong to anyone else? It isn't even a Suicide Squad deal, where the symbiont is given the choice to pitch in, with freedom and perhaps some safe host as the eventual reward. Pym and McCoy are flat out removing its ability to have any say in the matter. I'm not surprised at Pym; history is littered with him doing things he thought were right that were actually terribly ill-conceived. McCoy I'm disappointed in. I thought he had more sense.

Think if Pym (or Stark, T'Challa, whatever scientist Avenger you dislike) installed a switch connected to the Vision's free will in his computer brain. Then, if that Avengers thinks it's necessary for Vision to sacrifice himself to save the day, and the Vision won't go along, just flip the switch, and he'll do whatever he's told, including getting blown up. That'd be wrong, to take away his right to decide whether to sacrifice his life. Yes, Vision is a hero, the symbiont is a killer, but I hold to that idea that there are certain things that are wrong regardless of who is doing them, or who they're doing them to. "Don't sink to their level", and so forth. But the symbiont is an alien, and not one that looks even remotely human, so apparently it's fair game. That's how it usually goes.

Even though I'm no fan of symbionts, and would be quite fine with the Avengers putting it on trial for eating people, and then it was shot into the Sun as punishment, I did think the ethical issue was worth mentioning. They start shutting down a sentient's brain so it'll work for the, how far are they from Squadron Supreme style behavior modification of their enemies? I'd like to think Captain America would oppose such things, but considering how blithely he discusses shutting down the symbiont's consciousness, that's out the window.

To a more basic point, this is going to backfire horribly. The time limit for how long he can wear it? It's going to trip them up. Even Flash knows it. There's no way to guarantee he wouldn't have to be out in the field more than 24 hours. What happens then? Get him out of there? What if they can't, he's separated from the rest of the team, or they're engaged in a huge battle? The symbiont's consciousness starts up again, realizes what's been done to it, and guess what? It's really pissed about it.

What happens when a hero gets mind-controlled by a villain into doing bad things, and the hero breaks free? They realize what they were forced to do, and they beat the hell out of the bad guy. That's a hero's reaction. What happens with an alien slime thing that already regards people as food or potential hosts at the best of times? It's going to kill Flash for starters, then jump to some other Avenger - Valkyrie, Captain Britain, maybe Beast if it's aware enough to recognize the threat his intellect poses - and wreak havoc.

Or, it'll simply take control of Flash and start attacking Avengers. We know it can do that already, that's why they're shutting down its consciousness, so it can't 'dominate' Corporal Thompson. That's under normal circumstances. Now it'll be under adverse conditions, when Flash is already busy fighting an Adaptoid or something, and the symbiont will be more determined/enraged to take control than ever before.

Yes, they have a Human Torch, and symbionts don't like fire, but there's no guarantee Mr. Hammond will be in any position to respond if Venom does go nuts. Even if he can, what's he going to do? Scare the symbiont off Flash, leaving him exposed in the middle of a fight while the symbiont is running about looking for a new host? Incinerate them both? What's the rest of the team doing while two members are caught up in this mess? It's going to be a disaster.

It's like when they encouraged the Sentry to join. Yes, having a guy with that much power sounded like a good idea. In practice, the Sentry had serious concerns about his own stability and safety to others that were not aided by taking part in Avengers' stuff. It would have been better for him and everyone else if he'd been left alone. Forcing him to be a hero was a mistake, and this stunt they're planning to pull with the Venom symbiont is another mistake.