Folks: we got him. As of this week’s Venom #256, the latest issue of Marvel’s Death Spiral crossover — and massive spoilers past this point — Paul Rabin is dead. That’s right, one of the most controversial characters in modern comics has officially been killed off this issue, pretty much as definitively as you can kill off a character in superhero comics.
In the issue, new villain Torment has made his way to Paul’s apartment to kill Dylan Brock, the son of Eddie Brock. The way Torment kills is in spirals only he can see, starting with the farthest reaches of a person’s family and slowly working his way into the center, killing his target last. Dylan is next on the list, and it looks like Torment will kill him, until the very human Paul steps in, trying to give Dylan a chance to escape. So Torment stabs him in the gut.
And Torment is merciless about it, telling Paul that he’s “Not on the spiral. You’re not on anyone’s spiral. I’ve never met a person who’s so unconnected.”
To fight back, Dylan grabs the Jackpot device Mary Jane used to wear until she died and then bonded with the Venom symbiote. They freeze him in glass, but Torment escapes, and is about to take out Dylan until Paul steps up, once again. “I’m his family. In Loco Parentis. You said… Family first… I’d die for that kid. Isn’t that family?”
Torment is swayed by the logic, and is about to kill Paul when Spider-Man, Venom, and Carnage enter to take him down. They chase Torment off, but it’s too late for Paul — who, mind you, delayed Torment enough to save Dylan. In the symbiote, Venom/Mary Jane holds her former boyfriend, as he tells her that “you need to… I don’t–don’t matter. I… I never… Never…”
And Paul dies. For real. Venom goes nuts chasing after Dylan, who they find in the sewer. Meanwhile, Spider-Man and Carnage (who is Eddie Brock) go after Torment. And Spider-Man has some complicated feelings about the guy. When Eddie calls Paul his “buddy,” Spidr-Man clarifies that, “He wasn’t my buddy, he was… He was a human being who did his best.”
The kicker on this is that when Mary Jane catches up with Dylan in the sewers, the latter fights back, demanding to know where Venom was while they were attacked. Dylan realizes Paul is dead (get it?), and starts sobbing, blaming himself, as he and Venom embrace in their grief.
There also aren’t really any outs here. The Jackpot device is still with Dylan, so there’s no last second grabbing that and powering up for Paul. He has no powers of his own, as far as we know. Like Spider-Man says, he was just a guy who did his best.
Who also, we should mention, everyone hated because he got to be with Mary Jane instead of Peter Parker. And frankly, for my money, if you’ve been reading Venom you know that Al Ewing has been doing a bang up job redeeming Paul as a character in his own right. Ewing has let Dylan be the audience’s mouthpiece, calling Paul “topknot” and roasting him at every turn. But it’s only made Paul more charming, and his devotion to Dylan despite everything the kid is dishing at him has made Paul a worthwhile addition to the supporting cast.
That’s all done now, though, as Paul Rabin is dead. Just in time for him to (maybe) make his big-screen debut as MJ’s new boyfriend in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. In the comics, though, he’s eating vegan burgers and listening to meditation podcasts in heaven. RIP.
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