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The secret origin of Marvel's new event-level villain revealed in 'Death Spiral' Body Count one-shot

Here's a first look at the origin of Torrment in an Amazing Spider-Man: Death Spiral - Body Count #1 first look.

News by Chris Arrant, Editor-in-Chief

Published on Fri Apr 10 2026

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Marvel Comics' big new bad of 2026 is emerging to be a symbiote-ish villain known as Torment. Torment is the driving force (and killing blow, in some respects) to the current 'Death Spiral' crossover event happening in Marvel Comics' Amazing Spider-Man and Venom ongoing series, but all this is happening when just who or what Torment is remains a mystery.

Torment debuted in February's Amazing Spider-Man/Venom: Death Spiral #1, revealed to be an as-yet-unnamed serial killer obsessed with the idea of spirals. His true identity and source of his powers remain unknown, leading to the central thrust of this one-shot coda to the 'Death Spiral' crossover event, subtitled Body Count.

"THE ORIGIN OF TORMENT! The scariest new villain in the Marvel Universe finally gets his story told!" reads the description for Amazing Spider-Man: Death Spiral - Body Count #1. "He's hunted Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson and Eddie Brock, killing his way to their throats and wrapping his razor whip around them. What forged the deadliest serial killer since Cletus Kasady? Find out in this one-shot that will define Torment's past and his future!"

Torment co-creator Charles Soule is writing this, with art from Marvel veteran Kev Walker. In fact, we have some unlettered pages from Amazing Spider-Man: Death Spiral - Body Count #1 here:

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And here is a look at the available covers to Amazing Spider-Man: Death Spiral - Body Count #1, which goes on sale May 13:

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Chris Arrant: Chris Arrant is the Popverse's Editor-in-Chief. He has written about pop culture for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel, Newsarama, CBR, and more. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. (He/him)