After being transported to Earth-616 by Doctor Strange's spell,[a] Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote are drunk in a bar in Mexico. As the bartender fills them in about Thanos and the Infinity Stones, they are forced back to their home universe on Earth-688, to their world's version of the same bar.[b] Still on the run after their recent battle with Carnage, the apparent murder of Patrick Mulligan makes international headlines with Eddie, who is falsely branded a prime suspect. He decides to set out for New York City to meet an old acquaintance in an attempt to clear his name — not before unwittingly leaving a bit of Venom at the bar. Meanwhile, a creature known as a Xenophage has begun tracking Eddie and Venom.