Donny Cates (born September 14, 1984) is an American comic book writer, artist, and podcaster, known for his work on titles like Venom, Thanos, Doctor Strange, Thor, and Hulk.

Cates graduated from Garland High School[2] and attended the Savannah College of Art and Design, where he would meet future artistic collaborators Tradd Moore and Geoff Shaw.

[6] At the advice of Marvel editor Mark Peniccia, Cates left the program after a year to pursue writing his own comics.

After a chance meeting with a Dark Horse Comics staffer at C2E2, Cates was given the opportunity to write short stories for the company.

Satisfied with these stories, Dark Horse gave Cates the green light for later projects like Buzzkill, The Ghost Fleet with Daniel Warren Johnson and The Paybacks.

[14] In October 2024, it was confirmed that he was allowed to read the screenplay for Venom: The Last Dance and consulted alongside Stegman in an advisory relationship due to the film's adaptation of their character Knull.