Symbiote (comics)

Symbiotes
File:Aliensymbiote.jpg The Venom Symbiote behind Spider-Man.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Characteristics
Inherent abilities	Symbiosis with a host provides increased strength, speed, and durability, gains characteristics of host, increases original powers of hosts

A symbiote, in Marvel Comics' fictional universe, is a living, sentient, alien organism that bonds with other living organisms in order to survive. Since it has no classifying name, it is referred to as a symbiote because of its symbiotic relationships. Often symbiotes are called "living costume" because of the way the amorphous creatures envelop their hosts.

The symbiote enhances the physical attributes of its host, commonly increasing their strength and speed to superhuman, or higher, levels as well as granting them a range of other powers such as transformation and mass-alteration.

The first appearance of a symbiote occurs in Secret Wars #8 in which it bonds with Spider-Man. Eventually the symbiote attempted to permanently bind itself to the character and had to be forcibly removed after which time it bonded with Eddie Brock to become Venom. Since then numerous symbiotes have appeared, many of which are the offspring of the original Venom symbiote and possess similar or even greater powers.

Overview

Origin of the Symbiotes

It is unclear where the symbiotes actually originated, but it is known that their species existed for millions of years prior to the arrival of the Venom symbiote on Earth. It is implied that Galactus, devourer of worlds, consumed a world which they had taken over and where they had thrived, based on Carnage's reaction to the Silver Surfer, former herald of Galactus. It was mistakenly believed that this was their homeworld. It is shown through the Carnage symbiote that this was a world whose dominant life forms had been overrun by the marauding symbiotes.

In Venom: Seed of Darkness -1, it is stated that when Krobaa was brought to Earth it bonded with the professor that had found him to acquire (through the symbiosis) knowledge of humanity to bring the information to a high galactic order that valued "Diversity of mind above all else", but Krobaa was infected with the madness of the human mind. Attacking all living things claiming to feed on their fear (much like Dreadface) and only after Eddie Brock's camera flash had weakened him, Krobaa regained control of himself and committed suicide to save other planets from the "plague of madness."

The mini-series Planet of the Symbiotes presents a different story (widely excepted as the cannon story), symbiotes were originally an unfeeling, conquering race, taking over any species they came in contact with to feed off their emotions; this mainly involved adrenaline rushes from death-defying feats and, as a consequence, the hosts tend to be short-lived. This was also evidenced in the Fantastic Four series, when a black cube (imprisoned by Devos the Devastator as a trophy of the most dangerous species he has ever faced) escapes and is revealed to be a sentient alien symbiote (called Dreadface in the issue's title) that fuels (and then feeds off) the animosity between the Human Torch and the Thing before apparently being incinerated. The Venom symbiote was different because it desired a strong bond with a single host, and desired to belong rather than to dominate, leading to imprisonment by its own race, at which point it was brought to Battleworld during the first Secret Wars. The Venom symbiote describes itself as a mutation though it may just as likely be an atavism among its species. While the number of symbiotes in existence at present is unknown, Venom tells Carnage that he, Carnage, is the nine hundred ninety-ninth in his line, and making Carnage's offspring Toxin the thousandth. However, there are likely to be more than this because Venom was only talking about the amount in his personal family line, not the species as a whole. The symbiote that temporarily merged with Spider-Man was found in the Secret Wars.

Reproduction

Symbiotes have no gender, and as such have the ability to asexually spawn another symbiote. They have been portrayed as only being able to give natural birth to one offspring per generation, and while the symbiotes appear to have a finite number of 'seeds' that grow within them, they lay dormant after the first birth. The Venom symbiote spawned the Carnage symbiote itself, but the remaining five 'seeds' that it contained weren't able to be born naturally, and instead were harvested by the Life Foundation to create further offspring.

However, after the Venom symbiote merged with a fully actualized genetically altered clone of itself, it re-appeared claiming a new child was growing within it. Apparently the clone's purpose was to merge with the original, creating a symbiote army. The Venom suit then tried to bond with Peter Parker during a story-arc called "the Hunger", as it did not wish to re-bond with Eddie Brock due to his cancer. When Spider-Man tricks the symbiote into re-bonding with Brock, Venom states that Spider-Man "doomed" the child, though whether this means that the child is dead is unknown.

In the Civil War: Aftermath comic interviews, and various other sources, it is mentioned that an upcoming Mighty Avengers story-arc tentatively titled "Venom Bomb" will see a "Venom-Virus" hit New York City. This event will apparently involve an army of symbiotes. It as yet unknown if this will be a continuation of the plot line mentioned above, or something new entirely.

The best-known symbiotes have been depicted as hating their newborn spawn, possibly out of fear of competition. Venom, for example, tries to kill and destroy its offspring, Carnage. However, Carnage was a psychotic murderer with differing values from its parent, which may explain Venom's contempt for him. Carnage himself tries to kill his 'son' Toxin by leaving it for dead without a human host (originally explained by carnage saying that he was disgusted about the fact that eh could be "pregnant"). Eventually, both Venom and Carnage try to kill Toxin because of his vast strength, making him easily as strong as his father and grandfather combined, just as Carnage was stronger than Spider-Man and Venom combined. It is unclear whether this hostility is the product of a genetic predisposition among symbiotes, or strictly circumstantial, though Venom is portrayed as being initially protective of his "grandson" Toxin.

Personality

While most symbiotes seen in the Marvel Universe have been shown to be capable of great feats of violence, deception and various criminal acts against humanity, it is notable that their hosts were generally unstable before bonding. In a strange twist of nature versus nurture, it seems that a symbiote's personality may be based on an amalgamation of the memories and thoughts that have been collected from the various hosts and stored within its genetic memory. This explains how a creature like the Venom symbiote who once valued life to some degree has mutated into a being who could take the lives of many even without a host to guide its actions.

Additionally, Patrick Mulligan, host to the Toxin symbiote, was a stable and virtuous human who was able to use his symbiote to perform genuinely heroic actions; according to Venom, this could also be because the thousandth symbiote of the line is subject to mental breakdown. Though the Toxin symbiote has occasionally tried to make Patrick utilize more violent methods in the pursuit of crime, this could be attributed to the genetic memories passed on from Carnage, his father, who is indifferent about his use of violence. In the MC2 universe, the Venom symbiote bonds with the grandson of Norman Osborn, Normie Osborn, but his good-hearted nature influences the suit and causes it to sacrifice itself against a sonic attack to defend Spider-Girl.

It is therefore also possible that while the symbiote possesses a complex sentience, and that it obtains some of its opinions on morality from the current host and as such, amplifies the hatred and evil in hosts like Kasady while someone devoid of hatred was capable of influencing the suit to be virtuous. More confused hosts, like Brock, seem to result in different personalities: Venom claimed 'innocence should be cherished' and rescued victims he deemed innocent, including human infants. However, Brock's poor judgment has led to him performing many criminal acts, including the murder of some apparently innocent people.

Bonding

The Venom symbiote bonds to Spider-Man in Secret Wars #8). Text by Jim Shooter. Pencils by Mike Zeck.

Symbiotes can attach themselves to anything solid and grow on it or around, such as grains of sand or water, even though they need something living in order for a true bonding to occur, mostly humans (symbiotes have temporarily bonded to a wolf and a gorilla). The application of a symbiote provokes a cool feeling as the plasmic ooze covers its host. Symbiotes may start off small but can grow to match the size of any host, no matter the size. It stimulates them, provides for them, and protects them by itself when the host is unconscious or unaware of a true symbiotic relationship. Symbiotes rely on human hosts because they are able to feed off adrenaline which is essential to their survival. They also feed off diseases fatal to humans, due to the type of energy or "adrenaline" it may produce; for example, the Venom symbiote was able to save Eddie Brock's life from cancer by feeding off it, since Eddies' cancer produced the exact type of adrenaline that the symbiote needs to survive. Symbiotes are capable of living independently off a host as all known symbiotes have, as they have at one time or another, left their hosts or been forced to be without their hosts for extended periods of time. However, there has been no indication that a symbiote can survive permanently without a host.

It is possible that the symbiosis is preferred due to the advantages that host and symbiote gain, especially in regards to survival. Combined with a host, the symbiote is able to wield great strength, speed, stamina and other physical attributes of the host, enhanced well beyond normal levels. As such, symbiotes prefer stronger hosts and when they find an ideal one, will attempt to bond permanently with them.

If a symbiote is strongly bonded, as the Venom symbiote was to Eddie Brock, an attempt to break the bond causes a shock sufficient to render both host and symbiote unconscious. However, a symbiote can easily sever a weak bond, such as when the Carnage symbiote abandoned Cletus Kasady for the Silver Surfer, or when Angelo Fortunato was left to plummet to his death, mid-jump, by the Venom suit.

Recently within the Marvel mythos, the bond between a symbiote and it's host seems to becoming more of a "any host will do" type of situation. When Spider-Man originally was the host to the Venom symbiote, the symbiote would go out on patrol at night, using Peter's unconscious body as a mode of transportation. Carnage's bond to Kasidy has also been described as such, Kasidy quipping in the Carnage vs Venom miniseries, "You may be the bus driver, but you still need the bus." Mac Gargan has also been heard saying similar regards, describing that Venom and he are separate entities, saying that Venom was inside of him, not him himself in Thunderbolts 116. Toxin's bond with Mulligan is also this way, as can be seen throughout the Toxin miniseries.

Weaknesses

Originally, Symbiotes were naturally weakened by intense sounds and intense heat especially large fires. And in some stories and games, (mostly mentioned in the 2000 Spider-Man game), they are also weakened by saw-dust. However as each new symbiote has spawned a child, a natural evolution seems to not only increase their strengths, but also reduce their weaknesses. Still, there has not been an invulnerable symbiote in mainstream continuity as even the newest breeds can still be harmed by incredible amounts of sonic waves and heat. Also in the mainstream Marvel Universe, symbiotes are invulnerable to the heat produced by high voltage electricity.

In some incarnations, the symbiote is depicted as requiring a certain chemical (most likely phenethylamine) to stay sane and healthy, which has been said to be found abundantly in two sources: chocolate and human brain tissue. Thus the host is forced to steal/purchase large amounts of chocolate or become an unwilling cannibal who devours the brains of those he kills. This peculiar trait has only been witnessed in the Venom symbiote, however, both Carnage and Toxin have threatened their enemies with aspirations to "eating their brains", as well as various other body parts.

Special abilities

Symbiotes empower the natural abilities of a host to the point where they far exceed that of normal members of the hosts species. These abilities include the following:

• Superhuman strength.
• Superior speed and agility, enhances other physical attributes as well.
• Enhanced durability and resistance to damage.
• Genetic memory, recalling information from previous hosts.
• Enhanced healing ability.
• Can expand to any size as long as they have something to grow on such as a host or an object. Symbiotes can get inside of small areas such as electric wires and the insides of cars and completely disable them. The symbiote also reacts to the thoughts and will of the host. When Spider-Man was originally selected, he had been thinking about Spider-Woman's costume in the Secret Wars. The symbiote acted on this and formed a similar costume, the one seen on him and Venom. The following are functions that have been demonstrated from various hosts' wills (but are not limited to):
• The ability to form fangs or simple bladed weapons out of their limbs.
• The ability to form additional appendages: limbs, wings and tendrils out of their body
• The ability to shape-shift, from mimicking clothing up to and including complete change of appearance and stature.
• The ability to blend with its surroundings.
• The ability to stick to walls (adapted from Spider-Man).
• The ability to produce webbing from its own mass (adapted from Spider-Man).
• The ability to bypass the Spider-Sense (because the original symbiote was attached to Peter first, it took his genetic information and spider-powers. This means that the symbiote attacking Peter would essentially be Peter attacking himself, which wouldn't set off his Spider-Sense; during the Clone Saga, this became complicated, as Venom did set off Ben Reilly's Spider-Sense, but Carnage apparently did not).
• The ability to create storage portals inside of them (This created easy access to Peter's camera).
• Each symbiote has their own unique ability, such as Carnage being able to see from every direction of his body (this is similar to Spider-Man's spider sense).

Well-known symbiotes and hosts

File:NEWAVN035 col3.jpg

Cover art for New Avengers #35.
Art by Leinil Yu.

The following is a complete list of existing symbiotes who have/had human hosts

Venom

• Venom (currently bonded with Mac Gargan)
  • first worn by Spider-Man
  • Eddie Brock
  • She-Venom
  • Ben Reilly briefly and unknowingly wore the Venom symbiote during the Planet of the Symbiotes storyline.
  • Angelo Fortunato
  • Mac Gargan (current wearer of the Venom symbiote. Sometimes referred to as "Scorpion-Venom"
  • Wolverine Wolverine faced a clone of the Venom symbiote, which briefly merged with him during the "Venom: Run" arc of the 2003 series.
  • Kulan Gath took the symbiote from Eddie Brock and was referred to as Kulan Venom.

Alternate versions of Venom

• Normie Osborn, the grandson of the original Green Goblin and friend of Spider-Girl, was the longest-term host of the Venom Symbiote in the MC2 Universe (this character is sometimes referred to as "Goblin-Venom" but also called themselves "Dusk".) In Spider-Girl #100, he gave up the Venom symbiote to Spider-Girl in order to save her life. These events are part of the MC2 continuity and not the regular continuity.
• Spider-Girl (May "Mayday" Parker) briefly bonds with the Venom symbiote in Spider-Girl #100. In the same issue, the symbiote separates from May and attacks the Hobgoblin which ends with the symbiote's death. These events are part of the MC2 continuity and not the regular continuity.
• Spider-Venom (Peter Parker) (Spider-Man of the MC2 universe) briefly wore the Venom costume again in "Spider-girl" #5. This is of note however because Spider-Venom's (as he called himself) costume is almost exactly the costume of Venom in the movie Spider-Man 3.
• Spider-Man's daughter, May "Mayday" Parker, in the alternate reality of Earth X.
• Kron Stone, in the year 2099, half-brother to that era's Spider-Man, bonded with the symbiote to become the Venom of 2099. The symbiote was described as having mutated over the years, and displayed new abilities in this timeline, including acidic blood and saliva. It was revealed that the symbiote bonded with Kron on a molecular level giving Kron an amorphous physiology that allowed his body to take on the properties of the symbiote itself. These events are part of the Marvel 2099 continuity, which is a possible future of the current Marvel Universe.
• Roman the Sub-Mariner became a brief host to the symbiote in the year 2099 after Stone was apprehended by Spider-Man of 2099 in Spiderman 2099 #44.
• The Punisher wore the Venom symbiote in What If (vol.2) #44, which is outside regular continuity.
• The Hulk in What If... (vol. 2) #4; alternate storyline where Spider-Man never spoke to Reed Richards about it, and, having drained Peter of the adrenaline it requires, it takes control of the out-of-control and mentally weak Hulk until it is cornered by Thor.
• Thor in What If... (vol. 2) #4; alternate storyline (Same as above), with the symbiote jumping to Thor after he confronts the Hulk, only to be driven out of Thor thanks to the intervention of Black Bolt and subsequently killed by Black Cat.
• Peter Parker in What If... the Other. Alternate events of the Other storyline lead Peter to reject the Spider and stay dead. The symbiote senses this, leaving Gargan, and bonds with Peter's broken mind to become the persona known as Poison.
• Pike in Backlash/Spider-Man #2 after a piece of Venom's symbiote was let loose and bonded with him. This combination lasted very briefly, as Spider-Man almost immediately started ringing a church bell, and the symbiote peeled right off of Pike and back onto Venom (oddly enough, Venom didn't seem to be affected by the church bell). It is unclear if this transfer of Venom took place in Earth 616 or was outside the regular continuity.
• Katie Power in Spider-man and Power Pack. In the Marvel Adventures universe, the Venom symbiote is separated from Eddie Brock. A fashion designer finds and duplicates the symbiote for use in his show. The symbiotes take over the models (one being Mary Jane Watson) before merging on Katie Power. The symbiote possess the young Power and uses her to bait Spider-man into a Sinister Six ambush. Eventually with the help of the Fantastic Four, the symbiote is expelled.
• Pork Grind is the version of Venom from Spider-Ham's universe. He appeared in What The!? #20.
• Human Torch in the Marvel Adventureverse wore the Venom symbiote in MA Spiderman #24. After the Fantastic Four managed to remove the symbiote from Spiderman, Johnny decided to borrow it briefly, not knowing its true nature. While he wore it, the symbiote became a black and white version of his usual costume, but fled when he activated his flame powers (due to its weakness to extreme heat), eventually finding and bonding with Eddie Brock.
• Galactus in a Mysterio-induced hallucination.
• Multiple clones of Venom appeared in Spiderman: Reign, What If? Age of Apocalypse, and Spiderman and Power Pack (see Katie Power).

Carnage

• Carnage (currently thought to be dead)
  • Cletus Kasady
  • John Jameson
  • Ben Reilly
  • The Silver Surfer

The Wasp may also bond with the Carnage Symbiote, judging by the cover of Mighty Avengers #8.

Alternate versions of Carnage

• The Silver Surfer stayed "The Cosmic Carnage" (an alternate reality "What If" story expanded this, exploring "What if Carnage had stayed bonded to the Silver Surfer?").
• In the series Exiles (which involves inter-dimensional travel) there is an alternate-universe version of Peter Parker merged with an alternate-universe version of the Carnage-symbiote. This symbiote is known as The Spider. They are a psychotic killer that "likes hurting people" and they have a sense of humor akin to Deadpool. They had been sentenced to death in their home reality, but were displaced in time before the sentence could be carried out. They originate from Earth-15 and are members of the Weapon X team.
• In the MC2 Universe, the Carnage symbiote has been split into multiple parts for research purposes. One of the pieces escapes and bonds with Moose Manfield, friend to Spider-Girl, and also causes another piece to bond to Spider-Girl's baby brother, Benjamin.
• Monster-Ock Doc Ock in the Carnage symbiote, but in the Spiderman game, not a comic.
• Moose Manson-A friend a Spider-Girls` (aka May "Mayday" Parker"), briefly bonds with Carnage in the MC2 universe and even reproduces a mini version that bonds with May's baby brother, Benjamin. Eventually, they were both separated and destroyed from their hosts after May uses ultra sound.

Other Symbiotes

• Scream (worn by Donna Diego) A life foundation symbiote
• Toxin (worn by Patrick Mulligan) Spawn of Carnage
• Riot, Phage, Lasher, and Agony (worn by Carl Mach,Trevor Cole, Ramon Hernandez and Leslie Gesnerial) The life foundation symbiotes.
• Hybrid (worn by Scott Washington) 4 of the life foundation symbiotes merged to form Hybrid he is the first good symbiote.
• She-Venom II (worn by Communications Specialist Patricia Robertson.) Clone of the Venom symbiote.
• Krobaa in "Venom: Seed of Darkness" Minus 1, a younger Eddie Brock fights a man wearing a symbiote calling himself Krobaa, whom Eddie defeats using the flash on his camera.
• Dreadface (worn at times by Thing, Human Torch, and Psi-Lord ) was an alien symbiote of the same race as the Venom symbiote that appeared in two issues of the Fantastic Four volume one. It was imprisoned upon the warship of Devos the Destroyer and accidentally set free by the Fantastic Four when they crash-landed the ship on a remote island. While Reed and Sue take off in a jet to find help, Ben and Johnny are attacked by Dreadface. Ben sets off an explosion, destroying the symbiote. Of interest is the fact that while Dreadface showed a weakness to Johny's flames, when he had taken Johny as a host he gained the Torch's immunity to his own fire. This appeared to occur due to Dreadface pulling the symbiote back from the parts of Torch's body that were aflame, while retaining control over his mind. Dreadface's appearance is very similar to that of Venom's incarnation in the year 2099, though lacking the spider symbol and the monstrous tongue.

Hosts

• Vance Astro in the Guardians of the Galaxy alternate future (Earth-691), gains a black symbiote (in "GOTG" # 46) which he continues to wear (at least as of his last appearance in New Warriors).
• Rune In Rune vs. Venom #1, Rune wears a symbiote for much of the story and then after separating from it, eats the symbiote and changes his appearance (losing hair and becoming apparently stronger).
• Captain America in one panel of the Planet of the Symbiotes storyline, in his armored costume, appears on a TV wearing a symbiote.
• The New Avengers (Echo, Dr. Strange, Ronin, Power Man, Iron Fist, Wolverine, and Spider-Man himself) all get symbiotes when they visit Stark Towers during a symbiote invasion.

Non-human species hosts

• Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) by the Venom clone
• Dog (Canis lupus familiaris) during Planet of the Symbiotes
• Gorilla (Gorilla sp.) by Dreadface
• Optimus Prime, a Cybertronian robot, had a symbiote attempt to bond with him In Transformers Generation 2 #3, but it failed. It took on a spider-like form, perhaps a hint that it was the infamous Venom Symbiote.
• Unnamed six-armed alien species during Planet of the Symbiotes
• Unnamed alien species with trumpet-like head projections during flashback in Planet of the Symbiotes

Active and inactive symbiotes

The activity of the symbiotes and their hosts vary.

• Venom: The Venom symbiote's host is currently The Scorpion (Mac Gargan), member of the Thunderbolts. Roman in Marvel 2099, somewhere in the oceans, possibly New Atlantis.
• Carnage: Unknown; the Sentry ripped the Carnage symbiote in two, but Cletus Kasady may not have been wearing the suit.
• Scream: Active but unknown location
• Hybrid: Active but unknown location
• She Venom II: Unknown, Venom absorbed Patricia's symbiote and it is likely she is deceased.
• Toxin: Active but unknown location; member of the Initiative.
• Dreadface: Believed deceased but appeared in cameo in Fantastic Four Foes #1.
• Iron Man's Battleworld Suit: Deceased. It is unknown whether this alien being was of the same species as the Spider-Man symbiotes (not likely but possible). During the Secret Wars, Iron Man also received part of an alien suit on the Battleworld. After it began to malfunction, he discarded it on the moon. The alien survived, but it was later killed by Quasar

Ultimate Symbiote

In the Ultimate Spider-Man universe, the symbiote has vastly changed. The fathers of Peter Parker and Eddie Brock Jr. had created the suit as a protoplasmic cure for cancer. The first stage would be to cover the host's body and eliminate a disease in the patient's body. Stage Two would involve the suit enhancing the wearer's strength and natural abilities. The suit was unfinished as Bolivar Trask stole the project from the scientists, but Eddie Brock Sr. saved a small sample for his son to find.

Peter Parker first tries the suit on and ends up with the well-known black costume. The suit vastly increases his strength and agility, allows him to heal from gunshot wounds and use part of the protoplasm to make "webs." However, under stress, the wearer suddenly turns into the Venom monster. Also in the Ultimate Universe, it seems as if the only weakness of the suit is extreme voltage of electricity, as it absorbed the Shocker's vibrations with no trouble; indeed, Peter found them relaxing. Peter used enough electricity to get the suit off of him before it merged with him permanently. It almost killed him, which goes to show the strength and attachment between the two. When "worn" by a being other than Peter Parker, the host is compelled to seek out and devour other human beings or else be consumed by the suit itself, presumably due to the suit breaking down on the genetic level due to incompatible DNA patterns between itself and the host. After the suit absorbed the revived "Carnage" creature, presumably a trace-element of itself left behind after Peter Parker escaped it, this need to feed apparently vanished.

Appearances in other media

Television

• Scream appears as one of the villains in Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride.
• In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, the Venom symbiote is brought to earth by John Jameson. Both Venom and Carnage appear in the series.
• The black suit has been confirmed to appear in the final arc of season one of The Spectacular Spider-Man.

Video Games

• In the first Playstation Spider-Man game, Doc Ock and Carnage team up to try and unleash a symbiote army onto the whole city. The spawned symbiotes are host-less and pink in color.
• In the Spider-Man 3 video game, Shriek and Morbius appear. Shriek's powers come from a symbiote in this game which is also black in color. However the symbiote only covers half of her body. She apparently had an attraction to Spider-Man in his black suit, most likely due to her being affected with another symbiote. This is only found on the Wii/PS2 versions of the game.

Film

• The Venom symbiote appears in the 2007 film Spider-Man 3 and is rumored to have his own film in the works.

In the 2007 film Spider-Man 3, as in the comics, the symbiote attaches itself to Spider-Man first, but instead of giving him his classic black costume (like in the comics), it gives his red & blue costume a new, black color, with his usual webbing pattern on it and a slightly different spider symbol. After Spider-Man discovers the symbiote's true nature and realizes that it seeks to bond with him completely and take over his life, he separates himself from the symbiote by tearing off his black costume in an active church bell-tower. The symbiote then moves to Eddie Brock, Jr., and the merger becomes Venom. The symbiote is revealed to have crashed down to Earth via a meteorite and clung onto the back of Peter's moped at the very start of the film, before their bonding.

Venom appears similar to the comic book version, but with a disorganized web-pattern on his costume. He fires webbing from the top of his hands, as in the comics, but his webbing is black in color and resembles barbed wire. The Symbiote is also seen crawling across the ground, rather than flowing like liquid as its comic counterpart does. In the Spider-Man 3 novelization by Peter David, the symbiote forms into a large and hostless Venom-like creature that grows from Eddie's remains and grows around the construction site pulling itself upwards. Here it attempts to rebond itself to Spider-Man. Although he is overpowered by the symbiote, Spider-Man somehow has to defeat it. In the film, Dr. Curtis Connors analyzes a small sample of the symbiote at Peter's request. While he has no idea precisely what it is, he notes that it is similar to a symbiote and upon further testing, later reveals to Peter that the substance amplifies the darker qualities of its host (specifically aggression). As Dr. Connors does not reappear in the film after this scene, it is presumed that he is still in possession of the symbiote sample, leaving it open for a return in future films.

A few reasons the symbiote suit did not look the way it had in the comics:

• Spider-man had not seen Spider-Woman, who had a similar costume to the symbiote, and the image was not in his head.
• In the comics, the regular suit is nearly destroyed when the symbiote merges with it. In the movie, the suit was in perfect condition.
• It is also prudent to consider that the filmmakers, while paying tribute to the source material, were not strictly beholden to it, and may have simply preferred the blackened-but-classic costume as a more aesthetically appropriate metaphor for the character arc of Peter Parker in the film.

See also

• Black oil : Creation of the TV series The X-Files that represents an alien entity/life force/virus. It appears as a liquid with the consistency of crude oil, can move on its own, and is sentient.