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Venom (character)

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This article is about the fictional alien symbiote and its succession of human hosts. For the most well known Venom hosts, see Eddie Brock and Mac Gargan. For the DC Comics drug, see Venom (DC Comics)
Venom
File:Aliensymbiote.jpg
The Venom Symbiote, appearing before Spider-Man
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceAs the "alien custome": Amazing Spider-man #252 (May 1984) As Venom: Amazing Spider-man #299 (April 1988)
Created byDavid Michelinie
Mike Zeck (alien costume design)
In-story information
Alter egoPeter Parker, Eddie Brock, Angelo Fortunato, Mac Gargan
SpeciesSymbiote
Notable aliasesSpider-Man, The Black Suit, Symbiote, Alien Costume
AbilitiesGrants the host all the powers of its first known host, Spider-Man. Greatly enhances physical attributes of its current host. Superhuman strength, ability to change form, and ability of the symbiote to fight and defend itself when either the host or it is in danger.
Limited shapeshifting, undetectable by Spider-Man's "spider-sense". It can also turn its host invisible through camouflage

Venom, or the Venom Symbiote, is a fictional character, a symbiote life form in the Marvel Comics universe. The creature is a sentient alien with a gooey, almost liquid-like form. It requires a host, usually human, to bond around for its survival. In return the Venom creature gives its host enhanced powers. In effect, when the Venom Symbiote bonds with a human to form a super-villain, that new dual-life form itself is also often called Venom. The symbiote, with or without a host, is one of Spider-Man's archenemies. Spider-Man was the first host it merged with before its evil motives were clear. After Spider-Man rejected it, the symbiote went on to merge with other hosts and so began its reign as the villain known as Venom.

Venom has become one of Spider-Man's most enduring and popular foes. Indeed, he has become so popular that he has rivaled The Green Goblin, historically Spider-Man's arch-nemesis, in terms of his popularity.[1][2] Venom was ranked as the 22nd Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time in IGN's list of the top 100 comic villains,[3] 67th Greatest Villain of all time in Wizard Magazine's Top 100 Greatest Villains Ever list,[4] and was ranked as the 98th Greatest Comic Book Character Ever in Wizard Magazine's 200 Greatest Comic Book Characters of all Time list. [5]

Overview

Spider-Man first encountered the Venom symbiote in Secret Wars #8, in which he unwittingly merged with it. [6] After Spider-Man rejected it, the symbiote merged with Eddie Brock, its most well-known host, in The Amazing Spider-Man #298 (March 1988). Its current host is Mac Gargan, the villain formerly known as Scorpion.

Originally, the symbiote was portrayed as a mute and lonely creature craving the company of a host. More recently, it has been shown as increasingly abusive of its hosts, and having the power of speech. The Venom symbiote has no known name, as "Venom" is essentially the moniker it has adopted since its history with Spider-Man on Earth. According to S.H.I.E.L.D., it is considered one of the greatest threats to humanity, alongside Magneto, Doctor Doom, and Red Skull.[7]

Fictional character biography

Pre-Venom

Main article: Symbiote (comics) § Origin of the Symbiotes

The creature that would become Venom was born to a race of extraterrestrial parasites, which lived by possessing the bodies of other life-forms. The parasites would endow their victims with enhanced physical abilities, at the cost of fatally draining them of adrenaline.

According to the Planet of the Symbiotes storyline, the Venom symbiote was deemed insane by its own race after it was discovered that it desired to commit to its host rather than use it up. The symbiote was then imprisoned on Battleworld to ensure it didn't pollute the species' gene pool.

Main hosts

Spider-Man

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

In Secret Wars #8 (December 1984), Spider-Man damages his costume in combat on Battleworld and is directed to a facility which can provide a new one to him. Before having the chance to recover a new suit, Spider-Man stumbles into the prison module the symbiote has been trapped in. He then activates the machine which releases the symbiote in the form of a black liquid. Spider-Man's "spider-sense" initially tingles, and then stops upon Spider-Man's first contact with the liquid; it covers his body and, reacting to Spider-Man's thoughts about the costume worn by the second Spider-Woman, forms a new costume. To Spider-Man's surprise, the costume can mimic street clothes and provides a seemingly inexhaustible and stronger supply of webbing.[8]

Once back on Earth, Spider-Man learns the costume is a sentient alien symbiote that wishes to fuse permanently with him and often controls his body while he sleeps. With the aid of Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch, Spider-Man discovers the symbiote is vulnerable to sound and flame, and he uses sonic waves to remove it and flames to scare it into a containment module.[9] The symbiote escapes and finds its way to Peter Parker's closet and disguises itself as a spare red and blue costume. It then attempts to forcibly bond itself to Spider-Man. Later, the Vulturions attacks and Spider-Man forces himself into a church belltower. As the bells ring to sound the hour, Spider-Man fights through willpower to reject the symbiote, leaving both the alien and Spider-Man weakened. The symbiote, using its remaining strength, carries an unconscious Spider-Man to safety from the bells before it slithers away.[10] Spider-Man's rejection of the symbiote would later leave it extremely bitter toward Spider-Man, a trait it would share with its future hosts.

Eddie Brock

File:Venomamazingspiderman299.png
Eddie Brock as the first Venom in ASM #299
Main article: Eddie Brock

The first and most famous Venom, Eddie Brock, was a reporter for the Daily Globe before he fabricated a story revealing the identity of the Sin-Eater. Shortly after the story was published Spider-Man caught the real Sin-Eater, and Brock was disgraced as a news reporter, costing him his job and then his wife. Now writing for cheap gossip magazines, Brock centers the frustration of his life on utter loathing of Spider-Man, which only escalates when it is revealed he has cancer. In response, Brock begins working out, bringing his body to a higher performance.[11] Unable to cope with his misfortune, Brock contemplates suicide and goes to a church to pray for forgiveness. Meanwhile, the symbiote, having recovered and needing another human host in order to survive, finds itself psychically attracted to Brock for both his increased adrenaline and mutual hatred for Spider-Man.

In Amazing Spider-Man # 298, they formed into the first version of the dark, villainous creature known as Venom. Venom first appeared at the end of issue #299, which led into a full-length Venom story in issue #300. The name Venom originally applied to Brock, over the symbiote. But over the years, as the symbiote itself lent toward more intelligence and moved to additional human hosts, the name began to apply to the symbiote as well as its hosts. Brock fought Spider-Man as Venom many times, and came close to winning on several occasions. As well as helping Eddie to seek continued revenge against Spider-Man, the symbiote also allowed him to indulge in a sporadic career as a vigilante. Eddie and the symbiote both shared, at times, a desire to protect innocent people from all harm, even if it meant working side-by-side with the hated Spider-Man.

Mac Gargan

File:Venomtbolts.png
Mac Gargan as the third (and current) Venom
Main article: Mac Gargan

The Venom symbiote approached Macdonald "Mac" Gargan, formerly known as Scorpion[12], and offered him new abilities. Gargan bonded with the creature, which would later give him an extra edge as part of Norman Osborn's Sinister Twelve.[13] Even with these additional powers he was still swiftly defeated by Spider-Man (To which Spider Man later notes is due to Mac Gargan not hating Spider Man as much as Eddie Brock had), as the Avengers dealt with the rest of the Twelve.[14] Gargan later became a member of a sub-group of the Thunderbolts,[15] which was drafted[16] by the Avengers to hunt down the members of the fugitive Secret Avengers. It was then revealed that he had been outfitted with electrical implants by the government to keep the symbiote in check.[17] When in the Venom persona, Gargan retained very little of his original personality and was controlled almost completely by the symbiote. When the symbiote was dormant in his body, he expressed nausea and fear of the organism.[18] During a fight with "Anti-Venom" (Eddie Brock), he and his symbiote were separated, and the Venom symbiote was nearly destroyed. Blobs of it still existed in his bloodstream, however, so Norman Osborn injected Gargan with a vaccine for Anti-Venom's healing powers, which restored the symbiote by causing the remaining pieces of it to expand rapidly. Gargan dons a Scorpion battle armor over the symbiote while it heals, causing him to become what Spider-Man calls "Ven-orpion" although when the symbiote is fully restored it shatters the armor.

After ingesting a chemical given to him by Norman Osborn, Venom transforms into a more human appearance similar to the black-suited Spider-Man. Osborn introduces him as the Amazing Spider-Man, a member of the Dark Avengers, while unveiling the team.[19]

Other hosts

Ann Weying

File:Brideofvenom.png
Anne Weying, the bride of Venom
Main article: She-Venom (Ann Weying)

Ann Weying first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #375. She is Eddie Brock's ex-wife, a successful lawyer. In Ann Weying's first appearance, she is a brunette with glasses. In later appearances, she loses the glasses and goes blond. Weying assists Spider-Man by sharing some of Eddie's history with him. Later, she follows Spider-Man to the amusement park where Venom had Peter's (fake) parents. She confronts her insane ex-husband, and manages to convince Eddie to give up his vendetta. Later, Sin-Eater shoots Ann as part of a crusade against social injustice. Ann becomes She-Venom when the Venom symbiote temporarily bonds with her to save her life.

She-Venom then lashes out against the men who had hurt her with such violence that Eddie became afraid for her (and of her) and compels the symbiote back to him. Ann retched upon seeing the pile of bodies she had left behind. She screamed, "That thing made me do that!" Eddie replied, "It can't make you do anything you don't really want to do." Later the police incarcerate Ann on a false charge (unrelated to Ann's rampage above) in order to trap Venom. Ann uses her one phone call to warn Eddie and make him promise not to come. He promises that Eddie Brock wouldn't come to save her and instead sent his Other (the symbiote) through the phone lines to her. After it bonds with her, she is able to escape custody.

Sometime later, Ann spots Spider-Man web slinging in an older black costume at a time when his regular red and blue suit had been stolen.[20] Ann, still reeling from the experience of bonding with the symbiote months earlier and unable to deal with the return of Eddie Brock into her life - coupled with Brock's transformation into Venom directly in front of her as he ran off to kill Spider-Man - sent her over the edge, and she leapt from her high rise apartment to her death. Her death is later confirmed when her tombstone is shown.[21]

Patricia Robertson

Main article: She-Venom (Patricia Robertson)

In the 2003 Venom series, Patricia Robertson was a communications specialist for the U.S. Army stationed at a radar installation in Canada near the Arctic Circle. She had joined the Army in order to "prove herself", but got more than she bargained for. During a routine supply run to an outpost owned by the Ararat Corporation, she stumbled upon a grisly scene: everyone at the installation was dead except for one lone scientist locked in the freezer. She brought the survivor back to base for medical attention, then people began dying there as well. It was revealed that the Ararat Corporation was run by an alien colony of miniature spider robots that infiltrated the American government. These creatures were partially led by an entity named Bob.

These creatures had cloned Venom in order to fulfill their objective: extermination of the human race. The clone would burn out its hosts' life, unlike the real Venom (traits which seem to be a throwback to the invading symbiotes seen in Planet of the Symbiotes). Bob had the clone released and it caused the slaughter of the outpost.

The Venom clone hitched a ride on the survivor back to base, despite the best efforts of Robertson and her new ally. The mysterious Suit was made of the same robots as Bob, which was revealed to have been unwittingly brought to Earth by Reed Richards and made into a special agent by Nick Fury. It is unclear if the Suit's loyalties lie with Nick Fury or Bob, if either. Meanwhile, the genetically altered symbiote killed all of Patricia's friends and coworkers. While Robertson was unconscious, the Suit cybernetically altered her, shaving her head, attaching a metal pipe in it, and placing a control collar on her so that in case the symbiote clone bonded with her, she could control it. Meanwhile, Ararat Co. and the spider-robots nuked Voici, Canada leaving the symbiote with few options. After the Suit sabotaged the symbiote's favored host, Wolverine, it was forced to jump to the last surviving potential host, Robertson.

One of Bob’s agents, disguised as the Suit, told Robertson that she had to kill the real Venom or the symbiotes would destroy all of humanity. Attempting to get to Venom, she freed him from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. Their first fight was broken up by the real Suit, and the electrocuted Venom retreated. The Suit chided Robertson for coming to New York due to there being many people in the city and all of the population could be in danger if the symbiote clone jumped hosts.

Meanwhile, Bob remotely deactivated Patricia's control collar so that nothing restrained the symbiote but Patricia's willpower. Robertson continued trying to kill Venom, beating up Spider-Man when he got in the way. She was captured by the Fantastic Four, who used her as bait to lure Venom into a trap. Unfortunately, Spider-Man’s interference and the strength and craftiness of Venom caused the trap to fail. Fighting again, Venom absorbed Robertson’s symbiote clone, as Bob hoped, and increased in size and decided to carry out the Ararat Corporation's goals. Patricia's fate is uncertain, and the entire plot has gone unresolved.

Angelo Fortunato

Main article: Venom (Angelo Fortunato)

Angelo was the youngest son of Don Fortunato, a prominent Mafia capo of New York's criminal underworld. Due to his frail physique and shy attitude, Angelo was frequently bullied and humiliated by his father. Tiring of his son's weakness, the Don brings Angelo to a supervillain auction, where he purchases the Venom symbiote from Eddie Brock for $100 million. Eddie warns of the dangers inherent in the symbiote, to which the boy answers that he had nothing to lose in a life of non-stop ridicule.

Like Spider-Man, Angelo becomes the only other Venom host not to have a protruding tongue. Once bonded with the symbiote, Angelo learns the secret identity of Spider-Man, and plans to destroy him to prove himself worthy to his father. Angelo attacks Peter Parker during a high school reunion, injuring many bystanders in the process. They engage in a ferocious battle which brings them out into the streets of New York. Learning how to use the symbiote's mimetic abilities faster than anticipated, Angelo takes the advantage in the fight. However, when Angelo kills an innocent civilian he mistakes for Spider-Man, the superhero stops holding back and beats Angelo into submission.

In defeat, Angelo's old cowardly ways show through and he flees while the symbiote berates him for his cowardice. Irritated by the boy's lack of resolve, the symbiote ruthlessly abandons Angelo in mid-leap, letting him fall to his death.

Abilities

Though it requires a living host in order to survive, the Venom symbiote has been shown on some occasions to be able to fend for itself with its own set of unique powers. The symbiote, even without a host, has shown shape-shifting abilities like forming spikes and expanding its size.

The symbiote is telepathic and does not require physical contact to influence the minds of others. In Planet Of The Symbiotes, the creature, after being rejected by its host, emits a psychic scream which drives nearby humans to states of extreme depression. Later, with the assistance of Eddie Brock, it emits an even more powerful variant of that power which results in the mass suicide of an invasive force of symbiotes. The symbiote can also blend with any background, using an optic-camouflage type of effect, and shape-shift to resemble ordinary clothing. Venom is immune to the Penance Stare, an ability used by Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze and Daniel Ketch.

The symbiote originally rejected its species' habit of consuming its hosts, but still required certain chemicals (human adrenaline) in order to survive. When starved of these chemicals, the symbiote developed a mutable exoskeleton, allowing it to form its own solid body which it used to hunt and kill prey without the assistance of a host. However, due to Brock's, and later Gargan's, influence on its personality the symbiote has developed a taste for blood, which both its hosts were forced to sate by physically devouring their victims. Later, the suit's evolution progressed and as shown in the 2003 Venom comic book series, its clone could spontaneously jump from host to host and after every departure said hosts would be left dead.

Due to its contact with Spider-Man, the symbiote cannot be detected by the hero's spider-sense. As Spider-Man's fighting style is partly dependent on his spider-sense, his effectiveness was somewhat hampered when he battled Eddie Brock, allowing the less experienced Brock to keep up with him. However, the symbiote is vulnerable to loud noises, such as the ringing of church bells.

The Venom Symbiote has been shown to have the ability to replicate itself. This ability is shown in Spider-Man: Reign, when Venom recreates his own symbiote to combat his loneliness. This ability is also used by Venom in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, when Venom discovers the ability to copy his Symbiote and uses it to take over Manhattan. Such an ability has not been demonstrated in the main 616 universe, it is most likely the main version/s of Venom lack this capability as such a useful tactic would possibly have been mentioned or employed already.

Change in appearance

The Venom symbiote gives each of its hosts a slightly different appearance in their Venom forms, though each is relatively similar. Initially when Venom first formed with Eddie Brock the creature was portrayed as black, considerably taller and much more muscular than Spider-Man. Over the years however, the general design of Venom has altered, even with the same host. Its eyes resembled those of the Spider-Man suit but larger and more "evil" in appearance. Its trademark was a wide grin which displayed all of his teeth- in the first appearances of Venom, the teeth were large, but human. Venom's appearance was subsequently changed to sport a mouth filled with fangs after his first escape from prison.

In his most famous incarnation he developed a long tongue, he also started being drawn as blue or blue-black as opposed to the original black. His eyes became more menacing and "alien" like, while his size increased to that which would be extremely difficult for Brock to obtain through even his most rigorous weight lifting. Also the spider symbol on its chest has been known to change appearance, with the symbol on the back and front connected or not. John Romita Jr.'s design had Venom much leaner with abnormally long fingers. Mike Deodato's recent design of the Mac Gargan Venom has normal-human eyes within large white patches resembling Venom's traditional Spider-Man-like eyes. The Gargan Venom has also been drawn as purple, much like the Venom in Ultimate Spider-Man. Venom's appearance is now recently the same as the Black-suited Spider-Man, and in the Sinister Spider-Man arc his Venom form is drawn similarally to Eddie Brock's version of Venom.

Other versions

See also: Alternate versions of Eddie Brock
  • In Spider-Girl, the Venom symbiote attempts to re-bond with Peter Parker, but is forcefully bonded instead to Spider-Girl's friend Normie Osborn III, the grandson of the original Green Goblin.[22] It takes control of Normie, but when it also attempts to absorb Spider-Girl, their combined force of will defeats the creature. Instead of destroying it, Normie keeps the symbiote and allows it to bond with him, purging the symbiote of its violent and aggressive emotions.[23] In Spider-Girl #100, Normie transfers the symbiote to a critically injured Spider-Girl so it can heal and save her. The symbiote later sacrifices itself to save Spider-Girl's life by confronting a sonic weapon-armed Hobgoblin[24] It is later revealed that, while still bonded to Eddie Brock, some of the Symbiote's genetic material had been taken by Norman Osborn and combined with a clone of May to make a Spider-Girl/Symbiote hybrid.[25] After being "absorbed" into the aged Peter Parker, the original Green Goblin-Norman Osborn- takes over Peter's mind, but, in an attempt to become invincible, Osborn combines with the Hybrid, Spider-Man and accidentally Spider-Girl, when she dives in to save her father. After Osborn makes Spider-Man view his worst moments, Spider-Girl's memory overides Osborn's power, and Spider-Girl convinces the Hybrid to fight Osborn together, and so force everyone out of Peter's body, with Osborn destroyed. The Hybrid is currently living with the real Spider-Girl's family, with her baby brother, Mary Jane, and Peter-until otherwise shown in the new "Spider-Man Family" and "Spectacular Spider-Girl" series.
  • In Kaare Andrews' Spider-Man: Reign, set 35 years from current comics continuity, Venom has been posing as "Edward Saks", the aide to the Mayor of New York. "Edward" has been manipulating the city ever since Spider-Man's disappearance in preparation for his eventual return; in the process, he had re-enlisted the Sinister Six, replicated his symbiote thousands of times (chalking it up to being "lonely"), and built a security system named "WEBB" which prevents New York citizens from escaping from the city, trapping them. Upon meeting him, Venom is quick to berate Spider-Man for abandoning him all those years ago with a genuine sense of bitterness and sorrow, leaving the wallcrawler at a loss for words. Defeated, the Sinister Six, Spidey and Venom have their final battle, in which Sandman gives Spider-Man a detonator to make all the Sinners explode. Spidey presses the button, most likely killing Venom and putting an end to his "Reign" once and for all.
  • In Spider-Man Fairy Tales #3, Venom is a Japanese demon who seeks to corrupt the young priest Izumi (the Peter Parker character) by making him give in to his anger.
  • In the Marvel Age mini-series Spider-Man and Power Pack #3-4, a fashion designer down on his luck manages to acquire the Venom symbiote after it is blasted off of Eddie Brock by Spider-Man, and, thinking its morphic qualities are just something built into the suit and not a living biological function, clones it three times as a new women's dress line. At the debut fashion show for the line, Peter Parker is photographing with Mary Jane Watson wearing one of the dresses, unaware of its true nature. In the audience is the Power Pack in their civilian identities, invited by Peter as a thank you for their help in the previous two issues. When the symbiotes hear Peter's name, their genetic memory recognizes it and they turn Mary Jane and the other three models into She-Venoms, and attack. The Power Pack join Spider-Man in the battle, during which Spider-Man briefly corners the designer and gets the truth out of him about the clones. The symbiote clones are sheared from their unwilling hosts, three by a sonic bomb produced by Julie Power/Lightspeed's superhuman speed, the other by an energy burst from Katie Power/Energizer. The battle is then won when Jack Power/Mass Master uses the music booth to blast them all with high audio, crippling them long enough to be captured. During the battle, however, one symbiote clone manages to briefly make contact with Katie Power's alien-born costume, causing it to become "infected" by the Venom symbiote's evil and vengeful desires (the kids' costumes in this continuity are semi-biological themselves, a concept later reinforced during a later mini-series when one is seen to repair damage to itself on its own). This causes Katie's costume to take on a Venom-like appearance, with the only differences being it is obviously smaller and Katie's energy burst symbol takes the place of the spider symbol's main body, the spider legs remaining. The Kymellian costume-turned-symbiote completely takes control of the little girl at night, using her to team with the Sinister Six to capture Spider-Man, and then turn on the other members of Power Pack, Katie's own siblings, to take revenge on them for their part in the symbiote clones' defeat. In the final battle, Julie Power manages to find and free Spider-Man, and together they manage to get Electro to blast all the villains, including himself, with a large electrical discharge powerful enough to render them all unconscious and again shear the costume-turned-symbiote off of Katie, the discharge purging Katie's costume of the "infection" in the process, restoring it to normal.
  • In "Old Man Logan," the symbiote appears to be follwoing Logan and Hawkeye, having bonded to a Savage Land tyrannosaurus rex. It is stopped by Black Bolt.

What If...

See also: What If (comics)

...The alien costume had possessed Spider-Man?

In this one-shot, after obtaining the symbiote costume, Spider-Man waits too long before visiting Mr. Fantastic who would free him from the symbiote's control. The suit takes control of Spider-Man and as it constantly feeds on him, Spider-Man ages at an accelerated rate. Within days, Spider-Man dies of old age. Desperate to survive, the symbiote bonds with a weakened Hulk. Thor confronts Venom-Hulk. The costume explains that it is sorry for Spider-Man's death, but is draining the gamma radiation from Bruce Banner as repentance. Thor in disbelief defeats him, leading the symbiote to take over Thor. Banner however is shown cured of being The Hulk. The heroes employ Black Bolt's incredibly powerful voice to create enough sonic damage to critically injure the symbiote.

Thor is freed, and the heroes prepare to transport the alien to another dimension. Black Cat takes matters into her own hands and kills the alien, angry at the death of Spider-Man. After killing the symbiote, Black Cat is forced to work for the Kingpin. The weapon that she used to kill the symbiote was given to her by the Kingpin in exchange for her servitude to him. [26]

...Venom had possessed The Punisher?

In this one-shot issue, after the symbiote leaves Spider-Man, it joins with the Punisher instead of Eddie Brock. Castle uses the symbiote's abilities to further his war on crime; he used the suit's shape-shifting nature to create glider-wings and used its webbing as bullets.

The symbiote causes the Punisher's war to become more brutal and unrestrained than ever before as he set about confronting and murdering many super-criminals. The symbiote eventually influences him to confront and beat Spider-Man. With his new powers, Punisher decides to take out Tombstone and even the Kingpin. At the climax of a confrontation with Spider-Man, Daredevil and Moon Knight, from which the Punisher emerges victorious, a blast from Spidey's borrowed sonic blaster allows Punisher to overcome and tame the symbiote by convincing it that his war in crime means more to him than anything, even his own life, and would sooner commit suicide and kill them both if he did not have complete control over it.

The symbiote then recedes from Punisher's face and manifests his trademark Skull insignia upon his chest. Castle tells the assembled heroes that he is in control now before making his escape.[27]

...The Marvel Super-Heroes had remained on Battleworld?

In this one-shot issue, the Marvel Super-Heroes and Villains left alive from the Secret Wars after Galactus' and the Beyonder's fatal battle find themselves trapped on Battleworld. Deciding to make the best of things, they all settle down and build new lives and families. Twenty-five years later, Spider-Man and the Venom symbiote are a single entity. With Reed Richards dead, there was no way to free Spider-Man from the symbiote and thus he was forced to accept this new way of life. Over time he becomes cold, calculating and emotionally distant from the rest of the group. The body of Peter Parker is now nothing more than a skeleton with the symbiote acting as his skin, much to the dismay of the other super-heroes and their children.

...The Other

This one-shot issue presents a different approach to the events of Spider-Man: The Other, where Peter Parker dies and is resurrected with greater spider powers. Instead, Peter rejects the chance to rise again in a new form and leaves his body and spirit separated. This leaves his body open to a complete takeover by the Venom symbiote. The suit quickly abandons its latest host, Mac Gargan, as soon as it senses Peter's vulnerable state and rushes to once again unite with its first host. After cocooning Peter's body, the symbiote fully bonds with Peter, turning him into a violent monster called Poison. Poison longs for a companion to join them in their new life and chooses Mary Jane. After dispatching the Avengers who rush to her aid, Watson offers herself willingly to prevent any further harm to the people protecting her. She promises Poison that she will give her body but not her soul and make Poison's life as miserable as possible. This seems to leave Poison heartbroken and he flees. Instead, he unearths the grave of Gwen Stacy. The last images reveal Poison watching over a new cocoon like his own, but crimson colored, as it bursts forth showing a hand similar to Carnage's.[28]

Ultimate Spider-Man

File:Ultimate venom.jpg
Venom, as depicted in Ultimate Spider-Man #38 (May, 2003). Art by Mark Bagley.

The Venom suit (and Eddie Brock) are greatly altered in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. The symbiote is not extraterrestrial nor is it shown to be sentient in any way. Instead, it is a genetically created "suit" designed by Eddie Brock and Peter Parker's biological fathers as a cure for cancer. It is meant to bond to the user and protect them from internal and external harm, but also puts a great psychotic pressure on the user.

The suit also apparently requires nourishment to function, which is gained by feeding on organic flesh, either consuming that of its host or devouring other victims. If bonded to an incompatible host, such as Eddie Brock, the Venom suit begins consuming them almost immediately, forcing them to feed to sustain it or die themselves. Venom feeds by literally swallowing his victims whole in mere seconds, usually while the victim was still alive; the suit apparently is very quick to absorb/digest whoever Venom has just swallowed, as Venom had no noticeable size changes even after eating dozens of people. At one point, Venom's hunger became so severe that instead of simply ambushing and swallowing victims in the park, he took to the streets and began swallowing everyone he saw, even swallowing an entire horse, with its rider still on it.

The suit separated itself from Eddie and forcibly bonded itself with Peter Parker, turning him into Venom. The Ultimates arrived and were able to separate Peter from the suit. The whereabouts of this suit are unknown, presumably locked somewhere within the Triskellion. Eddie Brock later approached Peter and demanded that he retrieve the suit for him. During a later encounter, Peter and Gwen confronted Eddie and Gwen transformed into Carnage. Contact with Carnage caused trace amounts of the suit within Eddie's body to multiply, transforming him into Venom. Venom then absorbed all elements of the Carnage symbiote, leaving Gwen an ordinary human, and causing Venom to change into a new form even larger than before, with small glowing red eyes. Venom retreated from battle, and was later captured by the Beetle and taken to Latveria.

Peter was able to control the "suit" to a greater extent than anyone, not only because of his powers, but also because of his DNA. When it bonds to Eddie it took complete control of him, turning him into a life-form that appears similar to the mainstream Venom, with similar powers; though for a few moments when Eddie first gained the suit, he gained an appearance similar to a more muscular black-suited Spider-man.

The Venom Suit shown here is the second phase of the Venom Project, and increases the natural abilities of the person wearing it. The suit is tailored for a specific DNA, and the person who it belongs to can control the suit more easily. If someone uses the suit other than the one who it was made for or a close relative, they find it far harder to control Venom and are constantly damaged by the suit, needing to feed off other temporarily or a more suitable host for a permanent cure.

When Peter wore the suit when calm, he had increased strength, speed and agility, as well as being able to fire webbing from his fingers without limit. However he also suffered delusions, confusing a mugger for his uncle's killer. When enraged, the suit forcefully turns the wearer into Venom, displaying psychosis and far greater power.

When Eddie wore the suit, he resembled symbiote-Spider-Man. Immediately afterwards, the suit grew a fanged mouth and claws, and randomly creating tendrils and spikes. In its hostless form, the Venom Project takes the appearance of a dark purple goo, which rapidly spreads and replicates to cover a host when it makes contact with it. When taking a host, the goo completely envelops the host, regardless of resistance, temporarily blinding it, before encasing itself in a hard, purple casing, similar to a pupae, as it bonds further with the host. When the host escapes, the project then shifts its appearance and function to assist its host, such as creating eyes for it to see through, or tries to take it over, inducing a homicidal rage and attempting to feed itself if bonded with an incompatible host.

When bonded with a compatible host, such as Peter Parker, the Suit can leave trace amounts of itself in their bloodstream, which attracts other samples of Venom to itself, and can overload Peter's spider-sense. Absorbing these trace amounts, along with Ultimate Spider-Carnage allowed Eddie to take complete control of the Suit, gaining a greater ability to talk and a spider symbol on his chest.

It is worth note, that when Eddie used the suit, he was capable of creating organic webbing, yet in the game he seemed only capable of creating tentacles

Ultimate Venom's only known weakness is electricity, and larger amounts of the Suit will need more electricity to kill, as varying amounts of Venom will be stunned or vaporized by electric shocks. An electrocution from live power-lines vaporized the smaller amount on Peter, while a similar amount disabled Eddie. The suit can take the Shocker's vibro-shocks, and can protect its host from a bullet, who feels nothing more than a relaxing vibration

Mangaverse

See also: Marvel Mangaverse

In the Marvel Mangaverse continuity, Venom is the name of a human man, a former member of Spider-Man's clan. Venom's costume is black, and his spider symbol is white, and also much larger than Spider-Man's.

Venom is responsible for the murder of Peter's Uncle Ben, Venom's own father in the Mangaverse, at the command of New York's Kingpin of Crime. Peter defeats him and spares his life. Venom later usurps Kingpin for control over New York's ninja criminal gangs.

Separately, the Venom symbiote appears as a black liquid that is released from a cursed amulet. The symbiote draws energy from the amulet's wearer, which can be fatal after prolonged exposure. The wearer's strength and agility are increased, and his or her ability to control their own violent urges is reduced. When Peter Parker becomes possessed by the evil amulet, removing it leaves him near death.

Venom captures the amulet and chooses to sacrifice his own life to force it to save Peter, repaying the debt he owes for Peter sparing his life. This act revitalizes Peter, but leaves Venom nothing but a skeleton. The amulet, containing Venom's life force, is used to heal the crippled Kingpin.

In the Legend of the Spider-Clan one-shot story Elemental Evil, Venom inexplicably reappears in the mountain-top home of the Spider-Clan, alive and whole, his skin now a dark blue. He also gained new powers, including a pair of vicious jaws and a long drooling tongue, bringing him closer in appearance to his Earth-616 counterpart. Despite their history, Peter agrees that Venom will teach the ways of the Spider-Clan and the use of his powers to Peter. Venom and the rest of the Spider-Clan aid in training Peter to become more powerful, tapping into the mystical side of his spider abilities. In the end, Peter discovers that the group is run by Peter's biological mother, who ordered the death of Aunt May to rid him of emotional attachments. As a result, Peter refuses to take his place as leader, rejecting the clan. Venom is awarded with rulership over the Spider-Clan. No reason is given for Venom's resurrection or his new powers, but when asked about it, Venom only said "I was lucky."

Venom 2099

File:Venom2099.jpg
Venom 2099

Venom 2099 (Kron Stone) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics Supervillain created by Peter David. Similar to many other characters in the Marvel 2099 imprint, Venom 2099 was a futuristic re-imagining of an established Marvel character.

Kron Stone, in the year 2099, half-brother to that era's Spider-Man, bonded with the symbiote to become the Venom 2099. The symbiote was described as having mutated over the years, and displayed new abilities in this time line, 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.

Later, after the symbiote was separated from Kron, it merged with Roman the Sub-Mariner who fled to the ocean (Spider-Man 2099 #44).

Venom 2099 first made an appearance as Kron Stone in The Punisher 2099 #1-5. His past was revealed in Spider-Man 2099 #15-20. He was then featured as Venom in Spider-Man 2099 #35-40.

Kron Stone is the older half-brother of Miguel O'Hara (they share the same father, Tyler Stone). Kron has always been a bully and takes enjoyment in other people's pain. The relationship between the two is so conflicted that Miguel tries to kill his brother.

In his introduction, Stone gives the orders to have Jake Gallows' family killed. Gallows finds Stone and fatally wounds him with a knife and dumps his body into the sewer. Following the altercation Kron lies dying in the sewer, his body brushed up against a black ball. The ball then bonds with him and forms a new Venom. With this new power, Stone seeks to emotionally torture his half-brother by hurting those close to him, going so far as to kill Miguel's former love Dana. The future Spider-Man and Venom fight, and Spider-Man is the victor after he has the town turn on sonics through all of the speakers, thus neutralizing Venom. They then bring him back to the lab for study.

In other media

Television

File:VenomReturns.jpg
Venom in Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
  • In the short-lived sequel series, Spider-Man Unlimited, Venom, voiced by Brian Drummond, has unexplaihnably returned and become a villain again. He and Carnage attempt to conquer Counter-Earth with an invasion of symbiotes.
  • Eddie Brock also appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man, voiced by Ben Diskin. He is a close friend of Peter, who works alongside him as an assistant at Empire State University for Dr. Curt Connors. The symbiote was to be studied by Connors, but bonded with Spider-Man in a fight with Black Cat, causing the lab to lose a grant and Eddie to lose his job. Spider-Man attempts to destroy it after discovering its negative influence, but Eddie (who is already angry with Peter and Spider-Man for various reasons) frees the alien and bonds with it, becoming Venom. At the end the season one finale, the symbiote is tricked into leaving Eddie and Spider-Man buries the alien in cement. In the second season, Eddie follows Peter and eventually frees the symbiote. He then attempts to expose Spider-Man's identity, but again fails when the alien rejects him and escapes. Afterward, Eddie is hauled off to a psychiatric facility, vowing that the symbiote will return and that they will destroy Spider-Man.

Film

Venom's first appearance in a motion picture was originally planned for a titular film written by David S. Goyer and produced by New Line Cinema, in which Venom would have been portrayed as an anti-hero and Carnage as the antagonist. Goyer said in an interview the film rights to Venom ultimately reverted to Sony.[29] Venom appears in the 2007 feature film Spider-Man 3, played by Topher Grace. Eddie Brock first began working at the Daily Bugle shorty before Spiderman joins with the symbiote. Eddie faces public humiliation after creating a fake photo of Spiderman robbing a bank and is fired then plans revenge. After Spider-Man abandons the symbiote in a church bell tower with Brock who has entered discovering Spider-Man's identity, the symbiote falls onto Brook transforming him into Venom and uses his new-found powers to attempt to kill Peter as revenge for his public humiliation. He teams up with Sandman and the two make an attempt to get revenge on Spider-Man. However with the help of Harry Osborn, Spider-Man defeats Sandman and stops Venom by releasing Brock from the symbiote by building cage of hollow metal poles around him, hitting them to create a makeshift sonic weapon, and weakening symbiote. Peter then throws a bomb from Harry's glider into the sybiote to destory it for good. But Eddie, trying to prevent its loss, jumps towards the bomb just as it detonates, destroying him and the symbiote in the resulting explosion. Since Venom will appear in his own movie, it is unknown whether or not he survived the explosion.

Avi Arad, producer and former Marvel Comics executive, plans to produce a Venom spin-off, although it is currently unknown if Topher Grace will reprise his role.[30] Regardless, Marvel is moving forward with the film, and the studio has met with several "A list" writers about it.[31]

In the Japanese dub of the film, Venom is voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa, the voice of Spider-Man in the Japanese dub of Spider-Man: The Animated Series.

Video games

  • Venom is a playable character and boss character in a number of video games. His first appearance was in the Game Boy side-scroller The Amazing Spider-man released in 1990, as the game's primary villain. A sequel to this game entitled The Amazing Spider-Man 2 curiously lacked Venom, even though it was hot on the success of the Carnage storyline and featured Carnage as a main villain.
  • Venom's second and possibly one of his most memorable appearances was in the Spider-man: The Video Game arcade game, released in 1991. Venom is featured prominently in the game as the first major boss character and he is encountered several more times throughout the game, including the final battle

Bibliography

Until 2003, Venom never had his own ongoing series However, from 1993 to 1997 Venom had 17 limited series that were steadily released back to back from month to month. This run could have been one series where each mini-series would have been considered a story arc. Together, these mini-series comprised a total of 60 issues, 1 Flashback, and a 1995 Super Special.

Sub-title Year Issues Series # Story
Lethal Protector 1993 Feb-Jul 6 01-06
Funeral Pyre 1993 Aug-Sep 3 07-09 vs. Punisher
The Madness 1993 Nov-Jan 3 10-12 vs. Juggernaut
The Enemy Within 1994 Feb-April 3 13-15 vs. Hobgoblin/Demogoblin
The Mace 1994 May-July 3 16-18 vs. Mace
Nights of Vengeance 1994 Aug-Nov 4 19-22 Team-up with Vengeance against the Stalkers
Separation Anxiety 1994 Dec-Mar 4 23-26 Split apart from his other by the Scarlet Spider (Spider-Man 53), Eddie faces the Symbiotes returning from Lethal Protector
Carnage Unleashed 1995 Apr-July 4 27-30 vs. Carnage
Sinners Take All 1995 Aug-Dec 5 31-35 vs. Sin Eater/Bride of Venom
Along Came a Spider 1996 Jan-Apr 4 36-39 vs. Ben Reilly / Back-up story: Origin of the Hybrid
The Hunted 1996 May-July 3 40-42 vs. the Hybrid
The Hunger 1996 Aug-Nov 4 43-46 Brock splits with symbiote
Tooth & Claw 1996 Dec-Feb 3 47-49 vs. Wolverine
On Trial 1997 Mar-May 3 50-52 Trial of Venom
License to Kill 1997 Jun-Aug 3 53-55 Works for the Government
Sign of the Boss 1997 Sep-Oct 2 56-57 vs. Ghost Rider
Finale 1997 Nov-Jan 3 58-60 Venom Finale
Seeds of Darkness 1997 July 1 -1 Flashback Month
Venom Super Special 1995 1 1 Planet of the Symbiotes, Part 3
Venom (Part of the tsunami imprint) 2003-2004 18 A clone of Venom attacks an Alaskan base and then fights the real Venom and Spider-man.
Venom: Dark Origin 2008 5 Retelling of Eddie Brock's life and the beginning of his life as Venom.
Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-man 2009 4 Tells the adventures of Mac Gargan (the current Venom) as the Spider-man for the Dark Avengers

References

  1. ^ Goldstein, Hilary (2006-02-01). "Spider-Man villain poll". IGN. Retrieved 2006-10-01.
  2. ^ Blogzarro.com
  3. ^ Venom is number 22
  4. ^ Wizard Magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Villains of All Time
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ "Venom: The Sordid History of Spider-Man's Black Costume"; marvel.com; November 29, 2006
  7. ^ Mark Millar (w), Terry Dodson (p), Rachel Dodson (i). "Venomous" Marvel Knights: Spider-Man, #7 December 2004 Marvel Comics
  8. ^ Jim Shooter (w), Mike Zeck (p), John Beatty (i). "Secret Wars" Marvel Super Heroes, no. 8 (December, 1984). Marvel Comics.
  9. ^ Tom DeFalco (w), Ron Frenz (p), Josef Rubinstein (i). "The Sinister Secret of Spider-Man's New Costume" The Amazing Spider-Man, no. 258 (November, 1984). Marvel Comics.
  10. ^ Louise Simonson (w), Greg LaRocque (p), Jim Mooney (i). "Til Death Us Do Part" Web of Spider-Man, no. 1 (April, 1985). Marvel Comics.
  11. ^ (Eddie Brock) - Marvel Universe: The definitive online source for Marvel super hero bios
  12. ^ Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #9
  13. ^ Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #10
  14. ^ Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #11
  15. ^ Civil War #4
  16. ^ Civil War: Choosing Sides #1
  17. ^ Heroes for Hire (vol. 2) #2
  18. ^ Thunderbolts #112
  19. ^ Dark Avengers #1
  20. ^ Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #19
  21. ^ Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #22
  22. ^ Tom DeFalco (w), Ron Frenz (p), Sal Buscema (i). "You Only Hurt. .." Spider-Girl, no. 82 (March,2005). Marvel Comics.
  23. ^ Tom DeFalco (w), Ron Frenz (p), Sal Buscema (i). "I, Hero" Spider-Girl, no. 84 (May,2005). Marvel Comics.
  24. ^ Tom DeFalco (w), Ron Frenz, Pat Olliffe (p), Sal Buscema, Scott Koblish (i). "If death be my destiny" Spider-Girl, no. 100 (September,2006). Marvel Comics.
  25. ^ Amazing Spider-Girl #20
  26. ^ Danny Fingeroth (w), Mark Bagley (p), Keith Williams (i). "What if the Alien costume had possessed Spider-Man?" What If, vol. 2, no. 4 (October 1989). Marvel Comics.
  27. ^ Kurt Busiek (w), Luke McDonnell (p), Luke McDonnell (i). "What if Venom had possessed The Punisher?" What If, vol. 2, no. 44 (December,1992). Marvel Comics.
  28. ^ Peter David (w), Khoi Pam (p), Khoi Pam (i). "What if. ..The Other?" What If (November,2006). Marvel Comics.
  29. ^ Ugo.com (no date): "David Goyer Interview"
  30. ^ Paul Fischer (2007-07-24). "Exclusive Interview: Avi Arad for "Bratz"". Dark Horizons. Retrieved 2007-08-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  31. ^ "Exclusive: Venom Film Moving Forward". IESB.net. 2008-02-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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