Venom (Marvel)

"From now on, we're poison to Peter Parker and Spider-Man! WE'RE VENOM!"

- Venom in The Spectacular Spider-Man. "There's no more Eddie! And no more symbiote! only... Venom!"

- Venom in Spider-Man: The Animated Series. "You know nothing about us, but we know everything about you! You'll see us everywhere, even in your nightmares!"

- Venom in Spider-Man: The Animated Series.

Venom is a major antagonist in Marvel Comics, most commonly serving as an enemy for Spider-Man. The name has belonged to several different hosts over the years, which means that Venom is indeed the identity of this particular alien Symbiote. The Symbiote named itself Venom, as it considered itself a venom for Spider-Man. Although considered to be an anti-hero, it began its debut as a villain and would still kill Spider-Man and those around him.

Background
The symbiote that would later call itself Venom was the 998th generation of feral Klyntar; goo-like parasitic organism from outer space. This Klyntar were later imprisoned by its own kind due to displaying unusual dreams to protect its hosts instead of dominating them like tools. Later on, Deadpool stumbled upon the prison complex where the Klyntar was contained. He inadvertently released it before the symbiote bonded with him. However, Deadpool felt the villainous nature and decided it was too dark and violent even for him. He rejected the symbiote, but it was soon found by Spider-Man, whose costume was damaged due to the war at Battlewar, and the symbiote bonded to him as a replacement costume.

Once back on Earth, Spider-Man learned the Klyntar's purpose to permanently bond with him and often controlled his body while he slept. With the aid of Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch, Spider-Man discovered the symbiote was vulnerable to sound and flame, and he used sonic waves to remove it and flames to scare it into a containment module.

However, the symbiote escaped and found its way to Peter Parker's closet, where it disguised itself as a spare red and blue costume. When the Vulturions attacked, the symbiote revealed itself and attempted to forcibly bond itself to Spider-Man again, who fled to the bell tower of the Our Lady of Saints church. The bells rang to sound the hour, which, coupled with Spider-Man's rejection of the it, weakened the alien and forced it to relinquish its hold on him. The symbiote, using its remaining strength, dragged Peter to safety before, though his rejection left it extremely bitter toward Spider-Man, and swore revenge.

Just as it left Spider-Man, it stumbled upon Eddie Brock, a frustrated reporter who had a grudge against Spider-Man for, what he claims, making him lose his job. They became Venom, and as both hated Spider-Man, sought to destroy every aspect of his life. Venom had gained all the powers and knowledge of Spidey, only enhanced, however he seems to be absent of his spider sense.

After Peter Parker got rid of his Symbiote suit, Black Cat felt that Spider-Man looked better in it and thus made a similar-looking black suit for him to wear. Spider-Man wore the replica suit for some time until Mary Jane's encounter with Venom, which scared her so much that she discourage Peter from using his black suit as it was greatly reminiscent of Venom.

Eddie Brock
The first and possibly most famous incarnation of Venom. Eddie's mother died during childbirth, and as a result his father became cold and distant, instilling a thirst in Eddie to impress him. As an adult, he become a journalist for the Daily Globe, and enjoyed great success until he mistakenly outed a compulsive confessor, Emil Gregg, as the serial killer Sin-Eater.

Spider-Man then debunked Brock's article by capturing the real killer, and he was fired from the Daily Globe as a result. Following this misfortune, he was diagnosed with cancer, divorced by his wife, and disowned by his father. With his reputation destroyed, he was only able to find employment as a two-bit writer for a disreputable tabloid. Blaming Spider-Man for his troubles, he began to work out obsessively in an attempt to assuage his rage.

Eventually, Brock couldn't take it anymore. Raised a devout Catholic, he went to his local church to pray for forgiveness for the suicide he is contemplating—unaware that Spider-Man had used the bells in the same church to drive away the Venom symbiote.

The symbiote, lying in wait in the rafters for an appropriate host, bonds to Brock, drawn by his obsession with Spider-Man. In the process, Brock learns Spider-Man's true identity, and Brock's overwhelming hatred for Spider-Man turns the already bitter symbiote's love into a twisted obsession.

As Venom, he becomes one of Spider-Man's most formidable foes: stronger, faster, and immune to his Spider-Sense. He wages a campaign of torment against Peter Parker, invading his private life and threatening his loved ones. He is not altogether evil, though: he exhibits moments of compassion, like rescuing a little girl during a pitched battle with Spider-Man. He even ends up in a few Enemy Mine situations with him—generally to combat the symbiote's "child", Carnage, which has bonded with serial killer Cletus Kasady.

Over time, Venom slowly develops into a hero and declares a truce wilth Spider-Man, moving to San Francisco for a time and becoming the "Lethal Protector" of a subterranean community of homeless people formed by the 1906 earthquake. Eddie is eventually abducted by the Life Foundation Organization, which forces the Venom symbiote to give birth to five more offspring; Lasher, Phage, Riot, Agony, and Scream, who beg Eddie for help controlling their symbiotes, though he wants nothing to do with them. Ultimately, Eddie returns to New York and to villainy following his ex-wife's suicide, temporarily joining the Sinister Six before a falling out with Sandman.

Eventually, it is revealed that the symbiote chose Brock as a host not only for his mutual hatred of Spider-Man, but also for the fact that it could "feed" from the excess adrenaline his cancerous body produces, keeping the disease in remission. However, the symbiote no longer wishes to remain bonded to a dying host, especially one that refuses to feed it. Undergoing a Heel-Faith Turn, Brock, disgusted by the symbiote's growing bloodlust, decides to sell it to the highest bidder and donate the proceeds to charity, knowing it will mean the death of him. Unfortunately, the highest bidder turns out to be crime boss Don Fortunato, who gives the symbiote to his son Angelo.

Years later, following several other adventures, Brock is recruited by the FBI to help them defeat the new, villainous Venom, Lee Price. Brock, the FBI and Spider-Man succeed in separating the symbiote and Price, although the symbiote's hatred of Spider-Man is rekindled in the process and Brock decides to beak it out of custody.

Bonding with the symbiote again, Brock resumes his Venom identity, first stopping a robbery and then the Scorpion, before the symbiote takes him to a church, revealing that it attacked the priest. After learning of a monster attack, Venom encounters a dinosaur at the church and finds out that it belongs to Alchemax. He then talks to Alchemax's CEO, Liz Allen, and learns that Stegron is the mastermind behind the dinosaurs. Venom soon finds Stegron's lair and learns that the remnants of his Dinosaur People experiments are living in the sewers. Venom then defends the Dinosaur People from Kraven the Hunter, Shriek and the NYPD, before explaining to the police, with help from Tana of the Dinosaur People, that they aren't killing anyone and are merely surviving, resulting in Kraven and Shriek being arrested.

During the Venom Inc. storyline, Venom helps Spider-Man, Black Cat, and Flash Thompson (now under the guise of Agent Anti-Venom) take down Lee Price again, who had bonded himself with Venom’s clone Mania and was using it to take over the New York criminal underground. In the ensuing battle, Venom absorbs Mania. Brock then tells Black Cat to give up her criminal empire, telling her that New York City always needs more heroes.

Later on, Brock is blackmailed by J. Jonah Jameson into helping defend Spider-Man's friends and family from Norman Osborn, who had bonded with the Carnage symbiote to become the terrifying Red Goblin. Venom is sent to defend Mary Jane at the Stark Tower Complex, although she ends up turning the anti-symbiote defense systems on him, believing him to be after her. Venom, however, proves he is on Mary Jane's side when Red Goblin arrives and they begin to fight, making her turn off the defenses. Spider-Man arrives to help Venom, but the both of them are gradually overpowered and defeated.

With nothing left to offer against Red Goblin, Brock allows Spider-Man to use the Venom symbiote once more—because of this and his valiant defense of Mary Jane, Spider-Man effectively forgives Brock for all his past misdeeds. Spider-Man uses the symbiote yet still finds that Red Goblin has the upper hand, that is until he convinces the villain to abandon the Carnage symbiote to prove he doesn't need it, beating him into submission before seemingly destroying the Carnage symbiote as well. The Venom symbiote then returns to Brock afterwards.

Angelo Fortunato
The "second" Venom: mostly ignored by both readers and canon. Angelo was the timid son of Don Fortunato, a Mob boss who purchased the Venom symbiote from Eddie Brock thinking it would get his son to man up. Despite quickly mastering the symbiote's powers, Fortunato's fight with Spider-Man turned into a Curb-Stomp Battle not in his favor when he murdered an otherwise innocent impostor dressed as Spider-Man. Angelo fled despite the symbiote urging him to keep fighting, causing it to deem him an unworthy host and abandon him in mid-leap to fall to his death.

MacDonald "Mac" Gargan
After ditching Angelo, the symbiote directly approaches Gargan, already an established super villain called the Scorpion, offering him new abilities in exchange for murdering Spider-Man. Gargan eagerly agrees, and becomes the third incarnation of Venom just in time to join Norman Osborn's Sinister Twelve. He was imprisoned and became a member of the government-sponsored vigilantes the Thunderbolts, taking part in the Civil War and helping hold off the Skrull Invasion.

Following Osborn being made the head of SHIELD, Gargan was given a drug that reverted the symbiote to the appearance it had when Peter Parker wore it and joined the Dark Avengers, where he gleefully impersonated Spider-Man. In this guise, Mac frequently went AWOL to take a bite out of crime and started a gang war to ruin Mayor Jameson's reputation.

When Mac refused to stop and pictures of him eating criminals threatened to go public, Osborn sent Daken and Bullseye to kill Gargan, and when that failed threatened to dispose of Venom himself. After Osborn's botched invasion of Asgard, Gargan was arrested and forcefully separated from the symbiote by the government, who begin researching ways to weaponize it for the American army.

Without his armour or the symbiote to stabilize the genetic degeneration caused by the process that gave him his powers, Gargan's health began to deteriorate until he was broken free by Alistair Smythe and outfitted with a new Scorpion suit.

Gargan's stint as Venom was characterized by an increasing dependence on the symbiote and its powers, despite the limitations that resulted - almost like a drug addict. He became increasingly erratic and unstable, driven by the symbiote's bloodlust to commit cannibalism, even to the point of attacking his teammates and disobeying orders to chow down on street thugs.

Flash Thompson
Peter Parker's former friend. Flash enlists in the army during the Iraq War and is grievously wounded in action, losing his legs while saving his comrades. Lauded as a hero for his sacrifice, he is given an offer by the military: he can "rent" the Venom symbiote, which was subdued by drugs, for 48-hour periods (never long enough for the symbiote to establish control) for use in important missions, regaining the use of his legs in the process. Thompson agrees and subsequently becomes the new Venom, marking the character's transition to fully-fledged hero. In addition to the usual plethora of abilities, Thompson is a trained marksman, and uses a variety of firearms in his capacity as a government-sponsored Super Soldier. However, should Flash become angry while wearing the symbiote or surpass his 48 hour time limit, it will assume control of his body.

After the events of Spider-Island, Flash went AWOL to retain the symbiote and hopefully protect his friends and family. This led Captain America to send Red Hulk after him. Flash teamed up with Red Hulk, X-23, and the newest Ghost Rider against Blackheart while they were in Las Vegas and saved the world from Hell on Earth. With those actions in mind, Captain America placed Flash, under the belief that Flash had the symbiote under control, within the Secret Avengers, the black-ops wing of The Avengers.

Flash was called in to stop Carnage from conquering the town of Doverton, Colorado, and defeated Cletus Kasady sans symbiote. Following that, he infiltrated the Crime Master's Savage Six and seemingly kills Eddie Brock, the original Venom, who had been forced to become the new Toxin by the Crime Master. After killing or capturing the remaining members of the Sinister Six, who had kidnapped Betty Brant, he teamed up with Kaine, the second Scarlet Spider, to stop Carnage, who had again escaped from prison and was being used to manufacture an army of symbiote super soldiers to conquer the Microverse.

As a member of the Secret Avengers, Flash began dating his teammate Valkyrie and struck up a friendship with Eric O'Grady, the then-current Ant-Man. After the team's reshuffling during Marvel NOW, Flash left the Secret Avengers roster, moved to Philadelphia, and became a member of Red Hulk's Thunderbolts, though he later had a "falling out" with the team. During an encounter with Daimon Hellstrom, Flash was possessed by an ancient demon, which seems to be getting along nicely with the Venom symbiote to the point where Flash is no longer sure which, if either, takes control of his body during his occasional blackouts.

Flash sets up a new life for himself as a vigilante and assistant high-school gym coach, but came into conflict with Eddie Brock, who survived and tracked him down to Philadelphia. Their grudge match was interrupted by the Symbiote Slayers, parasitic biomechanical organisms similar to the symbiotes themselves, and Eddie and Flash arranged a truce to defeat them. Eddie agreed to leave Flash in peace so long as he continued to use the Venom symbiote for good, but Flash's vigilantism brought him into conflict with Lord Ogre, a crime lord who put a price on his head. The bounty alerted Jack O'Lantern, a former member of Crime Master's Savage Six, to Venom's whereabouts, and Flash was forced to bond a piece of the Venom symbiote to his teenage neighbor/tutee Andrea Benton to save her life when her family was targeted, turning her into Mania.

Flash confronted Daimon Hellstrom, who revealed Memphisto's hell mark and the demon had been excised, and Flash returned to Mania, helping her escape from Crossbones, who was hunting those who bore the hell marks. Wanting answers, Flash confronted the Venom symbiote and it revealed it passed both the hell mark and demon on to Mania in order to protect him and itself from being taken over. Flash and Andi summon Memphisto, who revealed the portion of the symbiote bonded to her was in fact the clone of the symbiote that had once been bonded to Patricia Robertson, and assisted them in defeating Crossbones. However, he refused to remove the hell mark from Andi, revealing that the deal that bestowed Venom with the hell mark had not been made with Flash, but with the supposedly lobotomized symbiote itself.

Flash later returns to New York after hearing rumors of the Crime Master resurfacing. While Agent Venom engages with the Crime Master's minions, the Superior Spider-Man arrives on the scene and assists in defeating them and exposing the Crime Master as an impostor. Flash thanks him for the help, but Spider-Man remarks that he didn't show up to take down the Crime Master's men, but rather Venom, blasting Flash with a wrist-mounted flamethrower. Flash fakes a surrender, takes out Spider-Man's Spiderlings, and escapes, the symbiote badly injured. He later shows up at Peter's house later in the day, interrupting a luncheon with Aunt May, Jay Jameson, and Peter's girlfriend Anna. "Peter" convinces Flash to undergo surgery to give him cybernetic legs and uses the operation as an excuse to remove the symbiote, which promptly escapes containment and reunites with its original host, transforming the Superior Spider-Man into the Superior Venom.

Flash tries to coerce the symbiote to return to him - which it attempts to do, having been turned off by "Peter's" new attitude - but SpOck quickly becoming enamoured with the power it gives him and dominates it with his will, forcing it to remain bonded to him. The Superior Venom sets off to test his newfound power and shortly afterwards Flash is informed that the drugs he had been taking to suppress the symbiote had altered his body chemistry to be dependant on it and without it he only has a few hours left to live. With help from the Avengers, Flash succeeds in reclaiming the symbiote from Superior Spider-Man, becoming Agent Venom once again, and returns to Philadelphia.

After amicably leaving the Thunderbolts, Flash is confronted by Tony Stark, who tells him of the Guardians of the Galaxy and feels that there needs to be an Avenger with the team after having spent some time with them. Flash is completely dumbfounded by the descriptions Tony gives him of these heroes, especially Groot and Rocket Raccoon, but decides to accept the offer. Though the Guardians are quick to be dismissive of Flash after seeing his handicapped form, it's quickly tossed aside once they see him as Agent Venom. Before leaving, Tony gives Peter "Star Lord" Quill a device in case the symbiote goes out of control and there's no way to stop him normally.

Though he was separated from the symbiote, Flash later confronted with Eddie, after finding out he kept the symbiote. He and Eddie are then splashed by a container filled with an anti serum by Spider-Man. The anti serum fused with the remnants of the symbiote inside Flash's body, transforming him into the new "Anti-Venom".

Otto Octavius
After a brief fight with Agent Venom, during which he discovered that Flash Thompson was behind the symbiote, Flash sought Peter's help in giving him a place to stay. Octavius eventually convinced Flash to allow him to perform a procedure that would give him robotic leg implants, though during the procedure he forcefully removed the symbiote from Flash. The symbiote, feeling isolated and scared, broke out of containment and bonded to Octavius, creating a "Superior Venom".

Despite claiming to be able to exert full control over a reluctant Venom symbiote, Otto became even more erratic than usual: he wounded Cardiac and fleed, hoping to find a villain to physically overpower, proving his newfound might. Failing to do so, he started beating up and scaring petty criminals, until Anna Maria called him to find relief about "Peter" and Aunt May arguing about her. This prompted "Peter" to storm Aunt May's home, loudly berating her for her actions, then directing his anger towards MJ, guilty of having taken May's side. As soon as MJ tried to counter his anger, Otto summoned the Venom symbiote and flees, warning his former family to stay away from him.

After almost killing two robbers, Venom was confronted by the Avengers, who with the aid of Flash Thompson clad in an Iron Man armor managed to defeat Octavius. Flash managed to convince the symbiote to return to him, and as Otto tried to cast him out, Peter Parker's consciousness returned to help him purge the symbiote, but later remained under the radar. Back as Spider-Man, Otto lied to the Avengers and Mary Jane that his behavior in the past months was due to microscopic fragments of the symbiote slowly multiplying within him. When the Avengers talked to Tony Stark about the test they previously conducted on Spider Man and found nothing, Stark decided to check the data further, and discovered that all of it except the one he knew about had been erased by Spider-Man. With this in mind, Captain America proclaimed that they would need to bring Spider-Man in. After being confronted by the Avengers once more because of the missing medial scans, Otto escaped.

Guardians of the Galaxy
Venom came into contact with the Guardians of the Galaxy when Captain America requested that Agent Venom replace Tony Stark/Iron Man as a liaison to the extraterrestrial defenders. However, as Flash and the symbiote traveled into space, the symbiote was affected by the Klyntar hive-mind, causing it to go berserk and make Flash loose control. Flash and the symbiote managed to be separated by Star-Lord and Rocket Racoon, but the symbiote latched onto a nearby Groot and took control.

Drax managed to get the symbiote off of Groot, but it then jumped to Rocket. Drax rushed to save him, but the symbiote left Rocket and transferred to Drax. It used Drax to defeat the Guardians and pilot the ship towards Klyntar. However, the symbiote resisted the hive-mind control and left Drax, bonding back with Flash and returning to normal.

Lee Price
After an incident where the symbiote was separated from Flash, it bonded with an Army Ranger name Lee Price, who was about to be killed in a shootout between Tombstone and Black Cat's gangs. The symbiote bonded to protect him and was excited to see he was a soldier, but was shocked when Price dominated over the symbiote in will and used it to massacre both gangs. After a brief mental argument, the symbiote rejected Price and left him, causing Price to be caught and imprisoned. The symbiote managed to escape and find its old host, Eddie Brock, once more.

Lee Price would later on escape from prison where he would steal the cloned Venom symbiote, Mania, from Andi Benton. He then forms a permanent bound with the symbiote and becomes the new Maniac.

Appearances in other media
Venom has appeared in many video games due to his popularity.

Spider-Man Films
Eddie Brock/Venom is the main antagonist in the film Spider-Man 3 played by Topher Grace.

Venom (2018)
"I'm Eddie Brock. I'm a reporter. Now I always seem to find myself questioning something the government may not be looking at, but I found something really bad... and I have been taken."

- Venom's line from the 2018 trailer.

Venom is the titular protagonist villain of his own 2018 movie. He will be portrayed by Tom Hardy, who portrayed Bane. In the film, Eddie Brock will bond with the Symbiote and face off against Carlton Drake/Riot.

TV Series
Venom appeared in the animated series Spider-Man: The Animated Series and The Spectacular Spider-Man TV series as an antagonist while possessing his perfect host, Eddie Brock who holds a definite grudge against Peter Parker, also known as Spider-Man. In the Ultimate Spider-Man TV series however, Venom was created by Doctor Octopus using Peter Parker's blood sample. Venom then possesses Peter Parker's friend Harry Osborn. Venom also appeared in the Marvel crossover of the Disney show Phineas and Ferb.

Videogames
Venom also appeared in several Marvel videogames such as the 2000 video game Spider-Man where he is both a false antagonist and a reluctant ally. Eddie Brock contacted a Symbiote and wanted to defeat Spider-Man. As Spider-Man chased the villain, it led him to the sewers where Venom has taken Mary Jane Watson hostage. Spidey rescued Mary Jane and Venom realizes that the true enemies are Doctor Octopus and Carnage.

Venom appeared in Spider-Man Web of Shadows, where he serves as the main antagonist.

In LEGO Marvel Superheroes 2, Venom merged himself with Carnage and becomes a symbiote hybrid known as Carnom that serves as a boss and playable character. They were unleashed by Goblin 2099 at Alchemax after he created them to destroy the heroes, whom were after the Nexus Shard that was powering a generator there. During the boss battle, Carnom transformed into a bigger and even monstrous form known as Maximum Carnom. In its defeat, Carnom reverted back to its original state while Goblin 2099 appeared to take on the heroes himself. Unfortunately, the heroes quickly defeated him and took the Nexus Shard away from him. Carnom then became furious, as he called the Goblin a monster and chased him around. During the final boss battle, Kang briefly summons Carnom from a portal while it was still chasing Goblin 2099.

Ultimate Comics
In this universe, the Symbiote was not an alien life form but a suit created to cure cancer by Eddie Brock's father and Peter Parker's father. After he was told of the suit by Eddie, Peter tried taking some of it so that he could experiment with it, and finish his father's work.

Unfortunately, the suit travelled up Peter's arm and turned his suit black. Peter swung around in the new outfit for a few hours, but soon he became delusional and developed psychosis. Peter was forced to destroy the suit and then apologised to Eddie for taking the suit. Angry at Peter, Eddie took a second sample of the suit, which controlled him, turning him into a monster that attacked anyone that standing in his way. His form was a big purple-black brute that produced tendrils and spikes throughout his body, but when he absorbed the remaining symbiote from Peter, the suit adapted the spider symbol just like the mainstream universe.

In the story arc "War of the Symbiotes", Eddie absorbed the Carnage Symbiote from The Gwen Stacy Clone, and was finally able to control the symbiote, also obtaining a new form. In the story arc "Venom Wars", the Venom Symbiote's new host was Dr Conrad Marcus, who was an ex-Osborn Employee turned Roxxon Employee. In his first appearance as Venom, he had an anorexic design, but in later appearances was more monstrous and more alien looking.

Trivia

 * Venom has bonded with thirteen known hosts.
 * Venom fought Bane of DC Comics in the popular show DEATH BATTLE, and won.
 * Venom's favorite food used to be human brains, Eddie's secret love for chocolate however over took it, making Chocolate of all things to become Venom's favorite food.

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Venom (Marvel)