Venom (Marvel)

"We are Venom, because we are like poison to you, Spider-Man!"

- Venom

Venom is one of Spider-Man's archenemies. The name has belonged to several different hosts over the years.

History
After Spider-man rid himself of the alien Symbiote that infected his life, it found and attached itself to Eddie Brock, a frustrated reporter who had a grudge against Spider-man for, what he claims, making him loose 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 sence. The symbiote also granted him the powers of minor shape-shifting. In appearence, Venom is large and black with white eyes and spider symbol on his chest, he bares sharp teeth and claws, which are powerful enough to shred metal. Due to his duel personalities and beings, Venom speaks in the plural third-person, saying "we" instead of "I."

Oddly enough, at some points Venom seems to be somewhat of an anti-villain as opposed to an actual one, as he thought that he was the hero and Spider-man the villain in his battle against him. Venom thus spent some of his time as a crime-fighting vigilante, calling himself "Lethal Protector."

When the Venom symbiote's spawn, Carnage, came onto the scene, Venom was forced to team-up with Spider-man in order to beat Carnage, who neither of them could defeat alone.

Eventually, Eddie was infected with cancer, and sold the Venom suit to Mac Gargan, who became a new version Venom, and joined several villain groups such as the Dark Avengers and the Thunderbolts.

After the events of Siege, the symbiote was separated from Gargan by the US government and has been passed on to Peter Parker's old school rival Flash Thompson that also allowed him to grow new legs due to the amputation that occurred during his time in Iraq as a US soldier whenever he wears the suit. However Flash cannot stay bonded to the symbiote for more than 48 hours or risk loosing control. Despite being used for heroic purposes, the symbiote still possesses it's murderous rampages and occasionally it has killed a few villains during some of Flash's missions.

Appearances in other media
Venom appeared in Spider-man 3 as the main antagonist, well as 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.

Vemon also appeared in several marvel videogames such as the 2000 game Spider-Man where he is a both antagonist and a reluctant ally.