Venom (Marvel)

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

- Venom in The Spectacular Spider-Man

Venom is one of Spider-Man's archenemies. The name has belonged to several different hosts over the years.The Symbiote itself is tecnically Venom since it has no name.

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 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 knowledpge of Spidey, only enhanced, however he seems to be absent of his spider sense.

The symbiote also granted him the powers of minor shape-shifting. In appearance, 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 dual 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 of 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 he would risk losing 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.

Villains who took on the Vanom Mantle

 * Eddie Brock
 * Angelo Fortunato
 * MacDonald Gargan
 * Flash Thompson
 * Thunderbolt Ross/Red Hulk
 * Otto Octavius

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

Films
Main article: Venom (Spider-Man 3)

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

Ultimate Spider-Man film series
Eddie Brock is a protagonist in The first trilogy as Peter Parker 's childhood friend. Eddie Brock /Venom is the main antagonist/anti-hero of the second trilogy. He will be played by Jake Abel. And voiced by Frank Welker.

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.

Video Games
Venom also appeared in several Marvel video games such as the 2000 game Spider-Man where he is a both antagonist and a reluctant ally.

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

Unfortunately, the suit travels up Peter's arm and turns his suit black. Peter swings around in the new suit for a few hours, but soon he becomes delusional and develops psychosis. Peter is forced to destroy the suit. He then apologizes to Eddie for taking the suit, and warns him how dangerous it is. Angry at Peter, Eddie takes a second sample of the suit. When Eddie took the suit, it took control of and he became a monster attacking anyone that stands in his way. His form is a big purple-black brute that produce tendrils and spikes throughout his body, but when he absorbed the remaining Symbiote with Peter, the suit adapted the with spider insignia just like the mainstream universe. (Only within the universe of the video game "Ultimate Spider-Man")

In the story arc "War of the Symbiotes", Eddie absorbed the Carnage Symbiote from The Gwen Stacy Clone, he was finally able to control the Symbiote and also obtained 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.