The story of the violent alien parasite Venom from Marvel Comics.
Background[]
The symbiote that would later call itself Venom was the 998th generation of feral Klyntar; goo-like parasitic organism from outer space. After being born on Gorr's homeworld, where Knull had created the symbiotes, the Kree wanting to replicate the Skrulls' shape-shifting abilities during the Kree-Skrull War, got the newborn symbiote. They recruited the Kree soldier Tel-Kar to be bonded to the symbiote and infiltrate into the Skrull army. After being discovered, Tel-Kar deleted the memories of the symbiote about its involvement with the Kree and detached himself from it to prevent the Skrull from getting any information from it. The Klyntar got back to the others, but was later imprisoned in a containment cell by its own kind due to displaying unusual dreams to protect its hosts instead of dominating them like tools. The symbiote would then be bonded to Spider-Man.
Notable Hosts[]
Tel-Kar[]
Tel-Kar was a Kree soldier who was selected to be bonded to the symbiote and using its abilities to infiltrate the Skrull Empire. While as a spy, he discovered numerous Skrull secrets, icluding a virus bio-weapon, which could kill a entire race based on specific DNA. He eventually got discovered and detached himself from the symbiote to be captured by the Skrulls, after he was betrayed by Ronan the Accuser.
Tel-Kar was tortured for years by the Skrulls, which resulted in him going insane. He was able escape them and wondered the universe, until he heard of a hero named Flash Thompson wearing a symbiote. He recognized the symbiote as his and went to Earth. He then arrives trying to fight off the Skrull, who was attacking Eddie with the symbiote. Venom is able to defeat the Skrull and takes Tel-Kar in Alchemax in order for the latter to get stiched up following the fight. After revealing the truth about himself, Tel-Kar asked the symbiote to return to him. The symbiote declined, leaving Tel-Kar enraged, as he throwed Liz out of the window. Venom saved her, but Tel-Kar had got the symbiote's latest spawn, threatening that he would turn the spawn into a monster, if the symbiote didn't return to him. The symbiote left Eddie willingly bonded to Tel-Kar in order to ensure the safety for its spawn. As Tel-Kar was about to leave Earth, the symbiote tried to fight him, only for the symbiote to fall under his control. Tel-Kar went to a Skrull research lab in order to retrieve a Skrull bio-weapon and used to kill all of the Skrulls, since he fought that the war was still going on. Thankfully, Eddie wearing the spawn, calling itself Sleeper and the Skrull M'Lanz arrived and were able to defeat Tel-Kar. As Venom rebonded to Eddie, while Sleeper to M'Lanz, the Kree Empire started destroying the lab, since they called Tel-Kar a war criminal and wanted to get rid off the bio-weapon. Upon returning to Earth, Tel-Kar, who also had managed to escape, decided to release the bio-weapon on the humanity, but the spawn intervined, lobotomizing the Kree and using him as body.
Spider-Man[]
Later on during the Secret Wars, Spider-Man stumbled upon the prison complex where the Klyntar was contained. He inadvertently released it before 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 it and weakened the alien and forced it to relinquish its hold on him as well. The symbiote, using its remaining strength, dragged Peter to safety before. The symbiote died, but the Intelligencia revived the symbiote, though Spider-Man's rejection left it extremely bitter toward him, and swore revenge.
When Norman Osborn bonded to the Carnage symbiote to become Red Goblin, Spider-Man willingly rebonded to the symbiote in order to defeat the villain. Together they get stronger than ever and tracked down Red Goblin with his grandson, Normie Osborn, who had also become the Goblin Childe. After checking on Aunt May and Superior Octopus, who was defending May, Spider-Manc next fought Red Goblin in Alchemaxc, where he saved Liz Allan. The two continued fighting atop of the building, but Red Goblin revealed that he had put symbiote needles in the bodies of whose whom he attacked and would use those to kill Peter's love ones. Luckily, Flash Thompson as Agent Anti-Venom had removed the needles from the bodies of Peter's loved ones, but at the cost of most of his artificial symbiote. The Red Goblin in retaliation attacked Flash, heavily injuring him. This enraged Peter, who momenterily lost control of the symbiote and punched Red Goblin through a building. At his dying breath, Flash encoureged Peter to fight the Norman. After saving the civilians from Red Goblin's attacks, he convinced Norman to shed off his symbiote, while Spider-Man assured the Venom symbiote that he would be fine.
Eddie Brock[]
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 as Venom, the first and famous host to take on the Venom mantle.
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 with 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 begs 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, who had told Eddie to get out of his toxic relationship. After learning of a monster attack, Venom encounters a dinosaur at the sewers and finds out that it belongs to Alchemax. He then talks to Alchemax's CEO, Liz Allan, 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 are not 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.
Some time afterwards, the symbiote is pregnant again, but doesn't tell Eddie about this. After being captured by the symbiote task force that Eddie had worked with, Claire Dixon, the leader, tells Eddie that the he going to become a "father". Scorpion was also present, having allied himself with the task force, in order to rebond with the symbiote. Thankfully, Spider-Woman saved Eddie and the pregnant symbiote from the task force. Eddie forgives the symbiote for lying to him, and the two go to Alchemax to give birth to its spawn. While is in pain due to its past experiences, Eddie detached himself from it and tried to fight off Scorpion, who decided to istead bond to the spawn. After defeating the villain, Eddie and the symbiote entrusted Liz Allan about the care of their newborn spawn.
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. However, Venom 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 and attend the funeral of Flash Thompson.
After checking on their spawn and having an argument with Liz about the spawn's well being, Eddie and the symbiote go for a walk, until they are suddenly attacked by a Skrull. Then a Kree arrives at the scene trying to fend off the Skrull. Eddie is able to knock out the Skrull and get the Kree to Alchemax in order for the latter to get stiched up from the brief battle. After learning that the Kree's name is Tel-Kar and his nature, Tel-Kar blackmials the symbiote into reuniting with him leaving Eddie with the spawn. As Eddie is left alone, the Skrull, revealing her name as M'Lanz, arrives, but too late. She then explaines to Eddie Tel-Kar's true motives and then Eddie is suddenly bonded to the spawn calling itself Sleeper. The two go to the Skrull research lab containing the bio-weapon. They approach Tel-Kar, and are able to free the Venom symbiote from Tel-Kar's control. Then suddenly, the Kree Empire arrive in order to destroy the bioweapon, while Eddie with Venom and M'Lanz with Sleeper escape. Upon arriving on Earth, M'Lanz leaves Eddie with the symbiotes. Eddie then cuts all ties to Alchemax and invites Harry Osborn for a drink. The two talk, and after Eddie arrived at his apartment he found Tel-Kar waiting for him, intending to use the bioweapon on the humanity with Eddie's DNA. Sleeper suddenly snatches the bio-weapon from Tel-Kar, causing him to try kill Sleeper, but Venom got in the way in order to protect Sleeper. Eddie then lunged at Tel-Kar, both falling from the window to the street. Tel-Kar was about to snap Eddie's neck, but Sleeper intervined by lobotomizing Tel-Kar as it bonded to him. Sleeper decided to use the body to travel to cosmos and bid Eddie farewell, leaving with Venom.
Eddie then struggles with the symbiote, which has returned to its violent ways and used anti-depressants, in order to calm the symbiote and reassert control over it. While working as a freelance photographer, he stumbles upon an arms deal between a gang of criminals and the new Jack O'Lantern. The deal turned violent and Eddie uses the symbiote to take down Jack. The symbiote then completely overtakes Eddie, compelled by a mysterious external influence, nearly killing Jack O'Lantern in the process before being subdued and captured by a man named Rex Strickland. Rex tells Eddie that despite what was previously thought, the Venom symbiote was not the first to arrive on Earth and explains that the US Government bonded special forces operatives to symbiotes during the Vietnam War. These soldiers later went rogue, and Eddie is tasked with rescuing them and defeating their symbiotes. Though Eddie is able to locate Strickland's men, however, the symbiote possesed soldiers emerged talking in the language the Venom symbiote has been talking. His symbiote is again overtaken and separates from Eddie, leaving him to be impaled by one of the soldiers. Later, the symbiote regains its mind and tells Eddie that “God is coming”. Soon afterward, a massive dragon made up of thousands of the symbiotes from the dead soldiers attacks New York City. Eddie resolves to stop the monster before it destroys the city. Before he can intervene, he is attacked by Miles Morales, who uses his “Venom Blast” ability to break Venom out of the symbiote “god’s” influence. Miles and Eddie form a temporary truce, and the two manage to temporarily stop the symbiote god’s rampage. The symbiote god then reveals itself as a being named Knull. Knull separates Eddie from his symbiote, promising to purge the influence of humanity from it. But then Miles attackes Knull and both Eddie with Venom and Miles begun falling, until Venom grew a pair of web-like wings and saved both Eddie and Miles. After leaving Miles behind, Eddie went to Rex and put a hole in his head revealing that Rex was actually a symbiote offshot of the dragon which was bonded to the original Rex Strickland. After that they tricked the dragon to come to them and started attacking it with sonic based weapons which weaken it. Then Eddie puts the dragon with Rex in the furnace and incinerated it to death, while Eddie and Venom got wounded in the process.
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.
MacDonald "Mac" Gargan, the third host of Venom.
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 him, 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 armor 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[]
Flash Thompson as "Agent Venom".
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 he 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 Mephisto'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 Mephisto, 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 enamored 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 dependent 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".
Lee Price[]
Lee Price as Venom.
After an incident where the symbiote was separated from Flash, it bonded with an Army Ranger named 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 formed a permanent bond with the symbiote and became the new Maniac.
Dylan Brock[]
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Dylan Brock as Venom.
Following the death of Knull, Dylan started to resume living a normal life with his father, Eddie Brock, and the Sleeper Symbiote. Despite this, Dylan still struggled to adjust the customs of living a normal life, especially in school where he would get picked on by bullies, amongst getting in trouble of other things. His father also didn't spend as much time with him, due to his position as the new King in Black. Because of this, Eddie had the Venom Symbiote watch over Dylan when he wasn't around.
One day after a day from school, Dylan found himself confronted by Jack O' Lantern, who was stealing from a civilian. When Jack came across Dylan, he had shot him after the symbiote threatened him. In order to save his life, the symbiote proceeded to bond with Dylan. Eddie was glad to see his son alive and was willing to pass his symbiote down to Dylan, believing that his son would be able to carry on his legacy as his successor.
Other Hosts[]
Mysterio[]
When Spider-Man was still bonded to the Venom symbiote, Mysterio was intriged by the Spider-Man's new suit and blackmailed Black Cat with proof of her involvment with Kingpin, into stealing a piece of the suit for him. After getting the piece, he had his friend from university, Jonathan Ohnn, who was the personal scientist of Kingpin, to examine the piece. The symbiote sensing its piece took controll Peter's sleeping body and came to retrieve it from villains, however, after clashing Kingpin and his men, was unable to find the piece, and fled. Kingpin then had Mysterio tied up in order to interrogate him on why he and Spider-Mna were here, but the piece bonded to Mysterio which allowed him to overpower Kingpin and his men. He then went after Spider-Man in order to steal the suit and use it for himself, due to its great power. The two started to fight off on a train, as Spider-Man was on his way to Aunt May, but Black Cat intervined. Mysterio tried to fight them off, by using his flame weapon, but instead it made the piece he was wearing to flee and reunite with the symbiote.
Fantastic Four[]
While trapped at the Baxter Building, the symbiote briefly escaped thanks to Kristoff Vernard and possessed Mister Fantastic. It then moved onto Invisible Woman, before possessing Franklin Richards. However, Franklin was able to reject the symbiote from his body, thanks to Mister Fantastic and Spider-Man, and the symbiote was imprisoned again.
Leonard Elkhart[]
Leonard Elkhart was judge from Illinois, who after his divorce decided to go to Manhattan for vacation, despite the warning about the city being full of supervillains. He got quickly used to the actions happening around the city, but one day, after the symbiote had escaped the Baxter Building, it bonded to Leonard in order to use him to get back to Spider-Man. After the symbiote left Leonard behind, the judge returned to Illnois and visited a doctor due to his mysterious sudden blackout. After the check, he and his son went to have lunch at a fast food, but witnessed a woman named Lorina Dodson attacking some staff members due to not getting her order in time. Leonard was chosen to be the judge in the trial of Dodson, where put her in jail, while awaiting trial. At evening, as Leonard and his son were returning home, Dodson, who had escaped and was now in her identity as White Rabbit, was waiting for them and pulled a fake in order to get her revenge on Leonard. However, Leonard's son suffered a heart attack and died much to the dismay of Leonard and White Rabbit. After the funeral of his son, Leonard took the gun his ex-wife had given to him and went to Dodson's trial in order to kill her, but instead, he accidentally killed the judge overseeing the current trial. He allowed himself to get arrested, and allowed the prisoners he had put to jail to beat him, but they eventually stopped, since he, now a broken man, didn't care anymore. As years went by, he diagnosed with cancer, and eventually mercy killed by Dark Carnage, who was collecting the symbiote codex, in front of White Rabbit, who had visited Leonard.
Angelo Fortunato[]
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Angelo Fortunato, the Second Venom.
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 one-sided fight 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.
Otto Octavius[]
Otto Octavius as "Superior Venom".
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 fled, 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[]
Groot as Venom.
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.
Rocket Raccoon as Venom.
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.