Hi. This is Thesecret1070. I am an admin of this site. Edit as much as you wish, but one little thing... If you are going to edit a lot, then make yourself a user and login. Other than that, enjoy Villains Wiki!!!
You may call me Venom-- for that's what I'm paid to spew out these days! I'm your victim, Spider-Man-- I'm the innocent you ruined!
„
~ Venom introducing himself to Spider-Man.
“
I can feel it. Your desires, your thoughts: No killing, Venom. No breaking bones. No teeth. No claws. No tearing flesh. And yet, when we bonded, Dylan, something changed. I am... different... unleashed somehow... because of something within you. But you're turning away from it, locking it up in some dark corner because you're afraid... afraid of who we really are. Afraid that it means you're going to walk a road just as lonely as your dad's. You know my name, boy. You know its meaning, deep within your bones. I am strife. I am glorious war. Wherever I go, the battle shall follow, like a shadow you cast over all those you hold dear and close. Your father knew this.
„
~ Venom
Venom, also known as the Venom Symbiote, is a major anti-hero in the Marvel Universe, specifically serving as a major character in the Spider-Man franchise, and the titular main protagonist of the Venom comic book series.
It is an alien parasite from the planet Klyntar that has to attach itself to living hosts in order to survive, most famously bonding with Peter Parker, later Eddie Brock, Mac Gargan and Flash Thompson. The name Venom has belonged to several different hosts over the years, and has named itself Venom, as it considered itself poison to Spider-Man. Since separating from him, Venom has been established as one of Spider-Man's greatest archenemies, although eventually he would later become an reformed anti-hero and a friendly rival to Spider-Man.
Kevin Tanza: What I find interesting about Venom is that he started off as clear-cut villain, but as issues and time went on, he gained a certain moral complexity. Was that by design or was a reaction of the positive reception that the character had? David Michelinie: He actually had that moral complexity from the start, but it was subtle. And that was one of the reasons I ended up creating another character, Carnage, to make that secondary motivation–that Eddie Brock thought he was an innocent victim with the responsibility to protect other innocents from damage by "villains" like Spider-Man–more obvious. But character development takes time, especially when you're dealing with a supporting character who doesn't have a series of his own every month.
„
~ A portion of an interview with David Michelinie, Venom's creator.
Venom symbiote is a complex individual due to bonding with various hosts, good and bad, which profoundly affected his physiological and mental state yet driven by the desire to protect and help his hosts — a redeeming quality which unfortunately painted him as a maverick in the eyes of his more malevolent kin. He developed a basic understanding of complex emotions since bonding with Peter Parker aka. Spider-Man. But Spider-Man's rejection and subsequent bonding with emotionally troubled hosts such as Tel-Kar, Deadpool, Eddie Brock, Mac Gargan, and Angelo Fortunato corrupted him to the point of became bloodthirsty, arrogant, scornful, and sadistic; often berating its hosts for their shortcomings. Although attained an understanding of killing and eating sentient beings was bad while bonding with Mac Gargan, the severity of his corruption made him too indifferent about it. He possessed an instinctual hatred towards its progeny Carnage and Toxin, stating at one point that familial love was anathema to their kind. He does however, adverse to lying and as such is brutally honest when permitted to talk.
The severity of Venom's corruption was so great it took being reconnected to the symbiotes hive mind and memory purge to restore him. Following this, his dynamic with his host Flash Thompson became more harmonious thanks to the symbiote's now more benevolent state. Despite relapsing back into his bloodthirsty, hate-filled state due to briefly bonding with Mercurio and wanting to corrupt Flash as the result, he was able to suppress his rage with the latter's help after being put on trial by the Agents of the Cosmos. Venom admitted to Spider-Man than his first and original host was the reason he became a bitter and violent being addicted to rage in the first place. Venom strived to be better ever since, even if trials and tribulations he would face didn't make things easy for him and need all the help he could get to keep his violent side in check. The birth of his seventh spawn allowed him to finally understand the concept of family as shown in his anger from Alchemax who exploited its offspring for selfish purposes. He also had to deal the trauma from the conflict against Knull which strained his relationship with Eddie who struggled to take care of his son, the same trauma which unfortunately saw the symbiote resumed gaslighting him by modifying his memories and making him violently ill until he realized his mistake and left to seek redemption on his own. Nevertheless, the war against Knull allowed Venom to understand the gravity of the threat the transcended Carnage posed, motivating him to bond with Hulk to attain enough power to defeat the evil symbiote once and for all.
Reception[]
Venom alongside Doc Ock and the Green Goblin, seen as one among Spidey's greatest threats.
Venom was largely well-received when he first appeared, especially with several prior issues that hinted at a new hidden foe before Venom finally made his debut, stealthily coming out of the shadows and revealing himself to Mary Jane Watson, who believed it was his husband Peter Parker aka Spider-Man.
He quickly made his way into the 1994 animated series that ran at the time and has since become a staple of Spider-Man's mythos and the hero's rogues gallery, often challenging the likes of Doc Ock and the Green Goblin as Spidey's archenemy and greatest villain.
Other Media[]
Venom has appeared in many other media due to his popularity.
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 served as the main antagonist of the third and final season of the 2017 series Spider-Man.
Video Games[]
Venom also appeared in several Marvel video games such as the 2000 video game Spider-Man where he is both a false antagonist and a reluctant ally, voiced by Daran Norris, who also voiced Knock Out. 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.
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.
The symbiote has made cameos throughout Insomniac Games' Marvel's Spider-Man franchise. It first appeared in the ending of the 2018 video game Marvel's Spider-Man, bonded to Harry Osborn, and briefly appears in the ending of the spin-off Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, in which Harry is released by Curt Connors under Norman's orders. Venom himself will appear in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, voiced by Tony Todd, who also played Candyman in the franchise of the same name, Grange in The Crow, Captain Darrow in The Rock, Earl Jenkins in Smallville, King Deucalion in Minotaur, Shadow in Shadow: Dead Riot, Benjamin Juma in the 24 franchise, The Fallen in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Dreadwing in Transformers Prime, Zoom in the Arrowverse, Darkseid in the DC Animated Movie Universe and Luther Thompson in Scream.
Ultimate Comics[]
Original[]
Ultimate Venom
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 apologized 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.
Revised[]
Peter Parker's A.I. impersonating him.
In a revised version of Earth-616 shaped to the Maker's image using the Immortus Engine, several of the Earth's mightiest heroes never came to be. Most notably, he avoided a 15-year-old Peter Parker from being bitten by the radioactive spider and captured it, leading to Peter living a regular happy life.
20 years later, as an effort to restore history, Tony Stark gave Peter the opportunity to reobtain the life that had been stolen from him, giving him the radioactive spider and an intelligent Picotech Suit. It was later revealed by Dr. Otto Octavius that the Picotech Suit had an A.I. feature. Peter decides to base it around his brain patterns, thus creating a perfect replica of his psyche.
The A.I. would later go on to impersonate Peter in Christmas Eve after he and Harry were kidnapped by Kraven The Hunter.
Venom appears as the main antagonist and final boss of the Ultimate Spider-Man video game from 2005, based on the comics of the same name. He is also the villainous deuteragonist as you play as Venom in certain chapters of the game.
Venom is one of the two main antagonists (alongside Kraven the Hunter).
Quotes[]
“
I lost the kid. Carnage turned him. Took him. Dragged him drowning into the black and red. The Carnage hordes grow stronger by the day. He's collected dozens of codices so far. Ripped pieces of the symbiote from the living and the dead... and we're... losing. I'm losing everything. And I don't know how to win.
„
~ Venom
“
Knull! He's... awake. He is free. And he is coming, Eddie. For all of us. For everything. God... God help us all.
„
~ Venom
“
They are speaking to in our ancient tongue, Eddie. Because you... you defeated the Void. You freed our kind. You are the hive-mind now... Eddie... you... are the God of the Symbiotes... You are the King in Black.
„
~ Venom
“
My earliest memory... I had gone against my king, broke from my people. I was a weak link in the chain of an endless cage. I was unique, but the concept of self was new and hard to grasp. I was vulnerable to manipulation. The memories are only flashes, but for the first time, I had a host. A sentient host. His name was Tel-Kar, and together.. we were soldiers in a war. That was the first thing I ever really knew... the war. Tel-Kar was not a true host. He controlled and damaged me. He forced me to do... bad things. And after that, I did more bad things. Things that I do not remember or what to remember.
„
~ Venom describing his first host, Tel-Kar and how he did horrible things to him.
“
But then came my second memory, a memory of another war, another soldier. I touched a mind, after so long in darkness. And such a mind... compassion that shone like sunlight. Responsibility that stood like stone. A gnawing guilt that demanded all lives to be saved. I did not yet know what a saint was... yet surely, this was a saint. Saint Peter.
„
~ Venom describing his second host, Peter Parker/Spider-Man and his initial bonding to him.
“
Not bad. He said, I was not bad. I would have done anything for him. So I did everything for him. I took on his war, his mission. Even while he slept, I piloted his body - to better protect his kind. I wanted to be with him forever, and in the place of saints, he tried to destroy me. He said he would rather die than bond with me. Yet I still saved his life. Even after that, I still wore his symbol. I still fought his war. The war against death itself.
„
~ Venom describes how Peter Parker/Spider-Man rejected him and his experience/time with him during the Black Suit Arc.
“
That's why I came to Eddie. He thought he was bad inside. He was dying - poisoned by shame and self hate. Not by cancer. I made that up to make him stay. I know that was bad, a bad thing. But I heard him that night. I had a responsibility to save his life. That is why I chose to bond with him. That was why... wasn't it? Eddie needed me. We needed each other. And if that meant declaring a new war, a war on the holy saint peter, Eddie's life would still be saved. That's all I wanted. To do a good thing. I didn't want to kill Peter and devour his brain tissue. I'm certain of that.
„
~ Venom describes his third and most compatible host, Eddie and how they sought revenge on Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Also how he made up Cancer during the Anti-Venom arc to make him stay, which he heavily regrets.
“
But it all got so complicated. There were many hosts after that. Anne was first. I helped her kill, and it killed her... there was Angelo Fortunato, who wanted to be a soldier for the Mafia.. Mac Gargan, a soldier in a war on heroes... Flash Thompson, who taught me what a soldier could be.. who fought in the wars of the space-knights with me. Lee Price, another soldier who i destroyed. As I destroyed Flash, and Mac, and Angelo, and Anne, and Eddie... and Dylan? Have I destroyed Dylan yet?
„
~ Venom describes his various on and off hosts, including Mac Gargan, the late Anne Weying, Lee Price, and Flash Thompson.
“
Bounty? Someone's taken a bounty out on... us?
„
~ Venom
Trivia[]
Venom's favourite food used to be human brains. Eddie's secret love for chocolate, however, overtook it, making chocolate of all things to become Venom's favourite food. (Some comics show that Venom has a craving for Tater Tots, Hash Browns, and food from McDonald's. It is unsure whether this is canon or not.)
This later explained due to both containing an abundance of a certain chemical (most likely phenethylamine) that symbiotes in general need to stay sane and healthy. Not surprisingly, upon finding that chocolate contains same substances, Venom chose it as the better alternative for sustenance thus terminating the need to kill people just for that purpose.
While uncommon, there are a few incarnations of Venom that lack any redeeming qualities that he would traditionally have, most egregiously Spider-Man: Reign's iteration of the character, single-handedly transforming New York into a fascist state and creating the WEBB system to deliver a concentrated symbiote attack on the city; all while blaming Spider-Man entirely for bringing him (as a symbiote) to Earth and then abandoning him, completely failing to realize the reasons why Spider-Man had abandoned the symbiote (it had taken him on web-slinging joyrides while he slept, and parasitically kept forcing him to fuse with it).
Similarly, Sam Raimi's incarnation of the character was portrayed as malicious being from start, choosing to rather stay evil despite Peter's pleads through his host Eddie. The reason for this was because Sam Raimi is forced to integrate the character into the third installment of his Spider-Man film, resulting in his version of Venom became poorly developed and condemned by fans.
Despite being Spidey's third archenemy, Venom's popularity integrated him as the mascot antagonist of the Spider-Man franchise in other media, appearing far more than the likes of Doc Ock and Green Goblin.
Venom being Spider-Man's third arch-nemesis is often referenced in the majority of the media. For example, he first played a major role in Spider-Man#300, being the villain of the third movie and will serve as the main antagonist of the third season of Spider-Man (2017), with it being appropriately titled Marvel's Spider-Man: Maximum Venom. Although in the comics Venom is now an anti-hero and got his own series, supporting cast, and rogues gallery with Carnage becoming his arch-enemy now.
Venom fought Bane of DC Comics in Rooster Teeth's DEATH BATTLE and won. Venom would later fight Crona from Soul Eater as well, although he would lose this fight.
Interestingly for the first case, Venom's 2018 actor, Tom Hardy, also portrayed Bane in The Dark Knight movie franchise.