Leslie Gesneria (comics)

Leslie Gesneria

Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Venom: Lethal Protector #4
Created by David Michelinie
Ron Lim
In-story information
Abilities Superhuman strength, speed, agility and endurance
Symbiote allows all of Spider-Man's powers
Symbiote can be used to attack and can form bladed weapons, Acid Spit

Leslie Gesneria is a fictional character and a supervillain from the Spider-Man comic books. She is the host to one of six symbiote spawns of Venom. Her symbiote is predominantly purple.

Contents

Fictional character biography

Leslie Gesneria was a mercenary who worked for a sinister corporation called the "Life Foundation", who was preparing for the M.A.D. nuclear fallout of the Cold War and sought to provide a comfortable underground life for their wealthy clients after the impending nuclear holocaust. The Life Foundation was experimenting with the Venom symbiote in the hopes of developing superhuman peacekeepers to watch over their imagined fallout shelter utopia. Leslie was one of two women who were chosen as hosts for Venom's forcibly-extracted symbiote spawn. She is defeated by Venom and Spider-Man in the storyline Venom: Lethal Protector. Her symbiote is artificially aged to dust and her body is presumed destroyed in a massive explosion that destroys the Life Foundation's main headquarters.

The symbiote was revealed to have survived in the mini-series Venom: Separation Anxiety. Leslie mentions that she had wanted to be a hero, but like the other hosts of Life Foundation symbiotes was having trouble in controlling her symbiote. This lack of control over the alien bonded to her kept resulting in violence. Leslie and the others break Eddie Brock, Venom's secret identity, out of prison and kidnap him in order to make him teach them how to control their symbiotes. Leslie shows remorse and regret for her actions, just before she is murdered by her "sister" Scream, using a sonic knife.

After Leslie is killed, what is left of her symbiote merges with its siblings (except Carnage and Scream) and bonds with a man named Scott Washington to form a new antihero called Hybrid.

Powers and abilities

Leslie possesses all the powers the original Venom has, including suit-generated webbing, shape-shifting, superstrength and the ability to be undetected by Spider-Man's "spider-sense". Leslie Gesneria can also use her metabolism to spit acid, and can absorb chemicals (such as Spider-Man's webbing).

In other media

Leslie is one of the six symbiote bosses in the video game Spider-Man & Venom: Separation Anxiety. She is encountered late in the game, and attacks mainly by extending her arms and spinning around.

Relatives