| Venom | |
|---|---|
The Venom Symbiote, appearing before Spider-Man |
|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | As the "alien costume": The Amazing Spider-Man #252 (May 1984) Symbiote origin story: Secret Wars #8 (December 1984) As Venom: The Amazing Spider-Man #299 (April 1988) |
| Created by | Randy Schueller (original idea) David Michelinie Mike Zeck (alien costume design) Todd McFarlane (Venom's appearance) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Peter Parker Eddie Brock Ann Weying Patricia Robertson Angelo Fortunato Mac Gargan Flash Thompson |
| Species | Symbiote |
| Notable aliases | Spider-Man, The Black Suit, Alien Costume |
| Abilities | Grants the host all the powers of its first known host, Spider-Man. Greatly enhances physical attributes of its current host. Superhuman strength, ability to change form, and ability of the Symbiote to fight and defend itself when either the host or it is in danger. Limited shapeshifting, undetectable by Spider-Man's "spider-sense". It can also turn its host invisible through camouflage |
Venom, or the Venom Symbiote, is a fictional extraterrestrial life form appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, specifically those featuring Spider-Man. The creature is a sentient alien Symbiote, with a gooey, almost liquid-like form. It requires a host, usually human, to bond with for its survival. In return the Venom creature gives its host enhanced powers. When the Venom Symbiote bonds with a human, that new dual-life form itself is also often called Venom. The Symbiote's first known host was Spider-Man, who eventually separated himself from the creature when he discovered it was a life form attempting to permanently bond itself to him. The Symbiote went on to merge with other hosts and so began its reign as the villain known as Venom. Its second host, Eddie Brock, after bonding with the Symbiote to become the first Venom, is one of Spider-Man's archenemies.[1]
Comics journalist and historian Mike Conroy writes of the character: "What started out as a replacement costume for Spider-Man turned into one of the Marvel web-slinger's greatest nightmares."[2][3] Venom was ranked as the 22nd Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time in IGN's list of the top 100 comic villains,[4] and 33rd on Empire's 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters.[5]
Contents |
Spider-Man first encountered the Venom Symbiote in Secret Wars #8, in which he unwittingly merged with it.[6] After Spider-Man rejected it, the Symbiote merged with Eddie Brock, its most well-known host, in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (May 1988). Its next host was Mac Gargan, the villain formerly known as Scorpion.
Originally, the Symbiote was portrayed as a mute and lonely creature craving the company of a host. More recently, it has been shown as increasingly abusive of its hosts, and having the power of speech. The Venom Symbiote has no known name, as "Venom" is essentially the moniker it has adopted since its history with Spider-Man on Earth. According to S.H.I.E.L.D., it is considered one of the greatest threats to humanity, alongside Magneto, Doctor Doom, and Red Skull.[7]
The idea of a new costume for Spider-Man that would later become the alien Symbiote Venom was thought of by a Marvel Comics reader from Norridge, Illinois named Randy Schueller.[8] Marvel bought the idea for $220.00 after the then editor in chief, Jim Shooter, sent Schueller a letter acknowledging Marvel's desire to purchase the idea from him. Schueller's design was then modified by Mike Zeck, becoming the Symbiote costume.[9] David Michelinie would later write the backstory of Eddie Brock as the alien's new host that became the popular villain Venom.
The creature that would become Venom was born to a race of extraterrestrial parasites, which lived by possessing the bodies of other life-forms. The parasites would endow their victims with enhanced physical abilities, at the cost of fatally draining them of adrenaline.
According to the Planet of the Symbiotes storyline, the Venom Symbiote was deemed insane by its own race after it was discovered that it desired to commit to its host rather than use it up. The Symbiote was then imprisoned on Battleworld to ensure it didn't pollute the species' gene pool.
In Secret Wars #8 (December 1984), Spider-Man damages his costume in combat on Battleworld and is directed to a facility which can provide a new one to him. Before having the chance to recover a new suit, Spider-Man stumbles into the prison module the Symbiote has been trapped in. He then activates the machine which releases the Symbiote in the form of a black liquid. Spider-Man's "spider-sense" initially tingles, and then stops upon Spider-Man's first contact with the liquid; it covers his body and, reacting to Spider-Man's thoughts about the costume worn by the second Spider-Woman, forms a new costume and symbol. To Spider-Man's surprise, the costume can mimic street clothes and provides a seemingly inexhaustible and stronger supply of webbing.[10]
Once back on Earth, Spider-Man enjoys the costume's convenience and style until he starts becoming lethargic and witnesses its eerie ability to move on its own. After having a nightmare, involving a power struggle between the monstrous costume and his original costume, Pete finally decides to have the black costume analyzed by Reed Richards. He then learns the costume is a sentient alien Symbiote that wishes to fuse permanently with him and often controls his body while he sleeps resulting in his lethargy. With the aid of Mister Fantastic and the Human Torch, Spider-Man discovers the Symbiote is vulnerable to sound and flame, and he uses sonic waves to remove it and flames to scare it into a containment module.[11] The Symbiote escapes[12] and finds its way to Peter Parker's closet and disguises itself as a spare red and blue costume. It then attempts to forcibly bond itself to Spider-Man and prevents him from physically removing it or seeking Mr. Fantastic. In a desperate attempt to rid himself of the symbiote Spider-Man crashes himself into a church belltower. As the bells ring to sound the hour, Spider-Man fights through willpower to reject the Symbiote, leaving both the alien and Spider-Man weakened. In an act of sympathy, the Symbiote, uses its remaining strength to carry an unconscious Spider-Man to safety from the bells before it slithers away.[13] Spider-Man believed the Symbiote to be dead, yet alternately began wearing a home-made version of the black suit in conjunction with his original. Spider-Man's rejection of the Symbiote would later leave it extremely bitter toward Spider-Man, a trait it would share with its future hosts, although when tempted, the symbiote tried to re-bond with him.
The first and most famous Venom, Eddie Brock, is a reporter for the Daily Globe before it comes to light that he has fabricated a story revealing the identity of the Sin-Eater. Shortly after the story was published, Spider-Man catches the real Sin-Eater, disgracing Brock as a news reporter and costing him his job and then his wife. Now writing for cheap gossip magazines, Brock centers his frustration on utter loathing of Spider-Man, which only escalates when it is revealed that Brock has cancer. In response to this news, Brock begins working out, bringing his body to levels of amazing athletic performance.[14] Still unable to cope with his misfortune, Brock contemplates suicide and goes to a church to pray for forgiveness. Meanwhile, the Symbiote, having recovered and needing another human host in order to survive, finds itself psychically attracted to Brock for both his increased adrenaline and mutual hatred for Spider-Man.
In The Amazing Spider-Man #298, they formed into the first version of the dark, villainous creature known as Venom. Venom first appeared at the end of issue #299, which led into the first Venom story in issue #300. The name Venom originally applied to Brock, rather than the Symbiote—which Brock refers to as his "Other". Over the years, as the Symbiote gained more intelligence and moved to additional human hosts, the name began to apply to the Symbiote as well as its hosts. As Venom, Brock fights Spider-Man many times, winning on several occasions. Venom repeatedly tries to kill Peter Parker/Spider-Man—both when the latter was in and out of costume. Thus Parker is forced to abandon his "black costume," which the Symbiote had been mimicking, after Venom confronts Parker's wife Mary Jane.[15]
Even incarceration in The Vault, a prison for super villains, doesn't stop Venom from escaping to torment Spider-Man and his family.[16][17] The Symbiote is finally rendered comatose after being subdued by Styx's plague virus, and Eddie Brock is subsequently placed in Ryker's Island Prison.[18] When the Symbiote recovers and returns to free Brock, it leaves a spawn to bond with Brock's psychotic serial-killer cellmate Cletus Kasady, the beginning of Carnage.[19] Meanwhile, Venom and Spider-Man fight on a deserted island, and Spider-Man strands Venom there after faking his own death.[20] Soon after, however, Spider-Man brings Venom back to New York in order to stop Carnage's killing spree.[21] After being incarcerated once again, Venom is used to create five new Symbiotes, which are all paired with human hosts.[22]
As well as helping Eddie Brock to seek continued revenge against Spider-Man, the Symbiote also aids Brock in a sporadic career as a vigilante. He and the Symbiote occasionally share a desire to protect innocent people from harm, even if it means working side-by-side with the hated Spider-Man. This is especially true when Venom combats the entity he believes to be his spawn, Carnage. When Spider-Man helps Venom save Brock's ex-wife Ann Weying, the two make a temporary truce, though this falls apart after Weying's suicide.[23][24]
The symbiote is temporarily stolen by U.S. Senator Steward Ward—who hopes to better understand his own alien infection by researching the symbiote—before it returns to Brock.[25] Now, however, it dominates its host, Brock, rather than vice versa.[26] Eventually, Eddie Brock and the Symbiote go their separate ways as the Symbiote grows tired of having a diseased host and Eddie rejects its growing bloodlust, leading him to sell the Symbiote at a super villain auction.
The Venom Symbiote approached MacDonald "Mac" Gargan, formerly known as Scorpion,[27] and offered him new abilities. Gargan bonded with the creature, which would later give him an extra edge as part of Norman Osborn's Sinister Twelve.[28] Even with these additional powers he was still swiftly defeated by Spider-Man (Spider Man later notes this is because Mac Gargan does not hate Spider Man as much as Eddie Brock had), as the Avengers dealt with the rest of the Twelve.[29] Gargan later became a member of a sub-group of the Thunderbolts,[30] which was drafted[31] by the Avengers to hunt down the members of the fugitive Secret Avengers. It was then revealed that he had been outfitted with electrical implants by the government to keep the Symbiote in check.[32] When in the Venom persona, Gargan retained very little of his original personality and was controlled almost completely by the Symbiote, which drove him to cannibalism. When the Symbiote was dormant in his body, he expressed nausea and fear of the organism.[33] During a fight with "Anti-Venom" (Eddie Brock), he and his Symbiote were separated, and the Venom Symbiote was nearly destroyed. Blobs of it still existed in his bloodstream, however, so Osborn injected Gargan with a vaccine for Anti-Venom's healing powers, which restored the Symbiote by causing the remaining pieces of it to expand rapidly. Gargan dons a Scorpion battle armor over the Symbiote while it heals, causing him to become what Spider-Man calls "Ven-orpion" although when the Symbiote is fully restored it shatters the armor.
After ingesting a chemical given to him by Norman Osborn, Venom transforms into a more human appearance similar to the Black-Suited Spider-Man. Osborn introduces him as The Amazing Spider-Man, a member of the Dark Avengers, while unveiling the team.[34] After the Siege of Asgard, Gargan and most of the Dark Avengers were taken into custody. While being held on the Raft, the Venom Symbiote was forcefully removed from him, ending his career as Venom.[35]
On December 9, 2010, Marvel Comics announced a new "black ops" Venom owned by the government. The new Venom will be featured in a new series called Venom in March 2011. The birth of the new Venom can be seen in The Amazing Spider-Man #654.1 in February 2011.[36] On January 28, 2011, the identity of "black ops" Venom was revealed to be Flash Thompson.[37][38] Flash is hired by the government to be a special agent wearing the Venom symbiote. Flash is only allowed to wear the suit for up to 48 hours, or risk a permanent bonding with the symbiote. The Government is also equipped with a "kill switch" designed to take Flash out if he loses control. Along with the alien, Flash is equipped with a "Multi-Gun" designed to change into any type of gun Flash needs. Flash has battled Jack-o-Lantern, fought to stop Anti-Vibranium, and fought Kraven the Hunter in the Savage Land.[39]
In the 2011 "Spider-Island" storyline, Venom goes to war with Anti-Venom, Spider-King, The Queen and Hijacker. Flash also deals with the death of his father from liver failure.[40]
Ann Weying first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #375. She is Eddie Brock's ex-wife, a successful lawyer. In Ann Weying's first appearance, she is a brunette with glasses. In later appearances, she loses the glasses and goes blond. Weying assists Spider-Man by sharing some of Eddie's history with him. Later, she follows Spider-Man to the amusement park where Venom had Peter's (fake) parents. She confronts her insane ex-husband, and manages to convince Eddie to give up his vendetta. Later, Sin-Eater shoots Ann as part of a crusade against social injustice. Ann becomes She-Venom when the Venom Symbiote temporarily bonds with her to save her life.
She-Venom then lashes out against the men who had hurt her with such violence that Eddie became afraid for her (and of her) and compels the Symbiote back to him. Ann retched upon seeing the pile of bodies she had left behind. She screamed, "That thing made me do that!" Eddie replied, "It can't make you do anything you don't really want to do." Later the police incarcerate Ann on a false charge (unrelated to Ann's rampage above) in order to trap Venom. Ann uses her one phone call to warn Eddie and make him promise not to come. He promises that Eddie Brock wouldn't come to save her and instead sent his Other (the Symbiote) through the phone lines to her. After it bonds with her, she is able to escape custody.
Sometime later, Ann spots Spider-Man web slinging in an older black costume at a time when his regular red and blue suit had been stolen.[41] Ann, still reeling from the experience of bonding with the Symbiote months earlier and unable to deal with the return of Eddie Brock into her life—coupled with Brock's transformation into Venom directly in front of her as he ran off to kill Spider-Man—sent her over the edge, and she leapt from her high rise apartment to her death. Her tombstone is shown a short time later.[42]
In the 2003 Venom series, Patricia Robertson was a communications specialist for the U.S. Army stationed at a radar installation in Canada near the Arctic Circle. She had joined the Army in order to "prove herself", but got more than she bargained for. During a routine supply run to an outpost owned by the Ararat Corporation, she stumbled upon a grisly scene: everyone at the installation was dead except for one lone scientist locked in the freezer. She brought the survivor back to base for medical attention, then people began dying there as well. It was revealed that the Ararat Corporation was run by an alien colony of miniature spider robots that infiltrated the American government. These creatures were partially led by an entity named Bob.
These creatures had cloned Venom in order to fulfill their objective: extermination of the human race. The clone would burn out its hosts' life, unlike the real Venom (traits which seem to be a throwback to the invading Symbiotes seen in Planet of the Symbiotes). Bob had the clone released and it caused the slaughter of the outpost.
The Venom clone hitched a ride on the survivor back to base, despite the best efforts of Robertson and her new ally. The mysterious Suit was made of the same robots as Bob, which was revealed to have been unwittingly brought to Earth by Reed Richards and made into a special agent by Nick Fury. It is unclear if the Suit's loyalties lie with Nick Fury or Bob, if either. Meanwhile, the genetically altered Symbiote killed all of Patricia's friends and coworkers. While Robertson was unconscious, the Suit cybernetically altered her, shaving her head, attaching a metal pipe in it, and placing a control collar on her so that in case the Symbiote clone bonded with her, she could control it. Meanwhile, Ararat Co. and the spider-robots nuked Voici, Canada leaving the Symbiote with few options. After the Suit sabotaged its Symbiote's favored host, Wolverine, it was forced to jump to the last surviving potential host, Robertson.
One of Bob’s agents, disguised as the Suit, told Robertson that she had to kill the real Venom or the Symbiotes would destroy all of humanity. Attempting to get to Venom, she freed him from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. Their first fight was broken up by the real Suit, and the electrocuted Venom retreated. The Suit chided Robertson for coming to New York because there were many people in the city and all of the population could be in danger if the Symbiote clone jumped hosts.
Meanwhile, Bob remotely deactivated Patricia's control collar so that nothing restrained the Symbiote but Patricia's willpower. Robertson continued trying to kill Venom, beating up Spider-Man when he got in the way. She was captured by the Fantastic Four, who used her as bait to lure Venom into a trap. Unfortunately, Spider-Man’s interference and the strength and craftiness of Venom caused the trap to fail. Fighting again, Venom absorbed Robertson’s Symbiote clone, as Bob hoped, and increased in size and decided to carry out the Ararat Corporation's goals. Patricia's fate is uncertain, and the entire plot has gone unresolved.
Angelo Fortunato was a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain, being the second to take on the mantle of Venom. He first appeared in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #7 and was killed an issue later. With the exception of Spider-Man himself, he is the only wearer of the Venom Symbiote to not have a protruding tongue.
Angelo was the youngest son of Don Fortunato, a prominent Mafia capo of New York's criminal underworld. Due to his frail physique and shy attitude, Angelo was frequently bullied and humiliated by his father. Tiring of his son's weakness, the Don attended a supervillain auction, where he purchased the Venom Symbiote from Eddie Brock for $100 million. Though Eddie warned of the dangers inherent in the Symbiote, the boy answered that he had nothing to lose as his life had been one of non-stop ridicule.
Once bonded with the Symbiote, Angelo discovered the secret identity of Spider-Man, whom he planned to destroy to prove himself worthy to his father. Angelo attacked Peter Parker during a high school reunion, injuring many bystanders in the process. They engaged in a ferocious battle which brought them out into the streets of New York. Learning how to use the Symbiote's mimetic abilities faster than anticipated, Angelo took the advantage in the fight. However, when Angelo killed an innocent civilian he mistook for Spider-Man, the superhero stopped holding back and beat Angelo into submission.
Angelo attempted to escape, all the while with the Symbiote berating him for his cowardice. Irritated by the boy's lack of resolve, the Symbiote ruthlessly abandoned Angelo in mid-leap, letting him fall. Spider-Man attempted to save him, only to find out he had run out of web fluid. Angelo was killed by the subsequent fall.
During the siege of Asgard, Spider-Man fought Mac Gargan in the streets of Broxton, Oklahoma. Ms. Marvel came to help Spidey and ripped Gargan out of the Symbiote. The Symbiote proceeded to take control of Carol Danvers until Spidey was able to feed her enough power to break free of the Symbiote.
In Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #2, it was revealed that, shortly after Spider-Man initially removed the Venom Symbiote, it escaped and attempted to bond with Franklin Richards. In that course, it bonded temporarily with Reed Richards, Susan Richards, and She-Hulk. It eventually bonded with Franklin, but with Spider-Man's help, the Fantastic Four was able to separate the Symbiote from Franklin.
Edwards Saks is Mayor Waters assistant in Spider-Man Reign. It is revealed that he is Venom towards the end of the story by J. Jonah Jameson. It is also revealed that he is the master mind behind the WEBB system allowing him to summon a symbiotic army. He replicated his symbiote a hundred times and strives to have his final revenge on Spider-Man for abandoning him years ago. He mentions a person named Eddie, mostly likely Eddie Brock. It is unknown whether he and Brock are one and the same. He is also probably the reason why the city had all its bells removed.
Though it requires a living host in order to survive, the Venom Symbiote has been shown on some occasions to be able to fend for itself with its own set of unique powers. The Symbiote, even without a host, has shown shapeshifting abilities like forming spikes and expanding its size.[43] It also contains a small "dimensional aperture," allowing its hosts to carry items without adding mass to the costume, and is able to transform to mimic any human.
The Symbiote is telepathic and does not require physical contact to influence the minds of others. In Planet Of the Symbiotes, the creature, after being rejected by its host, emits a psychic scream which drives nearby humans to states of extreme depression. Later, with the assistance of Eddie Brock, it emits an even more powerful variant of that power which results in the mass suicide of an invasive force of Symbiotes. The Symbiote can also blend with any background, using an optic-camouflage type of effect, and shapeshift to resemble ordinary clothing. Venom is immune to the Penance Stare, an ability used by Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze and Daniel Ketch. The Symbiote also augments the strength of its hosts. The Symbiote's level of super-strength tends to vary, ranging from only being slightly stronger than Spider-Man to being able to trade punches with the Juggernaut. The symbiote, however, is vulnerable to sound and heat—which can therefore be painful to its host as well. Venom can sense and track any offspring symbiote except Carnage, who somehow managed to learn how to block this ability during his debut story arc.[44]
The Symbiote originally rejected its species' habit of consuming its hosts, but in some interpretations it still required certain chemicals (human adrenaline) in order to survive. When starved of these chemicals, the Symbiote developed a mutable exoskeleton, allowing it to form its own solid body which it used to hunt and kill prey without the assistance of a host. However, because of Brock's, and later Gargan's, influence on its personality the Symbiote has developed a taste for blood, which both its hosts were forced to sate by physically devouring their victims. Later, the suit's evolution progressed and as shown in the 2003 Venom comic book series, its clone could spontaneously jump from host to host and after every departure said hosts would be left dead.
Because of its contact with Spider-Man, the Symbiote grants all of its subsequent hosts the hero's powers and cannot be detected by his spider-sense. As Spider-Man's fighting style is partly dependent on his spider-sense, his effectiveness was somewhat hampered when he battled Eddie Brock, allowing the less experienced/slower Brock to keep up with him.
Some interpretations of the Venom Symbiote has been shown to have the ability to replicate itself. This ability is shown in Spider-Man: Reign, when Venom recreates his own Symbiote to combat his loneliness. This ability is also used by Venom in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, when Venom discovers the ability to copy his Symbiote and uses it to take over Manhattan. Such an ability has not been demonstrated in the main 616 universe.
As a fictional character, Venom has appeared in a number of media, from comic books to films and television series. Each version of the work typically establishes its own continuity, and sometimes introduces parallel universes, to the point where distinct differences in the portrayal of the character can be identified. This article details various versions of Venom depicted in works including Marvel Comics' Ultimate universe and What If issues.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
