Venom (character)
Venom is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a sentient alien symbiote with an amorphous, liquid-like form, who survives by bonding with a host, usually human. This dual-life form receives enhanced powers and usually refers to itself as "Venom". The symbiote was originally introduced as a living alien costume in The Amazing Spider-Man #252 (May 1984), with a full first appearance as Venom in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (May 1988).
For other characters of the same name, see Venom (disambiguation).Venom
- As "The Alien Costume":
- The Amazing Spider-Man #252 (May 1984)
- As Venom:
- Cameo appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man #299 (April 1988)
- Full appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (May 1988)
- "The Alien Costume":
- Randy Schueller
- Roger Stern
- Tom DeFalco
- Mike Zeck
- Rick Leonardi
- Ron Frenz
- Venom:
- David Michelinie
- Todd McFarlane
Various hosts
- Sinister Six
- Dark Avengers
- Project Rebirth
- Thunderbolts
- Secret Avengers
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- New Warriors
- S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Agents of Cosmos
- Venom-Army
- X-Men Blue[1]
- Symbiote Imperium
- Kree Empire
- Savage Avengers
Spider-Man, The Black Suit, Alien Costume, The Other, She-Venom, The Sinister Spider-Man, Agent Venom, Superior Venom, Venom Spaceknight, The Spider's Black Spirit, Svartalfvenom
- All powers of the symbiote's first human host, Spider-Man
- Limited shapeshifting and camouflage
- Symbiote's autonomous defense capabilities
- Undetectable by Spider-Man's "Spider-sense"
The Venom symbiote's first human host was Spider-Man himself, who eventually discovered its true nefarious nature and separated himself from the creature in The Amazing Spider-Man #258 (November 1984)[2]—with a brief rejoining five months later in Web of Spider-Man #1.[3] The symbiote went on to merge with other hosts, beginning with Eddie Brock, its second and best-known host, with whom it first became Venom. Venom has endured as one of Spider-Man's most prominent villains, and was initially regarded as one of his three archenemies, alongside the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. Since his debut however, Venom has evolved into an antiheroic figure, slowly distancing himself from his initial goal to ruin Spider-Man's life to try and do good instead, even putting aside his differences with and helping Spider-Man at times. After Brock, numerous other hosts for Venom followed; some of the most notable are the villain Mac Gargan, who was the main incarnation of Venom from 2005 to 2009, and Flash Thompson, who became the superhero Agent Venom from 2011 to 2016, before Venom returned to Brock in 2017. Venom's most recent and current host is Brock's biological son, Dylan. Venom is also depicted as having spawned several children—Scream, Lasher, Phage, Agony, Riot, Mania, Sleeper, and most notably, Carnage, who becomes Venom's archenemy after being bound to serial killer Cletus Kasady.
A fan-favorite character and well-known figure in popular culture, Venom (primarily the Eddie Brock incarnation) is the most recognizable Spider-Man antagonist not first introduced during the original Lee/Ditko run. He has been featured in various media adaptations of Spider-Man over the years, including feature films, television series and video games. The character was portrayed by Tobey Maguire and Topher Grace in Spider-Man 3 (2007), with Tom Hardy primarily portraying the character in the Sony's Spider-Man Universe films Venom (2018) and Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), as well as an uncredited post-credit scene appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).
The Eddie Brock incarnation of Venom is among Spider-Man's most famous rogues, and is regarded by many as a dark reflection of the hero. 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".[4] Venom was rated 33rd on Empire's 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters,[5] and ranked 22nd on IGN's 100 Greatest Comic Villains of All Time.[6]
Conception and creation
The original idea of a new costume for Spider-Man that would later become the character Venom was conceived by a Marvel Comics reader from Norridge, Illinois named Randy Schueller.[7] In 1982, Jim Shooter, Marvel's editor-in-chief at the time, sent Schueller a letter acknowledging Marvel's interest in the idea, which they ended up purchasing from him for $220.[8] Shooter came up with the idea of switching Spider-Man to a black-and-white costume, possibly influenced by the intended costume design for the new Spider-Woman. Artists Mike Zeck and Rick Leonardi designed the black costume.[9][10][11]
Writer/artist John Byrne says on his website that he conceived a costume of self-healing biological material when he was the artist on Iron Fist — to explain how that character's costume was constantly being torn and then apparently repaired by the next issue. Byrne says explaining that he ended up not using the idea on that title, but that Roger Stern later asked him if he could use the idea for Spider-Man's alien costume. Stern in turn plotted the issue in which the costume first appeared but then left the title. It was writer Tom DeFalco and artist Ron Frenz who established that the costume was a sentient alien being that was vulnerable to high sonic energy during their run on The Amazing Spider-Man that preceded David Michelinie's.[12]
With the nature of the symbiote established Michelinie felt it could serve a character concept he had been toying with for some time. When Michelinie first began working on Spider-Man stories he noted that the most unique ability Spider-Man possessed as a superhero was his spider sense, which Michelinie claimed gave the character a level of invulnerability on par or better than much stronger Marvel superheroes. While other Spider-Man antagonists such as The Green Goblin and Mysterio had been able to temporarily disable Spider-Man's spider sense through chemical means, Michelinie was fascinated by the idea of a villain who could permanently evade Spider-Man's spider sense and what kind of consequences that would have on both Spider-Man as a superhero and Peter Parker's personal life. After initially coming up with characters who were able to evade Spider-Man's spider sense through cybernetic means that were rejected by Marvel editors, Michelinie posited that the symbiote would make a human host be able to evade Spider-Man's spider sense through it being mutated by absorbing Spider-Man's genetic material when Spider-Man was its host. This idea was approved by Marvel editors and Michelinie was given the green light to further refine the character.[13]
The symbiote was first introduced as Spider-Man's new black costume in The Amazing Spider-Man #252 (May 1984) as part of a story called "Homecoming!" The story takes place after Spider-Man's return from the events of the miniseries Secret Wars, where he first obtains the black costume. The full first appearance of Venom is in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (May 1988), after the symbiote bonds with Eddie Brock.
[14]
Powers and abilities
Though it requires a living host to survive, the Venom symbiote is adept at fending for itself independent of a host. The symbiote is capable of shapeshifting abilities, including the ability to form spikes or expand its size,[94] as well as mimic the appearance of other humanoids after it has obtained a host. The organism can additionally use its shape-shifting abilities to conceal itself by altering its coloration or by becoming completely invisible. It also contains a small "dimensional aperture", allowing its hosts to carry items without adding mass to the costume. The symbiote also exhibits telepathic abilities, primarily when it needs to communicate with its host, possibly also technopathy as it is able to summon a flying device to help it escape from the Baxter Building.[95]
Because of its contact with Spider-Man, the symbiote grants all of its subsequent hosts that 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. Retaining its memory from the time it was bonded with Spider-Man, Venom is also capable of producing webbing similar to Spider-Man's variety created from its biomass.[24]
The symbiote greatly enhances the physical strength of those it bonds with. Its hosts experience a vastly larger size and musculature. The symbiote displays non-human teeth, which are very sharp, and commonly protrude a long, prehensile tongue from its mouth. Venom is depicted as being physically much bigger than Spider-Man, as well as having more brute strength.
Venom exhibits some immunities to the supernatural powers of others such as the Penance Stare of Ghost Rider or Spider-Man's extrasensory spider-sense.
Some incarnations of the Venom symbiote have shown it able to replicate itself. This ability is shown in the 2005–2006 miniseries Spider-Man: Reign when Venom recreates his symbiote to combat his loneliness.
The Venom symbiote is vulnerable to fire and sonic waves, causing it great pain and exhaustion if it sustains enough exposure. It can sense and track all of its offspring symbiotes except Carnage, who learned how to block this ability shortly after bonding with Cletus Kasady and confronting Venom/Eddie Brock for the first time.[32]
The Venom symbiote is shown to form giant web-like dragon wings when it was in contact with Knull.
Mayhem
Amazing Spider-Girl #20 (July 2008)
April Parker
Symbiote/Human clone hybrid
Earth-982
Spider-Girl, May Parker, Brand New May
Alien symbiote grants:
- All powers of the predecessor's first human host, Spider-Man
- Limited shapeshifting and camouflage
- Symbiote's autonomous defense capabilities
- Undetectable by Spider-Man and Spider-Girl's "Spider-sense"
Other versions
Prime Earth (Earth-616)
Earth-616 is the mainstream Marvel Comics continuity. While the Venom symbiote has had numerous hosts in this reality, there have also been several alternate versions of the character, who are not the same as the original symbiote.