Spider-Man (Peter Parker)

The Venom symbiote bonds to Spider-Man in Secret Wars #8. Art by Mike Zeck.

The story of how Spider-Man gets his new black costume is recounted in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8 (December 1984), in which writer Jim Shooter and artist Mike Zeck depicted the heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe transported to another planet called Battleworld by a being called the Beyonder. After Spider-Man's costume is ruined from battles with the villains, he is directed by Thor and the Hulk to a room at the heroes' base where they inform him a machine can read his thoughts and instantly fabricate any type of clothing.^[15] Choosing a machine he believes to be the correct one, Spider-Man causes a black sphere to appear before him, which spreads over his body, dissolving the tattered old costume and covering his body to form a new black and white costume. To Spider-Man's surprise, the costume can mimic street clothes and provides a seemingly inexhaustible and stronger supply of webbing.^[16][17]

During their run on The Amazing Spider-Man, writer Tom DeFalco and artist Ron Frenz established that the costume was a sentient alien symbiote that was vulnerable to both fire and high sonic energy. It was in that storyline that the costume would envelop Peter Parker while he slept, and go out at night to fight crime, leaving Parker inexplicably exhausted in the morning. Parker had the costume examined by Reed Richards, who discovered that it was alive, and when Parker realized it was trying to permanently bond to Parker's body, he rejected it, and it was subsequently contained by the Fantastic Four.^[2][18] The symbiote escaped^[19] and bonded again to Parker, who used sound waves from a cathedral's church bell to repel it.^[3] But the symbiote had grown an emotional attachment to Peter, so he willingly left Peter's unconscious body and moved him to safety before disappearing.

In the 2018 "Go Down Swinging" storyline, Norman Osborn is bonded to the Carnage symbiote, and Spider-Man rebonds to the Venom symbiote in an attempt to stop Osborn, now calling himself Red Goblin, while forgiving both Eddie and Venom for the past conflicts. During the ensuing battle, Osborn mortally injures Flash Thompson, but the conflict ends with the two symbiotes detaching from the two human hosts.^[20]

Eddie Brock

David Michelinie would later write the backstory of Eddie Brock as the alien's new host that would become the villain Venom, using the events of Peter David's 1985 "Sin Eater" storyline in The Spectacular Spider-Man as a basis for Brock's origin.^[9] According to artist Ron Frenz, in Michelinie's original plot for Venom's first appearance, he conceived the villain as a large, muscular figure, whose manifestation of the alien costume would include the appearance of a mouth.^[21] In an interview with Tom DeFalco, artist Todd McFarlane also corroborates that Michelinie did indeed come up with the idea of Venom and the description of him as "a big guy in the black costume", while he, McFarlane, devised the villain's monstrous features.^[22] Venom's existence was first indicated in Web of Spider-Man #18 (September 1986), by Michelenie and artist Marc Silvestri, which shows character shoving Peter Parker in front of a subway train without Parker's spider-sense warning him, though only Brock's hand is seen on-panel. The next indication of Venom's existence was in Web of Spider-Man #24 (March 1987), by Michelinie and Del Barras. In that issue, when Parker climbs out of a high story window to change into Spider-Man, but finds a black arm coming through the window and grabbing him, again without being warned by his spider-sense. Michelinie took over as write on The Amazing Spider-Man. He was subsequently joined on that book by artist Todd McFarlane with issue 298 (March 1988), in which Venom appears in shadow. Venom made his cameo appearance on the last page of The Amazing Spider-Man #299 (April 1988), in which he terrorizes Parker's wife, Mary Jane Watson.^[23] Michelinie's script for that page reads as follows:^[21]

But as she enters the apartment and turns on the lamp next to the sofa, she starts as she looks over to a still-shadowy corner where she sees the white spider and eye-shapes from Spidey's costume. Thinking that Peter is home, she starts to scold him gently–but stops, surprised, as she sees a white smile form beneath the eye-shapes. Not a pretty smile; a scary smile. Like that of a predator sure of a quick kill The form then steps from the shadows and we can see that it is dressed in a Spider-Man costume, but it is definitely not Peter Parker. Besides the feral smile, the man's body is huge, bulky, massively muscled like Arnold Schwarzenegger on a good day. MJ backs up, terrified, as the stranger reaches a hand out towards her, his lopsided animal smile stretcaing to the point where it almost connects behind his head, a totally inhuman gesture. Then, at last, he speaks "Hi, honey… I'm home!'"^[21]

The villain then made his first full-issue appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (May 1988).^[23] in which he is confronted by Spider-Man, and reveals that he was a Daily Globe reporter named Eddie Brock, who worked on the Sin-Eater case, and that his career was ruined when it was discovered that the man Brock announced as the Sin-Eater was a compulsive confessor. Forced to eke out a living writing lurid stories for venomous tabloids, Brock blamed Spider-Man for his predicament. He took up bodybuilding to reduce stress. It failed to do so, and Brock sank into a suicidal depression. Seeking solace at the church where Spider-Man repelled the symbiote, the symbiote—sensing Brock's hatred for Spider-Man—bonded with the disgraced reporter. Brock took on the name Venom in reference to the sensationalistic material he was forced to traffic in following his fall from grace.^[24][25]

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.^[26]

Venom escapes from the supervillain prison, The Vault, to torment Spider-Man and his family.^[27][28] 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.^[29] When the symbiote recovers and returns to free Brock, it leaves a spawn to bond with Brock's psychotic serial-killer cellmate Cletus Kasady, who becomes Carnage.^[30] Meanwhile, Venom and Spider-Man fight on a deserted island, and Spider-Man strands Venom there after faking his own death.^[31] Soon after, however, Spider-Man brings Venom back to New York City to stop Carnage's killing spree.^[32] After being incarcerated once again, Venom is used to create five new symbiotes, which are all paired with human hosts.^[33]

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 Anne Weying, the two form a temporary truce, though this falls apart after Weying's suicide.^[34][35]

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.^[36] Now, however, it dominates its host, Brock, rather than vice versa.^[37] 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 creature that would become Venom was born in the 998th generation^[38] to a race of extraterrestrial symbiotes, 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 1995 "Planet of the symbiotes" storyline, the Venom symbiote, after separated from its first host, 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 did not pollute the species' gene pool.

The symbiote bonds with its new host, Lee Price, launching volume 3 of the Venom comic book series. The series ran for six issues total (Nov. 2016 – April 2017). Eddie Brock is able to regain the Venom symbiote at the conclusion of the series, returning the Venom comic book title to volume 1 with issue #150.^[39]

Scorpion (Mac Gargan)

The Venom symbiote approached Mac Gargan, the villain formerly known as Scorpion, and offered him new abilities as the second Venom.^[40] Gargan bonded with the creature, which would later give him an extra edge as part of Norman Osborn's Sinister Twelve.^[41] As the Avengers dealt with the rest of the Twelve, Spider-Man swiftly defeated Gargan, even with these additional powers, which Spider-Man suggests is attributed to the fact that Mac Gargan does not hate Spider-Man as much as Eddie Brock did.^[42]

Gargan later became a member of a sub-group of the Thunderbolts,^[43] which was drafted^[44] by the Avengers to hunt down the members of the fugitive New Avengers. It was then revealed that he had been outfitted with electrical implants by the government to keep the symbiote in check.^[45]

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.^[46] 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.^[47] 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 run as Venom.^[48]

Flash Thompson

On December 9, 2010, Marvel Comics announced a new "black ops" Venom owned by the government. This new Venom was 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 in February 2011.^[49] On January 28, 2011, the identity of "black ops" Venom was revealed to be Flash Thompson.^[50][51] Flash is hired by the government to be a special agent wearing the Venom symbiote as part of Project Rebirth. Flash is only allowed to wear the suit for up to 48 hours, or risk a permanent bonding with the symbiote. Along with the alien, Flash is equipped with a "Multi-Gun" designed to change into any type of gun Flash needs. The Government is also equipped with a "kill switch" designed to take Flash out if he loses control. Flash rejects the kill switch and later joins the Secret Avengers,^[52] Thunderbolts,^[53] Guardians of the Galaxy,^[54] and even becomes appointed by the Klyntar a Space Knight.^[55]

Lee Price

Lee Price first appeared in Venom vol. 3 #1. After being separated from Flash Thompson through unspecified means, the Venom symbiote happens upon a black market deal between Black Cat's gang and Tombstone's gang. He resorts to bonding with one of the men present, a discharged Army Ranger named Lee Price who was with Scorpion as part of Black Cat's gang. The weakened symbiote pleads with Price, attempting to convince him to become a hero like Thompson. Price ignores and overpowers it, intent on using it for personal gain as a new, wholly villainous Venom.^[56]

Lee Price makes his way to Black Cat's hideout where Scorpion accuses him of botching the black market sale by causing the shoot-out. After having to keep the Venom symbiote from attacking Black Cat, Lee Price takes his leave from Black Cat's lair as Scorpion gets suspicious towards Lee. His departure is seen by some FBI Agents. Lee Price later gets attacked by Tombstone's minion Firebug. Upon defeating Firebug, an FBI Agent with a bazooka appears telling Lee Price that he is under arrest.^[57]

Lee Price eventually loses the symbiote when Eddie Brock and Spider-Man take him down and he is arrested by the NYPD.^[39]

While incarcerated at the New York Corrections Supermax Facility for Superhuman Incarceration, Lee Price is feared by most of the inmates and he even defeats three inmates in the prison's cafeteria when they try to kill him to boost their reputation. Lee swears to get out, reclaim the Venom symbiote, and plan revenge on those who have wronged him.^[58] Lee Price is later visited by his lawyer who tells him that two of the inmates he defeated had died in the infirmary and that Venom has resurfaced upon it being revealed in the news.^[59] At the courthouse, Lee Price's lawyer stated that Lee's actions as Venom were caused by the Venom symbiote while the opposing lawyer mentions about Venom still being at large. The judge then asked for some evidence to help with the trial. After the trial, Lee Price is released from prison and begins his plans to reclaim the Venom symbiote and take revenge on those who have wronged him.^[60]

In Venom Inc., Lee Price steals the Mania symbiote from Andy and becomes Maniac. He uses the symbiote to infect the crime bosses and become a criminal kingpin, but he is defeated by Spider-Man, Venom, Black Cat and Agent Anti-Venom.^[61]

When Cletus Kasady was collecting the codex left in the bodies of previous hosts, he disguised himself as Eddie and went to jail where he killed Lee after ripping the Maniac symbiote off him, while framing Eddie for the murder.^[62]

Tel-Kar

Tel-Kar first appeared in Venom: First Host #1. During the Kree-Skrull War, the Kree, desiring to replicate the Skrull's shape-shifting abilities, they obtain the newborn Venom, which had been outcast from the other symbiotes, on Gorr's planet where Knull had created the symbiotes.^[63] Tel-Kar is recruited to be bonded to the newborn symbiote to infiltrate the Skrull army. Tel-Kar's body is biologically altered so he can have full control over the symbiote's mind to the point of erasing its memories. He successfully infiltrated the Skrull army discovering various secrets. However he blew his cover up to save some Kree refugees and handed the symbiote to them to return it to Hala. Then Tel-Kar was betrayed by Ronan the Accuser who used a Kree Sentry to capture Tel-Kar and was given to the Skrulls as a war criminal. Separated from Tel-Kar after his capture, the symbiote goes on to be bonded to Spider-Man.^[64][65]

Tel-Kar escapes the Skrulls and wanders through the Galaxy thinking that the War is still going on, until he hears of an agent from Earth called Flash Thompson with a black symbiote suit. Recognizing it as his symbiote, he goes to Earth to find it. Eddie Brock arrives with the symbiote and saves Tel-Kar from the Warbride Skrull M'Lanz, who had followed him. Angered by Venom's refusal to return to him, Tel-Kar threatens to bond to Venom's latest offspring and turn it into a monster. Acceding to Tel-Kar, Venom reunites with him and they go to a Skrull research base to get a Skrull bioweapon. Simultaneously, Eddie is bonded to the offspring calling itself Sleeper and allies with M'Lanz to stop Tel-Kar. During the ensuing battle, Tel-Kar concludes that he does not need Venom anymore and uses an electrified spear to detach himself from it while scarring himself in the process. Later he is betrayed by the Kree Empire while Eddie escapes with Venom and M'Lanz with Sleeper. Tel-Kar, now furious, attempts to release the bioweapon on Earth to kill all humanity, but Sleeper bonds to Tel-Kar and lobotomizes him as punishment for what he did to Venom and Eddie. Sleeper, now with Tel-Kar's body, wishes Eddie farewell and goes on to explore the universe.^[66]

Malekith

During the War of the Realms event, after Venom was separated from Eddie,^[67] the symbiote, in its humanoid form, joined the War Avengers (composed of Captain Marvel, Deadpool, Sif, Winter Soldier, Weapon H, Black Widow, and Captain Britain)^[68] to fight off Malekith's invasion. However, upon fighting Malekith, the Dark Elf with the use of the Ebony Blade, teleported away along with Venom.^[69] Since Malekith was aware of Knull and Gorr's All-Black the Necrosword, he tortured the symbiote and turned it into his own weapon similar to All-Black to use it against the Asgardians.^[70] During the end of the event, Malekith enhanced the symbiote with his dark magic and bonded the symbiote to his various acolytes, turning them into the Spider-Elves. After the Thor Corps arrived, which consisted of Thor, King Thor, Young Odinson and Jane Foster, Malekith using the Venom Blade/Symbio Sword, covered one of Thor's hammers with the symbiote and declared himself the Butcher of Thor. However, he was defeated and the symbiote was ultimately free from Malekith's control.^[71][72]

Other hosts

Aside from the aforementioned hosts, there have been other, shorter term hosts for the Venom symbiote.

Anne Weying

Main article: Anne Weying

Anne Weying as She-Venom. Art by Greg Luzniak.

Anne Weying first appears in The Amazing Spider-Man #375. She is Eddie Brock's ex-wife and a successful lawyer. Weying assists Spider-Man by sharing some of Brock's history. Later, she follows Spider-Man to the amusement park where Venom had Peter's (fake) parents. She confronts Brock and manages to convince him to end his feud. After 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 lashes out against the men who had hurt her, and Brock becomes afraid for her (and of her) and compels the symbiote to return to him. Ann is left distraught at her actions while bonded. Later Ann is arrested on a false charge as part of a trap for Venom. She manages to warn Brock who sends the symbiote to her, allowing her to become She-Venom and escape custody. Some time later, Ann, traumatized by her experiences with Venom and the symbiote, commits suicide after seeing Spider-Man pass by her window in a black costume, believing it is Brock returning for her.^[36]

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.

100th Anniversary Special Spider-Man

In the alternate universe of Earth-TRN421, in the year 2061, after Wilson Fisk killed Eddie Brock in a confrontation, he got the symbiote and modified it giving it the ability to travel through technology. Then Kingpin after being bonded to the symbiote, started chasing Peter so he could finally kill Spider-Man once and for all. In the end Peter directed Kingpin in the woods and in an intense battle Peter used his torch to separate Kingpin from Venom and after that he burned the symbiote for good.^[103]

A-Babies vs. X-Babies

A toddler version of Eddie Brock as Venom was a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.^[104]

Apocalypse Wars

In the Extraordinary X-Men crossover Apocalypse Wars, Venom is one of the Horsemen of Apocalypse.^[105] He briefly absorbs Old Man Logan, until Jean Grey expels him.^[106]

Circle of Four

In this alternate take of the Circle of Four storyline, the symbiote was physically and mentally bonded to Flash, becoming a human/symbiote hybrid. After Captain America offered Flash a place in the Avengers, Spider-Man gave up his superhero identity giving it Flash, who became the new Spider-Man and rekindled his relationship with Betty Brant. However, the Green Goblin found out about Flash's identity and murdered Betty, making Venom to swear to kill Green Goblin.^[107]

Contest of Champions

An alternate version of Eddie Brock appears as Venom in the 2015 Contest of Champions miniseries as one of the Grandmaster's champions. This version killed his version of Spider-Man and wears his costume as a cape, though Eddie is often haunted by Peter Parker's voice in his head. He is eventually killed by Punisher 2099 with a disintegration gun in the same place where the Sentry and Stick were seemingly killed. The symbiote fuses with the Sentry and Void's remains and turned into some Void/symbiote hybrids named Symbioids. When Stick reveals his survival, he merges their energies to resurrect the Sentry.^[108]

Dark Avengers

The Venom symbiote of this reality had been captured and was kept in a test tube in one of Iron Man's labs. Dr. Hank Pym had experimented on the symbiote to find a way to adapt it for use to outfit Stark's new armors with, however these experiments had destroyed what conscious it had left but it was still able to retain its biological properties of replacing missing limbs. During the period where Stark held the Dark Avengers, June Covington telepathically manipulated Pym into helping her restore her teammates to fight. They took the symbiote and used it to replace John Walker's missing arm and leg allowing him to become U.S.Agent once again.^[109]

Dark Reign: Fantastic Four

In Dark Reign: Fantastic Four, everyone is transported in a reality where Reed Richards had become the Supreme Intelligence. In this reality, the Venom symbiote had multiplied and had bonded to an entire regime of Skrulls, who had been killing various Reeds, Johnnys and Bens, but not Susans.^[110]

Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe Again

When Deadpool's mind got brainwashed, he killed Eddie Brock and wore the symbiote. He thought that he, alongside Spider-Man were eating together to win a pie eating competition against the Blob, where in reality he was using the symbiote to eat Spider-Man. The Venom symbiote then leaves Deadpool since he got his revenge on Spider-Man.

Earth-617

In the alternate reality of Earth-617, Gwen Stacy encountered Spider-Gwen, leading her to avoid her death. Following the example of Spider-Gwen, she became an excellent detective and after bonding to this universe's Venom, they became Spider-Woman.^[111]

Earth X

In the alternative future of the Earth X limited series, after Peter forcibly removed the symbiote from himself, the symbiote wanted to get revenge on Peter by turning his daughter against him, after leaving Eddie Brock. This backfire as May "Mayday" Parker was able to fully control and communicate with the symbiote. Mayday with the symbiote became a crime fighter heroine much to Peter's dismay. When the Skull tried to overtake the US, May tried to fight, but she instead fell under Skull's mind control. Peter eventually returned as Spider-Man to save his daughter. Then she helps her father to fight the villainous Spiders Man who had trapped Peter in web of illusions.^[112] She is later recruited by Kang the Conqueror as part of a scheme against the Apocalypse Twins and the Avengers Unity Squad.^[113] She then reappeared during the "Spider-Verse" event.^[114]

House of M

In House of M, an actor portrays Venom in "Spider-Man: the Final Chapter".^[115]

MC2

In Spider-Girl, the Venom symbiote was separated from Eddie Brock and remained trapped in containment for more than a decade. After being free, attempts to re-bond with Peter Parker to become Spider-Venom and makes him to kill his own family, but gets separated by Spider-Girl and Phil Urich as the heroic Green Goblin.^[116] Then is forcefully bonded to Spider-Girl's friend Normie Osborn III, the grandson of the original Green Goblin, by Goblin Queen.^[117] It takes control of Normie, but when it also attempts to absorb Spider-Girl, their combined force of will defeats the creature. Instead of destroying it, Normie keeps the symbiote and allows it to bond with him, purging the symbiote of its violent and aggressive emotions.^[118] When Normie is in control he resembles as Spider-Man's classic black suit with four additional arms resembling Six-armed Spider-Man and briefly calling themselves Dusk, since Venom was the name between Eddie Brock and the symbiote. He then joins Kaine's team of reformed villains. In Spider-Girl #100, Normie transfers the symbiote to a critically injured Spider-Girl so it can heal and save her. The symbiote later sacrifices itself to save Spider-Girl's life by confronting a sonic weapon-armed Hobgoblin.^[119] The Venom symbiote removed all of Normie's tattoos and scars from his suicides attempts as it died, as a parting gift. Then Normie confirms that the symbiote is dead.

Mangaverse

In the Marvel Mangaverse continuity, Venom is a normal man, the son of May and her first husband, Shinji, and a former member of the Spider-Clan. Venom's skin is black due to the poisoned arrows throwed by the Shadow-Clan, which killed his father. His spider symbol is white, and also much larger than Spider-Man's.^[132]

Venom is responsible for the murder of most of Spider-Clan and Peter's Uncle Ben, Venom's stepfather in the Mangaverse, at the command of New York's Kingpin of Crime. Peter defeats him and spares his life. Venom later usurps Kingpin for control over New York's ninja criminal gangs.^[133]

Separately, the Venom symbiote appears as a black liquid that is released from a cursed amulet, which was given to Peter by Black Cat. The symbiote draws energy from the amulet's wearer, which can be fatal after prolonged exposure. The wearer's strength and agility are increased, and his or her ability to control their own violent urges is reduced. When Peter Parker becomes possessed by the evil amulet, removing it leaves him near death.^[134]

Venom captures the amulet and chooses to sacrifice his own life to force it to save Peter, repaying the debt he owes for Peter sparing his life. This act revitalizes Peter, but leaves Venom nothing but a skeleton. The amulet, containing Venom's life force, is used to heal the crippled Kingpin.

In the Legend of the Spider-Clan one-shot story Elemental Evil, Venom inexplicably reappears in the mountain-top home of the Spider-Clan, alive and whole, his skin now a dark blue. He also gained new powers, including a pair of vicious jaws and a long drooling tongue, bringing him closer in appearance to his Earth-616 counterpart. Despite their history, Peter agrees that Venom will teach the ways of the Spider-Clan and the use of his powers to Peter. Venom and the rest of the new Spider-Clan aid in training Peter to become more powerful, tapping into the mystical side of his spider abilities. In the end, Peter discovers that the group is run by Peter's biological mother, who ordered the death of Aunt May to rid him of emotional attachments. As a result, Peter refuses to take his place as leader, rejecting the clan. Venom is awarded with rulership over the Spider-Clan. No reason is given for Venom's resurrection or his new powers, but when asked about it, Venom only said "I was lucky".

During the "Spider-Verse" event, Venom becomes aware about conflict between various Spider-Man and the Inheritors and fearing that the presence of Peter in the temple will attract the conflict to the clan, he tries to stop Peter and willing to kill him, but only to be stopped by the Spider-Army.^[135]

Marvel 2099

Kron Stone as Venom 2099

Alea Bell as Venom 2099

Kron Stone is the older half-brother of Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O'Hara), having the same father: Tyler Stone. As a child, Kron was continually abused by the android housekeeper which mistook him for a dog, and as a result he later became a bully, taking enjoyment in other people's pain. The relationship between the two brothers is so conflicted that Miguel tried to kill Kron at one point. In his introduction, Stone ordered Jake Gallows' family to be killed. Gallows found Stone and fatally wounded him with a knife as revenge, before dumping his body into the sewer.^[137] As Kron laid dying in the sewer, his body brushed up against a black ball. The ball then bonded to him and formed a new Venom. The symbiote was described as having mutated over the years, and displayed new abilities in this timeline, including acidic blood and saliva.^[138] With this new power, Stone sought to emotionally torture Miguel—whom Kron never discovered was his half-brother—by hurting those close to him, going so far as to kill Miguel's former love Dana—who was also Tyler's lover. After a fight between Spider-Man and Venom, the former emerged as the victor, using loud speakers to neutralize Venom, who was subsequently taken to the lab for study. It was revealed that the symbiote bonded with Kron on a molecular level, giving Kron an amorphous physiology that allowed his body to take on the properties of the symbiote itself.^[139]

Later, after the symbiote was separated from Kron, it merged with Roman the Sub-Mariner, the son of Namor, who fled to the ocean and is never seen again.^[140] It was later shown that part of the symbiote is at the Alchemax lab for studying.^[141]

A new Venom 2099, Alea Bell, was introduced in a similarly named one-shot published in 2019.^[142] When she was a child, her left arm was badly burned in a crash that also resulted in the death of her mother. Raised by her father, Theo, Alea was bullied at school over her scars. She was then selected to undergo an experimental treatment being developed by Alchemax scientist Dr. Russell. She regained consciousness to find that the treatment had worked and her arm was restored. During a confrontation the next day with a girl at school, a black tendril emerged from her hand and sliced through the Alchemax monitoring bracelet. Alea heard a sinister voice in her head, her left arm transforming into a jet-black limb tipped with razor-sharp claws. Returning home, Alea learned that the purported panacea she had been treated with was a piece of a symbiote called Venom, and that Alchemax intended to turn her into a supersoldier using it. Empathizing with its pain, felt, Alea reluctantly agreed to the symbiote's request to be made whole in exchange for her getting her normal life back. Infiltrating Alchemax, Alea was accosted by a pair of guards and was horrified when the symbiote killed them to protect her. As the symbiote scolded her innocent naivety, Alea protested that she did not want to be seen as a monster. Arriving at the lab containing the other pieces of the symbiote, Alea shut down the containment grid, but was knocked unconscious by Dr. Russell. The Venom symbiote, reclaiming its disparate pieces, bonded to Alea, transformed her into Venom and had eaten Dr. Russell as revenge for cutting it apart. Disgusted, Alea reiterated that she did not want to become a monster and asked if they could be a hero instead; the Venom symbiote begrudgingly agreeing to her request. At school the following day, Alea transformed into Venom to terrify her bully. However, the symbiote was abruptly overcome by the will of a dark god. Alarmed, Alea asked the Venom symbiote what had happened and it told her that the god of its species, Knull, was somehow still alive and on Earth.

Marvel Adventures

In this reality, the symbiote is a sentient "smart-stealth cloth" suit created by the Tinkerer that Spider-Man bonded with and used to defeat him. After Reed Richards removed the symbiote from Spider-Man (who was being drained of his energy by the symbiote), Johnny Storm briefly bonded with it, believing it to be a technological suit like Spider-Man originally thought. After Johnny flamed on, the symbiote left his body in pain. It then proceeded to bond to cat burgler Eddie Brock, and the two seek revenge on Spider-Man for abandoning the suit and foiling Brock's latest heist.

Marvel Age

In the Marvel Age mini-series Spider-Man and Power Pack #3–4, a fashion designer down on his luck manages to acquire the Venom symbiote after it is blasted off of Eddie Brock by Spider-Man, and, thinking its morphic qualities are just something built into the suit and not a living biological function, clones it three times as a new women's dress line. At the debut fashion show for the line, Peter Parker is photographing with Mary Jane Watson wearing one of the dresses, unaware of its true nature.

In the audience is the Power Pack in their civilian identities, invited by Peter as a thank you for their help in the previous two issues. When the symbiotes hear Peter's name, their genetic memory recognizes it and they turn Mary Jane and the other three models into She-Venoms, and attack. The Power Pack join Spider-Man in the battle, during which Spider-Man briefly corners the designer and gets the truth out of him about the clones. The symbiote clones are sheared from their unwilling hosts, three by a sonic boom produced by Julie Power/Lightspeed's superhuman speed, the other by an energy burst from Katie Power/Energizer. The battle is then won when Jack Power/Mass Master uses the music booth to blast them all with high audio, crippling them long enough to be captured. During the battle, however, one symbiote clone manages to briefly make contact with Katie Power's alien-born costume, causing it to become "infected" by the Venom symbiote's evil and vengeful desires (the kids' costumes in this continuity are semi-biological themselves, a concept later reinforced during a later mini-series when one is seen to repair damage to itself on its own). This causes Katie's costume to take on a Venom-like appearance, with the only differences being it is obviously smaller and Katie's energy burst symbol takes the place of the spider symbol's main body, the spider legs remaining.

The Kymellian costume-turned-symbiote completely takes control of the little girl at night, using her to team with the Sinister Six to capture Spider-Man, and then turn on the other members of Power Pack, Katie's own siblings, to take revenge on them for their part in the symbiote clones' defeat. In the final battle, Julie Power manages to find and free Spider-Man, and together they manage to get Electro to blast all the villains, including himself, with a large electrical discharge powerful enough to render them all unconscious and again shear the costume-turned-symbiote off of Katie, the discharge purging Katie's costume of the "infection" in the process, restoring it to normal.

Marvel Fairy Tales

In Spider-Man Fairy Tales #3, Venom is a Tsuchigumo who seeks to corrupt the young priest Izumi (the Peter Parker character) by making him give into his anger.^[145]

Marvel MegaMorphs

Eddie Brock as Venom fuses with the Mega Morphs armor and tries to destroy the city, but is stopped by Iron Man and Thing.^[146]

Marvel Zombies

In the Marvel Zombies mini-series on Earth-2149, Venom briefly appears as one of the many zombified villains. He fights the zombie Spider-Man, who quickly kills him, because the Symbiote has started to die, being unable to absorb adrenaline from Eddie Brock's zombified body. He died very early at the hands of the zombie Spider-Man himself before Zombie Spider-Man goes on. Like his Earth-616 counterpart, he has cancer and the Symbiote does not want to be with him. Unlike his Earth-616 counterpart, his disease is not cured and he is instead destroyed. Before he died, Brock managed to sputter out that he and the symbiote are dying, to which the zombie Spider-Man states that Venom is breaking his cold, dead heart.^[147]

Mini-Marvels

In Mini-Marvels, Eddie Brock as Venom is both a friend and enemy of Spider-Man. He aspires be the best newspaper dealer in the world, but the symbiote (which is made out of living ink) always ruins his chances.

Old Man Logan

In Old Man Logan, the Venom symbiote appears to be following Logan and Hawkeye, having bonded to a Savage Land tyrannosaurus rex. It is stopped by Black Bolt.^[148] Another symbiote is seen in the story and also appeared to be looking over Logan and Hawkeye on a hill. Whether this is a different piece of the Venom symbiote or another symbiote is unknown.

In the prequel, Old Man Hawkeye, the symbiote bonded to Multiple Man, increasing his cloning powers as he attempted to get revenge on Hawkeye for murdering some of his clones. When they chase Hawkeye down to a refuge town led by Kate Bishop, Clint and Kate lure the Venoms out into the wild to get devoured by the same Tyrannosaurus rex that would chase Hawkeye and Logan later on.

President Harry Osborn

In the reality where Harry Osborn became president of U.S.A. and, because of his father, turned the government into a totalitarian regime, the Venom symbiote is bonded to the Thing, who became the head guard of the superhuman prison. At one point, the Thing battled the Resistance, who wanted to break out Doctor Doom.^[149]

Punisher vs. The Marvel Universe

In this universe, Venom was infected by a virus which made him a cannibal. He battled Carnage and later was killed by the Punisher, to whom he tried to deliver a message from Patient Zero.^[150]

Secret Wars (2015)

During the Secret Wars, various versions of Venom are featured:

• In 1602: Witch Hunter Angela, Edwin Brocc lives in the outskirts of York and an apprentice to the town's printer. When Angela found out he enchanted the town's beauty to marry him, he transformed into a venomous monster but was subdued in the fight.
• In Civil War, Clint Barton uses the Venom identity.
• In Spider-Island, Agent Venom (Flash Thompson) works to bring down the Spider Queen.
• In Spider-Verse, Venom works for Norman Osborn and was instructed to follow Spider-Gwen from a distance until the real Peter Parker showed himself thus taking the opportunity to capture Parker. He was defeated by Spider-Gwen after being lured to a recording studio.^[151]
• In Hail Hydra, Eddie Brock is Venom and a Hydra enforcer, leading a team of symbiote infected women, known as his Vipers.^[152]
• In Inhumans: Attilan Rising, Venom is Killiseium, battling Colossus.^[153]

Spider-Cat

In Spider-Cat's universe, Venom is a pigeon.^[154]

Spider-Geddon

In Edge of Spider-Geddon #2, in the world of Peni Parker and SP//dr, VEN#m exists as a giant mech-suit powered by a Sym Engine created to serve as back-up in case the SP//dr suit failed. It was piloted by Addy Brock until a battle against the kaiju M.O.R.B.I.U.S. caused the suit to malfunction, attain sentience, and go rogue, growing a mouth with cubic teeth and a green tongue-like wire (a reference to Evangelion). Though SP//dr was able to defeat VEN#m, she was unable to stop it from consuming Addy as well as her version of Aunt May, who flew in to fix the problem manually.^[155]

Spider-Gwen

In this reality, Dr. Elsa Brock created the Venom symbiote from the radioactive spider isotopes developed by S.I.L.K. leader Cindy Moon to cure the Lizard formula as requested by the city's Kingpin, Matt Murdock, to offer Spider-Woman a solution to losing her powers and curing the new Lizard, Harry Osborn. Gwen was forced to inject Harry with one of her spider isotopes, causing the serum inside him to mutate into Venom and attach to Wolverine before bonding to Gwen and forming Gwenom. Though Gwen succumbed to its bloodlust at first, after discovering her father was brutally beaten by the Rhino in prison, she eventually learned to control it. The symbiote in this universe despite being amorphous is actually some spiders working together being a "mutant cousin" of the alien spider that gave Gwen her powers and is not affected by classic symbiote weaknesses like sonic attacks when without a host, the symbiote is vulnerable to sonic when only bonded to a host. Spider-Gwen eventually took full control of the symbiote and turned it into a replica of her classic costume.^[156] During Spider-Geddon, the symbiote protected Spider-Gwen from Verna's touch.^[157]

Other versions

A version of Gwenom appears along with other heroes fighting a Celestial in the second Secret Roar.^[158]

Spider-Man Adventures

In this universe which predates the Big Bang of the Earth-616 universe, the history of Eddie Brock is identical to the Eddie of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, with the difference being that instead of Dormammu and Baron Mordo bringing the Venom symbiote back to him, Eddie is reunited with the symbiote after the actions of Doctor Octopus.^[159] He along with all life of the universe are presumed dead, after the Dweller-in-Darkness use the M'Kraan Crystal to feed of energy of the dying universe.^[160]

Spider-Man Comic Strip

Eddie Brock as Venom appears in Spider-Man Comic Strip.^[161]

Spider-Man & Deadpool

In an alternate future where Spider-Man is a paralyzed old man who lives with Deadpool, Venom is bonded to Vision and is part of The Fantastic Four alongside Valeria Richards, Reed (son of the Thing) and a version of Daredevil called Lastdevil. In battle between Life Model Decoy of Deadpool Venom leaves Vision and bond to Reed to stop the LMDs, but it did not work as they get killed.^[162]

Spider-Man: India

In the final issue of the mini-series Spider-Man: India (Earth-50101), Venom appears as an exiled interdimensional demon. It is later explained, that Venom was trapped in an ancient amulet now used by tycoon Nalin Oberoi. Pavitr Prabhakar is briefly possessed by the entity, but is rejected, and the amulet sucks in Oberoi, but in the final page, Venom is the only demon left. There is also a mention of Aadi, who is this universe's Eddie Brock.

Spider-Man: Reign

In Kaare Andrews' Spider-Man: Reign, set 30 years from current comics continuity, Venom/Eddie Brock has been posing as "Edward Saks", the aide to Waters, the Mayor of New York. "Edward" has been manipulating the city ever since Spider-Man's disappearance in preparation for his eventual return; in the process, he had re-enlisted the Sinister Six, replicated his symbiote thousands of times (chalking it up to being "lonely"), and built a security system named "WEBB" which prevents New York citizens from escaping from the city, trapping them while allegedly protecting them from the outside world. Upon meeting him, Venom is quick to berate Spider-Man for abandoning him all those years ago with a genuine sense of bitterness and sorrow, describing himself as a responsibility that Spider-Man neglected, leaving the wallcrawler at a loss for words. Defeated, the Sinister Six, Spidey and Venom have their final battle, in which Sandman gives Spider-Man a detonator to make all the Sinners explode. Spidey presses the button, most likely killing Venom and putting an end to his "Reign" once and for all.^[163]

Spider-Man: Life Story

In a continuity where characters naturally aged after Peter Parker became Spider-Man in 1962, Peter still acquired the Venom symbiote during the Secret Wars in the 1980s. Unlike the main continuity, Peter discovered that the black suit was a symbiote before Reed Richards did, but initially decided against getting rid of it due to his aging body. When Kraven tried burying Peter alive, the symbiote helped him escape the grave and nearly caused him to kill Kraven before Mary Jane helped separate it from him. The traumatic incident led Mary Jane to leave Peter, who abandoned the symbiote. It then bonded with Kraven before the hunter could commit suicide.^[164]

In 2019, the Venom-possessed Kraven attacks Peter and Miles Morales in Doctor Doom's space station as the two heroes attempt to shut down Doom's technology across the planet. When he attempts to let the symbiote possess Miles, he discovers that Otto Octavius is possessing Miles' body, allowing Peter the chance to attack him with a sonic blast from his suit. When the symbiote separates from him, he is nothing more than a skeleton. As Peter stays behind on the space station to ensure the Doomsday Pulse activates, the symbiote helps him one last time by filling in the giant hole of the collapsing station. Once the pulse activates, the station explodes and kills Peter and the symbiote.^[165]

Spider-Verse

Several versions of Venom are featured in Spider-Verse:

• In Spider-Punk's universe, the Variable Engagement Neuro-sensitive Organic Mesh (aka V.E.N.O.M.) is a suit of armor created by Oscorp and worn by the Thunderbolt Department, the police and fire department of President Osborn. They try to stop protests, but are all defeated by Spider-Punk and his Spider-Slayers.^[166]
• A female version of Venom is recruited along with the other Spider-Totems by Octavia Otto to fight the Electro-Verse.^[167]
• A version of Venom is seen by Jessica Drew on the Web of Life and Destiny.^[168]

Transformers

In the universe of Earth-91274 where the Transformers series is set, Peter Parker appears still wearing his original Black Suit and goes to cover a story about the evil Decepticons who stole components of a nuclear power plant to build their base in the side of a mountain in Oregon. He briefly clashed with the Autobots, but then Optimus Prime convinced Spider-Man about their good motives. Spider-Man then aids the Autobots against the Decepticons.^[169]

Ultimate Marvel

Venom (Ultimate Marvel version).

The Ultimate iteration of Venom was created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley and was introduced in Ultimate Spider-Man #33, while the Conrad Markus version was introduced in Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 2 #16.1. His appearance was designed by Mark Bagley to be more of a monster than a supervillain, describing him as a "huge cancerous/tumorous creature".^[170]

Venomverse

In Venomverse, various versions of the character are featured as they are recruited to fight off an army of Poisons:

What If...?

What The--?!

In the Spider-Ham parody, What The--?!, "The Bee-Yonder" gives Spider-Ham a version of the black uniform.^[196] In issue #20, Pork Grind, a pig version of Venom is introduced as an enemy of Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham. He was a Wild Boar from Australia, who accepted a deal with a supervillain to become Pork Grind, because every Superhero needs to have an evil counterpart. He was much stronger than Spider-Ham, who was smashed by him like paper. Spider-Ham in an attempt to stop Pork Grind, he ate some spinach and was able to finally defeat him.

Television

• Venom appears in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, with Spider-Man's version voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes and Eddie Brock's version voiced by Hank Azaria. In the three-part episode "The Alien Costume", the symbiote arrives on Earth via a meteorite sample that John Jameson collected called Promethium X. Spider-Man bonds with the symbiote before eventually rejecting it, after which it bonds to Brock, turning him into Venom. They seek revenge on Spider-Man, who defeats and separates them before sending Venom back to space. In the episodes "Venom Returns" and "Carnage", Venom returns to Earth, re-fuses with Brock, and joins forces with Spider-Man and Iron Man to combat Carnage, Dormammu, and Baron Mordo before Venom and Brock sacrifice themselves to ensure the villains' defeat.
• The Eddie Brock incarnation of Venom appears in Spider-Man Unlimited (1999), voiced by Brian Drummond. This version of the Venom symbiote evolved into a more powerful form, gaining full control of its host's body as well as acquiring elastic powers and the ability to change into a liquid-esque form. Venom and Carnage travel to Counter-Earth to join the Synoptic, a hive mind of symbiotes, and ally themselves with the High Evolutionary while secretly helping the Synoptic grow powerful enough to infect the planet's population with symbiotes.
• Venom appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man, with Spider-Man's version voiced by Josh Keaton and Eddie Brock's version voiced by Benjamin Diskin. Introduced in the episode "The Uncertainly Principle", the symbiote arrives on Earth by stowing away on John Jameson's space shuttle and bonds to Spider-Man. After eventually being rejected, it bonds with Brock to seek revenge in the episode "Intervention", but is ultimately defeated and separated in the episode "Nature vs. Nurture". Venom reappears in the episodes "First Steps", "Growing Pains", and "Identity Crisis", wherein it rejoins Brock and attempts to expose Spider-Man's secret identity, only to be foiled and separated from Brock once more, though it manages to escape.
• Venom appears in Ultimate Spider-Man (2012), with Harry Osborn and Flash Thompson's versions voiced by Matt Lanter and Norman Osborn / Green Goblin's version voiced by Steven Weber.^[197] Introduced in its self-titled episode, this version of the Venom symbiote is created by Doctor Octopus using a sample of Spider-Man's blood. After it escapes from its creator, it temporarily fuses with a number of individuals, such as Thompson and Spider-Man,^[198] until it eventually bonds with Harry, who tries to become a hero to impress his father in the episode "Back in Black". However, the Green Goblin takes it for himself in the episode "The Rise of the Green Goblin" and, over the course of the episodes "Carnage", "Venom Bomb", and "The Avenging Spider-Man", uses the symbiote to create the Carnage symbiote, infect himself and the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, and create more symbiotic monsters with help from Loki, but is foiled by Harry, Spider-Man and Doc Ock's Anti-Venom formula, and the Avengers respectively. A piece of the symbiote that survived fighting the Avengers later bonds with the Scorpion and eventually Thompson, who shows an unusual amount of control over it and becomes Agent Venom for the rest of the series.^[199]
• Venom appears in Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel, voiced by Danny Trejo.^[200][201]
• Venom appears in the Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. episode "The Venom Inside".^[202] Doctor Octopus creates a new version of the Venom symbiote that gradually assimilates the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. to absorb their gamma energy and destroy Spider-Man. However, the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. and Spider-Man eventually manage to defeat the Venom symbiote.
• Venom appears in Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers, with Spider-Man's version voiced by Robbie Daymond.
• Venom appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Maximum Overload, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker.
• Venom appears in Spider-Man (2017), with Spider-Man's version voiced again by Robbie Daymond, Eddie Brock's version voiced by Ben Pronsky, and the symbiote in its true form voiced by Benjamin Diskin. First appearing in the episode "A Day in the Life", the V-252 symbiote is found inside a meteorite by a space program and sent to Horizon High for research. The symbiote briefly merges with Spider-Man from the episode "Sandman" until "Stark Expo", and Flash Thompson during the episode "Venom" before it is recaptured. In the second season, the symbiote merges with Eddie Brock, who renames it Venom in the episode "Dead Man's Party". In the episode "Venom Returns", Venom is incapacitated by an experimental sonic device during a failed attempt to publicly expose Spider-Man's secret identity, which leaves Brock in a coma. In the episode "Superior", Venom is reawakened by experimentation that alters its genealogy, enabling it to survive without a host, but it is defeated by Spider-Man. In the episodes "Web of Venom" Pt. 2 and "Amazing Friends", Venom is accidentally freed by Dr. Curt Connors and absorbs a synthetic copy. It returns to the meteorite and uses an energy seed to shoot a beacon into space. Despite being killed by Spider-Man, an army of Venom's fellow Klyntar invade the Earth, though they are ultimately defeated. In the series finale, "Maximum Venom", a fragment of Venom is revealed to have survived and bonded with Max Modell. Seeking revenge on Spider-Man for thwarting its race's invasion, it builds a portal to its home planet and summons more Klyntar, but they are defeated by Spider-Man's allies while Modell overcomes Venom's control and destroys its seed, permanently vanquishing the symbiote.
• A Battleworld incarnation of Venom appears in the Avengers Assemble episode "The Immortal Weapon".^[203] After the Beyonder forms Battleworld for an experiment, a satellite containing a Venom symbiote crashes into K'un-L'un, allowing it to escape, find its way to Dracula, and bond with him. Using his new powers, the vampire fights off Iron Fist, Black Panther, and Falcon before Iron Fist uses his powers to separate Dracula from the symbiote.
• Venom appears in the Guardians of the Galaxy episode "Drive My Carnage".^[204] A sample of it was held at Horizon High and possesses Spider-Man during the Guardians of the Galaxy's fight with a Carnage-possessed Thanos.

Film

Venom's first appearance in a motion picture was originally planned for a titular film written by David S. Goyer and produced by New Line Cinema, in which Venom would have been portrayed as an antihero and Carnage as the antagonist. By 2007, the film rights to Venom had reverted to Sony Pictures.^[205]

In March 2012, Josh Trank was in talks to direct a new Venom film as a part of The Amazing Spider-Man film series.^[206] In December 2013, Sony officially announced two spin-offs of The Amazing Spider-Man film series, one of which was a Venom film called Venom: Carnage, written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Ed Solomon, with Kurtzman directing it.^[207] In September 2014, Kurtzman stated that they had been considering different incarnations of the character, including Eddie Brock, Anne Weying, and Flash Thompson.^[208] The film, along with the other spin-offs, was cancelled prior to the studios' contract agreement with Marvel Studios.

Video games

Miscellaneous

• The Eddie Brock incarnation of Venom appears in the The Ultimate Spider-Man short story collection book as part of the short story "An Evening in the Bronx with Venom", by Keith R.A. DeCandido.^[238][239]
• The Eddie Brock incarnation of Venom appears in the Adi Shankar's Bootleg Universe fan film Truth In Journalism, portrayed by Ryan Kwanten and Denis Sergovskiy respectively. This version of the latter was realized via a suit created by Robert Pendergraft and the makeup effects house Aunt Dolly's Garage, based on Todd McFarlane's original Venom sketches, with Rainfall Films designing a computer-generated head and tendrils. For the film's "vomit" scene, Rainfall concocted a mixture of maple syrup, soy sauce, and flour, which was shot separately and digitally inserted into the scene.^{[240][241][242]}

Legacy

The Australian spider Venomius is named after the character, with the species name (V. tomhardyi) referencing Tom Hardy's portrayal of the character.^[252]