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Riot was one of five Symbiotes forcibly spawned from Venom by the Life Foundation to be used as guards/enforcers for them and their clients.

History

Life Foundation[]

The sinister Life Foundation was an organization that sought to provide a comfortable life for their wealthy clients in the case of a M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction) fallout of the Cold War or in the event of world chaos. Needing a superhuman police force to protect this Utopian future, the Foundation's leader Carlton Drake saw the potential to create these future guardians in the unborn offspring of Venom and had him captured.[2]

Once the Foundation captured Venom, who was in San Francisco at the time, they brought him to their lab in Mojave Desert California. There they used a procedure to forcibly extract five Symbiotes “seeds” from Venom and hatched them in a lab. Too young to control a host, the blue-colored infant Symbiote was merged with Trevor Cole, a security force officer of the Life Foundation that was comprised of cops, soldiers, and mercenaries. Together, the symbiotes and Cole became known as Riot, and they, along with the other four symbiotes, would become the Foundations guardian symbiotes.[3][4]

Life Foundation (Earth-616) from Venom Lethal Protector Vol 1 5 001

Bonded to Trevor Cole together with his siblings

When Spider-Man followed Riot's “sister” Strike Agent Four, Donna Diego merged with a yellow and red symbiote to become Scream, he and the other guardian symbiotes all attacked the wall-crawler. But before they could kill him, Eddie Brock, who had gotten free once they removed the Venom symbiote, appeared. In order to beat them Eddie became Venom once again, and together with Spider-Man defeated the four symbiotes using a metabolic accelerator that aged the symbiotes and turned them into dust, seemingly killing them. The ensuing explosion seemed to make doubly sure that the symbiotes would never return.[5]

Separation Anxiety[]

The symbiote not only survived along with his siblings due to efforts by the Life Foundation, but their hosts had too. But he and the others began to gain influence over their host, so the hosts wanting to keep control planned to seek out Eddie Brock for help.[6]

When Trevor Cole and the others suddenly left the Life Foundation facility to get Eddie Brock's help, Donna went alone to talk to Venom but failed in her two attempts. He and the rest of the former guardian symbiotes joined her shortly after in her third attempt to get Brock's help. Together they broke Brock, who had lost the Venom symbiote, out of a New Mexico facility and brought him to an abandoned factory in a small city near Chicago to make him help them.[7][8][9][10][6]

Trevor Cole (Earth-616) from Venom Separation Anxiety Vol 1 1 001

Unfortunately yet again Brock refused, due to his belief that all of the Venom symbiote's "children" become psychopathic killers like Carnage. Later Brock managed to escape and shortly after his sister the largely dark purple and dark pink mix symbiote along with her host Leslie Gesneria was found dead. Though at the time they believed it was Eddie Brock who killed them and wanted to make him pay.[11]

When his brother the light orange symbiote and his host Carl Mach was later killed too by a sonic blade, Donna went to kill Brock but his brothers host Roman Hernandez stopped her in the hopes Brock can still help them. Unbeknownst to them, it was Donna who had snapped from her schizophrenia and his sister's influence back when she first reached out to Brock. But by the time he realized this she had picked up the sonic blade that she had stolen from the facility that held Brock stabbed him, killing both him and his host Cole.[12]

His sister and her host would go on to kill their brother and his Roman Hernandez before turning the sonic blade on Brock. But when the Venom symbiote, who had been looking for Brock, rejoined with him they easily beat her. After Venom escaped the team that had been tracking the Venom symbiote and they contained them, it was revealed that they had survived through this time though their hosts did not.[13][14]

The Vault[]

The symbiote and his four siblings were taken to the Vault a prison for superhuman criminals, once there they were sent to facility #12 for scientists to study and painfully experiment on them.[15]

One day during the Symbiote invasion, Venom and Brock sent worldwide a psychic shriek that seemingly wiped out the invading symbiotes. Due to this along with the pain they were already experiencing, "he" and the others broke free and merged into one creature… a "Hybrid".[16][17]

After briefly bonding with Guardsmen Six, Scott Washington, the new Symbiote escaped to find and bond with Scott once again and become the vigilante called Hybrid.[18]

Carnage U.S.A.[]

Howard Ogden (Earth-616) from Carnage, U.S.A

Bonded to Howard Ogden and Officially named Riot

After some time as the vigilante Hybrid, they once again believed to be dead when Eddie Brock took it upon himself to kill all symbiotes. But again they survived and the host did not, they were presumably found by the U.S. Army and was defused into four separate creatures again and named Riot, Agony, Phage, and Lasher.[19][1]

“He” and the others though apparently due to being defused had become catatonic and unable to totally bond with a host, were given to each member of the Mercury Team. A Contingency B team who has been training with Riot and the others for the sole purpose of eliminating Carnage. Riot was partly bonded to the left arm of Petty Officer Howard Ogden.[1]

When Carnage began taking over the people of Doverton Colorado and the Avengers (Captain America, The Thing, Hawkeye, Wolverine) save for Spider-Man, the team was sent in aided by Scorn. The team took on a large number of Carnage possessed townspeople but ran into big trouble when Carnage and the Symbiote Avengers joined the fight. But even when Spider-Man, the sheriff Eric Morrell, a few townies, and the arrival of Agent Venom the fight didn’t look good.[20]

The battle seemed to turn when Scorn, driving a souped-up tractor, caught Carnage and Agent Venom, who were fighting at the time, to Ralsby Meat Packing Plant where she had made a device that separated the symbiotes from Thompson and Kasady, freeing the Carnage possessed townies. But things only continued to get worse as without Kasady’s control the Carnage symbiotes ran wild and took over the local zoo life. As Riot and the others fought a losing battle the team leader Marcus Simms ordered the go-ahead to torch the area and, thanks to Captain America, kept the blast localized.[21]

With the Carnage symbiotes destroyed, Thompson having rejoined the Venom symbiote captured and handed Kasady over to the Avengers. Riot and “his” siblings were put back in their containers after Simms and the team left for the others to clean up.[22]

Deadpool vs. Carnage[]

Wade Wilson (Earth-616) and Lasher (War dog) (Earth-616) from Deadpool vs

Bonded to Deadpool through Hybrid

When Carnage began a seemingly random killing spree throughout Oklahoma Deadpool tried to stop him and his girlfriend Shriek. But as the body count raised it was revealed that Kasady was after Mercury Team and Riot as well as his siblings. Kasady found the team in an underground base in an abandoned town, he killed them all but a German Shepherd war dog, who managed to get to Lasher and save Riot and the other symbiotes. When Deadpool showed up to find the dead soldiers and empty symbiote containers, he was cut to pieces by Kasady and left like that until Lasher with Riot and the others attached to the dog saved him when he and the other two bonded to Deadpool, pulling him together.[23]

Instead of becoming one like they did before Riot and the other two symbiotes having partly bonded with Deadpool became a Frankenstein like monster but keeping Deadpool in full control despite the extra voice in his head. Together they went after Carnage who was at Carrington Cottage Psychiatric Hospital torturing staff and patients with Shriek. They sent a leashed Lasher to attack Carnage, as they tricked Shriek to get Carnage alone, and then managed to trick Carnage into taking out Shriek which drove Carnage into giving himself up.[24]

In the end, Deadpool gave Riot and his two siblings up to their brother Lasher and asked him to bring them back to the government in hopes they’ll be able to take care of them.[25]

In the Thrall of Knull[]

Riot (Sadie's Father) (Earth-616) from Venom Vol 4 17 001

Knullified Riot

Following Knull's awakening, Lasher and the other Life Foundation symbiotes succumbed to his control. When the German Shepherd was found by a young girl named Sadie - whose family was falling apart - Riot and its brethren separated from each other and took over Sadie's family to grant her wish that they be able to stay together, with Riot bonding to Sadie's father. Following this, the family set out for Manhattan in order to assist in Knull's reawakening.[26][27]

They arrived at a warehouse where Dylan Brock - son of Eddie Brock - and Normie Osborn - former host of the Carnage Symbiote - hid alongside the Maker. The Maker distracted the symbiotes while Dylan and Normie hid, however, Riot ordered Phage to go after them. Sleeper appeared just in time to save them,[28] but the Maker managed to put it along with the other symbiotes under containment.

However, Normie and Dylan decided to flee, afraid of what the Maker could do to them. They tried to use firearms on him but it ended up freeing the symbiotes, except for Sleeper. They fused itself into the Maker and tried to get Dylan's codex. Fortunately, The Thing, Wolverine, Captain America and Spider-Man arrived and kept Hybrid occupied.[29] Dylan freed Sleeper and used his powers to control the symbiote, enter the Maker's body and alter his chemicals, so Hawkeye shot a flaming arrow at him, seemingly killing the symbiotes.[30]

When Knull invaded Earth, the four Life Foundation symbiotes were sent to hunt down Dylan Brock and came into conflict with their estranged sister Scream, who had bonded to Andi Benton. They merged into Hybrid and - remote-piloted by Knull - attempted to assimilate the Scream symbiote, but were blown apart by hellfire conjured by Andi's Hell-Mark. With Andi assuming them deceased, the four symbiotes regrouped and escaped into the sewers.[31]

Extreme Carnage[]

Following Knull's downfall, Riot claimed a new host and laid low for several months. While onboard a Greyhound bus, Carnage used the power Knull had granted him to infect Riot with his will, corrupting it and sending it on a berserk rampage. Slaughtering the bus' passengers in search of a new host, Riot bonded to one of the passengers and disembarked at Washington, D.C. to join Carnage in infiltrating the Friends of Humanity.[32] When all the pieces were in place, Carnage cut down Hank - a veteran who Agent Anti-Venom had sent to spy on the Friends of Humanity as one of Senator Krane's bodyguards.[33] Riot took Hank's phone to mockingly gloat to Agent Anti-Venom, not noticing the Sleeper symbiote emerge from Hank's body. Riot was sliced to pieces by Sleeper, incapacitating the symbiote and killing its host, and was subsequently placed into containment at Alchemax's astrobiology lab alongside Phage, Lasher, and the other captured symbiotes.[34]

The symbiote was later stolen by Corwin Jones who merged it with other strains from Scream, Agony, Lasher, Phage and Toxin symbiotes to form the Madness symbiote.[35] A strain harvested from the symbiote was bonded to a braindead human cyborg by Jones' employer, the Life Foundation, to create an obedient supersoldier.[36] The host was later killed by Spider-Man, leaving the symbiote strain to be secured by Alchemax.[37]

Attributes

Powers

Symbiote Biology: The Riot symbiote covers its host with blue biomass and boosts its natural abilities to a superhuman level. Possibly due to Earth's environment, it has the ability to manipulate its biomass in a variety of ways. When attached to a host, it manifests mostly heavy weapons.

Weaknesses

Sonic and Heat: Like all symbiotes, Riot can be severely injured by sonic and thermal attacks which makes him vulnerable even if he is fused with his Hybrid siblings.

Notes

  • Riot bears a strong resemblance to his father Venom, differing only in color shade.

Trivia

  • The symbiote (and his hosts) wasn't officially named Riot, until Carnage, U.S.A. #2, with Howard Ogden as host. It was the result of fan-naming and official toy-line naming:
    • Riot was originally the name of an action-figure (described as having many limbs and being as big as a house) but the name stuck in the symbiote mythos for the name of Trevor Cole's symbiote.

See Also

Links and References

References

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