Contents 1 HistoryEdit 2 Eddie Brock 3 Other Hosts 3.1 Anne Weying 3.2 Ben Reilly (Scarlet Spider) 3.3 Angelo Fortunato 3.4 Mac Gargan 3.5 Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel) 3.6 Flash Thompson 3.7 Red Hulk 4 Powers and AbilitiesEdit 4.1 Powers 4.2 Abilities 4.3 Strength level 4.4 Weaknesses 5 ParaphernaliaEdit 5.1 Equipment 5.2 Transportation 5.3 Weapons 6 NotesEdit 7 TriviaEdit 8 LinksEdit 8.1 Discover and Discuss 8.2 Footnotes

HistoryEdit

While on Battleworld Spider-Man damaged his costume in combat and was directed to a facility where he could find a new costume. Spider-Man accidentally found the prison module the symbiote has been trapped in instead. He activated the machine which released the symbiote in the form of a black liquid. When Spider-Man touched the liquid, it covered his body and, reacting to Spider-Man's thoughts about the costume worn by the second Spider-Woman, formed a new costume. To Spider-Man's surprise, the costume could mimic street clothes and provided a seemingly inexhaustible and stronger supply of webbing.

Once back on Earth, Spider-Man learned the costume was a sentient alien symbiote that wished to fuse permanently with him and often controlled his body while he slept. With the aid of Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch, Spider-Man discovered the symbiote was vulnerable to sound and flame, and he used sonic waves to remove it and flames to scare it into a containment module. The symbiote escaped and found its way to Peter Parker's closet and disguised itself as a spare red and blue costume. It attempted to forcibly bond itself to Spider-Man. Later the Vulturions attacked and Spider-Man forced him to take them all to a church tower. The Bells rang to sound the hour, the symbiote felt the pain. The clanging of the church bells and Spider-Man's rejection of the symbiote weakened the alien. The symbiote, using its remaining strength, it slithered away from Spider-Man and the Bells. The rejection of the symbiote left it extremely bitter toward Spider-Man, a trait it would share with its future hosts.

The Black Cat thought the black costume was sexier and made Spider-Man a cloth version of the suit. Spider-Man switched back and forth between the two suits for some time until Venom comes looking for him. By this time, Spider-Man had married Mary Jane Watson-Parker, and Venom scared her horribly. She asked him to stop wearing the black costume, and he returned to his original costume.

Eddie Brock

Brock was a reporter who was fired after Spiderman debunked his award story, "the Sin-Eater case," humiliating him and ruining his career, forcing him to find work with cheap gossip magazines. Before then Brock found out he had cancer and his writing one of the only things that kept it of his mind. Attracted by his adrenaline producing cancer the symbiote bonded with Eddie and kept him alive. Eddie feared that Spiderman would accept the symbiote back, condeming him to death. Thus he sought to kill the webslinger. When bonded, Venom speaks using the first person plural (we), signifying that Brock and the symbiote are two separate entities joined together - although, on occasion, Eddie referred to it as 'My other and I'. They fought Spider-Man many times, and came close to winning on several occasions. As well as fueling Eddie's rage against Spider-Man, the symbiote allowed him to indulge in a sporadic career as a vigilante. After switching back and forth a number of times-either helping Spider-Man or fighting against him, having a Christian revelation Eddie sold the symbiote to Don Fortunato after he discovered he had cancer. Eddie would have a hand in determining Aunt May's fate who was in the same hospital as him after being shot by a sniper hired by Wilson Fisk. It was an action that would "damn him forever or redeem him". He was in the hospital having delusions that made him see his other, representing his dark side. After a long time of this figment of his imagination taking away his sanity, he spotted Aunt May and Mary Jane and had no idea what to do, but his dark side then persuaded him to order a black suit similar to Peter's and put it on, apparently making his decision that may forever damn him. Although Eddie eventually resisted his other's urgings to murder the helpless May Parker, it was implied that Eddie still sought to reunite with the symbiote, stating that 'I'm the one in charge.' For a short time during the Spider-Island event, Eddie and the symbiote merged again, but by this point Eddie hated the symbiote, and he was physically terrified at the prospect of being rebonded to it, even shedding tears.

Other Hosts

Anne Weying

The Venom symbiote joined with Eddie's ex-wife on two occasions. The first bonding occurred when Anne was seriously wounded after being shot by the second Sin-Eater. With her condition rapidly deteriorating, the symbiote bonded with Anne on Eddie's insistence in order to save her. Under the influence of the symbiote, Anne impulsively murdered a pair of thugs, an act she instantly regretted. The second time she bonded with the symbiote occurred in police custody. Used as bait to lure her ex-husband, Anne was once again joined with the symbiote after Eddie transferred his other through a telephone line, allowing her to escape. These instances proved traumatic for Anne, causing her to commit suicide later on.

Ben Reilly (Scarlet Spider)

During the Planet of Symbiotes event, the Venom symbiote temporary disguised itself as the Scarlet Spider's hoodie, and takes him, Spider-Man, and Eddie Brock through a portal to an alien planet that had been conquered by symbiotes.

Angelo Fortunato

Angelo Fortunato, the Don's son, became the second Venom for a brief period of time. However, Angelo proved to be a weak host for the symbiote, being humiliated in a battle with Spider-Man. The symbiote abandoned Angelo while he was between buildings and the subsequent fall killed him.

Mac Gargan

The Venom symbiote approached Macdonald "Mac" Gargan , who was considered a low-level villain, offering him new abilities. Gargan bonded with the creature, which would later give him an extra edge as part of Norman Osborn's Sinister Twelve. Even with these additional powers he was still swiftly defeated by Spider-Man, as the Avengers dealt with the rest of the Twelve. Gargan later became a member of a sub-group of the Thunderbolts, which was drafted 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. When in the Venom persona Gargan retained very little of his original personality and was controlled almost completely by the symbiote, and when the symbiote was dormant in his body he expressed nausea and fear of the organism. After the events of Siege, the U.S. Military has removed the Symbiote from Gargan.

Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel)

While trying to help Spider-Man defeat Venom outside of Asgard during Siege, Carol successfully pulled Mac Gargan out of the symbiote. At that point, the symbiote gravitated toward her, and she became the host. With the help of Spider-Man, she was able to eventually pull it off of herself when she flew into some powerlines and expelled all the energy she had absorbed from them^[1].

Flash Thompson

After the Symbiote is removed from Mac Gargan, the US military reassign it to Flash Thompson. With it Flash regained his legs (only while in contact with the creature) and gained spider-powers. Apparently, Thompson has a different link to the symbiote as previous hosters, like making the symbiote come back to him because Thompson "needs it". Scientist researchers found out that there are 48 window hours after the first contact with the symbiote until it totally bends to its host. Venom battled the Crime-Master, and destroyed a illigal shipment of Vibranium. To this, the villain kidnapped Betty Brant, but gave the location to Thompson only if he doesn't bother him any more. During Spider-Island, Venom battled the Spider-Queen and infiltrated its hive dressed as her guard, Spider-King. Along with Steve Rogers, Thompson killed the Spider-Queen, but she mutated in a giant spider, which was later killed by Kaine.

Red Hulk

During the Circle of Four, Flash gave Red Hulk the symbiote. Also, Red Hulk was bonded with the Spirit of Vengeance, becoming both Venom and Ghost Rider, a being of immense power. After the events of Circle of Four, Red Hulk returned the symbiote to Flash Thompson.

Powers and AbilitiesEdit

Powers

The Symbiote can mimic any type of clothing whatsoever, as well as blending Venom in his surroundings, rendering him invisible. The Symbiote has augmented all of its host's physical abilities to superhuman levels equal to, and in some cases greater than, Spider-Man's.

Venom (1st Incarnation): The first individual to bond with the symbiote was Edward Brock, seeing as Peter Parker did not allow it to complete the process. Naturally the symbiote chose to endow Eddie with most of the powers Spider-Man had, but the symbiote via Brock's innovative mentality managed to create some new powers and even mutate over time.

• Superhuman Strength: Before he came into contact with the costume, Brock had conditioned himself to lift (press) 700 lb.^[2] Once they merged, the costume added Spider-Man’s superhuman strength to Brock’s vast human strength, making him more powerful than Spider-Man. However, his full strength often fluctuates. Venom has demonstrated strength ranging from only slightly greater than Spider-Man's to being capable of trading blows with high-powered individuals such as Juggernaut. This is caused by the several mutations that the symbiote took with Brock, gaining additional bulk and muscle mass over long periods of time with its host.

• Superhuman Durability: Venom's body is highly resistant to physical injury, capable of withstanding assault from high-caliber bullets as well as attacks from super powered individuals. When distributed at a typical thickness over Brock's body, the Symbiote is capable of absorbing bullets from small-arms weapons firing conventional ammunition. The Symbiote is however particularly vulnerable to both sonic and heat-based attacks.

• Superhuman Stamina: Venom is also capable of surviving in harmful areas for long periods of time such as underwater or in toxic gases, the symbiote filtering breathable air to the host.

• Accelerated Healing Factor: Additionally, the symbiote is capable of healing injuries in the host at a faster rate than normal human healing allows. The symbiote is also capable of healing injuries and illnesses that current human medical care cannot such as cancer.

• Genetic Memory: The symbiote possesses some limited psychic ability, making it capable of obtaining information from its hosts and even other people and symbiotes simply by touch. This ability allowed Eddie Brock to know the secret identity of Spider-Man when the symbiote bonded with him. It can however, be forced to forget information if the symbiote is inflicted with heavy trauma.

• Offspring Detection: The symbiote is also capable of psychically detecting its offspring, however with effort this ability can be blocked.

• Wall-Crawling: The alien costume also replicates Spider-Man’s ability to cling to walls by controlling the flux of inter-atomic attraction between molecular boundary layers.

• Webbing Generation: Venom can shoot strands of the alien’s substance in the form of "webbing" at high pressure up to a distance of 70 feet. The alien’s substance seems to be composed of tough, flexible fibers of organic polymers, which regenerate swiftly after "shedding." The strands have extraordinary adhesive properties, which diminish rapidly once they abandon their living source. After about three hours, with no source to nourish them, the strands dry up like dead skin and dissolve into a powder. The strands possess a tensile strength of 125 pounds per square millimeter of cross section. The one limitation to this ability was used to Spider-Man's advantage during their second bout; Since the webbing itself comprises the costume, if Venom generates too much he will be left vulnerable as the symbiote is weakened and unable to replenish his lost mass for a short period of time. In addition to creating webbing, Brock can use the symbiote in the form of tentacles or tendrils to attack or ensnare his opponents.

• Constituent-Matter Generation: Venom can also use the same substance comprising the symbiote in the form of constituent black matter or goo, and uses it in this method for lethal force against criminals. Venom can send a part of the symbiote and direct its movements into a victim's body, smothering them from the inside. ^[3]

• Constituent-Matter Manipulation: The Venom Symbiote has recently developed this new ability. Venom can morph sections of his body, such as his hands or feet, into spikes, blades, axes or a shield.

• ESP (Spider-Sense): Venom also possesses an extrasensory ability similar to Spider-Man’s spider-sense. This response is not as complicated as Spider-Man’s inherent sense since the alien costume can detect danger from every direction and conduct Brock in plenty of time. It's a lot more efficient than Spider-Man’s spider-sense because it takes less time to sense the danger, and Brock’s reflexes are faster than Spider-Man’s, because they are enhanced by the alien costume for instance Venom can dodge a gunshot or a barrage of bullets. It should be noted that as Ben Reilly was cloned from Peter before he bonded with Venom, Eddie was not immune to his spider sense.

• Immunity to Spider-Man's Spider Sense: Due to Spider-Man being a host to the symbiote, Venom, and as a result his offspring, is able to bypass Spider-Man's spider-sense. As such, Venom is capable of attacking Spider-Man without alerting him, making Venom a deadly foe.

• Camouflage Capabilities: The symbiote is capable of mimicking the appearance of any form of clothing, camouflaging with its surroundings, and even mimicking other people. Brock's preferred form of clothing was a black shirt, jacket and pants.

• Poisonous Fangs: An ability developed by Eddie Brock upon bonding with the symbiote. Originally he commanded the symbiote to sprout a maniacal grin and tongue, differentiating him from Spider-Man. Later it is revealed that this set of fangs not only intimidates foes but can deliver a powerful, venomous bite (true to Brock's namesake). This bite was able to cripple the Sandman, eventually leaving the villain turned hero unable to reform himself properly, presumably causing his death.^[4]

• Stretching and deforming: Although it's wide known that the Symbiote can stretch and deform itself, recently it was able to perform this ability during bonded with a human host.

Abilities

Because the Symbiote was previously attached to Peter Parker, it knows how to shield itself from Spider-Man's spider-sense.

Strength level

While worn by Brock he was capable of lifting 70 tons in his regular size, this is not his true limit as his strength increases with his variable muscle mass.

Weaknesses

The Symbiote is extremely sensitive to sonic and thermal attacks.

ParaphernaliaEdit

Equipment

None

Transportation

None

Weapons

None

NotesEdit

No Notes

TriviaEdit

Starting with Spider-Man The Animated Series, all reimaginings of the symbiote instead make Peter more powerful, while at the same time bringing out his more aggressive and violent side. But in the comics it only provided to Spider-Man "unlimited" organic webbing and camouflage capabilities.

LinksEdit

• 125 Appearances of Venom (Symbiote) (Earth-616)
• 31 Images featuring Venom (Symbiote) (Earth-616)
• Quotations by or about Venom (Symbiote) (Earth-616)
• Character Gallery: Venom (Symbiote) (Earth-616)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Venom (Symbiote) (Earth-616) 
• Characters killed by Venom 

No Links

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Footnotes

1. ↑ Siege: Spider-Man #1
2. ↑ Spider-Man: Brand New Day Yearbook - 2008
3. ↑ Venom Lethal Protector #1
4. ↑ Spider-Man: The Ultimate Guide (Hardcover) page 151