Edward Brock (Earth-616)

From Marvel Database

History

The Symbiotes were a conquering race who had no feelings unto themselves. They fed off the emotions of those they conquered and forced them to do spectacular feats in order to feel the adrenaline rush. Eventually, the beings would be sucked dry and left for dead. One symbiote was placed in a prison and condemned to death by disintegration when it was discovered that he focused more on bonding and communicating then on dominating.

When the Beyonder created Battleworld, the crime fighter known as Spider-Man released the symbiote when his familiar red-and-blue one was ripped into tatters, believing it to be an alien clothing generator. When Spider-Man grabbed the little black ball, it instantly slithered over his body, covering him from head to toe. But it did not pattern itself after his red-and-blue costume. Rather, it took on the appearance of the garment worn by the new superhuman adventurer on Battleworld Spider-Woman, whom Spider-Man had been admiring. The web spinner was amazed at the properties of his new suit, but never questioned the mechanisms behind them. For instance, it could mimic any type of clothing whatsoever, making Spider-Man’s need for spare clothing obsolete. It also contained a "dimensional aperture" where he could place his camera, spare change, and other items without adding to the bulk of the costume. The costume was also equipped with its own web-shooter and seemingly contained an unlimited supply of webbing.

Contents 1 History 2 Powers and Abilities 2.1 Powers 2.2 Abilities 2.3 Strength level 2.4 Weaknesses 3 Notes 4 Trivia 5 Links 5.1 Discover and Discuss 6 References

Once Spider-Man returned to Earth, the alien costume could not tolerate being separated from its host for long periods of time. At night, when Spider-Man’s alter ego, Peter Parker, slept, the symbiote would engulf him and send the somnambulator to battle evil. Later, Spider-Man battled the Puma, who perceived that the wall-crawler’s webs were organic. Startled by this revelation, Spider-Man accepted Reed Richards' offer to study the costume. Richards learned that the costume was actually a living alien symbiote, a parasite trying to graft itself permanently to Spider-Man both mentally and physically. Richards succeeded in separating the alien costume from its host by shooting it with a "sonic blaster." He then contained the being in a special environmental cell. But the alien was much more intelligent than anyone perceived. It escaped from its cell and made its way to Peter Parker’s closet where it waited, disguised as a spare red-and-blue costume.

Spider-Man unwittingly donned the costume, which immediately made itself apparent. He brought it to the tower at Our Lady of Saints Church gambling the intense sound of its bells would destroy it. Spider-Man lost the gamble, and he succumbed to the bells before the costume did. However, the empathic parasite had preyed upon the emotions of Spider-Man long enough to learn how to feel, and in feeling, to act. Sacrificing itself, the alien costume saved Spider-Man, who assumed it then, crawled away to die. Actually, the symbiote, weak and dying, slithered down into the church where Eddie Brock knelt in prayer at the altar. Raised a Catholic, he begged forgiveness for the suicide he was contemplating.

Brock had been a successful columnist for the newly revived Daily Globe until he began writing a series of articles about the "Sin-Eater murders". A bogus offender had confessed to Brock about committing the murders. While protecting the "murderer’s" identity under the First Amendment, Brock wrote a series of stories in the Globe detailing his dialogue with the supposed killer, until mounting pressure from the authorities forced him to write an exclusive revealing the murderer's name. Although that edition of the paper sold out immediately, Spider-Man soon revealed the true identity of the Sin-Eater to be Detective Stan Carter, making Brock a laughingstock among his fellow journalists. Fired from the Daily Globe, he was forced to write venomous drivel for scandal newspapers. Brock's wife left him, and his future appeared to be over. Brock blamed his predicament on Spider-Man.

Soon after, Brock began an intense physical workout program hoping to reduce the stress his life had become. However, such physical exertions only increased his violent obsession with Spider-Man. Although his body had been honed to near-perfection, Brock’s mind was reduced to an all-consuming vessel of hatred. It was this fierce emotion that attracted the empathic parasite. In order to survive, the alien costume had to feed off the nearest and greatest source of emotion. The symbiote joined mentally and physically with Brock, whose emotions overwhelmed the already confused alien. The dominant thought on both their minds was that of Spider-Man. But Brock’s sheer hatred for the crime fighter twisted the symbiote’s feelings to a similar extent. In effect, Brock’s emotions drove the symbiote insane, just as their bonding may have driven Brock over the edge. Brock soon discovered that the costume gave him all the powers of Spider-Man, and more. It also added bulk to his already large frame and increased his strength to superhuman levels. Calling himself "Venom," Brock directed the costume to sprout a hideous grin and plotted his revenge. Through the costume, Venom learned a great deal about Spider-Man, including his secret identity.

Brock taunted Peter Parker with minor assaults, such as pushing him in front of a moving subway train. The alien costume could cancel out the wall-crawler’s spider-sense presumably by projecting conflicting frequencies upon Spider-Man's brain waves. Venom finally made a bold move when he confronted Parker’s wife, Mary Jane, at their old Chelsea apartment. Although Venom’s twisted sense of morality did not allow him to physically harm Mary Jane, Spider-Man immediately realized the nature of this threat. Taking the time to retrieve the sonic blaster from the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man challenged Venom at Our Lady of Saints Church. Although he fired the blaster at Venom, Spider-Man soon discovered that the symbiote could not be separated from Brock because it had completely bonded with him. Trying to escape and rethink his options, Spider-Man was caught unawares by Venom. He captured Spider-Man and secured him to the inside of the church bell with a considerable amount of webbing. Spider-Man narrowly escaped the bell’s crushing clapper before defeating Venom by forcing him to deplete his webbing supply, of which the alien symbiote was actually comprised. Before the alien could regenerate enough of its mass to become a renewed threat, Spider-Man brought Venom to the Fantastic Four who imprisoned him in a sonic containment cell. The Fantastic Four then shipped Venom to the government super-prison in the Colorado Rockies called the Vault. A young guard who had just been assigned to the Vault was fooled into thinking that Venom was a fallen colleague and released the gate mechanism, which imprisoned the criminal. Venom killed the naive guard and escaped to New York City, where he once again confronted Spider-Man. This time Spider-Man used psychological warfare upon Venom, by taunting the alien symbiote to return to him. The alien, torn by its love-hate relationship for Spider-Man, tried to leave Brock and to re-establish its link with its original owner. But the trauma of trying to detach itself from Brock’s nervous system was too much to bear. The alien costume and Eddie Brock were both knocked unconscious and were subsequently returned to the Vault, where they were incarcerated. Since then, Venom has gone through many changes.

The next fight, Venom went after Spider-man around the same time Jonathon Caesar, an insane and obsessed fan of Mary Jane Watson-Parker, sent two mercenaries Styx and Stone, after the wall-crawler. Venom unintentionally became involved in the plot when the two attempted to follow him through the sewers in the hope of finding Spider-man. Unfortunately for them, Venom escaped the sewers in his human guise. After yet another fight with Spider-man, Styx and Stone found the two and attempted to kill Spider-man. Fortunately for Spidey, albeit in a bad way, Venom would not allow anyone else to kill Spider-man, save himself. Attacking the two, the fight ensued, before Styx, the living cancer, touched his symbiote, killing it in the process. The symbiote seemingly dead, Eddie Brock was sent to a normal prison.

However, later, it was revealed the symbiote was merely sent into a comatose state, seemingly immune to Earthly diseases. Returning to Eddie Brock, the two easily escaped. In the breakout, however, the suit left a small spawn behind it, which would bond with Eddie's cellmate, Cletus Kasady. No one would no about this for months. Eddie brought Spider-man to an island in the Caribbeans, away from people and innocents, in the hope of killing him alone. However, Spider-man later realized that Venom would only be happy if he knew that Spider-man was dead. Faking his death, Spider-man made Venom believe that he had died. Happy at last, Venom thought there was no reason to return to civilization, having all he needed on the island, and stayed there.

A few months later, however, the megalomaniacal serial killer, known only as Carnage, began a mass-murdering rampage throughout Manhattan, killing hundreds of people. Spider-man attempted to stop him, but swiftly learned that he was greatly outmatched, despite his superior experience. Realizing that Carnage possessed a symbiote, Peter reluctantly realized that he needed Venom's help in order to stop this menace. Contacting Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, they went to the island where they had left Venom. When Venom realized that Spider-man was alive, he attacked the two. After a brief spat, however, Venom listened to what Spider-man had to say. Promising to help Spider-man stop Carnage in exchange for his freedom, Spider-man reluctantly agreed, starting the first of many uneasy alliances with each other.

Returning to New York, Venom and Spider-man attempted to stop Carnage's rampage twice with equal failure. Finally, however, at Madison Square Garden, they stopped Carnage after trying to kill J. Jonah Jameson. Turning on the sound system to the max, Spider-man stopped Carnage, and reluctantly attempted to stop Venom, before Venom attacked him, still possessing enough hatred and strength to attempt to choke him. However, Venom was stopped by the Fantastic Four, who Venom realized was behind this all along. Venom's hatred for Spider-man was greater than ever.

After years of combating, however, Venom reached an understanding with Spider-man, and made a truce.

After dealing a truce with Spider-Man and relocating to San Francisco, Venom was recruited via an ultimatum by the government to be a special operations counter-terrorist agent. Venom agreed, but one stipulation of the deal did not sit too well with him. A bomb was planted in his chest to assure complete and utter obedience. After a few missions, Venom became tired of the situation and had the symbiote perform surgery on him and extracted the bomb. A brouhaha ensued wherein the end result was Eddie Brock lying unconscious and the symbiote "dead," only to return later on and re-join with Eddie. Thus Venom was whole again and looking to square things with Spider-Man once again. He had lost his memory and no longer knew the secret identity of Spider-Man, but knew that a deep seated hatred resided within him for the Web-Head.

Shortly after the reunion, Venom joined the Sinister Six for a brief period in order to get at Spider-Man. After being scorned by the group, he hunted down certain members of the team for revenge (including Electro, the Sandman, and Kraven the Hunter (Alyosha Kravinoff). Later Eddie Brock approached his ex-wife Anne Weying, and at the thought of having the symbiote back in her life, she jumped out of her apartment window and killed herself. Venom blamed Spider-Man, whom he had a skirmish with right before Anne died. Thus the hatred for the old Web-Head was fueled anew.

After an extended period of inactivity, Venom resurfaced with cancer, and the only thing keeping him alive was the symbiote, who did not want him anymore. After seeing a spiritual movie, Eddie decided to sell his symbiote off in an auction, swearing off his life of vigilantism. The winner of the auction was the the gang lord Don Fortunato. He gave the symbiote to his son, Angelo, in hopes that Angelo would finally make a name for himself. The symbiote eventually left Angelo to die in mid-air. The symbiote passed on to Mac Gargan, the Scorpion. Brock was discovered after making an attempt to kill himself, and was hospitalized.

He was rapidly succumbing physically to his cancer and experiencing hallucinations of the symbiote, representing his dark side. After a while of being tormented by his other, he spots Mary Jane Watson Parker watching over Aunt May who has been seriously wounded by a bullet. Eddie has no idea what to do, but his dark side then persuades him to order a black suit similar to Peter's and put it on, apparently making the decision that may forever damn him.

Making a decision to go and try to murder Aunt May while she was in a coma, Eddie Brock embodied the black costume and set out to kill her, first murdering a nurse for getting in his way. But after sneaking into Aunt May's room, Brock had a change of heart, finding he could not murder someone as innocent as Aunt May. Peter entered the room moments later to find Brock sitting on the shattered window, and having slit his own wrists dozens of times, and said to Peter that he (Brock) had done too many terrible things to live on, and jumped off, attempting suicide a third time, but Peter broke his fall by catching him with two strands of webbing. Awakening chained to his bed, Brock decided to take better control of himself for the remaining days he has left.

He then started working for Mr. Li and Aunt May at the F.E.A.S.T. center. There he worked serving food to the homeless. Thanks to Mr.Li's "mysterious powers." Eddie was cured of both his cancer and the remnants of the symbiote. But, the current Venom entered the F.E.A.S.T. center looking for Spider-man. He found Eddie and the symbiote began to crawl onto him again. However, Mr. Li's powers clash with the takeover and they formed Anti-Venom. Later in a fight against Spider-man, he noticed his foe rescue an innocent old man. Inspired, Anti-venom helped Spidey cure the current Venom. He engaged Venom in a fight, and after receiving some help from Spider-Man, cured Gargan from the symbiote, but also felt some remnants of the symbiote inside Peter's blood and began "curing" him as well, but also ended up sucking the radiation from Spider-Man's blood, something that might depower him.

Later, Thunderbolts guard arrived to took the disabled Gargan to the ship while Songbird and Radioactive Man battled Spider-Man and Anti-Venom. After the fight, Anti-Venom snuck on the Thunderbolts ship and stole back Peter Parker's camera, looted by Norman Osborn in a bid to reverse engineer the tracing system allowing the camera to zero on Spider-Man's chest. He was able to help Peter escape Osborn's tracer, and forewarn him about his next move, in a show of friendship and good-will.

Anti-Venom led Spider-Man to Oscorp and the two split up. Brock disguised himself as Spider-Man to distract the other Thunderbolts while Spider-Man went after Osborn. After webbing Songbird and Radioactive Man to a wall, Anti-Venom faced Gargan, who was now wearing a new Scorpion battlesuit to protect his recovering symbiote. After a grueling battle, Gargan, as Scorpion, hit Anti-Venom with his stinger and injected a poisonous formula that seemingly destroyed Brock's suit. Gargan advanced to kill Brock but was met with resistance by his Venom symbiote. The symbiote gained strength and broke though Gargan's battle suit, refusing to let Gargan kill Brock. Gargan explained that the suit still loved Brock too much and gave up, but he promised Brock that he would get past this problem and someday finish him off, to which Brock replied "not if I kill you first." Unknown to Gargan, Brock's Anti-Venom suit reformed. Now a fugitive for helping Spider-Man and fighting the Thunderbolts, Brock was back on the streets, planning to continue his former vigilante antihero career with seemingly increased religious emphasis as The Anti-Venom.

Brock was the first person to find out that Martin Li was Mister Negative. In the end, Eddie questioned his own faith and cried out that no one would believe him, because he was a monster.^[1]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Symbiotic Costume: The alien costume, which has grafted itself to the nervous system of Eddie Brock, somehow absorbed the powers of Spider-Man during its brief symbiotic relationship with him. These powers have now been transferred to Brock, so long as he wears the costume.

• Superhuman Strength: Before he came into contact with the costume, Brock had conditioned himself to lift (press) 11 tons^[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.
• 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 illness 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, 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 also 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. In addition to creating webbing, Brock can use the symbiote in the form of tentacles or tendrills to attack.
• 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 is not as efficient as Spider-Man’s spider-sense because it takes longer to communicate the danger, and Brock’s reflexes are not as fast as Spider-Man’s, even though they are enhanced by the alien costume. It is unknown whether Venom could dodge a gunshot or a barrage of bullets.

-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.

  Abilities

Before his bonding with the symbiote, Eddie Brock was an incredibly skilled reporter for the Daily Globe, and knows how to investigate. He also has many sources of information in helping with his plans.

Strength level

Venom possessed superhuman strength enabling him to lift about 11 tons^[3], however judging on some of the beings he has tangled with it appears his strength fluctuates. As Anti - Venom he is roughly as strong as Venom(Gargan) if not stronger as he was sucessfully able to trade punches , this would enable him to lift up to 40 tons .^{[4] [5]}

Weaknesses

The Symbiote is extremely sensitive to Sonic and Thermal attacks. As the Anti-Venom, he can only be weakened by poisons that infect the body. The Suit takes the damage leaving Eddie, powerless.

Notes

• A mini-series may come out for Anti-Venom with Zeb Wells writing it. It will be called Anti-Venom: Dark Reign or Dark Reign: Anti-Venom.

  Trivia

• Eddie's full name is Edward Allan Charles Brock. In the MC2 universe, he names his son; Christian Nathaniel Alexander Brock

Links

• Appearances of Edward Brock (Earth-616)
• Character Gallery: Edward Brock (Earth-616)
• Images that feature Edward Brock (Earth-616)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Edward Brock (Earth-616)
• Quotations by Edward Brock (Earth-616) 

Venom of Spider-Man 3 (film)

Discover and Discuss

• Search News for: Anti-Venom · Edward Allan Charles Brock · Edward Brock (Earth-616)
• Search Forums for: Anti-Venom · Edward Allan Charles Brock · Edward Brock (Earth-616)
• Discuss this and other characters on the forums

References