Venom (character)

Did You Know?

• The symbiote contains a small dimensional aperture that allows hosts to carry items without adding mass to the costume.
• Venom has spawned several children, including Scream, Lasher, Phage, Agony, Riot, Mania, Sleeper, and Carnage.
• The symbiote can communicate telepathically with its host and may possess technopathy, as it summoned a flying device to escape the Baxter Building.

Conception and creation

The idea for Spider-Man's new costume, which later became Venom, originated with Marvel reader Randy Schueller of Norridge, Illinois. Artists Mike Zeck and Rick Leonardi designed the black costume. Writer/artist John Byrne later stated he had conceived a self-healing biological costume for Iron Fist, and Roger Stern asked to use the idea for Spider-Man's alien costume. Stern plotted the costume's first appearance but left the title. Writer Tom DeFalco and artist Ron Frenz established the costume as a sentient alien symbiote vulnerable to high sonic energy.

Hosts

Spider-Man obtained the black costume in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8, where a machine on Battleworld created a black sphere that formed a new costume. The costume could mimic street clothes and provided unlimited webbing. Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz later revealed the costume was a sentient symbiote vulnerable to fire and sonic energy. It would leave Parker's body at night to fight crime, exhausting him. Reed Richards discovered the costume was alive, and Parker rejected it after learning it sought permanent bonding. The symbiote escaped, rebonded with Parker, and was repelled by church bell sound waves, but it moved Parker to safety before leaving. In the 2018 "Go Down Swinging" storyline, Norman Osborn bonded with the Carnage symbiote, and Spider-Man rebonded with Venom to stop Osborn as Red Goblin, forgiving Eddie and Venom. Osborn mortally wounded Flash Thompson, but both symbiotes detached from their hosts.

Other versions

In the Marvel Comics 2 series, Norman Osborn used Venom's genetic material to create a human-symbiote hybrid. Mayday Parker allowed the symbiote, named April Parker, to live with her. April befriended May's friends, including Gene Thompson, but later became jealous and inadvertently killed Mayday in battle. Overcome with guilt, April sacrificed herself to resurrect Spider-Girl. April Parker first appeared in Amazing Spider-Girl #20. Two versions of Venom appear in the Marvel 2099 imprint. Kron Stone, older half-brother of Spider-Man 2099, was abused as a child and became a bully. After being fatally wounded, Stone bonded with a mutated Venom with acidic blood and saliva, seeking to torment Miguel O'Hara. A new Venom 2099, Alea Bell, was introduced in a 2019 one-shot. After a crash burned her arm and killed her mother, Alea underwent an experimental treatment containing a piece of Venom, which restored her arm. Alchemax intended to turn her into a supersoldier, but Alea reluctantly agreed to the symbiote's request to be made whole in exchange for her normal life.

In other media

Venom appears in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, with Spider-Man's version voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes and Eddie Brock's by Hank Azaria. The symbiote arrives via a meteorite sample collected by John Jameson. Spider-Man bonds with and rejects it, after which it bonds with Brock. Spider-Man defeats them and sends Venom to space. Venom later returns, re-fuses with Brock, and joins Spider-Man and Iron Man against Carnage, Dormammu, and Baron Mordo, sacrificing themselves to defeat the villains. The Eddie Brock incarnation appears in Spider-Man Unlimited, voiced by Brian Drummond, with a more powerful symbiote that gains full control and elasticity. Venom and Carnage travel to Counter-Earth to join the Synoptic hive mind. Venom appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man, with Spider-Man's version voiced by Josh Keaton and Brock's by Benjamin Diskin. The symbiote stows away on John Jameson's shuttle, bonds to Spider-Man, then to Brock. Venom is defeated and separated multiple times, with the symbiote escaping at the end.