Spider-Man (Peter Parker) 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. 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. 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. The symbiote escaped and bonded again to Parker, who used sound waves from a cathedral's church bell to repel it.
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. 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. 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. Michelinie's script for that page reads as follows: 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. Venom escapes from the supervillain prison,
The Vault, to torment Spider-Man and his family. 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. 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. Meanwhile, Venom and Spider-Man fight on a deserted island, and Spider-Man strands Venom there after faking his own death. Soon after, however, Spider-Man brings Venom back to
New York City to stop Carnage's killing spree. After being incarcerated once again, Venom is used to create five new symbiotes, which are all paired with human hosts. 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. From February to July 1993, a solo Venom series,
Venom: Lethal Protector, ran for six issues.
Venom: Lethal Predator notably marked in a significant change in Venom's comic book role, as he would now become more of an
antihero vigilante figure. 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. Now, however, it
dominates its host, Brock, rather than vice versa. 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 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.
Scorpion (Mac Gargan) . The Venom symbiote approached
Mac Gargan, the villain formerly known as
Scorpion, and offered him new abilities as the second Venom. Gargan bonded with the creature, which would later give him an extra edge as part of
Norman Osborn's
Sinister Twelve. 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. 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 New 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, which drove him to cannibalism. When the symbiote was dormant in his body, he expressed nausea and fear of the organism. 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. 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.
Agent Venom (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. On January 28, 2011, the identity of "black ops" Venom was revealed to be
Flash Thompson. 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,
Thunderbolts,
Guardians of the Galaxy, and even becomes appointed by the Klyntar a Space Knight.
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. 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. Lee Price eventually loses the symbiote when Eddie Brock and Spider-Man take him down and he is arrested by the
NYPD. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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.
Malekith During the
War of the Realms event, after Venom was separated from Eddie, 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) 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. 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. 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.
Dylan Brock Mary Jane Watson Other hosts Aside from the aforementioned hosts, there have been other, shorter term hosts for the Venom symbiote.
Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly) In the
Planet of the Symbiotes storyline, the symbiote was rejected by Eddie, causing it to release a powerful scream that attracts the other symbiotes to Earth. Subsequently, the symbiote sees
Scarlet Spider, (
Ben Reilly) and takes the form of his hooded top attempting to bond to Ben mistaking him for Spider-Man but failed owing to Ben's strong will. When it was later discovered by Brock and Peter Parker, the symbiote returned to Eddie.
Anne Weying 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 Venom 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. During a supply run to an Ararat Corporation owned outpost she discovers everyone at the installation dead except for one scientist. It is revealed that the Ararat Corporation is run by an alien colony of miniature spider robots led by an entity named Bob, that have infiltrated the American government. The Ararat Corporation has cloned Venom to facilitate the extermination of humanity, but the clone ravages its hosts. The clone is responsible for the death of the outpost crew. Robertson finds an ally in the Suit, a mysterious individual made of the same miniature robots as Bob, revealed to have been accidentally brought to Earth by
Reed Richards. The Suit modifies Robertson while she is unconscious to allow her to control the clone if it bonds with her. The Suit sabotages
Wolverine, the clones favored host, forcing it to bond with Robertson. One of Bob's agents convinces Robertston to kill the real Venom to save humanity, causing her to free the incarcerated Venom. She and Venom fight, but Venom escapes. Bob remotely deactivates the technology allowing Robertson to control the clone forcing her to rely on willpower. Later, Robertson and Venom again fight, and Venom absorbs the clone. Venom decides to carry out the clone's mission given to it by the Ararat corporation. The series did not continue and the plot remained unresolved as of 2012. Venom would later regurgitate and expel the clone from its body, allowing it to bond with a teenager named Andrea "Andi" Benton. Taking the name Mania, Benton became Agent Venom's partner for a time.
Angelo Fortunato Angelo Fortunato first appeared in
Marvel Knights Spider-Man #7 created by
Mark Millar and
Terry Dodson. Angelo is the son of
Don Fortunato, a prominent
Mafia capo. His frail physique and shy attitude leave Angelo frequently bullied and humiliated by his father, who attends a supervillain auction and purchases Venom from a sickly Brock for $100 million. Brock warns Angelo of the symbiote, but Angelo rebuffs him, saying that he has nothing to lose. After bonding with the symbiote, Angelo discovers the secret identity of Spider-Man, and attempts to kill him to prove his worth. Spider-Man ultimately defeats Angelo and when he tries to escape, the symbiote abandons Angelo for his cowardice while he is leaping between buildings, leaving him to fall to his death. Spider-Man tried to save him, but he ran out of webs.
Kulan Gath In the 2008
Spider-Man / Red Sonja miniseries, where Spider-Man and
Red Sonja, possessing the body of Mary Jane, fought the evil wizard
Kulan Gath, who had possessed a U.S. senator, Kulan detached the symbiote from Eddie and bonded to it, becoming
Kulan Venom. Luckily, the symbiote returned to Eddie, following the defeat of Kulan.
Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) During the
Siege, Mac Gargan with the symbiote was fighting Spider-Man and
Ms. Marvel. When they separated Mac from Venom, the symbiote briefly bonded to Carol and started flying away. But Carol gathered her powers and detached from the symbiote which rebonded to Mac.
Red Hulk (Thunderbolt Ross) During the
Circle of Four storyline, when
Red Hulk came crashing into Flash's apartment so he can recruit him, the symbiote sensing Red Hulk as a danger, briefly bonds to him so he does not do any harm to Flash. Then when Red Hulk calms down, the symbiote returns to Flash. During the fight against
Blackheart, Hulk bonded again with the symbiote along with
Zarathos to prevent Hell from coming to Earth.
Superior Spider-Man (Otto Octavius) When Flash Thompson with the symbiote was infiltrating into the
Crime Master's men,
Superior Spider-Man came attacking the criminals who was then confronted by Agent Venom. Doc Ock, thinking that Venom was still evil, attacked Flash with Web Shooters filled with burner fuel and in the process injured Flash. While Flash was recovering, Superior Spider-Man put the symbiote in a canister and gave Flash a pair of prosthetic legs. Then the symbiote broke out and, instead of bonding to Flash, bonded to Superior Spider-Man, as it was still connected to Peter's body. After bonding to the symbiote, Otto called himself the
Superior Venom and went solving crime in a much more brutal way. Then
Mary Jane called the Avengers to stop the Superior Venom. But the Avengers proved to be no match to Superior Venom since he had the abilities of Spider-Man, powered by Venom, with the mind of Doctor Octopus. In the fight Otto realizes that the symbiote was messing with his head and with the help of Peter's consciousness and Flash's (who had arrived in an
Iron Man suit) he separated himself from Venom which returned to Flash.
Groot, Rocket Raccoon and Drax When Flash was part of the
Guardians of the Galaxy he got separated from the symbiote and his teammates decided to send him to Earth. While traveling,
Groot accidentally bonds to the symbiote and started attacking the others.
Rocket tried to save his friend, but the symbiote left Groot and bonded to him. He then tried to convince them to leave the ship, but
Drax grabbed Rocket by the tail and started bashing him against the wall until the symbiote bonded to Drax and defeated the whole team. The symbiote possessed Drax, took control of the ship, and went to a planet formed from symbiotes named Klyntar (later revealed to be
Knull's cage) where the symbiote was purified and bonded to Flash.
Mercurio the 4-D Man Agent Venom as Venom Space Knight foils the Gramosian's attempts to steal resources from the home planets of the P'qui and the Wugin, and to acquire chemical weapons derived from the blood of kidnapped Vvexians. Mercurio forces a Ruu'lto named Pik Rollo, whose child he is holding hostage, to try and assassinate Agent Venom, but Rollo instead betrays Mercurio, and joins forces with Venom. When the two lay siege to Mercurio's headquarters, he incapacitates and imprisons them, and separates Venom from Flash Thompson. Sensing the symbiote's suppressed bloodlust, Mercurio attempts to convince it to join him, but it instead frees and returns to Thompson. The reformed Agent Venom and his allies proceed to dismantle Mercurio's forces, but Mercurio himself escapes, and swears vengeance on both the symbiote and Thompson. A bout of temporary insanity that Venom subsequently experiences is eventually discerned to have been caused by its brief fusion with Mercurio, whose evil had undone the mental "cleansing" that the creature had earlier undergone.
Mysterio (Quentin Beck) In the mini-series
Symbiote Spider-Man (set during the period when Spider-Man was still bonded to the symbiote), Mysterio blackmailed Black Cat into stealing a piece of Spider-Man's suit for him. When he had his friend,
Jonathan Ohnn, a scientist working for the
Kingpin, examine the piece, the symbiote controlling Peter's body came to retrieve it, however, after clashing with the Kingpin's men, was unable to find it and fled. The severed piece of symbiote bonded to Mysterio, allowing him to escape from the Kingpin's interrogation. He then went after Spider-Man to steal the suit and use it for himself. ==Powers and abilities==