Eddie BrockVenom

A hulking and twisted distortion of Spider-Man, Venom is the result of an alien symbiote merged with a human holding a bitter grudge against Peter Parker. This combination has proven nearly lethal to the wall-crawler numerous times.

Despite his hatred of Spider-Man, Venom has a twisted sense of morality, avoiding harming anyone he deems to be innocent and even performing heroic deeds. However, it is never clear how long Venom's darker impulses can be held in check. No matter how hard anyone tries to keep the symbiote down, Venom always manages to come back, like a plague.

A Race of Symbiotes

Venom's origins can be traced to a race of symbiotes from the planet Klyntar. These beings merge with hosts, and the combined entity tends to have a personality based on both the symbiote and the host itself, though sometimes one side or the other tends to dominate.

One particular symbiote found itself accidentally part of the scenery of Battleworld, a pieced-together, alien world created by the Beyonder to test heroes and villains against one another, including Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man. After a pitched battle, Spider-Man's costume was ripped to shreds, and his ally Thor mentioned a device that restored fabric.

Instead, Spider-Man inadvertently used a different device, which freed the symbiote. It immediately bonded to Spider-Man, providing him a sleek black costume and giving him notable new abilities. Instead of Peter Parker's web shooters, Spider-Man's webbing was now generated from the costume. In actuality, parts of the symbiote itself and never ran out. On top of that, his reflexes were even better than before, and Spidey could now morph the suit into any clothing he wished.

Unfortunately, the symbiote, having desires of its own, began sending Spider-Man out to web-swing and brutally fight criminals while Peter Parker was asleep, leaving Parker confused and exhausted during the day. The prolonged exposure began affecting Parker's mind. As the situation escalated, Parker discovered, to his dismay, that he couldn't remove the suit at all. In a panic, he sought out Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, who used sonic waves to remove the symbiote from Spider-Man.

The symbiote escaped and soon found Eddie Brock, a newspaper reporter who had exposed the wrong man as the infamous killer known as Sin-Eater. When Peter Parker published his correct version of the story, Brock was discredited and fired, and never forgave Peter. When the symbiote bonded with Eddie, their shared hatred of Peter Parker and Spider-Man gave rise to Venom!

Lethal Protector

Venom's twisted hate of Spider-Man, and his brief time as Spider-Man's costume, has led to his powers continuing to mimic Spider-Man's. Venom has a warning sense due to its alien origin and can swing from building to building in a similar manner as Spider-Man, using "webs" generated from the symbiote. The symbiote can change its outer appearance at will. His physiology masks him from Spider-Man's own Spider Sense. Venom is also extremely strong and agile, contributing to its ability to go toe-to-toe with Spider-Man.

However, Venom has a couple of key weaknesses that Spider-Man can exploit. High-frequency sonic technology will cause the symbiote to flee, even leading it to break its hold on the host. Fire is also something the symbiote is deathly afraid of - he will cower in the face of flames.

The Foes of Venom

Eddie Brock's dislike of Peter Parker before he bonded with the symbiote translates into a deep love-hate relationship with Spider-Man, as Venom simultaneously wants to kill Spider-Man, but also re-bond with him. Uneasy truces have followed, as Venom is an effective vigilante at times, especially when his goals align with Spider-Man's.

A clone of Venom cursed by Ghost Rider with a Hell-Mark, Mania, is a constant thorn in Venom's side; as it turns more and more to evil, it interferes with Venom's attempts to cleanse itself of this same corrupt influence.

Numerous other spawns of Venom continue to aggravate the symbiote, but none more so than Carnage: Venom's original spawn. It is a particularly vicious and bloodthirsty being, thanks to bonding with a serial killer named Cletus Casady. Venom often partners with Spider-Man to take on the dangerous and unpredictable Carnage.

An Uneasy Truce

Venom's allies often become enemies and enemies become allies depending on its constantly shifting personality.

When Doctor Octopus is temporarily incapacitated, Sandman recruits Venom into his existing version of the Sinister Six. This is the first super team that Venom belongs to, and the Sinister Six all share a hatred of Spider-Man. Among Venom's uneasy allies during foray into teamhood are Sandman, Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter, Electro, and Vulture. Later, under the command of Norman Osborn, this team expands its membership to become the Sinister Twelve.

Away from Eddie Brock, the symbiote finds a new host in Mac Gargan, formerly known as the Scorpion. Later, the symbiote bonds with Flash Thompson to create Agent Venom. As the symbiote is suppressed with drugs, Flash remains a positive influence on the symbiote's bloodlust.

A Venomous History

When Venom first bonded to Eddie Brock, it gave him specific knowledge gained when the symbiote was with Spider-Man. Eddie suddenly knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man, as well as the names of everyone close to Peter, such as Peter's then-wife, Mary-Jane Watson. Naturally, he used this information against Peter, first stalking him and then going after Peter's loved ones. Eventually, Spider-Man and Venom had their first real confrontation, and Spider-Man barely won thanks to sonic technology.

While coming close to killing Spider-Man numerous times in battles since their initial encounter, Venom also began to act as an antihero of sorts, hunting down and often killing people it believed to be guilty, while attempting to protect those in danger. Its strange code of honor prevented him from hurting anyone innocent, but if it later determined that person was, in fact, guilty, all bets were off.

During a four-way brawl against Styx and Stone and Spider-Man, Styx badly injured Venom and the symbiote disengaged from Eddie Brock, who had been imprisoned.

Still attached to Eddie in spirit, if not in body, the symbiote broke Eddie out, but left a spawn behind. That sire of Venom found a sadistic serial killer named Cletus Kasady and became Carnage, a being much more vicious and amoral than Venom. Realizing Carnage posed a threat that superseded their vendetta, Venom and Spider-Man joined forces to stop him and have worked several times since to stop Carnage's bloody rampages.

A doomsday cult called the Life Foundation kidnapped Venom and forced it to produce more spawn. These became the five symbiotes called Scream, Lasher, Riot, Agony, and Phage. Each was bonded to a Life Foundation mercenary and terrorized Venom.

Over time, the symbiote became more predatory. Eddie Brock, having turned to religion and with a cancer diagnosis, sold away the symbiote to gangster Don Fortunato. Don's son Angelo was then the second host for Venom, though his cowardice disgusted the symbiote and it abandoned Angelo in mid-air, killing him.

Next, the symbiote found Mac Gargan, formerly known as the Scorpion. Though hooked on his newfound power, Gargan began to regret this association as the symbiote became wilder and harder to control, and Venom began horrifically eating people on a regular basis.

With Matt Murdock as his lawyer, Brock, in the meantime, was cleared of all charges for any crimes committed while Venom. He was then cured of cancer by the mysterious crime lord Mister Negative. Shortly after, the Gargan version of Venom stumbled across Eddie and the symbiote attempted to bond with Brock again. The leftover symbiote inside Eddie rejected Venom and transformed him to become a stronger force for good. Now calling himself Anti-Venom, Eddie became a hero dedicated to stopping Venom's influence.

The U.S. military then stepped in and removed the symbiote from Gargan permanently, having their own plans for it. Enter Flash Thompson - now a paraplegic war veteran who still wished to serve his country.

The symbiote and Flash bonded together to create "Agent Venom," a government operative that hunted down military targets. Suppressing drugs were designed to keep the symbiote from its usual killing frenzy while on missions, though Flash had to watch his emotions lest the symbiote take control. Agent Venom successfully captured many Super Villains and even joined the Secret Avengers during this period.

When Otto Octavius was secretly inhabiting the body and mind of Peter Parker and impersonating Spider-Man, he ambushed Flash and extracted the symbiote, forcing it to bond with Otto and creating the Superior Venom. With the help of the Avengers, Flash was able to free the symbiote from Otto and return it to himself.

Agent Venom then became a go-between between the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, but the race of symbiotes called the Klyntar took notice. When the hivemind got in touch with Venom, it went berserk, taking control of each of the Guardians in turn before purifying itself in the Klyntar hivemind.

Now completely free of evil, Flash and Venom declared themselves an Agent of the Cosmos, seeking out disorder and fixing it across the universe. A chance encounter with a space pirate restored the corruption to Venom, though Flash was able to suppress it for the time being.

Back on Earth, the symbiote and Flash separated for good, thanks to the government wanting possession of it again. Its new host was Army Ranger Lee Price. But, that incarnation of Venom would be brief as Eddie Brock soon came across it, and the symbiote bonded with its favorite host once again.