Venom – A History

With the release of the Venom teaser starring Tom Hardy, I decided to focus this week’s post on the villain turned anti-hero, Venom. I for one am very excited about the film, and despite the backlash surrounding the teaser think it will turn out great. There has been a lot of controversy online about them not showing the suit or even the symbiote. One thing that keeps getting forgotten is that it was a TEASER for the trailer. Not only that, but filming only wrapped shortly before Christmas and so the CGI is probably not finished on the film. Okay, now that that’s out of the way, we can move on to the character himself!

Originally the idea for a new costume for Spider-Man was created by a Marvel Comics reader named Randy Schueller. The idea was purchased from him in 1982 for a total of $220.00.

Venom first appeared as the  black costume or “alien costume” form in December of 1984 during the Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars event. It attached itself to Spider-Man when his suit was ripped and torn in battle. Because Spider-Man was the first host, all subsequent hosts gain some of the abilities of Spider-Man such as: Web slinging, wall crawling, super strength, and speed.

Several artists and creators at Marvel had a hand in creating the “alien suit”; the creators involved were: Roger Stern, Tom DeFalco, Mike Zeck and Ron Frenz.

The official character of Venom was created by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane in 1988 and first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #299 in May of that year, having received a cameo in the April issue of the same run.



The Venom symbiote is actually a sentient creature hatched on the planet Klyntar. The symbiotes of Klyntar were part of an organization called the Agents of the Cosmos. As agents, they were tasked with finding suitable hosts in order to create a force of noble warriors to maintain peace across the universe. The Venom symbiote chose poorly for its first host and was forced to carry out a genocide on the host’s planet. This genocide twisted the symbiote into a hate-filled and rage addicted being. Despite being twisted, it wanted to bond with all future hosts and protect them rather than dominate them. Due to this desire and the twisted nature of the symbiote, it was imprisoned by the other Agents of the Cosmos who feared it would contaminate the gene pool. When the Beyonder was creating Battleworld, he inadvertently incorporated the prison for the Venom symbiote into the Battleworld.

Contrary to what most readers think, Spider-Man was not the first superhero to don the alien suit. That honour fell to none other than the Merc with the Mouth, Deadpool. Deadpool found the prison and allowed the symbiote to attach itself to his costume (which had been damaged in battle). When he felt the symbiote begin to interface with his mind, Deadpool removed the symbiote and placed it back in its prison for fear that his own insanity would adversely affect it. Moments later, Spider-Man showed up and released the symbiote and allowed it to bond with him. This provided Spider-Man with a suit that could mimic street clothes, provided stronger webbing and took the colour scheme of the second Spider-Woman ( Julia Carpenter).


Back on Earth Spider-Man used the suit for months before realizing it was exerting control. He removed the suit in the bell tower of a church with the help of the sonic waves created by the ringing bell. The suit then returned to Peter’s apartment and took the form of a regular blue and red Spider-Man suit and waited for him to put it on. After realizing the suit had returned and he had bonded with it again, Spider-Man needed help. He went to the Fantastic Four to get help and they aided him in removing the suit. After Spider-Man got rid of the suit, the symbiote fled before trying to return to both him and Deadpool. Both men rejected it after it bit the arm off a bounty hunter sent to capture it by the Collector (Benicio Del Torro from GotG). The symbiote fled to the church where Spider-Man had removed it earlier, Our Lady of Saints Church, and  found a new host in the form of disgraced journalist, Eddie Brock.

Eddie had been having a rough go of things… He lost his job as a journalist, he had been diagnosed with adrenal cancer, he had been disowned by his father and his wife had left him. He was contemplating suicide when he went to the Our Lady of Saints church to pray for forgiveness. It was there that the symbiote was drawn to him. His hatred with Spider-Man for ruining his journalism career was amplified by the symbiote and turned into a fixation of either reclaim Spider-Man or killing him.

Over several years Venom and Spider-Man would fight. Eddie believed the symbiote wanted to return to Spider-Man and would leave him if given the chance, so Eddie resolved the only way to keep the symbiote was to kill Spider-Man. During a battle with Styx and Stone, in which Eddie had become a vigilante and was assisting Spider-Man, the symbiote appeared to have been killed by Styx’s deathly touch. When the symbiote healed it found Eddie in prison and broke him out. The symbiote reproduced asexually and it’s offspring bonded with Eddie’s cellmate Cletus Kasady creating Carnage.

The symbiote then left Eddie Brock and bonded with Mac Gargan (the Scorpion) a low level villain that agreed to satiate its blood lust and kill Spider-Man. Gargan would go onto be a member of the Thunderbolts and Sinister 12. He was nearly killed when he tracked down a former host and it was revealed to be Eddie Brock. Brock had the remnants of the Venom symbiote in his blood mutated and became Anti-Venom. Gargan barely escaped alive and the symbiote was badly damaged during the fight when it tried to leave Gargan and bond with Brock. Following the events of Siege, the US Military took possession of the symbiote.

Venom 2

Flash Thompson was a war hero who had lost his legs in combat. He was recruited by the military to become Agent Venom. Agent venom worked with Flash and was sent on covert mission around the globe. The time it took for the symbiote to completely bond with its host was 48 hours, and as such Flash was only allowed to wear the symbiote for missions. He was able to remain in control of the symbiote until he got mad in which case the symbiote was able to take over regardless of the suppressant drugs the military was pumping into the symbiote. Flash participated in many Avengers mission as a Secret Avenger and was even a member of the Thunderbolts. He was asked by Steve Rogers to take Iron Man’s place as liaison with the Guardians of the Galaxy. During his tenure with the Guardians, the Klyntar Hive Mind attempted to reconnect with the symbiote which caused the symbiote to go berserk. The symbiote took over each member of the Guardians until it at last found Drax, who was able to pilot the ship to the symbiote home world of Klyntar. There the symbiote voluntarily re-integrated with the Hive Mind and was cleansed of its blood lust and hatred before being re-bonded with Flash.

Agent Venom

Upon return to Earth after the second Civil War, Flash was hunting down Mania and was attacked by an FBI task force equipped with Anti-symbiote weaponry. The symbiote left Flash and ran, due to it’s shame for reverting to its bloodthirsty ways. It happened upon a former Army Ranger, Lee Price,  who was about to be gunned down in a botched arms deal between two rival gangs. The symbiote bonded with him to protect him but was quickly dominated by the soldier’s will. Price quickly went on to massacre both sides in the gang conflict and used traumatic childhood memories to shut the symbiote up when it rejected his commands. Price would further use the symbiote as a means of crime and vigilantism until two FBI agents discovered his identity. These agents told Price they would expose him as Venom if he did not comply and return to the FBI. When Price refused to go (obviously), Eddie Brock and his anti-symbiote task force, along with Spider-Man managed to separate Price from the symbiote.  Price was arrested by the NYPD before being broken out by Maniac. While the symbiote was en route to the FBI headquarters in New York to be handed over to Alpha Flight; Brock broke the symbiote out of captivity reuniting with it once more. With the symbiote bonding to Brock again, Venom has become the Lethal Protector he once was.


While the symbiote itself bonds with another being to reach its full potential, it does itself have it’s own personality and thoughts. The first host it bonded with was corrupt and thus corrupted the symbiote to the point that it was addicted to rage and hatred. As previously stated it was because of this that it was captured and imprisoned by the Agents of the Cosmos. Prior to being bonded with Spider-Man the symbiote was only able to understand simple emotions like sadness, happiness and anger. The symbiote viewed Peter Parker as his ideal host and was able to understand more complex emotions when bonded with him. When Peter rejected the symbiote it’s admiration for him was replaced with hatred and anger. It never truly liked any of its subsequent hosts believing them all to be inferior to Peter Parker.

The symbiote is adverse to lying and will be brutally honest if given the time to speak. It will normally say the things it knows will get you to lose control and give into the rage that it feeds on.

Venom Symbiote

Prior to it being cleansed, the symbiote’s blood lust was insatiable. Eddie Brock described it as ” an ocean of darkness trying to drown him with its rage and hunger, reducing his mind to a “red ruin” at its most intense”. This blood lust only increased as time went on until when it was bonded with Mac Gargan, it forced Mac to bend to its will. Mac became overwhelmed by the symbiote’s blood lust and resorted to cannibalism as a means to satiate it’s desire for blood. When it was bonded with Flash, he took suppressant drugs to keep the symbiote under control, but if Flash ever lost control and gave into his rage, the symbiote would take over. After abandoning Gargan, the symbiote attempted to find itself a permanent host. The symbiote wished to find the strongest host and as such would bond with an individual while still searching for a stronger host. This led to the symbiote attempting to abandon Eddie and Flash while in various conflicts. The symbiote tried to abandon Flash to bond with Kaine (a clone of Peter Parker) but Flash was able to stop the symbiote through sheer force of will.

Once it was cleansed of it’s rage and blood lust, the symbiote became docile repentant and subservient to its host (Flash Thompson at the time) in essence, what it was intended to be all along. When Flash expressed concern that his own hot headedness might affect the symbiote and change it again; the symbiote spoke to Flash saying it preferred him as a host and called Flash its friend.

Because it’s comics and the symbiote can never just be at peace it slowly reverted back to its old ways until it was forcibly removed from Flash. After the ordeal with Lee Price, being captured by the FBI and being re-bonded to Eddie,  the symbiote became re-corrupted but still wanted to be a hero. The blood lust returned and Eddie was forced to seek help from Alchemex which cured the issue and returned the symbiote to its benevolent state post cleansing.

The symbiote is very possessive and as such will violently defend its wearer if attacked. This has led to several brutal fights between Venom and others throughout his comic run.


The symbiote is able to act on its own without a host body. It is able to controls its tendrils and tentacles and can even assume a humanoid shape briefly. When bonded with a host, it takes on a black and white coloured suit with large white eyes and a large mouth filled with sharp teeth.  Due to having been bonded with Spider-Man for an extended period of time it gained access to his genetic code and can bestow similar powers onto any being that becomes its host. In addition to Spider-Manlike powers, it also enhances all the physical attributes of its host to superhuman levels.


Some of the powers it grants are as follows:

  • Superhuman Strength
  • Superhuman Durability
  • Superhuman Stamina
  • Healing Factor – Able to cure ailments and injuries human beings cannot ie. Cancer.
  • Genetic Memory
  • Offspring Detection
  • Wall Crawling
  • Webbing Generation
  • Constituent Matter Generation
  • Constituent Matter Manipulation
  • Spider Sense
  • Immunity to Spider Sense – Venom is one of the few characters in Marvel comics that cannot be picked up by Spider-Man’s Spider Sense. Ben Reilly who was cloned prior to Peter becoming host to Venom, is still able to detect Venom with his Spider Sense.
  • Camouflage – Able to mimic clothing, and surroundings
  • Poisonous Fangs
  • Parasitic Inheritance – Able to copy the abilities of hosts it had been bonded to
  • Shapeshifting

The Symbiote does not have many weaknesses other than sonic attacks and intense heat. Since it first bonded with Spider-Man, these attacks have become less effective as the symbiote has built up an immunity.

Venom is one of the best Spider-Man villains specifically for his belief that if the symbiote can’t bond with Spider-Man then he has to die. With everything that happened to the symbiote it’s no wonder that it turned out the way it did (a murderous cannibalistic rage monster). The journey that the symbiote went on after being bonded with Eddie has shown that while something might start off as evil there is always the room for growth. Venom went from being a genocidal symbiote, to a villain, to a hero, back to villain, and back to hero. Now, in Marvel publications, he has been termed as an anti-hero (Awe YEAH) and I think this is a great arc for the character to go through.


I’m super excited for the movie starring Tom Hardy and I think if done right (knock on wood) it could be a great film. I understand the trouble with having a Venom movie without have a black suit Spider-Man; however, sometimes you just have to accept that not everything can be done. We got a black suit Spider-man in the terrible Spider-Man 3 from 2007 and the fans were not impressed… mostly due to the dancing and Topher Grace. The suit when on Spider-Man looked good, but the skinny emo Venom we were given was just a travesty. I am really hoping for a redemption of the character by Tom Hardy. Hardy is a great actor and I’ve never seen a role that he didn’t perform well. One of his greatest performances for me has to be in Inception. Just his general badassery in that movie was top notch. If he can channel that energy into his role as Eddie Brock, we may finally get the lethal protector comic fans have been waiting for.

Well there you have it, a breakdown of Venom before the Venom movie comes out. Any questions or comments feel free to post. as always, See you next week!

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