Venom
Marvel Comics First appearance Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1, #300 David Michelinie Mike Zeck (alien costume design) Todd McFarlane (muscles and teeth)
Characteristics Alter ego Eddie Brock, Angelo Fortunato, Mac Gargan, Peter Parker Species Symbiotes Abilities Grants the host all the powers of its first known host, Spider-Man. Greatly enhances physical attributes of its current host. Superhuman strength, ability to change form, and ability of the symbiote to fight and defend itself when either the host or it is in danger. Limited shapeshifting, undetectable by Spider-Man's "spider-sense".

Venom is a moniker used by several characters in the Marvel Comics' fictional Marvel Universe. It was first used by the character Eddie Brock in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (April 1988). It is now used by Mac Gargan, formerly known as Scorpion. The characters and their superhuman abilities are derived from the bonding between the human host and an extraterrestrial parasite known as the Venom Symbiote. The Venom symbiote first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1, #252 (which was published several months before Secret Wars vol. 1, #8, which, chronologically, is when Spider-Man first encountered the symbiote).

The symbiote returned to Earth with Spider-Man at the end of the events of the Marvel miniseries Secret Wars. Soon, the symbiote began to exert more and more influence over its host, eventually threatening to take over. Spider-Man eventually was able to free himself, and the symbiote later found and bonded with Eddie Brock, a reporter for the New York Globe (a rival of the Daily Bugle), and later Mac Gargan, the former Scorpion.

Originally, the Venom symbiote was portrayed as a mute and lonely creature craving the company of a host. More recently, it has been shown as increasingly abusive of its hosts, and having the powers of speech.

Venom creator, David Michelinie, had originally planned for Venom to be a pregnant woman whose husband was killed in an automobile accident because the driver was distracted by Spider-Man. Much to her horror, her husband would die in the crash in front of her very own eyes. The shock would force her into labor, and ultimately lose her baby and her mind in the process. The symbiote would find her in a state of intense grief and bond with her and the two would seek revenge against Spider-Man.

However, Spider-Man editor Jim Salicrup did not believe that the audience would accept a woman as a viable threat to Spider-Man, even one enhanced by an alien symbiote.

Thusly, Venom was changed to Eddie Brock, a character specifically created to be Venom, and in the process, retconning a widely popular Spider-Man storyline, The Death of Jean DeWolff, that ran just two years prior

Fictional character biography

Pre-Venom

For more information, see the article about Symbiote.

The creature that would ultimately become Venom was born to a race of extra-terrestrial parasites, which lived by possessing the bodies of other lifeforms. The parasites would endow their victims with enhanced physical abilities, at the cost of fatally draining them of adrenaline.

According to the Planet Of The Symbiotes storyline, the Venom symbiote 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 didn't pollute the species' gene pool.

Main hosts

Spider-Man

Main article: Spider-Man

In Secret Wars #8 (December 1984), Spider-Man damages his costume in combat and is directed to a facility which can provide a new one to him. Before having the chance to recover a new suit, Spider-Man stumbles into the prison module the symbiote has been trapped in. He then activates the machine which releases the symbiote in the form of a black liquid. Upon Spider-man's first contact with the liquid, it covers his body and, reacting to Spider-Man's thoughts about the costume worn by the second Spider-Woman, forms a new costume. To Spider-Man's surprise, the costume can mimic street clothes and provides a seemingly inexhaustible and stronger supply of webbing.^[1]

Once back on Earth, Spider-Man learns the costume is a sentient alien symbiote that wishes to fuse permanently with him and often controls his body while he sleeps. With the aid of Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch, Spider-Man discovers the symbiote is vulnerable to sound and flame, and he uses sonic waves to remove it and flames to scare it into a containment module.^[2] The symbiote escapes and finds its way to Peter Parker's closet and disguising itself as a spare red and blue costume it then attempts to forcibly bond itself to Spider-Man. Later the Vulturions attack and Spider-Man forces him to take them all to a church tower. The Bells then rang to sound the hour. Spidey's hunch proved wrong and he felt the pain instead of the symbiote. The clanging of the church bells and Spider-Man's rejection of the symbiote weaken both the alien and Spider-Man. The symbiote, using its remaining strength, carries an unconscious Spider-Man to safety from the bells before it slithers away.^[3] The rejection of the symbiote left it extremely bitter toward Spider-Man, a trait it would share with its future hosts.

The Black Cat thought the black costume was sexier and made Spider-Man a cloth version of the suit. Spider-Man switched back and forth between the two suits for some time until Venom comes looking for him. By this time, Spider-Man had married Mary Jane Watson-Parker, and Venom scared her horribly. She asked him to stop wearing the black costume, and he returned to his original costume.

Eddie Brock

Main article: Venom (Eddie Brock)

Brock was a reporter for the Daily Globe who had been fired after Spider-Man debunked his would-be career story, "the Sin-Eater case," humiliating him and ultimately ruining his career. He is then forced to find work writing for cheap gossip magazines, thus causing his utter loathing of Spider-Man. Prior to being fired, Brock found out he had cancer and had only his writing to keep his mind off it. As Venom, he fought Spider-Man many times, and came close to winning on several occasions. As well as fueling Eddie's rage against Spider-Man, the symbiote allowed him to indulge in a sporadic career as a vigilante. After switching back and forth a number of times, either helping Spider-Man or fighting against him, Eddie had a Christian revelation and sold the symbiote to Don Fortunato after discovering he had cancer.

After learning that Don Fortunado's son had died while using the symbiote, Brock attempted suicide by slitting his wrists. He was found before he died and taken to a hospital-the same hospital where Peter Parker's Aunt May would later end up after being shot by an assassin who had been gunning for Spider-Man. Goaded on by hallucinations of the symbiote, Eddie ordered a black suit similar to Peter's and put it on, murdering a nurse before setting out to kill the comatose May. Although Eddie eventually resisted his dark side's murderous urgings, it is implied that Eddie still seeks to reunite with the symbiote, stating that "I'm the one in charge."

Other hosts

Anne Weying Brock

Main article: She-Venom

The Venom symbiote joined with Eddie's ex-wife on two occasions. The first bonding occurred when Anne was seriously wounded after being shot by the second Sin-Eater. With her condition rapidly deteriorating, the symbiote bonded with Anne on Eddie's insistence in order to save her. Under the influence of the symbiote, Anne impulsively murdered a pair of thugs, an act she instantly regretted. The second time she bonded with the symbiote occurred in police custody. Used as bait to lure her ex-husband, Anne was once again joined with the symbiote after Eddie transferred his other through a telephone line, allowing her to escape. These instances proved traumatic for Anne, causing her to commit suicide later on.

Angelo Fortunato

Main article: Venom (Angelo Fortunato)

Angelo Fortunato, the Don's son, became the second Venom for a brief period of time. However, Angelo proved to be a weak host for the symbiote, being humiliated in a battle with Spider-Man. The symbiote abandoned Angelo while he was between buildings and the subsequent fall killed him.

Mac Gargan

Main article: Mac Gargan

The Venom symbiote approached Macdonald "Mac" Gargan, formerly known as Scorpion, ^[4], who was considered a low-level villain, offering him new abilities. Gargan bonded with the creature, which would later give him an extra edge as part of Norman Osborn's Sinister Twelve^[5]. Even with these additional powers he was still swiftly defeated by Spider-Man, as the Avengers dealt with the rest of the Twelve^[6]. Gargan later became a member of a sub-group of the Thunderbolts^[7], which was drafted^[8] by the Avengers to hunt down the members of the fugitive Secret Avengers. It was then revealed that he had been outfitted with electrical implants by the government to keep the symbiote in check^[9] When in the Venom persona Gargan retained very little of his original personality and was controlled almost completely by the symbiote, and when the symbiote was dormant in his body he expressed nausea and fear of the organism. ^[10]

Mighty Avengers

Angel Medina claims he was reluctant to start work on Mighty Avengers because he was working on a Venom project, only to be told he would be drawing a story with "the Avengers vs. an alien invasion -- by the Venoms." ^[11] Whether this will mean a return to the Planet of the Symbiotes or an invasion of symbiotes similar to Venom is unknown.

This Arc was later confirmed to be drawn by Mark Bagley, as Medina would be unavailable. ^[12] Solicitations state that the New Avengers will also be part of this Arc, themselves becoming infested by Symbiotes.

Abilities

Though it requires a living host in order to survive, the Venom symbiote has been shown on some occasions to be able to fend for itself with its own set of unique powers.

The symbiote is telepathic and does not require physical contact to influence the minds of others. In Planet Of The Symbiotes, the creature, after being rejected by its host, emits a psychic scream which drives nearby humans to states of extreme depression. Later, with the assistance of Eddie Brock, it emits an even more powerful variant of that power which results in the mass suicide of an invasive force of symbiotes. The symbiote can also blend with any background, using an optic-camoflauge type of effect. Venom is immune to the Penance Stare, an ability used by Ghost Rider Daniel Ketch.

Though the symbiote has rejected its species habit of consuming its hosts, it still requires certain chemicals found in living brain tissue (most likely phenethylamine) in order to survive. When starved of these chemicals, the symbiote develops a mutable exoskeleton, allowing it to form its own solid body which it uses to hunt and kill prey without the assistance of a host. ^[13]

Change in appearance

Initially Venom was portrayed as black, considerably taller and much more muscular than Spider-Man. His eyes resembled Spiderman's but were slightly altered to give them a more "evil" feel. His trademark was his wide grin which displayed all of his teeth. Over the years however, the general design of Venom has changed. In his most famous incarnation he had developed a long tongue, he also started being drawn as blue or blue-black as opposed to the original black. His eyes became more menacing and "alien" like, while his size increased to that which would be extremely difficult for Brock to obtain through even his most rigorous weight lifting. Also the spider on his chest no longer connected to the one on the back and instead became two separate spiders. John Romita Jr's design had Venom much leaner with abnormally long fingers. Most recently it has appeared that the Venom design has become very similar to its original design, bearing the white spider, as seen on Mac Gargan. Gargan also has normal-sized eyes with large white eye-shaped patches around them, rather than simply the patches as the previous Venoms had.

Alternate versions

See also:

• In the Earth X limited series, beginning with issue one, May "Mayday" Parker merges with the Venom symbiote after the death of her mother Mary Jane Watson; however, May can completely control and communicate with the symbiote.
• In "Spider-Girl", the Venom symbiote attempts to re-bond with Peter Parker but is forcefully bonded instead to Spider-Girl's friend Normie Osborn III, the grandson of the original Green Goblin^[14]. It takes control of Normie, but when it also attempts to absorb Spider-Girl, their combined force of will defeats the creature. Instead of destroying it, Normie keeps the symbiote and allows it to bond with him, purging the symbiote of its violent and aggressive emotions^[15] . In Spider-Girl #100, Normie transfers the symbiote to a critically injured Spider-Girl so it can heal and save her. The symbiote later sacrifices itself to save Spider-Girl's life by confronting a sonic-weapon armed Hobgoblin^[16] .
• In Spider-Man 2099, the symbiote resurfaces from the sewers of New York and bonds with Kron Stone; half-brother of Miguel O'Hara (Spider-Man 2099) ^[17] to become Venom 2099. The symbiote eventually joins with Roman (Namor 2099).

• In Kaare Andrews' , set 35 years from current comics continuity, Venom/Eddie Brock has been posing as 'Edward', the aide to the Mayor of New York. 'Edward' has been manipulating the city ever since Spider-Man's disappearance in preparation for his eventual return; in the process, he had re-enlisted the Sinister Six, replicated his symbiote thousands of times (chalking it up to being 'lonely'), and built a security system named 'WEBB' which prevents New York citizens from escaping from the city, trapping them with his replicas. Upon meeting him, Venom is quick to berate Spider-Man for abandoning him all those years ago with a genuine sense of bitterness and sorrow, leaving the wallcrawler at a loss for words. Defeated, the Sinister Six, Spidey and Venom (with his clones) have their final battle, in which Sandman gives Spider-Man a detonator to make all the Sinners explode. Spidey presses the button, most likely killing Venom and his replicas and putting an end to his 'Reign' once and for all.
• In What The--?! #20, Pork Grind, likely a pig version of Venom is introduced as an enemy of Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham,
• In Spider-Man Fairy Tales #3, Venom is a Japanese demon who seeks to corrupt the young priest Izumi (the Peter Parker character) by making him give in to his anger.

What If...

See also:

...The alien costume had possessed Spider-Man

In this one-shot, after obtaining the symbiote costume, Spider-Man waited too long before visiting Mr. Fantastic. The suit took control of Spider-Man and escaped, but by constantly feeding on him, Spider-Man was aged at an accelerated rate, being reduced to old age in a matter of days, eventually dying as a result. Desperate to survive, the symbiote bonded with a weakened Hulk. Various heroes struggled with the decision to kill the Hulk while killing the symbiote but decided that it was in the best interest of the Earth. However, when Thor confronted Venom-Hulk and defeated him, the symbiote took over Thor. Reluctant to kill Thor, the heroes used one final plan, employing Black Bolt's incredibly powerful voice to create enough sonic damage to critically injure the symbiote.

Thor was freed, and the heroes prepared to transport the alien to another dimension when Black Cat, using a gun created for her by the Kingpin in exchange for lifelong servitude, killed the alien, angry at its murder of Spider-Man. ^[18]

...Venom had possessed The Punisher

In this one-shot, after the symbiote left Spider-Man it joined with the Punisher instead of Eddie Brock. Castle used the symbiote's abilities to further his war on crime; he used the suit's shape-shifting nature to create glider-wings and even firearms.

The symbiote caused the Punisher's war to become more brutal and unrestrained than ever before as he set about confronting and murdering many super criminals until the symbiote eventually influenced him to confront and beat Spider-Man. With his new powers, Punisher decides to take out Tombstone and later even the Kingpin himself. At the climax of a confrontation with Spider-Man, Daredevil and Moon Knight, from which the Punisher emerges victorious, a blast from Spidey's borrowed sonic blaster allows Punisher to overcome and tame the symbiote. Frank makes it clear that if he ever loses control to the symbiote, he would not hesitate to kill himself to prevent the loss of an innocent life.

The symbiote then recedes from Punisher's face and manifests his trademark Skull insignia upon his chest. Castle tells the assembled heroes that he is in control now.^[19]

...The Marvel Super-Heroes had remained on Battleworld?

In this one-shot, the Marvel Super-Heroes and Villains left alive from the Secret Wars after Galactus' and the Beyonder's fatal battle found themselves trapped on Battleworld. Deciding to make the best of things they all settled down and built a new life and families. Twenty-five years later Spider-Man and the Venom Symbiote are a single entity. With Reed Richards dead there was no way to free Spider-Man from the symbiote and thus he was forced to accept this new way of life. Since that time he has become cold, calculating and emotionally distant from the rest of the group. The body of Peter Parker is now nothing more than a skeleton with the symbiote acting as his skin, much to the dismay of the other super-heroes and their children.

...

In this one-shot, after his second devastating battle with Morlun, Peter, during his newest evolution, rejects the chance to rise again in a new form, leaving his body and spirit separated and leaving himself open to being completely taken over by the symbiote. The suit quickly abandons its latest host, Mac Gargan, as soon as it senses Peter's vulnerable state and rushes to once again unite with its first host. After cocooning Peter's body, the symbiote fully bonds with Peter, turning him into a violent monster called Poison, who wouldn't hesitate to hurt his family and friends. The symbiote and Peter long for a companion to join them in their new life and choose Mary Jane. After dispatching the Avengers who rush to her aid, Watson offers herself willingly to prevent any further harm to the people protecting her. Her promise to make their lives together miserable however seems to dissuade Poison and he quickly leaves. Poison goes to the grave of Gwen Stacy and begins to dig. The last images of the comic reveal Poison watching over a new cocoon as a hand, similar to his own in appearance, but crimson colored, bursts free.^[20]

Mangaverse

See also:

In the Marvel Mangaverse continuity, Venom is a former member of Spider-Man's clan. Venom's costume is black, and his spider symbol is white, and also much larger than Spider-Man's.

Venom was responsible for the murder of Peter's Uncle Ben, Venom's own father in the Mangaverse, at the command of New York's Kingpin of Crime. Peter defeated him and could have slain him, but Peter chose to spare his life. Venom went on to apparently murder the Kingpin (who later was revealed to have survived, barely) and take over New York's ninja criminal gangs for himself.

The symbiote appears as a black liquid that is released from a cursed amulet. The symbiote draws energy from the amulet's wearer, which can be fatal after prolonged exposure. The wearer's strength and agility are increased, and his or her ability to control their own violent urges is reduced. When Peter Parker was possessed by the evil amulet, removing it nearly killed him, as the amulet took his life force along with it.

Venom captured the amulet and chose to sacrifice his own life force to it to save Peter, repaying the debt he owed when Peter spared his life. This act revitalized Peter, but Venom was left as nothing but a skeleton. The amulet, said to contain Venom's life force, eventually wound up in the hands of a crippled Kingpin, who used its power to fully heal himself.

In the Legend of the Spider-Clan one-shot story "Elemental Evil", Venom inexplicably reappeared in the mountain-top home of the Spider-Clan, alive and whole, his skin now a dark blue. He also gained new powers, including a pair of vicious jaws and a long drooling tongue, bringing him closer in appearance to his mainstream counter-part. Despite their history Venom and Peter agree that the former will teach the latter the ways of the Spider-clan and the use of his powers. Venom and the rest of the Spider-Clan aid in training Peter to become more powerful, tapping into the mystical side of his spider abilities. In the end, Peter discovers that the group is run by Peter's biological mother, and she had ordered the death of his Aunt May to rid him of emotional attachments. As a result, Peter refuses to take his place as leader, rejects the clan and leaves. Venom was awarded with rulership over the Spider-Clan instead. No reason is given for Venom's resurrection or his new powers, but when asked about it, Venom only said "I was lucky."

Venom in other media

In the original comic book storyline, merging with the symbiote did not cause Peter Parker to undergo any changes, either mental or physical, beyond making him frequently tired as it took his sleeping body out web-slinging. Beginning with the 1990s Spider-Man animated series, however, virtually all modern re-imaginings of the story have presented the symbiote as enhancing Peter's powers, while at the same time drawing out the dark side of his nature, which is what ultimately convinces him that he must separate himself from it. These story threads can be seen in the Spider-Man 3 motion picture as well as the Ultimate series and the Mangaverse comic book series, noted above.

The Venom symbiote makes a few appearances in the 90s Spider-Man cartoon (as well as being heavily emphasized in the show's intro). Spider-Man first finds it in the three-part "The Alien Costume" arc, where it is introduced in the first part, bonds with Spider-Man for the majority of the second, and finally runs loose as Venom in the third before being defeated. Venom would return in the third season's "Venom Returns" and "Carnage", the latter of which finds him sacrificing himself to stop Carnage and winding up trapped in an alternate dimension. (All five of these episodes were released on a single-disc DVD release as "The Venom Saga".)

Spider-Man Unlimited

Venom has also appeared in the later television series, Spider-Man Unlimited. Throughout this series, Venom is seen working together with Carnage in an effort to perpetuate the spread of an alien hive mind throughout the series' Counter-Earth. Within this series, both Venom and Carnage have mutated into new, more powerful forms, prompting Spider-Man to create his new suit. These forms feature spikes, a longer torso, and a somewhat skeletal appearance. They also have an elastic stretching power instead of webs. Venom was voiced by Brian Drummond.

Film

Venom's first film appearance was originally to be as the star of the now-defunct film, Venom, written by David S. Goyer and produced by New Line Cinema. Venom would have been portrayed as an anti-hero, and Carnage would have been the villain. The script was not produced, and the film rights to the Venom character ultimately reverted to Sony.^[21]

Venom has appeared or been mentioned in the recent Spider-Man films. A Daily Bugle photographer named "Eddie" was mentioned in the first Spider-Man film, and is credited in the film's credits as "Eddie Brock." The character would later appear in film as a central villain in Spider-Man 3, after Avi Arad convinced director and story developer Sam Raimi to include him.

Spider-Man 3

Main article: Spider-Man 3

Storyline

Venom makes an appearance in the third installment of the Spider-Man film franchise, and is only referred to as Venom once in the credits. In the film, the symbiote comes to Earth inside a meteorite which crashes near where Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson are enjoying a date. It clings to his moped and eventually bonds with him while he sleeps. He awakes, hanging upside down, staring at his reflection in a skyscraper's windows (reminiscent of the animated series). He is wearing a black version of his red & blue costume. He takes a sample to Dr. Curt Connors who tells him that it is a parisite which he should not let touch him. However, Peter wears the black costume and defeats Sandman with it. He soon becomes unusually aggressive, and realizes the change only after yelling at his landlord Mr. Ditkovich, and quickly locks the costume in a trunk.

However, after Harry Osborn makes it appear that he's stolen Mary Jane, Peter puts the black costume on again and gets even with Harry in a clash between the two at Harry's mansion, and Peter disfigures him with a pumpkin bomb. He also runs into new photographer Eddie Brock Jr. (played by Topher Grace), with whom he is competing for a staff job at the Daily Bugle. Brock brings in the "winning" photograph; but Peter, despite Brock's cowardly pleas, effectively ends Brock's career by exposing the photo as a fake based on one of his own photos. Dr. Connors calls to warn Peter that the symbiote amplifies aggression and other tendencies of its host in order to feed on excess adrenaline, but he is still wearing the costume and ignores the warning.

Peter then goes on a womanizing spree, and takes Brock's former girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, to a jazz club where Mary Jane works. Peter takes advantage of this, and upstages Mary Jane when she tries to perform, with an improvised song and dance routine. He ends up accidentally hitting her in the course of a fight with the bouncers at a club. Again realizing what the suit is doing to him, he goes to the bell tower of a church to repent, and attempts to remove the suit, which has now bonded to him. The ringing of the bell weakens the parasite and Peter is able to rip it off. The symbiote pieces fall on Brock, who happens to be at the same church, and bonds with him to form Venom.

Venom, with the help of Sandman, sets out to kill Peter/Spider-Man, but is thwarted when Harry Osborn as the New Goblin comes to help Spider-Man defeat them. Spider-Man then realizes that sound can weaken him. Venom attempts to impale Spider-Man with Harry's glider, but Harry sacrifices himself and is fatally wounded, like his father. Spider-Man uses the clanging of metal pipes to separate Brock from the symbiote. Spider-Man throws one of Osborn's pumpkin bombs at the symbiote, but at the last moment, Brock attempts to rebond with it and is caught in the explosion along with the symbiote.

Characteristics

The symbiote in the film is less like a liquid than in other incarnations. It moves as if composed of many small strands or tendrils (with more of a "crawling", spider-like motion than a liquid which oozes). Initially, the symbiote bonds with Peter as he sleeps in his costume. He is able to remove the mask as though it is made of material. However, he somehow brings a sample of the "crawling" symbiote to Dr. Connors, and it is not shown how he obtains it. All other times the symbiote is shown until Peter tries to remove it, it appears simply as being a costume, and never mimics Parker's street clothing, as it does in all other media. When he ultimately does remove it, it does not leave his original costume behind for the symbiote has become part of that suit. Afterwards, when it bonds with Eddie Brock Jr. after it separates from Peter that same Spider-Man suit has been transferred onto Eddie. After it bonds with Eddie it gets altered, changing the looks of the mask, the design, and the spider-symbol to most likely fit Brock's personality and/or because of the tearing it endured when Peter ripped it apart.

Unlike in the comics, the black symbiote costume worn by Peter is essentially a black version of his normal costume with the same fabric texture, web patterns and logos, but with an altered spider-symbol on his chest and back. When it bonds with Eddie, it retains the same fabric texture and web pattern, only the web pattern is more jagged and disorganized. The most notable change is the larger wraparound spider logo which is on both Peter's black costume and Venom in the comic book. However, in the film, the logo is a lighter grey than the costume, and not white like the comics. As in the comics, the costume gains eyes and a mouth when he bonds with Brock, and far more commonly appears as the living symbiote (such as retracting to reveal Brock's face).

As with past incarnations, Venom is vulnerable to sound (though the film does not make completely clear whether it is the frequency or amplitude of sound that is damaging). However, unlike in most other media, Peter removes the suit before learning of this vulnerability, and only figures it out in hindsight, by remembering the church bells. Like most incarnations of Venom in the comic series, he seems to be immune to Spider-Man's spider sense, and able to take him by surprise (though this is not directly stated in the film, it is mentioned in the official novelization). In the films, Spider-Man's webbing is produced by his body, not artificial web-shooters. One main difference in Venom that Raimi implemented was to change the color of his webbing from white to black and give him a disorganized webbing pattern.

He is also less muscular, though his face is similar to Todd McFarlane's original design. His signature tongue is also not an addition in the design of the symbiote costume (though it is seen briefly, it does not hang out of his mouth.) Eddie Brock is never referred to as "Venom" in the film,but only during the credits, though in the official novelization of the film he states: "I'm poison to you now, Spider-Man. I am your... Venom". He also refers to himself several times in the singular form (I), much like he does in his original appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man issue 300. It was not till later on in the comic that he started to refer to himself in plural form (we). A message he writes in webbing says "stop us if you can", but "us" most likely refers to he and Sandman. He does refer to Spider-Man as "Spider" though, a nickname used by the comic book version, as well as mocking Spider-Man's comic book catch-phrase "My Spider-Sense is tingling."

Video game appearances

• Venom is the final boss of The Amazing Spider-Man game that was only available for the Game Boy platform.
• Venom appears in the Super Nintendo game Spider-Man (based on the cartoon of the same name) as the game's final boss.
• Venom appears as a boss multiple times in the arcade game.
• Venom appears multiple times as boss in The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin. On the highest difficulty level Venom appears in every level.
• Venom was a boss in the Japanese only Super Nintendo game . He also assisted the player in the final battle against Carnage.
• Venom appears as a boss in both the SNES and the Sega Genesis games based off the animated series.
• Venom is a playable character in the Sega Genesis/SNES game and its sequel .
• Venom is a boss in the 2000 PlayStation game Spider-Man. He later appears as an ally in cut scenes.
• Venom appears in the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox,Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable game .
• Venom is a playable hero in the fighting game Marvel vs. Capcom and its sequel Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
• The Ultimate version of Venom also appears in Ultimate Spider-Man, available on GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2, Gameboy Advance, and Nintendo DS; he is both the final boss and a playable character.
• Venom appears as the final boss in the Spider-Man 3 video game.
• Venom is one of the playable characters added in the downloadable villain set for the Xbox 360 version of Marvel Ultimate Alliance
• Venom also appears as one of the unlockable sidekicks in the game """

References

Until 2003, Venom never had his own "Ongoing" Series. However, from 1993 to 1997 Venom had a 17 mini-series that were steadily released back to back from month to month. This run should have been one series where each mini-series would have been considered a story arc. Together, these mini-series comprised a total of 60 issues, 1 Flashback, and a 1995 Annual.

Venom Mini-Series

Sub-title	Year	Issues	Series #	Story
Lethal Protector	1993 Feb-JuL	6	1-6	Venom moves to San Francisco
Funeral Pyre	1993 Aug-Oct	3	7-9	vs. Punisher
The Madness	1993 Nov-Jan	3	10-12	vs. Juggernaut
The Enemy Within	1994 Feb-April	3	13-15	vs. Hobgoblin/Demogoblin
The Mace	1994 May-July	3	16-18	vs. Mace
Nights of Vengeance	1994 Aug-Nov	4	19-22	Team-up with Vengence against the Stalkers
Separation Anxiety	1994 Dec-Mar	4	23-26	Split apart from his other by the Scarlet Spider (Spider-Man 53), Eddie faces the Symbiotes returning from Lethal Protector
Carnage Unleashed	1995 Apr-July	4	27-30	vs. Carnage
Sinners Take All	1995 Aug-Dec	5	31-35	vs. Sin Eater/Bride of Venom
Along Came a Spider	1996 Jan-Apr	4	36-39	vs. Ben Reilly / Back-up story: Origin of the Hybrid
The Hunted	1996 May-July	3	40-42	vs. the Hybrid
The Hunger	1996 Aug-Nov	4	43-46	Brock splits with symbiote
Tooth & Claw	1996 Dec-Feb	3	47-49	vs. Wolverine
On Trial	1997 Mar-May	3	50-52	Trial of Venom
License to Kill	1997 Jun-Aug	3	53-55	Works for the Government
Sign of the Boss	1997 Sep-Oct	2	56-57	vs. Ghost Rider
Finale	1997 Nov-Jan	3	58-60	Venom Finale
Seeds of Darkness	1997 July	1	-1	Flashback Month
Venom Annual	1995	1	1	Planet of the Symbiotes, Part 3
Venom (Part of the tsunami imprint)	2003-2004	18		A clone of venom attacks a alaskan base and then fights the real venom and spider-man.

External links

• History of the alien costume on Marvel.com
• "The Dark Side of Spider-man" at SKB
• Parts 1 and 2