Brock and Venom

Brock and Venom

She-Venom - Anne Weying Brock

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.

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.

Special Abilities Of Symbiotes

Symbiotes empower the natural abilities of a host to the point where they far exceed that of normal members of the hosts species. These abilities include the following:
Superhuman strength.
Superior speed and agility, enhances other physical attributes as well.
Enhanced durability and resistance to damage.
Genetic memory, recalling information from previous hosts.
Enhanced healing ability.
Can expand to any size as long as they have something to grow on such as a host or an object. Symbiotes can get inside of small areas such as electric wires and the insides of cars and completely disable them. The symbiote also reacts to the thoughts and will of the host. When Spider-Man was originally selected, he had been thinking about Spider-Woman's costume in the Secret Wars. The symbiote acted on this and formed a similar costume, the one seen on him and Venom. The following are functions that have been demonstrated from various hosts' wills (but are not limited to):
The ability to form fangs or simple bladed weapons out of their limbs.
The ability to form additional appendages: limbs, wings and tendrils out of their body
The ability to shape-shift, from mimicking clothing up to and including complete change of appearance and stature.
The ability to blend with its surroundings.
The ability to stick to walls (adapted from Spider-Man).
The ability to produce webbing from its own mass (adapted from Spider-Man).
The ability to bypass the Spider-Sense (because the original symbiote was attached to Peter first, it took his genetic information and spider-powers. This means that the symbiote attacking Peter would essentially be Peter attacking himself, which wouldn't set off his Spider-Sense; during the Clone Saga, this became complicated, as Venom did set off Ben Reilly's Spider-Sense, but Carnage apparently did not).
The ability to create storage portals inside of them (This created easy access to Peter's camera).
Each symbiote has their own unique ability, such as Carnage being able to see from every direction of his body (this is similar to Spider-Man's spider sense).

Weaknesses Of Symbiotes

Originally, Symbiotes were naturally weakened by intense sounds and intense heat especially large fires. And in some stories and games, (mostly mentioned in the 2000 Spider-Man game), they are also weakened by saw-dust. However as each new symbiote has spawned a child, a natural evolution seems to not only increase their strengths, but also reduce their weaknesses. Still, there has not been an invulnerable symbiote in mainstream continuity as even the newest breeds can still be harmed by incredible amounts of sonic waves and heat. Also in the mainstream Marvel Universe, symbiotes are invulnerable to the heat produced by high voltage electricity.

In some incarnations, the symbiote is depicted as requiring a certain chemical (most likely phenethylamine) to stay sane and healthy, which has been said to be found abundantly in two sources: chocolate and human brain tissue. Thus the host is forced to steal/purchase large amounts of chocolate or become an unwilling cannibal who devours the brains of those he kills. This peculiar trait has only been witnessed in the Venom symbiote, however, both Carnage and Toxin have threatened their enemies with aspirations to "eating their brains", as well as various other body parts. Some symbiotes have no weaknesses.

Bonding Of Symbiotes

Symbiotes can attach themselves to anything solid and grow on it or around, such as grains of sand or water, even though they need something living in order for a true bonding to occur, mostly humans (symbiotes have temporarily bonded to a wolf and a gorilla). The application of a symbiote provokes a cool feeling as the plasmic ooze covers its host. Symbiotes may start off small but can grow to match the size of any host, no matter the size. It stimulates them, provides for them, and protects them by itself when the host is unconscious or unaware of a true symbiotic relationship. Symbiotes rely on human hosts because they are able to feed off adrenaline which is essential to their survival. They also feed off diseases fatal to humans, due to the type of energy or "adrenaline" it may produce; for example, the Venom symbiote was able to save Eddie Brock's life from cancer by feeding off it, since Eddies' cancer produced the exact type of adrenaline that the symbiote needs to survive. Symbiotes are capable of living independently off a host as all known symbiotes have, as they have at one time or another, left their hosts or been forced to be without their hosts for extended periods of time. However, there has been no indication that a symbiote can survive permanently without a host.

It is possible that the symbiosis is preferred due to the advantages that host and symbiote gain, especially in regards to survival. Combined with a host, the symbiote is able to wield great strength, speed, stamina and other physical attributes of the host, enhanced well beyond normal levels. As such, symbiotes prefer stronger hosts and when they find an ideal one, will attempt to bond permanently with them.

If a symbiote is strongly bonded, as the Venom symbiote was to Eddie Brock, an attempt to break the bond causes a shock sufficient to render both host and symbiote unconscious. However, a symbiote can easily sever a weak bond, such as when the Carnage symbiote abandoned Cletus Kasady for the Silver Surfer, or when Angelo Fortunato was left to plummet to his death, mid-jump, by the Venom suit.

Recently within the Marvel mythos, the bond between a symbiote and it's host seems to becoming more of a "any host will do" type of situation. When Spider-Man originally was the host to the Venom symbiote, the symbiote would go out on patrol at night, using Peter's unconscious body as a mode of transportation. Carnage's bond to Kasidy has also been described as such, Kasidy quipping in the Carnage vs Venom miniseries, "You may be the bus driver, but you still need the bus." Mac Gargan has also been heard saying similar regards, describing that Venom and he are separate entities, saying that Venom was inside of him, not him himself in Thunderbolts 116. Toxin's bond with Mulligan is also this way, as can be seen throughout the Toxin miniseries.

Personality Of Symbiotes

While most symbiotes seen in the Marvel Universe have been shown to be capable of great feats of violence, deception and various criminal acts against humanity, it is notable that their hosts were generally unstable before bonding. In a strange twist of nature versus nurture, it seems that a symbiote's personality may be based on an amalgamation of the memories and thoughts that have been collected from the various hosts and stored within its genetic memory. This explains how a creature like the Venom symbiote who once valued life to some degree has mutated into a being who could take the lives of many even without a host to guide its actions.

Additionally, Patrick Mulligan, host to the Toxin symbiote, was a stable and virtuous human who was able to use his symbiote to perform genuinely heroic actions; according to Venom, this could also be because the thousandth symbiote of the line is subject to mental breakdown. Though the Toxin symbiote has occasionally tried to make Patrick utilize more violent methods in the pursuit of crime, this could be attributed to the genetic memories passed on from Carnage, his father, who is indifferent about his use of violence. In the MC2 universe, the Venom symbiote bonds with the grandson of Norman Osborn, Normie Osborn, but his good-hearted nature influences the suit and causes it to sacrifice itself against a sonic attack to defend Spider-Girl.

It is therefore also possible that while the symbiote possesses a complex sentience, and that it obtains some of its opinions on morality from the current host and as such, amplifies the hatred and evil in hosts like Kasady while someone devoid of hatred was capable of influencing the suit to be virtuous. More confused hosts, like Brock, seem to result in different personalities: Venom claimed 'innocence should be cherished' and rescued victims he deemed innocent, including human infants. However, Brock's poor judgment has led to him performing many criminal acts, including the murder of some apparently innocent people.

Reproduction Of Symbiotes

Symbiotes have no gender, and as such have the ability to asexually spawn another symbiote. They have been portrayed as only being able to give natural birth to one offspring per generation, and while the symbiotes appear to have a finite number of 'seeds' that grow within them, they lay dormant after the first birth. The Venom symbiote spawned the Carnage symbiote itself, but the remaining five 'seeds' that it contained weren't able to be born naturally, and instead were harvested by the Life Foundation to create further offspring.

However, after the Venom symbiote merged with a fully actualized genetically altered clone of itself, it re-appeared claiming a new child was growing within it. Apparently the clone's purpose was to merge with the original, creating a symbiote army. The Venom suit then tried to bond with Peter Parker during a story-arc called "the Hunger", as it did not wish to re-bond with Eddie Brock due to his cancer. When Spider-Man tricks the symbiote into re-bonding with Brock, Venom states that Spider-Man "doomed" the child, though whether this means that the child is dead is unknown.

In the Civil War: Aftermath comic interviews, and various other sources, it is mentioned that an upcoming Mighty Avengers story-arc tentatively titled "Venom Bomb" will see a "Venom-Virus" hit New York City. This event will apparently involve an army of symbiotes. It as yet unknown if this will be a continuation of the plot line mentioned above, or something new entirely.

The best-known symbiotes have been depicted as hating their newborn spawn, possibly out of fear of competition. Venom, for example, tries to kill and destroy its offspring, Carnage. However, Carnage was a psychotic murderer with differing values from its parent, which may explain Venom's contempt for him. Carnage himself tries to kill his 'son' Toxin by leaving it for dead without a human host (originally explained by carnage saying that he was disgusted about the fact that he could be "pregnant"). Eventually, both Venom and Carnage try to kill Toxin because of his vast strength, making him easily as strong as his father and grandfather combined, just as Carnage was stronger than Spider-Man and Venom combined. It is unclear whether this hostility is the product of a genetic predisposition among symbiotes, or strictly circumstantial, though Venom is portrayed as being initially protective of his "grandson" Toxin.

Origin of the Symbiotes

It is unclear where the symbiotes actually originated, but it is known that their species existed for millions of years prior to the arrival of the Venom symbiote on Earth. It is implied that Galactus, devourer of worlds, consumed a world which they had taken over and where they had thrived, based on Carnage's reaction to the Silver Surfer, former herald of Galactus. It was mistakenly believed that this was their homeworld. It is shown through the Carnage symbiote that this was a world whose dominant life forms had been overrun by the marauding symbiotes.

In Venom: Seed of Darkness -1, it is stated that when Krobaa was brought to Earth it bonded with the professor that had found him to acquire (through the symbiosis) knowledge of humanity to bring the information to a high galactic order that valued "Diversity of mind above all else", but Krobaa was infected with the madness of the human mind. Attacking all living things claiming to feed on their fear (much like Dreadface) and only after Eddie Brock's camera flash had weakened him, Krobaa regained control of himself and committed suicide to save other planets from the "plague of madness."

The mini-series Planet of the Symbiotes presents a different story (widely excepted as the canon story), symbiotes were originally an unfeeling, conquering race, taking over any species they came in contact with to feed off their emotions; this mainly involved adrenaline rushes from death-defying feats and, as a consequence, the hosts tend to be short-lived. This was also evidenced in the Fantastic Four series, when a black cube (imprisoned by Devos the Devastator as a trophy of the most dangerous species he has ever faced) escapes and is revealed to be a sentient alien symbiote (called Dreadface in the issue's title) that fuels (and then feeds off) the animosity between the Human Torch and the Thing before apparently being incinerated. The Venom symbiote was different because it desired a strong bond with a single host, and desired to belong rather than to dominate, leading to imprisonment by its own race, at which point it was brought to Battleworld during the first Secret Wars. The Venom symbiote describes itself as a mutation though it may just as likely be an atavism among its species. While the number of symbiotes in existence at present is unknown, Venom tells Carnage that he, Carnage, is the nine hundred ninety-ninth in his line, and making Carnage's offspring Toxin the thousandth. However, there are likely to be more than this because Venom was only talking about the amount in his personal family line, not the species as a whole. The symbiote that temporarily merged with Spider-Man was found in the Secret Wars.

Symbiote

A symbiote, in Marvel Comics' fictional universe, is a living, sentient, alien organism that bonds with other living organisms in order to survive. Since it has no classifying name, it is referred to as a symbiote because of its symbiotic relationships. Often symbiotes are called "living costume" because of the way the amorphous creatures envelop their hosts.

The symbiote enhances the physical attributes of its host, commonly increasing their strength and speed to superhuman, or higher, levels as well as granting them a range of other powers such as transformation and mass-alteration.

The first appearance of a symbiote occurs in Secret Wars #8 in which it bonds with Spider-Man. Eventually the symbiote attempted to permanently bind itself to the character and had to be forcibly removed after which time it bonded with Eddie Brock to become Venom. Since then numerous symbiotes have appeared, many of which are the offspring of the original Venom symbiote and possess similar or even greater powers. The second symbiote was the Carnage symbiote which bonded with Cletus Kasady to form Carnage

Pre-venom,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 (the black stuff in the movies) 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.

About The Venom

Venom is a moniker used by several characters in the Marvel Comics' fictional Marvel Universe. It was first and 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 Secret Wars vol.1, #8 when Spider-Man first encountered the symbiote. [1]

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.