Origin
Edward Allen “Eddie” Brock was raised in a Roman Catholic household in San Francisco. In his childhood, he helped a young girl look for her missing cat, but what no one knew was that Eddie had the cat in his basement. He returned the cat to the overjoyed young girl, and everyone in the neighborhood sees him as the hero. “It was easy,” according to Eddie; the first occasion in a list of many where Eddie showed himself again and again to be a compulsive liar with a hero complex. Later, at the dinner table, Eddie tells his dad about how he “found” the cat, but his father shows little interest. That evening, while watching the news, Eddie states that the reporter is lying. When his dad shows confusion, Eddie declares that he can always tell when someone is lying (which, in and of itself, is potentially a lie). His sister complains about how Eddie ruined his church clothes, shouting, “We used to have a mom before you.” Eddie’s dad scolds her, stating that they could not blame Eddie for what happened, and that it wasn’t his fault, then walks away. Eddie sighs, and his sister asks him what is wrong. “He’s lying,” says Eddie.
The next day at church, Eddie talks with an elderly woman, who says that the world has a place for everyone, you just have to find it. Eddie says that while he looks as hard as he can, it seems no one is looking for him.
Creation
Eddie Brock was created by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane in 1986.
Major Story Arcs
Newspaper Journalism
A few years later we see Eddie as teenage in high school, he tries to impress a girl by wearing a wrestling team jacket and saying he made the team. Even though in reality, he’s just the water and towel boy. She shows no interest in him though and walks off. He then walks into the locker rooms still wearing the jacket. When the real owner of the jacket sees him, he gets beat up. That same day in what looks like English class, Eddie gets inspired to go into journalism when his teacher talks about the Watergate scandal and says that two journalists managed to bring down the most powerful man in the world. We then skip a few more years and see Eddie applying in the Journalism course at E.S.U. After trying to attempt to not get caught lying about an internship, he runs into Anne Weying, his future wife. To try to get to know her, he says he lives off campus and he asks her if she could help him find his place. After walking around town for a bit, they end up in a real bad part of it. When she shows her discomfort, he reveals that he actually lives in one of the dorms and that he just wanted to spend some time with her.
Just as she is about to freak out, some one smashes a wine bottle over Eddie’s head. Anne gets pushed, and she hits her head on a fire hydrant knocking herself out. A group of men surrounds them and Eddie, showing his darker side, tries to make a deal. They take Anne ad let him be, and that he won’t say a word. The men don’t go for it and someone pulls out a knife. But just then Spider-Man comes in and beats up the muggers. Afterwards, Spider-Man tells Eddie to call the cops and swings off. Anne then wakes up and is shocked to see Eddie standing next to the group of muggers all unconscious. She then asks him how he did it and he says with the same grin he gave when he said it last time, “It was easy”.
Much later, Eddie and Anne are married. Eddie is an intern at the Daily Globe. One day when he arrives, a reporter named Paul Barnum gives him a stack of letters to sort through. He opens one and reads it. It is a letter from a man who calls himself the Sin-Eater. The letter reads: “Hello, I am the Sin-Eater. I just shot Jean Dewolf [Jean Dewolf was a police officer who was Sin-Eater’s first victim]. I took her badge because that’s what the voices wanted. I hope the blood has dried. If you want to talk, I will call the pay-phone at Broadway at 12:00 on the 12th of June. Maybe you can stop me”. Eddie looks at the clock and sees that today is the 12th, and at 12:00 on Broadway he answers the pay-phone. When the Sin-Eater asks for his name, he lies and says that he is a crime reporter for the Daily Globe and that if Sin-Eater wants his story told, it will have to be through Brock. Sin-Eater agrees.
Back at the Daily Globe, Brock fills in the Editor as to what happened. Paul Barnum is furious and says that he should be writing the story. However, Brock reminds him that Sin-Eater will only talk to him. The editor says that for now there is no real proof as to what, but that if within the week something happens Eddie will get front page. A few days later, Eddie gets another call. This time the victim was a judge who was apparently a friend to criminals. Also in a battle that later occurred between Spider-man and Sin-Eater, there were people that were accidentally hit by Sin-Eaters gun. Sin-Eater said that he would not be responsible for those who got in the way. He also asks Eddie if he will tell his story. He does and Brock becomes a star reporter. When Sin-Eater calls a third time, he asks if they can meet in person. While hesitant, Eddie agrees. Sin-Eater tells him to go to the church on Broadway and Eleventh. This is the same church where Eddie later on becomes Venom. When Eddie gets there, he sees at statue of the virgin Mary. While looking at it, a black tear appears out of one of her eyes. At that same time, a voice from behind asks if Eddie is forgiven. Still watching the tear, which is starting to move curiously, Eddie says yes. While they are talking, Eddie keeps watching the tear. It is now moving over the statues face, looking much like a spider web. Suddenly, the tear is gone. Eddie and Sin-Eater continue while the Venom Symbiote moves into the shadows. Sin-Eater makes to leave, but before he does Eddie asks him what his name is. He replies, “Emil. Emil Gregg”. He leaves and later on, so does Eddie. While walking home, Eddie passes a policeman. For a second he goes to tell him, but then stops and keeps on walking.
Eddie keeps writing Sin-Eater articles. One day, he is visited by two policemen, who quickly asks him if he knows who the Sin-Eater is. Eddie doesn’t reply, smiling. Taking that as a yes, the cop asks for every piece of information Eddie has on him and a name. Eddie says no and is arrested. His lawyer later argues that this is unconstitutional, and that Eddie is just doing his job under the First Amendment. When Eddie goes home that night, he is confronted by his father. His father tells him that he is ashamed of Eddie, because Eddie knows exactly who Sin-Eater is. When Eddie tries to defend himself, his dad simply says that Eddie’s story isn’t as important as the victims. The next day, Eddie prints the story revealing Sin-Eater’s identity. Later that day, Paul Barnum tells Eddie that the editor wants to talk to him. Eddie is confused by Paul’s happy behavior towards him but does what he says anyway. The editor then says the words that will change his life. Emil Gregg wasn’t the real Sin-Eater. The real Sin-Eater was called Stan Carter. Spider-Man found him trying to kill his next target an hour after the Globe printed Eddie’s story. Eddie has made a mockery of the Daily Globe, and for that he is fired.
Venom
Sometime later, Eddie’s answering machine records a message from Anne. She says that today she is bringing a lawyer so that he can sign the divorce papers. We then see Eddie leaving his apartment with a gun. He goes to the church where he first met Emil Gregg and he starts praying to God. He says that while he knows it is a sin, he has to kill himself. He blames Spider-Man for ruining his life, and says that all he can think abut is killing him. As he starts talking about his hate for Spider-man, the Venom symbiote appears as a tear once more under the statue’s eye. However, this time it heads straight for Brock. He notices a second before it happens, the symbiote goes through his eye and begins to bond with him. A Eddie scared, begins screaming. The father of the church hears him and comes out. When he sees Eddie he runs away to call the police. Meanwhile, Eddie is seeing some of the symbiote’s memories, including Spider-Man finding the symbiote on Battleworld, and Spider-Man getting rid of it. Eddie then starts to realize that the symbiote isn’t trying to hurt him, but that they are on the same side. Just as the symbiote fully gets inside him, Eddie faints and two policemen show up. As they approach Brock, he wakes up. He then violently throws up the symbiote and it covers him. The two policemen start shooting but the symbiote stops the bullets and grabs one of them. The cop and the father run outside. The cop drives off, calling for back-up. Eddie approaches the father and asks him to forgive Eddie for the things he’s done, including the murder he just finished. The remaining cop, seeing his dead partner, drives right at Eddie, trying to kill him.
However the symbiote creates a ramp, and the car goes right up it and crashes into the church. Eddie then promises that that’s the last thing. After being forgiven, Eddie walks back to his apartment, where Anne and a lawyer are waiting. After the symbiote shaves him and forms into a suit, Eddie approaches them. Anne is impressed, saying he looks much better then the last time he met. She says that then all he was talking about was Spider-Man. Eddie then yells,”Spider-Man ruined our lives!” (him and the symbiote, or him and Anne?) She then says that he doesn’t even know who he is and vice-versa. After signing the papers, Eddie goes inside now talking to the symbiote. “I might not know who he is, but you do”. Eddie starts to giggle. Soon he is laughing, and the louder he laughs, the more prominent a mouth becomes on his face. Soon Eddie is laughing at the top of his lungs, and the mouth on his face has gone from normal to monstrous. And with that, Venom is born.
On the brink of suicide, Eddie went to a church to beg for forgiveness when fate intervened. The alien symbiote Peter obtained on the Beyonder‘s planet (Battleworld) started to slither away, towards Eddie. Sensing his emotional pain, it felt a similar pain and hatred for Spider-Man emanating from Brock. Months later, Eddie Brock became the original Venom. Although his body had been honed to near-perfection, Brock’s mind was reduced to an all-consuming vessel of hatred. It was this fierce emotion that attracted the empathic parasite. In order to survive, the alien costume had to feed off the nearest and greatest source of emotion. The symbiote joined mentally and physically with Brock, whose emotions overwhelmed the already confused alien. The dominant thought on both their minds was that of Spider-Man. But Brock’s sheer hatred for the crime fighter twisted the symbiote’s feelings to a similar extent. In effect, Brock’s emotions drove the symbiote insane, just as their bonding may have driven Brock over the edge. Brock soon discovered that the costume gave him all the powers of Spider-Man, and more. It also added bulk to his already large frame and increased his strength to superhuman levels. Calling himself ” Venom”, Brock directed the costume to sprout a hideous grin and plotted his revenge. Through the costume, Venom learned a great deal about Spider-Man, including his secret identity.
Brock goes after Peter Parker
Brock taunted Peter Parker with minor assaults, such as pushing him in front of a moving subway train. The alien costume could cancel out the Wall Crawler’s spider-sense presumably by projecting conflicting frequencies upon Spider-Man’s brain waves. Venom finally made a bold move when he confronted Parker’s wife, Mary Jane, at their old Chelsea apartment. Although Venom’s twisted sense of morality did not allow him to physically harm Mary Jane, Spider-Man immediately realized the nature of this threat. Taking the time to retrieve the sonic blaster from the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man challenged Venom at Our Lady of Saints Church. Although he fired the blaster at Venom, Spider-Man soon discovered that the Symbiote could not be separated from Brock because it had completely bonded with him. Trying to escape and rethink his options, Spider-Man was caught unaware by Venom. He captured Spider-Man and secured him to the inside of the church bell with a considerable amount of webbing. Spider-Man narrowly escaped the bell’s crushing clapper before defeating Venom by forcing him to deplete his webbing supply, of which the alien Symbiote was actually comprised.
Before the alien could regenerate enough of its mass to become a renewed threat, Spider-Man brought Venom to the Fantastic Four who imprisoned him in a sonic containment cell. The Fantastic Four then shipped Venom to the government super-prison in the Colorado Rockies called the Vault. A young guard named Hugh Taylor who had just been assigned to the Vault was fooled into thinking that Venom was a fallen colleague and released the gate mechanism, which imprisoned the criminal. Venom killed the naive guard and escaped to New York City, where he once again confronted Spider-Man.
This time Spider-Man used psychological warfare upon Venom, by taunting the alien Symbiote to return to him. The alien, torn by its love-hate relationship for Spider-Man, tried to leave Brock and to re-establish its link with its original owner. But the trauma of trying to detach itself from Brock’s nervous system was too much to bear. The alien costume and Eddie Brock were both knocked unconscious and were subsequently returned to the Vault, where they were incarcerated. Since then, Venom has gone through many changes.
The next fight, Venom went after Spider-Man around the same time Jonathon Caesar, an insane and obsessed fan of Mary Jane Watson-Parker, sent two mercenaries Styx and Stone after the Wall Crawler. Venom unintentionally became involved in the plot when the two attempted to follow him through the sewers in the hope of finding Spider-Man. Unfortunately for them, Venom escaped the sewers in his human guise. After yet another fight with Spider-Man, Styx and Stone found the two and attempted to kill Spider-Man. Fortunately for Spidey, albeit in a bad way, Venom would not allow anyone else to kill Spider-Man, save himself. Attacking the two, the fight ensued, before Styx, the living cancer, touched his Symbiote, killing it in the process.
Brock in prison
The Symbiote seemingly dead, Eddie Brock was sent to a non-superhuman prison. However, it is revealed that the Symbiote was merely sent into a comatose state, seemingly immune to Earthly diseases. Returning to Eddie Brock, the two easily escaped. In the breakout, however, the suit left a small spawn behind it, which would bond with Eddie’s cell mate, Cletus Kasady. No one would know about this for months. Eddie brought Spider-Man to an island in the Caribbeans, away from people and innocents, in the hope of killing him alone. However, Spider-Man later realized that Venom would only be happy if he knew that Spider-Man was dead. Faking his death, Spider-Man made Venom believe that he had died. Happy at last, Venom thought there was no reason to return to civilization, having all he needed on the island, and stayed there.
A few months later, a the megalomaniac serial killer known only as Carnage. Began a mass-murdering rampage throughout Manhattan, killing hundreds of people. Spider-Man attempted to stop him, but swiftly learned that he was greatly outmatched, despite his superior experience. Realizing that Carnage possessed a Symbiote, Peter reluctantly realized that he needed Venom’s help in order to stop this menace. Contacting the Human Torch and they go to the island where they had left Venom. When Venom realized that Spider-Man was alive, he attacked the two.
After a brief spat, however, Venom listened to what Spider-Man had to say. Promising to help Spider-Man stop Carnage in exchange for his freedom, Spider-Man reluctantly agreed, starting the first of many uneasy alliances with each other. Returning to New York, Venom and Spider-Man attempted to stop Carnage’s rampage twice with equal failure. Finally, however, during a rock concert at Madison Square Garden, they stopped Carnage after trying to kill J. Jonah Jameson.
Turning on the stage’s sound system to the max, Spider-Man destroyed Kasady’s Carnage symbiote, and reluctantly attempted to stop Venom, before Venom attacked him, still possessing enough hatred and strength to attempt to choke him. However, Venom was stopped by the Fantastic Four, who Venom realized was behind this all along. Venom’s hatred for Spider-Man was greater than ever. After years of combating, however, Venom reached an understanding with Spider-Man, and made a truce.
Lethal Protector
After dealing a truce with Spider-Man, Venom would relocate to San Francisco. Starting out as a ” Lethal Protector”, Venom would come across a hidden underground city inhabited by the homeless. A man known as Roland Treece was sending hired guns to exterminate these people so he could claim the hidden gold reserve below the underground city. Venom decided to protect these people from Treece and infiltrated Treece’s company. Venom’s actions had gotten Spider-Man’s attention, however, and Spider-Man traveled to San Francisco to bring Venom down once and for all. While Spidey searched for a lead on his former enemy, Venom was being pursued by a team of of highly trained soldiers known as the Jury. The Jury was brought together by Orwell Taylor, the father of the young Vault officer Venom killed during a Vault breakout.
The Jury relentlessly attacked Venom, nearly killing him until the Life Foundation rescued, then captured, him. Carlton Drake, head of the foundation had plans for creating super guardsman similar to Venom’s first offspring, Carnage, and violently ripped from Venom five spawn, creating the Five Life Foundation Symbiotes and joining them with their best personnel. Spider-Man encountered one of the new Symbiotes, a female human joined with a symbiote, and followed her back to the Life Foundation. Realizing that Spider-Man’s intrusion was in order to track down Venom, and since Venom was no longer useful for the foundation, Drake had the symbiote violently separated from Eddie, nearly killing Eddie.
Eddie would later free himself and team-up with Spider-Man, reuniting with his own Venom symbiote. The five new Symbiotes tested out their powers against the combined efforts of Spider-Man and Venom, but their Symbiotes where seemingly destroyed by a machine triggered by Venom, and the human host where thought dead after the Life Foundation complex self-destructed. Having escaped the exploding building, the two spider-powered foes would join forces against Roland Treece and prevent him from killing all of the inhabitants of the underground city. Spider-Man then returned to New York while Venom would remain with the underground city.
Maximum Carnage
Carnage later escapes prison again and he is joined by other super villains. They starts the Maximum Carnage, once again Spider-Man and Venom would fight him again. Carnage called out Venom on TV. Venom would later assemble his own team including Cloak, Dagger, Morbius, and fight Carnage. At one point Venom gets captured and tortured by Carnage and later escapes. He and Carnage later fight near a small plant and Venom defeats Carnage in a big explosion.
Separation Anxiety
However, some time later, the Life Foundation Symbiotes would return. After being separated from his own symbiote by the Scarlet Spider, Eddie Brock was sent to a research facility. The five Life Foundation Symbiotes break into the facility to escape with Eddie. They kept Eddie captive until he will agree to help the human hosts control their own Symbiotes. But one of the five Symbiotes, Donna (Scream) then kills off the human hosts of her fellow offspring one-by-one. When the Venom symbiote escaped from its imprisonment and rejoins with Eddie, the two defeat Scream and leave her and her four dead comrades (with their Symbiotes still alive) for the authorities (the remaining four Symbiotes later merge into one and bond with Vault Guardsman Scott Washington to become Hybrid).
The Madness and Planet of the Symbiotes
Eddie later intervened when the Juggernaut was hired to kidnap his girlfriend, Beck Underwood. The fight ended with Venom being hurled into a pool of a mysterious red substance, which bonded with him and further mutated the Symbiote. The virus, dubbed “Creep”, caused Venom to become even more violent and unstable than usual, until he eventually got rid of it and returned to his original appearance.
Eddie later began to contemplate getting rid of the Symbiote after realizing it was influencing him to kill. Spider-Man tried to argue in favor of this, claiming the Symbiote was to blame for Eddie’s insanity. Eddie got rid of the Symbiote so that he could make his decision uninfluenced, and spurned, the creature attracted a spaceship full of other Symbiotes to Earth. Venom was forced to team with Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider to save the Earth from the invaders, and after the other Symbiotes were destroyed, Eddie opted to remain as Venom.
The CIA
Much time later, Venom was recruited via an ultimatum by the government to be a special operations counter-terrorist agent. Venom agreed, but one stipulation of the deal did not sit too well with him. A bomb was planted in his chest to assure complete and utter obedience. After a few missions, Venom became tired of the situation and had the Symbiote perform surgery on him and extracted the bomb. A brouhaha ensued wherein the end result was Eddie Brock lying unconscious and the Symbiote “dead,” only to return later on and re-join with Eddie. Thus Venom was whole again and looking to square things with Spider-Man once again. He had lost his memory and no longer knew the secret identity of Spider-Man, but knew that a deep seated hatred resided within him for the web-head.
Death of Anne Weying
Shortly after the reunion, Venom joined the Sinister Six for a brief period in order to get at Spider-Man. After being scorned by the group, he hunted down certain members of the team for revenge (including Electro, the Sandman, and Alyosha Kravinoff). Later Eddie Brock approached his ex-wife Anne Weying, and at the thought of having the Symbiote back in her life, she jumped out of her apartment window and killed herself. Venom blamed Spider-Man, whom he had a skirmish with right before Anne died. Thus the hatred for the old Webhead was fueled anew.
Eddie dying of Cancer
After bonding once more with the Symbiote, Brock has a religious awakening and decides against permanently merging with it. Brock instead chooses to sell the Symbiote to crime lord Don Fortunato, intending to donate the $100 million received to charity before dying. Angelo Fortunato, the Don’s son, becomes the second Venom for a brief period of time. However, Angelo begins killing innocent people in his quest for glory and later proves to be a weak host for the Symbiote, being humiliated in a battle with Spider-Man. The Symbiote abandons Angelo mid-leap, and the subsequent fall kills him. Upon hearing about this, Brock feels responsible and attempts to commit suicide by slitting his wrists, but survives. The Symbiote then becomes attached to Mac Gargan, better known as the Scorpion at the time. When Peter Parker unmasks himself publicly as Spider-Man, Brock is among the millions of witnesses. He is shown in the hospital, rapidly succumbing physically to his cancer and experiencing hallucinations of the Symbiote, representing his dark side. He spots Mary Jane Watson Parker watching over a comatose Aunt May, who has been seriously wounded by a bullet. Brock has no idea what to do, but his dark side then persuades him to kill Aunt May.
Brock orders a dress-up costume of Spider-Man’s black costume and sets out to kill her, first murdering a nurse for getting in his way. At the last minute, he has a change of heart, finding he cannot murder someone as innocent as Aunt May. Eddie repeatedly slices his wrists in order to get rid of Venom. He tells Peter Parker that while he’s done terrible things, he’s not a terrible person, and asks for his forgiveness before jumping out the window. Peter breaks his fall by catching him with two strands of webbing. Awakening chained to his bed, Brock decides to take better control of himself in the short time he has left. He tells his dark side that he accepts its presence, as long as it recognizes that from that moment on, he is in control.
Anti-Venom
While once again praying at a church, Brock was discovered by philanthropist named Martin Li who is secretly Mr. Negative. After Matt Murdock proves in a court of law that Brock was not responsible for his actions while bonded to the Symbiote and has Eddies charges dropped, Li gets Brock a job in his soup kitchen. Eddie began life as a cook and continued rounds of chemo-therapy in order to try and combat his cancer. When Eddie believed his terminal cancer was about to kill him, a touch from Mr. Negative charged the remnants of the Venom Symbiote within his body and activated them causing them to bond to his white-blood-cells (leukocytes). This created a brand new, non-sentient symbiote that lived within Eddie’s bloodstream secretly healing his body of cancer.
One day Mac Gargan (the Venom) while hunting for Spider-Man, sensed a former host and presuming it to be Spider-Man followed the inkling. Gargan then encounters Brock instead of Spider-Man trying to hide from the new mentally unstable Venom. The Venom Symbiote then attempts to leave Mac Gargan to re-bond with Brock, much to both Gargan’s and Brock’s dismay. However, upon making contact with Brock’s skin, the new leukocyte symbiote began to react. The white substance seeps out of his pores and the Venom Symbiote is immediately degenerated and repelled. Once the symbiote completely covers his body and transforms his appearance, Brock declares himself “Anti-Venom”.
A fight ensues between Anti-Venom and Venom, with Venom being clearly beaten. Only for the timely intervention of Spider-Man who mistakes Anti-Venom for a villain, gives Venom time to gain his footing. The two symbiote empowered beings, then beat Spider-Man out of the fight only to continue their battle. After several hits against each other, Anti-Venom recognizes Spider-Man as an ally while Spider-Man begins to realize Anti-Venom is not another evil Symbiote. Spider-Man then holds Venom down so that Anti-Venom can cleanse Gargan of the Symbiote. Thinking that the Venom Symbiote is completely destroyed, Eddie turns his attention to Spider-Man. Anti-Venom senses small traces of the Symbiote in Spider-man. Anti-Venom removes the traces of Venom, but then begins to cleanse Spider-Man of his radioactive blood not knowing that this is the source of his spider powers.
Eddie is not successful in curing Spider-Man because Spider-Man reasons with Eddie; however from then on, Spider-Man’s powers greatly weaken in the presence of Anti-Venom. The Thunderbolts ( Songbird and Radioactive Man) then arrive, and try to kill the new Symbiote. But Eddie proves immune to Songbird’s sonic projection and Radioactive Man’s heat/radiation, unlike previous Symbiotes including Venom. Eddie then tries to cleanse Radioactive Man but Songbird saves him. Norman then tells them to retreat, and they take Gargan back to base to heal him and Venom. After the fight, Spider-Man flees and Anti- Venom sneaks on to the Thunderbolts ship. He then disguises himself as one of their soldiers and infiltrates their base where he discovers their plan to kill Spider-Man by using his camera, looted by Norman Osborn. They then reverse-engineer their weapons to follow Spider-Man’s tracer. In response to this, Brock steals back Peter’s camera. Eddie then follows Bullseye and the troops where they ambush Spider-Man, and forewarn him about his next move, in a show of friendship and good-will. Norman uses the remnants of Anti-Venom in Gargan to create a super-venom capable of destroying the new symbiote. He then outfits Gargan in a new Scorpion power-suit that contains a cybernetic tail and stinger filled with the super-venom. The power-suit also allows the Venom Symbiote to regenerate while providing new protection against Anti-Venom’s touch.
Eddie leads Spider-Man back to OsCorp and the two split up, due to Spider-Man’s weakened state in Eddie’s presence. Brock disguises himself as Spider-Man to distract the other Thunderbolts while Spider-Man goes after Osborn. After webbing Songbird and Radioactive Man to a wall, Anti-Venom faces Gargan, who now embodies both his power sets as Scorpion and Venom. After a grueling battle, Gargan as Scorpion hits Anti-Venom with his stinger and injects the super-venom which seemingly destroys Brock’s suit. Gargan advances to kill Brock, but is met with resistance by the Venom Symbiote. The Symbiote gains strength and breaks though Gargan’s battle suit, refusing to let Gargan kill Brock. Gargan explains that the suit still loves Brock too much and gives up, but he promises Brock that he will get past this problem and someday finish him off, to which Brock replies “not if I kill you first”. Unknown to Gargan, Brock’s Anti-Venom suit reforms. He admits, that Spider-Man helped show a side of humanity he had long forgotten. Also saying that their was more he could learn from him. Now a fugitive for helping Spider-Man and fighting the Thunderbolts, Brock is back on the streets planning to continue his religious quest as Anti-Venom.
Black and White
Recently, after Anti-Venom used his powers to cure a teenage girl named Jenna Cole from her heroin addiction, he sends her to Martin Li’s shelter FEAST. Unbeknown to Eddie, Martin Li had started to turn down new residents. Aunt May would hear none of it, and went to talk to Mr. Li personally. She found him training the Asian refugees who had been rescued from OsCorp, training in the martial arts. Martin Li turned May away, stating that this was a closed session. Meanwhile, Anti-Venom followed the dealers to their suppliers (a group of masked men who called themselves The Inner Demons, a gang that worked for Mr. Negative). Upon finding and attacking them, Eddie was surprised that they were armed with weapons that had the same toxin Venom nearly killed him with. Anti-Venom was able to kill most of the Inner Demons who were present at the deal and get enough information from one he left alive to find out their next move. However, one of the men escaped and told Mr. Negative what happened. Anti-Venom showed up to stop the gang’s next crime, stealing a truck of prescription medicine from OsCorp. But the gang was prepared and took the opportunity to ambush Anti-Venom in large numbers.
Mr. Negative himself was present and confronted Anti-Venom, revealing his identity was Eddie Brock. Anti-Venom was shocked that Mr. Negative knew his real name, and more so that he knew Eddie’s weakness. Anti-Venom found himself so greatly outnumbered that he had no choice but to retreat, the members of the Inner Demons spread out to hunt Eddie down, who had actually doubled back to the truck they were stealing and took out the men left guarding it, but since Eddie knew the truck belonged to Norman Osborn he chose to play Robin Hood and steal the medicine himself and donate it to FEAST. While Eddie was dropping off the medicine and wishing he could see the look on the needy peoples faces inside who needed it, he saw Mr. Negative entering the building, Eddie spied on Mr. Negative and to his horror discovered him to be Martin Li. This revelation threw everything Eddie held true into question, as Martin Li was the man he owed his second chance to. Now knowing Martin Li was Mr. Negative, and also knowing no one would believe him if he told them, Eddie is only left with self doubt and uncertainty.
New Ways To Live
An unknown amount of time later, Eddie is back to his main goal, to protect the innocent, and to “cure evil”. Jenna Cole returns, as Eddie’s informant and key into the world of drugs, he uses her to infiltrate a gang. While taking down a gang member who keeps calling Jenna the nickname “Jenna the junkie”, it is revealed Eddie still has unresolved anger issues, when he nearly kills the man, Jenna tells him to stop, so he does. After taking down that drug hideout, Jenna uses her skills to locate another, she goes there, Eddie follows, and in a fight in which the Punisher eventually gets involved, Jenna is kidnapped and taken across the border, Eddie going with Punisher in his Van after her. Punisher still thinks of Eddie as a killer, saying he hasn’t changed a bit, which makes Eddie uncertain further, the only reason he takes Eddie in the van is because he knows no way to kill him. When they arrive, Punisher drops Eddie off where he asks, heading to another area. Eddie walks into a room full of guards, and after having a phone conversation with the drug lord, who reveals he has Jenna, high out of her mind, Eddie loses it, and grabs a guard and literally tears him in half in rage.
After killing everyone Eddie and the Punisher went to the drug lords base. Brock goes and infiltrates the base while the Punisher goes in quietly. After killing a couple people, the drug lord hits Eddie with a car. Then the drug lord keeps talking about how much of a junkie Jenna is which makes Brock so mad he picks up his car and smashes it onto the drug lord. Eddie then hugs Jenna while the Punisher was going to snipe him but he ran out of ammo. Brock puts Jenna in the drug lords car and the drug lord under the car says “I’ll kill you” but Eddie just stomps on his face and gets in the car driving off.
Return of Anti-Venom
During the road to Spider-Island, Venom makes a return in “the Ghost of Jean DeWolff.” In this arc he begins a crusade against Mr. Negative’s crime wave, and eventually finds Martin Li himself. As Anti-Venom tears apart the limo, Spider-man intervenes and stops Brock from brutally killing what he believes to be an “innocent man.” Spider-man is easily defeated by Brock’s new suit and is captured. Later Eddie tries to convince Spider-man that Martin Li and Mister Negative are one in the same. Due to his disbelief, Spider-man is forced to tag along with Brock as he continues his search for Mister Negative. Eventually Anti-Venom is ambushed and stabbed by what seems to be a “negative sword” and loses the upper hand. Wraith then teams up with the two and they reveal Negative’s true identity to the press and he is arrested. The story ends with Anti-Venom finally becoming a hero.
Spider-Island
Anti-Venom appears as a reoccurring character in the events of Spider-Island, in which he uses his healing powers to turn the infected citizens of New York from spider powered beings back to average day citizens. When the heroes discover that Eddie Brock holds the only cure to the infestation, Flash Thompson engages in conflict with Anti-Venom in order to secure and deliver him to Reed Richards. Richards uses the suit in order to cure New York, but at the cost of Eddie losing his beloved symbiote. Eddie’s sacrifice did not go un-noticed, Reed Richards held a press conferance praising Eddie Brock as the “true hero” of Spider-Island.
Aftermath
Eddie was left with nothing to show for his sacrifice. He took up living in a shack, gathering weapons that he had confiscated in his years as Venom. His new goal becomes eradicating the symbiote species before they eventually grow in numbers and take over the Earth. He soon kills Hybrid and Scream and plans on going after Venom next.
Savage Six/Toxin
Eddie pursues Venom to a secret meeting of various super-powered villains being held by Crime-Master and Jack-O-Latern. As Venom tries to take Crime-Master and Jack-O-Lantern out from a distance via a sniper rifle, Eddie makes an attempt against Venom with his own rifle fitted with sonic bullets. The commotion draws the attention of Crime-Master and his associates, just seconds before Venom webs Eddie up and knocks him unconscious. After Venom barely escaping from the botched assassination attempt, Crime-Master retrieves Eddie and exposes him to the Toxin symbiote, the dangerous symbiotic alien Venom himself helped Crime-Master obtained.
As Toxin, Eddie has no control in their symbiotic relationship. The Toxin symbiote, fueled by its intense hatred for Venom, assists in the Crime-Master’s plan to kill Venom and his family. Toxin (Eddie) and Venom (Flash)’s first confrontation ends with Toxin defeated and webbed up. Their next confrontation during Savage Six turns into a desperate struggle for Venom, trying to separate Eddie from the Toxin symbiote. Using a barrage of incendiary grenades, Venom is able to wound Toxin long enough to pull the unconscious Eddie Brock free from Toxin’s symbiotic mass. As Brock regains consciousness, the Toxin symbiote, still ablaze, drags the defenseless Eddie through the flames, seriously burning Eddie, and attempts to bond once again with Eddie. Unable to handle the flames due to Flash’s own symbiote being highly vulnerable to fire, Venom is forced to leave Eddie and Toxin behind, the Toxin symbiote bonding once again with Eddie in a large heap of fiery alien substance, apparently killing Brock.
Later, however, it is shown that Eddie Brock is still alive and now as Toxin continues his gory war against crime. Thought first he has a personal score to settle with Flash, tracking him to Philadelphia. He is next seen on the streets of Philly where he meets a cannibalistic murderer infected with some alien technology the U-Foes had acquired. Eddie releases Toxin and they battle with Toxin dominating until the killer releases monstrous tentacles and tears through Toxin ending the fight. Picking up the monster’s scent, Toxin decided follow in pursuit hoping to use the killer as bait for Venom. When Flash tracks the cannibal down, Toxin appears out of nowhere, ready to confront Venom. The two have a brutal fight with Brock dominating due to his superior symbiote.
During the fight the cannibal creature attempts to attack Toxin, but he is killed by him. Flash is only able to finally defeat Toxin by injecting him with a sedative for his symbiote. The night after their fight, Eddie shows up at Flash’s school and demands they finish their fight. Flash tells him no as he knows Flash wouldn’t harm the kids their, despite his mental state. More cannibal killers show up and the two symbiotes team up and manage to kill the symbiote slayers. After the fight, Eddie wants to finish their fight but Flash tells him no again as Eddie never had a reason to hold back Venom and that he has to and is trying to build a life. Eddie agrees to let him live, but if Venom ever loses control Eddie will kill him, to which Flash agrees to. Eddie then leaves and stands watching over the city.
Anti-Carnage Task Force
While taking on Philadelphia’s drug cartels the FBI caught up with Eddie and detained him. Seeing the good Toxin could do they offered Brock the opportunity to become an agent for the FBI. Under the supervision of FBI agent Claire Dixon they put a symbiote dampener on Eddie to control the symbiote, and only let Brock use it as long as he followed orders but only under extreme circumstances. Along with Toxin the task force recruited John Jonah Jameson III and Manuela Calderon to track down and capture Carnage. In an attempt to capture Carnage the task force instigated a trap that resulted in Jameson, Carnage and several agents being trapped in Grey Ridge Mine. The team delved deeper into the mines to confront Carnage discovered that the entire operation and its failure was part of a plan orchestrated by the mine’s owner to sacrifice Carnage in a temple hidden within the mines for a Chthonic ritual. The team failed to apprehend Carnage who had been empowered by a ritual from a book known as the Darkhold instead of killing him. Due to Carnage escaping the temple with the book the FBI discharged the Anti-Carnage task force. Brock’s team continued to operate under the funding of Victoria Montesi. The team came across a young girl named Jubulile van Scotter. While on her boat when she found assisted Kassady unaware who he is or that he is a homicidal lunatic Jubulile had also been merged to a symbiote in a failed attempt from Carnage to control her before she escaped from him. Brock saw his team’s subsequent quest to find Carnage and stop him from unleashing dark evils on the world as a signal that God was giving him a second chance to atone for his past wrongs, and tried to become a better man. While tracking down Carnage, Brock also became very protective towards Jubulile who had been discovered to share a psychic bond with Carnage. The team finally located Carnage to a mysterious uncharted island, unfortunately they arrived late. Carnage had reached an ancient temple where he started a ritual to summon Chthon. As they came closer to Carnage the psychic influence over Jubulile from the Carnage symbiote grew stronger. In a l effort to prevent Jubulile from being taken over by Carnage Eddie gave her the Toxin symbiote in hopes its presence in her body could diminish Carnage’s. Eddie was initially reluctant due to the risk it posed for Jubulile to have two symbiotes but she convinced him to give her the symbiote. Empowered with her own symbiote Jubulile confronted Chthon when he arrived. After Montesi took the Darkhold from Carnage and used it to empower Jubulile with the psychic energies of the entire world, she managed to banish Chthon. When the dust settled, the anti-Carnage task force disbanded and parted ways.
Return of Venom
Eddie Brock rejoined the FBI to help take down the new Venom host Lee Price, who had full control over the symbiote. With Spider-Man’s help Brock is able to separate the symbiote from Lee but was not allowed anywhere near the fight due to Spider-Man’s fear of the symbiote rebonding with Eddie and becoming Venom again. Spider-Man and the FBI were able to separate Lee from the symbiote . In the process to stop Lee, Spider-Man’s actions causes the symbiote to rekindle its hatred for hiM. While preparing to transfer the symbiote off world Brock tries to see it but is turned away by the guard. The guard tells Eddie that if he wanted to see it he should’ve have hide during the fight. Brock explains that he had to hide other wise the symbiote would’ve thought Eddie betrayed it too and would no longer trust him. Brock then kills the guard and breaks the symbiote out of custody and bonds with it again.
Brock immediately returned to his previous arrangements of acting as a lethal protector. However, he was disturbed by the symbiote’s emotional imbalance and went to Liz Allen, CEO of Alchemax, for help. She agreed to let him see a doctor working there – Dr. – in exchange for recapturing a massive underground colony of escaped dinosaur test subjects. In doing so, Venom discovered that they were under the control of Stegron, who planned to use them to overtake New York. After Moon Girl’s friend Devil Dinosaur was also swayed to his influence, the two teamed up and foiled Stregron’s plans. In gratitude, the dinosaur population named him as their protector.
Needing a steady flow of cash, Eddie applied to work at the Fact Channel under a pseudonym. He tried to nab the job by reporting on the underground dinosaur colony, in the hopes that exposing them would garner public sympathy. However, the action instead attracted the likes of Kraven the Hunter, hired by Mayor Fisk to exterminate the dinosaur mutants. Eddie and the Symbiote were badly injured after their first battle with Kraven, and later came back to prevent him from finishing the job. In doing so, the symbiote’s inner murderous instincts rose and it almost eviscerated the huntsman, had its’ medicine not been administered in time.
Eddie and the symbiote’s newly reforged bond was tested when Flash Thompson returned, having spent months trying to find the symbiote. Torn between the two hosts, the symbiote tried to possess both before Spider-Man interfered with anti-Venom chemicals that turned Flash into Anti-Venom. Flash and Spidey then made off with the symbiote, causing a powerless Brock to give chase. Calming himself, Eddie uses his heightened senses to locate and re-bond with his other. Finding out that Lee Price was using a bootleg version of the symbiote to amass followers, Brock, Black Cat, Thompson, and his former student Andy joined with Spider-Man to defeat him. Venom fought valiantly against Maniac, but was severely injured several times before the combined might of the heroes overwhelmed him. Brock, Spider-Man, and Thompson parted on good terms, with Thompson stating that he believed in Eddie and the symbiote as partners.
As a result of being bathed in the chemicals, Venom was no longer subject to erratic behavior, which delighted Eddie and the Symbiote greatly. However, this happy news was interrupted by a shock: the symbiote was about to spawn once again. This attracted Eddie’s former FBI ally Claire Dixon, who wanted to take the spawn by force for dark government purposes, and was backed up by a opportunistic Scoprion. Thanks to the intervention of Spider-Woman, Venom escaped and made it back to Alchemax so Dr. Steven could perform the procedure. To throw off the FBI, both lied that the spawn was stillborn, and Eddie agreed to Alchemax studying it non-invasively.
The First Host
Poisons
Knull
Some time afterwards, Brock is seen keeping the symbiote’s control subdued through drug usage by consuming pills. This habit was the effect of repeatedly having nightmares in his sleep with the latest one involving one of the symbiote’s kind attacking a group of warriors back in Medieval Scandinavia. He has been actively avoiding crime fighting ever since the nightmares came and has been calling the authorities instead to stop criminal activities while taking pictures of them from a distance. However, a copy cat of Jack-O-Lantern ends up being able to escape from one of the cops by shooting him. This leads to a chase down a dark alleyway when the copycat is suddenly attacked by someone who appears to be Venom, only to be revealed to be a possessed and deformed Venom with red markings across his body as soon as the police caught up with him. However, Venom is suddenly knocked unconscious after an explosive was shot at and was stuck to his face, destroying the alley way and it’s surroundings. After he wakes up, Eddie finds himself strapped to a chair being interrogated by a man who used to work in the military known as Rex Strickland. Strickland then reveals to Eddie that symbiotes was already found on Earth long before Eddie became one of the symbiotes’ hosts, having been part of a clandestine WWII symbitoe experiment that bonded soldiers. He asked for Eddie’s help because apparently there
Venom crashes the prisoner transport
Powers and Abilities
Eddie Brock
Before Brock bonded with the symbiote, he was a very skilled reporter and investigator. Years of weight-lifting and strength-training has granted Eddie with a impressive strength level for a normal man. Eddie is a capable fighter that boasts a great degree of physical strength even without a symbiote or superpowers. When the Life Foundation violently separated the Venom symbiote from Eddie in Lethal Protector, Eddie was able to survive the near-fatal trauma of having the symbiote ripped from his body, and while unarmed and with no superpowers at that moment, was easily able to overcome two guards.
An even more notable instance of Eddie’s physical prowess without the aid of a symbiote; During the events of “Separation Anxiety”, Eddie was able to fight against one of his five Life Foundation symbiote spawn before finally being subdued (he even displayed a sudden, limited degree of super-strength, much to their surprise).
Eddie has also shown a great ability to cope with pain, in Venom: The Hunger, while seperated from Venom, Eddie was tortured by Doctor Pain, and shot by an unidentified thug with a shotgun, Eddie impressively coped with the gunshot wound and still managed to take down the thugs, further demonstrating his own strength and hand to hand combat skill.
After the death of the Anti-Venom symbiote, Eddie took up a personal crusade of ridding the world of Symbiotes, he easily fought and killed Hybrid and Scream, showing a level of cunning, stealth, and weapons expertise.
As Toxin
Toxin shares many abilities with his predecessors, while also having his own unique abilities. Physically, Toxin is the strongest symbiote of all, simultaneously defeating Venom and Carnage. Similar to Carnage, Toxin has the ability to generate tentacles and morph his hands into weapons and shields. The symbiote can withstand energy blasts, mass impacts, and high caliber bullets with no damage at all.
The Toxin symbiote also has the same powers as Spider-Man, such as generating webs and sticking to walls, and he has also shown to have other abilities such as venomous fangs and limited psyching powers allowing him to obtain information from his enemies by touch.
Like all symbiotes, Toxin can detect others of his species as well.
As Anti-Venom
Mr. Negative’s touch allowed for the creation of Symbiote-like abilities innate to Eddie. The remnants of the Venom Symbiote in Eddie’s blood stream were charged with energy from the Darkforce Dimension and then bonded with Eddie’s leukocytes (white blood cells) which then permeated his whole body and granted him the strengths of Venom but with none of the weakness (along with a few new abilities). Anti-Venom is more robust than Venom; He still has all the powers of Venom, only stronger and with full control. He is just as strong as Gargan bonded with Venom, lifting between 70 tons. He is highly durable (immune to small-caliber fire-arms and resistant to higher caliber bullets) and able to regenerate from normally fatal wounds. He is also immune to high-pitched sonic sounds and fire. He can shape-shift, generate organic webbing, form weapons and shields, and grow prehensile snares and tentacles.
Because this new symbiote was formed from leukocytes, Brock possesses phenomenal restorative properties. Brock’s touch is able to kill other symbiotes in minutes, purge impurities in others’ bodies (including Spider-Man’s irradiated blood – the source of his Spider-Powers), heal others (to a certain, undefined degree), and remove addictions. His symbiote merged white blood cells enabled him to heal from terminal cancer in mere days. Eddie is also now able to analyze tissues for harmful substances and remove them, he could even sense that Spider-Man’s blood had been irradiated. He is also able to psychically sense the presence of other symbiotes (Venom in particular).
As Venom
Bonding with the Venom symbiote grants Eddie Brock with various abilities similar to those of Spider-Man, its former host, including superhuman strength, agility, and reflexes, webbing creation, and the ability to adhere to walls. It does not inherit the ” Spider-sense”, but it does allow him to bypass Spider-Man’s own senses. Due to Eddie Brock’s muscular physique and natural physical strength from weight-training, his strength as Venom is superior to Spider-Man’s, though he lacks Spider-Man’s speed and reflexes. Venom’s webbing is very similar to that of Spider-Man, albeit from the back of the host’s hand instead of the wrist. The webbing is created from the symbiote itself, so it is much stronger. This also creates an upper limit for the webbing, as overuse can significantly weaken the symbiote, as evidenced by the manner of Venom’s defeat in Amazing Spider-Man #300. It can also create tentacles and tendrils to grab enemies in addition to producing the standard webbing. The symbiote has shape-shifting abilities. It can alter its appearance to anything Brock desires, allowing Venom to camouflage himself and blend into the environment, or simply have the symbiote morph into normal clothing.
Venom’s body is highly resistant to physical injury, and it can help its host survive in hostile environments by filtering air. It can also heal any injury or illness Brock suffers much more quickly than human medical care, and allowed him to survive indefinitely with terminal cancer. The symbiote is very susceptible to high-pitched sonic frequencies and fire. The Venom symbiote contains a small ‘dimensional aperture’, allowing Brock to carry items without adding mass to the costume, and it is able to transform to mimic any human or become camouflaged with its surroundings. The symbiote shares all of its knowledge with Brock, and projects its own desires into his mind. It is also capable of psychically detecting its offspring; however, this ability can be blocked.
Due to Eddie Brock’s muscular physique and natural physical strength from weight training, his strength as Venom is superior to Spider-Man’s. Brock’s strength allows him to lift (press) 11-25 tons and at his peak; even before bonding with the symbiote he could lift (press) an impressive 700 lbs.
Weaknesses
As Toxin
The Toxin symbiote exhibits the same critical vulnerability to extreme sound and intense heat that most symbiotes have. Despite the Toxin symbiote being potentially one of the most powerful and dangerous of its race so far, compared to Venom and Carnage, its still succumbs to both sonics and fire just as easily as the its predecessors symbiote. Flash Thompson (Venom) was able to defeat Eddie Brock (as Toxin) during their first confrontation with a small sonic weapon. In their follow-up confrontation, the Toxin symbiote was critically injured by Venom using fire against it. An additional “weakness” is that much like it’s parent, the Carnage symbiote, the Toxin symbiote is quite sadistic by nature, and tries to manipulate it’s hosts into psychotic actions. When Eddie was first bonded to it, the symbiote had nearly full control, and Eddie behaved quite violent and mindless under it’s control.
As Anti-Venom
The Anti-Venom symbiote, however, has a high resistance to both fire and sonic waves. A highly fatal toxin created by Norman Osborn and used by Mac Gargan (the third Venom) was able to temporarily destroy the Anti-Venom symbiote during New Ways to Die.
In another occurrence, the Anti-Venom symbiote was nearly destroyed completely by the Venom symbiote. Because the Anti-Venom symbiote’s substance is finite, Eddie had exhausted much of the Anti-Venom symbiote’s substance prior to Eddie’s encounter and battle with Venom (Flash Thompson). The Venom symbiote attempted to leave Flash and rejoin with Eddie. The Anti-Venom symbiote was to depleted of its substance to stave away the Venom symbiote and the Venom symbiote overtook Eddie, killing the Anti-Venom in the process. The Anti-Venom symbiote was able to regenerate only after the Venom symiote separated from Eddie.
As Venom
The Venom symbiote, like almost all symbiotes, is highly vulnerable to sonic waves and intense heat. While the Venom symbiote has been able to endure fire and heat-based attacks and weaponry, sonic waves have always proven very effective against Venom. Extreme sound can cause the symbiote great pain and can even tear the symbiote away from Eddie. Without the symbiote, Eddie possesses no superhuman powers. Like the Venom symbiote, the Carnage symbiote also shares these weaknesses.
Various sound-based weapons have been used to effectively take down Venom. A blast from a sonic blaster, or any sonic weapon, is usually more than enough to reduce the dangerous Venom symbiote into an harmless pool of alien ooze, rendering Eddie vulnerable & powerless.
Characteristics
Height: 6’3
Weight: 230 lbs
Eyes: Blue, White
Hair: Reddish Blonde, None (Symbiote)
Other Versions
Earth-1610 / Ultimate Universe
In the Ultimate Spider-Man series, the Venom Symbiote begins life as a biological experiment created by Richard Parker and Edward Brock, sees the suit as a possible cure for cancer due to it’s regenerative capabilities while Edward Brock sees the suit in terms of it’s military uses. After Edward Brock, Sr. and Richard Parker die, Eddie Brock, Jr. picks up the research where his father left off. Peter Parker meets Eddie Brock Jr. and the two reminisce about their childhood memories and bond while discussing the project that their fathers left behind. Peter takes a sample, determined to continue his father’s work but the sample bonds with him. Spider-Man, now wearing the Venom Symbiote quickly discovers that the “suit” has many extra abilities that his old suit did not. However, while Spider-Man is fighting he becomes more and more aggressive. Eventually, the suit attempts to force Peter Parker to murder and Peter destroys it.
Peter attempts to convince Eddie Brock Jr. that the suit is dangerous and destroys the remaining portion of the sample. Furious over this, Eddie Brock Jr. retrieves a much larger sample that had been in storage. The second sample not only bonds with Eddie Brock Jr. but completely takes him over and Venom is born. Venom attacks Peter Parker at school but after Peter defeats him, he vanishes into the night. In his most recent appearance, Venom returns to torment Peter. Realizing that being near Peter allows Eddie more control over the symbiote, Venom attacks Peter again at a museum. As Spider-Man & Venom fight, Venom is ambushed by Silver Sable and her Wild Pack and reverts back to Eddie. Silver Sable delivers Eddie to Bolivar Trask who plans on using the symbiote. Venom manages to escape and has a third confrontation with Spider-Man, when the symbiote leaves Eddie and overtakes Spider-Man. The Ultimates are able to take Peter down and remove the symbiote from him as Eddie disappears for the moment.
Meanwhile, ” Gwen Stacy” (a perfect copy of the original Ultimate Universe Gwen with a symbiote housed in her body) arrives at Peter’s home for help. Eddie, angry over losing the symbiote, intrudes upon Peter’s home and threatens Aunt May. Spider-Man, with Gwen following, takes Eddie away to confront him when Gwen’s symbiote emerges and she transforms into Carnage. Carnage attacks Eddie, and the contact the two make with each other is enough to release the remaining traces of the symbiote within Eddie’s body, and he transforms into Venom once more. As the two fight, Venom is able to absorb Gwen’s Carnage symbiote, and morphs into a bulkier, newer Venom. Bigger and stronger than ever, Venom escapes before Spider-Man can stop him. Later, as Eddie retells his story to passer-byes in a park, the Beetle, disguised as a civilian, captures Venom and delivers him to Latveria.
House of M
in this universe it is the Eddie Brock version but in this reality, created by the Scarlet Witch, Earth is ruled by mutants and humans are the minority. Venom is a villain being played by an actor on the movie about Spider-Man, with Mary Jane playing Peter’s wife, Gwen Stacy.
What if?
Eddie Brock appears in What If’s, along with him as Venom.
Marvel Zombies
Eddie is a zombie and still bonded to the alien symbiote.
Spider-Man:Reign
In this universe, Venom is disguised as Edward Saks(Eddie Brock) has taken over the city and Spider-man killed him and the symbiotes.
Other Media
Animation
Spider-Man: The Animated Series
Eddie Brock made a few appearances in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, and was voiced by Hank Azaria. His first appearance came in the pilot episode “Night of the Lizard”, where he, attempting to take pictures of the transformed Doctor Connors, is restrained by Spider-Man, foreshadowing their future conflicts. Eddie continues to cross paths with Spider-Man, until he eventually joins with the symbiote and begins torment Spider-Man, later learning his identity. Eddie used the knowledge of Spider-Man’s identity to manipulate and threaten those in Peter’s life, including Aunt May and Mary Jane. Ultimately, Peter using the intelligence he gained from bonding with the Symbiote, defeated Venom by bringing him to a Rocket Launch, where the sonic vibrations of the rocket caused the Symbiote to separate from Brock.
After Venom was separated from Brock, Spider-Man attached it to a rocket and it was sent to space. Through the efforts of Baron Mordo, the symbiote was returned to Earth via meteor. It then gave birth to Carnage. It went looking for Eddie Brock to bond with again. After possessing Ashley Kafka, the symbiote then goes to the Ravencroft mental institution where Brock was imprisoned. Despite initially threatening Parker again after becoming Venom once more Eddie, after falling in love with his Doctor, Ashley, eventually helps Spider-Man and Iron Man defeat Mordo, Carnage, and Dormammu. Ultimately, in an act of self-sacrifice, Venom protects his love from Carnage, by tackling his foe into an inter-dimensional portal; dooming them both to Dormammu’s dimension.
Spider-Man Unlimited
Eddie Brock made very few appearances in this series due to Venom being in control of him. But eventually he breaks free of him only to be bonded back with Venom. An episode of Spider-Man Unlimited focused heavily on Eddie Brock being forcibly separated from his Venom symbiote and having to rely on Spider-Man to return it to him. The trauma of having the symbiote separated from him is killing him, and Spider-Man has no choice but to help his enemy. He was voiced by Brian Drummond.
The Spectacular Spider-Man
In The Spectacular Spider-Man, Eddie Brock is voiced by Ben Diskin. He is a collage student now, and was past friends with Peter Parker. He protected him from his bully, Flash Thompson. The two are re-united by Curt and Martha Connors who ask both them and Gwen Stacy to help out in the field of science. Together they work as a team; however, they are forced once to deal with Electro, who is in desperate search of a cure for his condition. They also deal with Curt’s transformation into the Lizard. The friendship of Peter and Eddie hits a snag when Peter bonds with the alien symbiote. Peter acts very rude and stuck-up. He feels he is the best and he needs no one. Eddie tells Mary Jane that Peter is not the person who he once was, due to his anger of their friendship going awry. Eddie, however, makes the fatal move. He publishes a piece in the college newspaper about Curt Connors’ Lizard transformation. Martha immediately fires Brock. He leaves in despair and anger. Peter is dealing with the symbiote taking him over, but eventually the good side of Peter Parker defeats the symbiote. He returns to the college’s science lab as Spider-Man places the symbiote in sub-freezing temperatures to kill it. Eddie tries to save it and the symbiote feels the darkness in Brock, and his hatred. The symbiote, feeling betrayed, shares his feelings and bonds with Brock. They become, Venom.
His only goal is to kill Peter and use those who he loves as bait. This is evident when he kidnaps Gwen Stacy at the circus and has her publicly held as a hostage for Spider-Man. Spider-Man comes and rescues Gwen and defeats Venom in the process. Venom returns to make good on his promise on killing Spider-Man. Spider-Man defeats him again, this time by shoving a cleanser antidote down his throat that weakens the alien, and Eddie is once again placed in prison.
Marvel’s Spider-Man (2017)
Eddie Brock appears in Marvel’s Spider-Man, voiced by Ben Pronsky. He is introduced as a Daily Bugle employee who is jealous of Peter Parker, and eventually becomes Venom after bonding with the Symbiote.
Film
Spider-Man (2002)
When Jonah makes his first appearance in the Spider-Man, he’s arguing with Robbie Robertson about the lack of pictures of Spider-Man. Robertson replies that “Eddie” has spent all week searching for the hero.
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Eddie Brock in the Spider-Man 3 film is played by Topher Grace. Eddie is introduced when an accident takes place. Eddie snaps some pictures of Spider-Man coming to the rescue, then tells the hero that he is the new hire at the Daily Bugle. Peter Parker changes out of his costume and races to the newspaper, but Eddie is already there. Peter is undersold by Eddie (who has no problem working for less) and even is at risk to lose a staff position to the new guy. To get what he wants, J. Jonah Jameson has the two boys compete for the position. The contest: whomever can supply the first incriminating photo of Spider-Man gets the position.
Eddie gets lucky because Peter gets co-opted by the black symbiote suit. Eddie’s pictures are enough to cause the negative Spider-Man to smash the camera. Eddie then decides to Photoshop some pictures. Armed with pictures of Spider-Man robbing a bank, Eddie is awarded the job. Peter, feeling more brazen with the symbiote influence, Peter ruins the celebration by exposing Eddie’s fakes. Later, Eddie is further enraged when he sees Peter and Gwen together about to go on a date. Soon it is all far too much for him too bear and so Eddie goes to a church and prays that Peter be killed. In his moment of ultimate anguish, the black symbiote suit finds Eddie, giving him the tool to make his prayer a reality in becoming Venom.
After a run-in with the Sandman, the two villains team up against Spider-Man. Eddie kidnaps Mary Jane and lures Spider-Man to a construction site. There, Spider-Man faces both Eddie as Venom and the Sandman. Fortunately for Spider-Man, Harry Osborn arrives to help. Eddie uses Harry’s glider in an attempt to kill Spider-Man, but Harry gets in the way. Spider-Man then employs a sonic weapon to disrupt and weaken Eddie’s Venom suit. Spider-Man is then able to pull the symbiote from Eddie’s body. Looking to finally destroy the suit, Spider-Man hurls a bomb at the symbiote. Eddie lunges towards the suit so as to save it, but once the bomb goes off the only thing left is one little piece of the suit.
Venom (2018)
Eddie Brock appears as the main protagonist of the 2018 Venom film, portrayed by Tom Hardy. The film is a complete continuity reboot, and is not connected to Topher Grace’s portrayal of Brock in any way. The film depicts Eddie Brock as an investigative journalist living in San Francisco who ends up being fired after confronting industrialist Carlton Drake over the extraterrestrial research being performed by the Life Foundation. After being approached by one of Drake’s scientists with an offer to expose him, Eddie becomes bonded to the Venom symbiote.
In a departure from the comics, the film generally depicts Eddie in a more favorable and heroic light.
Venom 2 (2021)
A sequel is currently in the works, with Andy Serkis directing. Tom Hardy and and Michelle Williams will return, with Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson playing Cletus Kasaday/Carnage, the film’s villain. Oscar nominee Naomie Harris will portray Shriek.
Merchandise
As Venom
- Venom received figures from Toy Biz for both the comics and the 90’s animated Spider-Man series.
- Venom was featured in the Spider-Man Classics line from both Toy Biz and Hasbro in several forms, including one that came with an “Alien Ooze” display base, and the popular “Symbiote Blast Venom” figure, which is widely cited as one of the best Venom figures ever made.
- Venom was featured in Marvel Legends, the sister line to Spider-Man classics, also by Toy Biz and Hasbro. The sole Toy Biz Marvel Legends figure of Venom was released as part of the Sinister Six box set. Once gaining the Marvel Legends license, Hasbro released a figure of the movie version of Venom for the movie Sandman Build-a-Figure wave and a figure of the classic first appearance Venom in the Absorbing Man Build-a-Figure wave.
- Eddie Brock was featured in Diamond’s Marvel Select line several times. An Ultimate Venom figure was released, as was a Venom figure featuring accessories that could transform him into his multi-headed, Creep-merged form from the “Venom: The Madness” storyline.
- Venom was featured in various kid-oriented lines from Hasbro, such as those for the Spectacular and Ultimate Spider-Man cartoons and their Super Hero Squad line.
- Various statues of Venom have been released by companies like Gentle Giant, Bowen Studios, and Kotobukia, among others.
- Japanese toy companies like Square Enix and Kaiyodo have released figures of Eddie Brock as Venom.
As Anti-Venom
- Hasbro released a figure of Eddie Brock as Anti-Venom in the Hobgoblin Build-a-Figure wave.
- Diamond released an Anti-Venom figure for the Marvel Select line.
- Anti-Venom was featured in the Funko POP! line of bobbleheads.
- Hasbro released an Anti-Venom figure for the Marvel Universe line as a repaint of their previous Venom figure.
- Anti-Venom was featured in the Marvel Super Hero Squad line from Hasbro.
- Anti-Venom was featured in Hasbro’s Marvel Mashers line.
As Toxin
- Hasbro released a figure of Eddie Brock as Toxin in the Ultimate Green Goblin Build-a-Figure wave, with the figure coming with the Goblin’s head. To date, this is the only figure of the Eddie Brock version of Toxin, though a figure of the Patrick Mulligan version of Toxin was released as part of Toy Biz’s Spider-Man Classics line.
- Hasbro later released an updated figure of Eddie as Toxin as a deluxe Marvel Legends figure.
Video Games
The Amazing Spider-Man vs. Kingpin (1993)
Venom made his video game debut here as a boss character. In the game, he kidnaps Mary Jane.
Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage (1994)
Venom appears as a playable character and one of the two main protagonists in both this game and its 1995 sequel, Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety.
The Amazing Spider-Man: Lethal Foes (1995)
Venom appears as a boss character.
Spider-Man (1995)
Venom appears in the game as the final boss.
Marvel vs. Capcom series (1998-2011)
Venom appears in the series a playable fighter, starting with Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of the Super Heroes. He returned for the sequel, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: Match of the Millennium, but failed to make it into the sequel Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. Capcom requested permission to use the character, but the request was denied by Marvel, as at the time, Eddie Brock was no longer being marketed as Venom in the comics. Despite this, Anti-Venom appears as a card in the Heroes and Heralds mode in the 2011 re-release Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Rod Wilson provided his voice.
Spider-Man (2000)
Venom appears in the game, voiced by Daran Norris. He is originally a boss character, but after being defeated, becomes a supporting character and assists Spider-Man.
Ultimate Spider-Man (2005)
Ultimate Venom appears in the game as a playable character, with Eddie Brock, Jr. voiced by and Venom voiced by Arthur Burghardt. The game continues the events of Venom’s first appearance in the Ultimate comics, showing what happened after his initial defeat and disappearance. During the course of the game, Venom faces opponents like Wolverine. He eventually becomes the game’s final boss after he absorbs the Carnage Symbiote and evolves into a a more powerful form.
Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (2005)
Venom appears as a playable fighter.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance (2006)
Venom appears as part of the “Villains Pack” DLC for the Xbox 360 version of the game, voiced by Steven Blum. He appears as an alternate costume for the Mac Gargan version of Venom in the 2009 sequel, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Venom appears as the final boss, with Topher Grace reprising his role from the movie.
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (2007)
Venom appears as a partner and playable character, voiced by Quinton Flynn. He sports a costume similar to the one that he wears in the movie.
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (2008)
Venom appears as the main antagonist and final boss, voiced by Keith Szarabajka. In the game, part of the Symbiote leaves him and bonds with Spider-Man after a battle, and Venom sets out to create an army of Symbiotes to conquer the planet.
Marvel Super Hero Squad Online (2011)
Venom appears as a villain character, with Steven Blum reprising his role.
Spider-Man: Edge of Time (2011)
Anti-Venom appears initially as a mind-controlled villain who easily dispatches and kills Spider-Man. However, through the help of Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O’Hara) this fate is avoided. Later, Anti-Venom, Doctor Octopus and Walter Sloan (a 2099 scientist for Alchemax) merge after being forced through a temporal portal, and the creature which they form comes to be known as the Atrocity. Steven Blum reprises his role.
Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth (2012)
Venom is a playable fighter in the game, voiced by Roger Craig Smith.
Marvel Avengers Alliance (2012)
Anti-Venom appears as a boss character.
Marvel Heroes (2013)
Venom appears as a playable villain character, voiced by Neil Kaplan. His Anti-Venom and Toxin forms appear as well, albeit as alternate costumes.
Lego Marvel Super Heroes (2013)
Venom appears as a playable character in both his classic and Ultimate forms.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
Venom appears as a boss character in the iOS/Android version of the game, despite not appearing in the actual film its based on. Ben Diskin reprises his role from the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series. He is presented in a much more sympathetic light, with this version of Eddie Brock being a journalist who was kidnapped and experimented on by OsCorp after he found out that they were providing weapons to criminals. He is injected with a strain derived from Richard Parker‘s work, which transforms him into Venom. Spider-Man manages to defeat Venom, and promises that he’ll find someone that can help Eddie.
Marvel Contest of Champions (2014)
Venom appears as a playable fighter.
Spider-Man Unlimited (2014)
Eddie Brock appears in the game as both Venom and Anti-Venom.
Marvel: Future Fight (2015)
Venom is a playable character.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite (2017)
Venom returns as a playable character in the game, marking his first appearance in the series since the transition to 3D models. He was not featured in the base roster, but was later released as a DLC fighter. Additionally, Eddie’s Anti-Venom suit appears as his DLC costume. He is voiced by Andrew Morgado.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order (2019)
Venom appears as a playable character in the game, voiced by Steve Blum. He initially appears as a boss character faced alongside Electro during a prison break at the Raft, but becomes playable after being defeated.