Flash Thompson

Origin

Eugene Thompson attended Midtown High School and was a famous football player. His athletic prowess and phenomenal speed on the pitch earned him the nickname “Flash” and made him one of the most popular kids in the class. While his popularity made life easier at school, he had a difficult life at home. His father Harry—an alcoholic police officer—beat him regularly and derided Flash’s athleticism despite his many accomplishments. Due to his rough life at home, Flash often took his anger out on other students who he felt were weak, such as “Puny” Peter Parker, who was one of his regular victims. While attending Midtown, Flash began dating Liz Allan, who was the most popular girl in school. When Liz started to develop an attraction towards Peter, Flash became jealous and began targeting Parker with his bullying almost exclusively. After Spider-Man made his first appearance, however, Flash unknowingly became Parker’s greatest—and sometimes only—fan.

Creation

Flash Thompson was created by Marvel artists Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962. He was first introduced into the comic world in the comic book Amazing Fantasy Vol.1 issue 15.

Major Story Arcs

The University years

After graduating from Midtown, Thompson enrolled at Empire State University on a sports scholarship. He rapidly developed a friendship there with fellow students Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy. In an unexpected attempt at inclusion, Flash tried to introduce Parker to Gwen and Harry, but Peter’s mind was occupied with his Aunt May’s ailing health and he failed to introduce himself, ignoring them completely. Harry and Flash misinterpreted this as snobbery and felt slighted by the incident. Because of this, Peter continued to be a target of bullying from Flash and now Harry as well, who both repeatedly annoyed and picked at Peter. Despite this and because of Gwen’s repeated attempts to befriend Peter, little by little, Parker became a part of Flash’s circle. Flash also became friends with Mary Jane who was Peter’s best friend at the time and who he introduced to the group.

Before graduation, Flash suddenly decided to enroll in the army. The entire group, including Parker, were supportive of him and what they felt was a brave and noble decision. While stationed in South East Asia, he met Vietnamese native Sha Shan and fell in love with her. When he later returned to New York, he bumped into Sha Shan in a restaurant. She refused to talk with him at first but Flash persisted until he learned the reason for her strange behavior. She had become a supervillain and enemy of Spider-Man known as “Sister Sun,” a member of the Legion of Light. She’d been forced into membership by her husband, Achmed Korba ( Brother Power). With the help of Spider-Man and Razorback, Flash succeeded in liberating Sha Shan from her involvement with the Legion and her unhappy marriage, and she became Flash’s girlfriend. Thompson’s relationship with Sha Shan would not last, however. After a brief separation from her, Flash—buckling under mental stresses and behaving recklessly—began an affair with Betty Brant. This would eventually lead to a permanent split with Sha Shan.

Hobgoblin

It was at this time that Flash boasted on live television that the villain Hobgoblin was a coward, igniting a rivalry with the costumed crook. Roderick Kingsley, the current wearer of the Hobgoblin mantle, decided to take his revenge upon Flash for his brash words by convincing the public that Flash Thompson himself was Hobgoblin. Kingsley kidnapped and dressed Flash in a Hobgoblin costume, then brainwashed him into battling Spider-Man—a battle Flash lost easily as he lacked both powers and experience. Later, Hobgoblin weapons, costumes, and other incriminating items were found in his apartment, having been planted there by Kingsley. Kingsley’s frame-up succeeded and Flash went to prison. While in prison, Flash was targeted by the Scourge of the Underworld—a villainous group dedicated to killing costumed criminals who believed the accusations that he was the Hobgoblin—but Flash was saved by interference from Spider-Man and the real Hobgoblin. Flash later turned to Spider-Man for help and succeeded in cleaning his reputation.

Coma

The price for that victory, however, was high. Flash had injured his arm during a battle against a different Hobgoblin, Jason Macendale, which resulted in his football career coming to an end. No longer in a relationship with Betty Brant and lacking job opportunities, Flash fell into alcoholism. Surprisingly, it was Norman Osborn who succeeded in turning Flash back on the path to sobriety, however as the Green Goblin, Osborn also tried to destroy Flash’s respect for Spider-Man. Norman failed at this and decided to kill Flash instead, concealing the murder as an accident involving alcohol. Flash survived this attempt on his life, but was put into a coma.

Spider-Man: The Other

When Flash awoke from his coma, he became a gym teacher at his old high school, Midtown High. He was suffering from severe memory loss, however, and this resulted in him returning to old habits such as bullying Peter, who was also working at Midtown as a science teacher. When Parker’s identity of Spider-Man was publicly announced during the events of the superhero Civil War, Flash did not believe it and thought that he Parker just protecting Spider-Man’s real identity. He even challenged Peter to dodge ball, but got knocked out since Peter—unaware of Flash’s memory troubles—thought he didn’t have to hold back with his powers. Flash was rushed into the clinic where he flirted with the nurse, Miss Arrow. Flash finally believed that Peter was Spider-Man when he saw him protecting the students from the villains that were taking up the name of Mephisto. Flash was later kidnapped by Miss Arrow—who was actually an evil counterpart of Spider-Man’s composed of shape-changing Ero or “pirate” spiders—when she chose him to be her “mate and sustenance,” but later simply wanted to kill him because she saw Spider-Man as a more powerful candidate.

Military career

Years later, having recovered from the coma and spent time working as a high school gym teacher, Flash rejoined the military. It was during a tour of duty in Iraq that Flash’s squad was ambushed. Flash afforded himself courageously and saved the life of his commanding officer, but sustained grievous injuries to his legs, becoming a double-amputee. Flash’s old circle of friends, including Parker and even ex-girlfriend Sha Shan, helped Flash deal with his loss. During his recovery Flash reignited his relationship with Betty Brant.

Brand New Day and One More Day

Following the events of Brand New Day, Flash—now crippled from injuries he sustained while serving the military—attended a party being thrown by Parker’s circle of friends for Harry Osborn. Just like everyone else, Flash did not seem to remember that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Though Peter and Flash were portrayed as friends, he did occasionally give Peter a hard time. Flash confided to Peter that Spider-Man was his inspiration while fighting in Iraq, so much so that he risked his life to help save his platoon. After protecting his platoon from an ambush Flash selflessly rescued his commanding officer by dragging him out of rubble rather than wait for reinforcements and medical assistance. His act of heroism cost Flash his legs but he was awarded for his courage with the congressional medal of honor. To keep active, Flash became very involved with wheel chair sports like wheelchair basketball and racing. When Peter Parker lost his job suddenly, he attempted to earn some quick money by selling embarrassing photos of Spider-Man. Angry about this portrayal of his hero, Flash wheeled himself over to Peter’s apartment and yelled for him to come out to fight him since the building is not handicap accessible. While the two didn’t come to violence, they traded insults and Flash lost some of the respect he’d developed for Peter. Flash continued to heal during this time—both physically and emotionally—going through rehabilitation under the care of his old flame, Sha Shan, who generously offered to serve as his physical trainer.

Birth of A New Venom

During the Siege of Asgard Mac Gargan is separated from the Venom symbiote (later becoming the Scorpion once again). The symbiote fall into the possession of the US government and was contained in a secret government base controlled by the Department of Homeland Security. The DHS was inclined to use the symbiote to create a new super-powered soldier to help protect the country. After trying and failing to bond the symbiote with another host, resulting in the candidate’s death, the government decided to approach another candidate. Around this time Flash was approached by the Department of Homeland Security as a candidate to be bonded with the parasitic alien in order to create a new super soldier. Flash agreed and became Agent Venom, controlling the suit with a combination of sedatives and strength of will. The Government put strict limits on Flash’s role as Venom, telling him that he would only be allowed to serve as Venom for twenty missions in total—that after he had served his time he would never be allowed contact with the symbiote again. This rule was intended to prevent the development of addictive behavior regarding use of the suit. Given drugs to control the symbiote and suppress its personality, Flash Thompson became one of the government’s covert men in the battle against evil. While having the abilities of Spider-Man—amplified even beyond Parker’s strength levels—Flash Thompson set out to simply survive all twenty missions without surrendering control to the Venom symbiote.

Flash’s first mission sent him to the nation of Nrosvekistan. He was assigned to find Doctor Ferid Ekmecic and capture him. While on the mission he discovered a woman and her baby who had wandered into the line of fire. He saved the pair by leading them to safety, but just when he was about to capture the doctor he encountered the new Jack O’ Lantern who then incapacitated him and escaped with the doctor while Flash gave pursuit. While fighting Jack, Flash began to lose control of the suit, but while the villain had him pinned to the ground Flash managed to throw a live grenade into his mask, blowing his jaw off. Jack survived this and attempted to complete his mission by escaping with the doctor. As Jack was flying away, Flash made the decision to kill the doctor by snapping his neck with webbing. When Flash returned to base, his commanding officer General Dodge dressed him down for losing control of the suit. Later, when Flash finally made it back home, he found Betty Brant in tears, having waited for him for six hours late for a date they’d planned together. With Flash being unable to explain his whereabouts and tardiness due to the secrecy of his status as Venom, Betty assumed that he was drinking again and slammed the door in his face.

Flash next appeared on the run from Kraven The Hunter in the Savage Land. Despite being poisoned, he continued his mission to stop a shipment of illicit Antarctic Vibranium, a dangerous and valuable metal. Disoriented and unable to locate Kraven, Flash took refuge in a cave, where he tried to figure out how long he’d even been in the Savage Land. While in this cave he once again crossed paths with Kraven and the two resumed their fight. While fighting, Kraven woke giant bats that resided in the cave and their powerful hypersonic screeching separated Flash from the symbiote. This left Flash momentarily at Kraven’s mercy, but he was saved when the bats swarmed the two humans, dragging Flash and Kraven both into the sky. Flash used the last of his ammunition to shoot the bat and grabbed onto a ledge to keep from falling to his death. While Flash was on the ground recovering, he was convinced that he will still die from the poison when the symbiote located him and rebonded with Thompson, telling him that it needs him and knows he needs it. Elsewhere, the new Crime Master and Jack O’ Lantern used surveillance to capture images of Flash when he was separated from the symbiote, putting his identity in jeopardy.

Jack O’Lantern put this information to use by kidnapping Betty Brant. Flash, still in the Savage Land, had lost all control of the symbiote. Although he contineud to pursue his mission objectives, he slaughtered numerous henchmen guarding the vibranium and blew up the entire installation once he’d hijacked the helicopter carrying the shipment of vibranium. When Flash attempted to contact his home base, he instead received a message from Jack O’ Lantern showing Betty as a hostage, offering to exchange her for the vibranium. Conflicted and still struggling to contain the symbiote’s personality, Flash flew the helicopter back to New York City and delivered the metal to the criminals. Crime Master allowed him 5 minutes to get to Betty Brant, who was being held in a warehouse rigged with explosives. On his way to save Betty he was intercepted and subdued by Spider-man, who has just recently learned of Betty’s capture and suspected Venom’s involvement.

In his desperation to save Betty, Flash lost all control of the suit. With the Venom persona fully in control, his hatred for Spider-man took over and the two fought bitterly, wasting precious time needed to save Betty. Seeing his loss of control, the government made an attempt to detonate Thompson with explosives implanted in him as a safety precaution, but this fails as the suit had secretly removed this device and planted it on one of Crime Master’s henchmen. After a long battle, Flash managed to wrest enough control from the symbiote to retreat and locate a pharmacy where he could locate some sedatives to assist in controlling Venom. He then resumed his attempt to rescue Betty, but failed to get to the building on time. Thankfully, Spider-man had already rescued her, having gone there directly after disengaging from his fight with Venom. During debriefing, Thompson reminded his team that despite his temporary loss of control, he is still one of the good guys and he was able to control the suit in the end.

Spider-Island

Just before the spider infection began to spread across New York City, Flash’s father was put in the hospital, bedridden due to cirrhosis of the liver. Flash’s father begged to talk to his son, but Flash left when was called into action as Agent Venom to deal with the developing crisis.

Flash reported to a bridge on the Hudson river in order to stop Spider-King—one of the Queen’s henchmen—from spreading the infection to New Jersey. During the confrontation, Flash received a call from Betty that confirmed his father didn’t have much time left. With help from the hero Gravity, Spider-King was incapacitated and taken back to Project Rebirth 2.0’s headquarters. After waking up and escaping, Spider-King caused havoc in the base and almost killed Flash, but General Dodge’s dog Samson bonded with the venom symbiote temporarily and saved him.

Flash then rejoined with the symbiote and defeated Spider-King a second time. After managing to contain Spider-King and reveal his identity as Steve Rogers, Captain America, Flash was ordered to use the symbiote’s camouflage powers to mimic Spider-King’s appearance and infiltrate the Queen’s base, ultimately to kill the leader herself. Flash was about to kill the Queen as Spider-King when it was revealed by a clone of Miles Warren, the Jackal, that Anti-Venom, former host of the Venom symbiote Eddie Brock, was curing desperate vagrants in the “Our Lady Of Saints” Church. After the Queen killed the clone, she ordered Spider-King to go and kill Anti-Venom. Flash left immediately, contacting Reed Richards of the Future Foundation to inform him that a cure for the spider plague existed. Coordinating with General Dodge and Project Rebirth 2.0, Flash received updated orders to capture Anti-Venom so that Reed and Horizon Labs could make a cure to the spider-infection based on his suit’s properties.

After a long confrontation with Anti-Venom, the symbiote attempted to rejoin with Eddie Brock, weakening the Anti-Venom suit enough to actually join with Brock for a brief moment. However, Flash reminded the symbiote that Eddie would always fight it now and that Flash still needs it. The symbiote left Eddie and rejoined Flash, allowing Anti-Venom’s suit to heal while Flash transported him to Richards’ location. Flash left Anti-Venom at Horizon Labs where Brock readily agreed to allow Mr. Fantastic to work on using his suit to develop a cure for the infected. Flash then returned to the hospital to visit his father and they both reminisced about the positive memories they shared of listening to records together in their old basement. Flash told his father that, despite their difficulties, he wouldn’t have picked anyone else to be his dad. Then Flash’s father passed away in front of him.

Betty offered to stay by Flash’s side in his moment of grief and handed him a letter his father had asked her to transcribe for him before Flash made it back to the hospital. However, as the infection was getting worse, Flash felt it was his duty to continue the fight against the Queen’s forces. He gave Betty his fully loaded service pistol, and left her at the hospital, telling her that he was going to find an evacuation point so they can both escape. In reality, Flash rejoined the fray as Venom, seeking to assassinate The Queen. In the attempt, however, he is pushed back by her sonic scream attack, which the symbiote is vulnerable to. Steve Rogers himself came to his Flash’s aid and the two managed to put her down briefly, Flash using Cap’s shield to deliver what they both believe to be a mortal blow. Although the Queen then transformed into a giant Spider form, Flash continued to aid in the battle until she was ultimately killed by the rejuvenated clone of Peter Parker, Kaine.

After the Queen’s death, New York was in chaos. All the spider-people had turned back to normal, but had lost their clothes in the process. Damage Control took care of the problem, but in the middle of this, an old villain called The Hijacker decided that this was his chance to make one last big score and quit for life. He used a giant tank to rob several banks, and he didn’t bother to stop for civilians. Flash, still looking for Betty, found The Hijacker and was told to take him down. Flash witnesses Hijacker’s tank run over a security guard, followed by a mother and child. This causes Flash to lose control, and he fakes his own death by allowing the tank to run him over. When Hijacker returns to his lair to inspect the cash, Flash emerges, enraged. As Venom, he viciously mauls Hijacker, breaks his fingers, and bites his head off and spits it out. Flash decides to head home. Although Flash had lost his father’s letter in the fighting, he met with Betty later that day in their apartment. She had safely locked herself in a utility closet when she succumbed to the spider infection’s transformation effects. She revealed that she still had a copy of the letter she’d penned out in shorthand. Sitting together in their first peaceful moment together since Spider-Island began, she read his father’s last words to Flash out loud to him.

Minimum Carnage

Flash is sent to find and bring in Carnage, whom has kidnapped the reporter, Katy Kiernan. He tracks him from Colorado and eventually follows him to Houston, Texas where encounters the new Scarlet Spider, Kaine. They hold each at a standstill with Kaine about to stab Flash in a moment of anger. Flash loses control of the symbiote for an unknown reason as it returns to its original Venom form and attacks the Scarlet Spider. Kaine does his best to defend himself but cannot seem to slow Venom down until Flash regains control. He asks Kaine to follow him into the Microverse where Carnage went. Flash and Kaine head into the Microverse together. Flash wakes up and is attacked by some sonic screaming pixies but he is saved by a group of people and they ask for his help. Flash ends up losing control of the symbiote again, as the saviors revealed to be a called the Enigma Force try to stop it. Ironically, a sonic pixie is what calms it down by whistling. Venom is eventually captured along with Carnage where it is revealed the symbiotes were once a cancer to the Enigma Force power and were defeated and expelled from the Microverse.

Marquis Radu wants to create an army of the symbiotes once more to kill the Redeemer, or real god of the Microverse and possessor of the Enigma Force, and take the force for himself. Marquis Radu wants to create an army of symbiotes and use them to defeat the Redeemer where he will reshape the Microverse than attack the Macroverse. Radu succeeds in using Venom and Carnage to create a hybrid symbiote army. Venom manages to get free from his shackles where he faces off against and Carnage becomes more brutal in his offense manipulating solid and sharp constructs to match carnage. He continues to fight against his symbiote’s child and the hybrids before Kaine shows up to help along with the Redeemer. Flash figures out the hybrids can be controlled from the parental symbiotes and tries to connect but fails at first. He realizes he must reawaken Venom’s own mind and channel the symbiote. In doing so, he manages to defeat the hybrids and Carnage, but Carnage himself escapes by sinking into the floor and is dispelled from the Microverse.

Katy, Kaine, and Flash are sent back to Houston where they encounter a restored Carnage. The duo manage to defeat Carnage and when Kaine tried to kill him, Flash stopped him. Venom was told that the human side of Carnage has been effectively lobotomized but the symbiote remains, leaving Carnage in a catatonic state due to sedation but more dangerous than ever.

The Evil Inside Us All and Moving to Philadelphia

After the events in Minimum Carnage, Flash tracks down a group of devil-worshipers and defeated them. Afterwards, he talks to Daimon Hellstorm, who gave Flash the clue to where the worshipers were hiding. Flash starts to reflect on his life and the consequences of the choices he made, both in his school years and now with the symbiote. After a talk with Peter Parker Flash learns that A.J. Patton, a victim of Flash bullying in his school years, has moved back to the city. Flash seeks out A.J. to apologize for his past behavior, A.J. tells Flash it is all in the past. But Flash overhears a conversation between A.J. and his boyfriend and learns that he scared A.J. for life and gave him night terror.

At night Flash seemingly controlled by the symbiote wreaks terror on one of the devil-worshipers and also on his own mother, scaring them out of their own minds. A pentagram is clearly visible on the symbiote and the demon trapped inside Venom is starting to wake up. Latter Flash talks to Peter Parker and ask him if he really was that bad in their school years. Peter tells Flash that he made school a living hell for many of the students and made them not want to go to school. Flash tells Peter that because of all the recent events and his past he is going to move away. Flash heads to Philadelphia where he defeats the U-Foes with help from Valkyrie and the demon inside.

Flash makes the official move to Philly, where he owns a new apartment and works as an assistant gym coach at the high school, while also becoming the Philadelphia’s version of Spider-Man. He encounters a strange creature that has been murdering and eating people and animals alike throughout town. Flash defeats it but the creature manages to run away. Flash continues to struggle fitting in his new life and even attends an alcohols anonymous meeting. While on patrol, he encounters the cannibal creature and ends up restraining him before getting surprised by the returning Eddie Brock, a.k.a. Toxin. Venom begins his return match against Toxin. The two have a brutal fight with Flash holding his own, but he can’t overcome the superior symbiote. The cannibal creature jumps in to attack Toxin, but he is killed by him. Flash almost succeeds in killing him, but the symbiote manages to hold him together and Flash only turns the tide by injecting Toxin with the sedative used for his symbiote. Flash ends up escaping and gets to his home in a battered state. His student Andi offers to help him, but he yells at her to go away so he doesn’t form any ties with people so they don’t get hurt.

Flash returns to work the next day, but Eddie Brock shows up in order to finish what they started the previous night. The viral aliens similar to the creature they faced during their fight ended up infecting more humans and attacking the school in order to kill Venom and Toxin. Flash manages to get the students to safety and then both Venom and Toxin battle the symbiote slayers. Toxin begins to get overwhelmed but Flash allows the symbiote to assume natural form and becomes full on Venom and saves Toxin and the two finish off the slayers. Eddie is ready to fight Flash then and there, but Flash resumes control and tells Brock he has to control the urges as he is trying to form a life. Brock agrees to let him live, but when the day comes Flash loses control he will kill to which Flash agrees. The students end up safe and Flash gets interviewed by a news team and tells them that the symbiote creature, in regards to Toxin, saved the school.

Flash goes through the week busting what he thought was a drug cartel in order to find their leader. He eventually finds the leader named Lord Ogre, and Flash fights off his guard dogs. Lord Ogre manages to escape but when Flash starts to chase after them, he checks one of the cartel’s vans and finds a bunch of captives in there.

While at work, Flash is approached by Katy Kiernan who knows he was present when Venom and Toxin saved the school from the symbiote slayers. He dismisses her, telling her that he did not see everything because he locked himself up for protection. Later, Venom is being attacked by several villains, like Constrictor and Lord Deathstrike as Lord Ogre put a bounty on his head. Flash realizes he needs some help and contacts Katy for a meeting so she can help set him up with various resources.

Jack Returns

Flash is incognito as an elderly woman as he meets with Katy as to not draw attention. Flash continues to fight off the countless contracts that Lord Ogre has sent after him, all the while meeting with Katy’s resources and allies to establish his own network around the city. Flash intervenes as Jack O’Lantern is chasing Andi and about to hurt her and her father. Flash and him fight, but Jack manages to slip out of Venom’s grip and mortally stab Andi’s father in the chest. Flash snaps and attacks even fiercer than before. Jack attempts to kill Andi with poison bombs, but Flash extends the symbiote to Andi to attempt to filter the poison. But something unexpected happens as part of the symbiote instead bonds to Andi, transforming her into Mania.

Flash and the newly possessed Andi manage to defeat Jack. The pumpkin head soon breaks, revealing that the Jack underneath was someone else that just happened to have been hypnotized with all of the previous Jack’s memories and abilities. The new Jack escapes, causing Andi and Flash to follow him where they are led into a trap with all of the assassins gunning for them. Andi almost kills the fake Jack for killing her father, but Flash talks her out of it. The two then web up the remaining assassins. Flash keeps in touch with Andi after she moved in with her aunt. The separation gives Flash time to think about how Andi became so adept at using the symbiote so fast.

Thunderbolts

Flash is on a mission in Somalia where he is approached by General Thunderbolt Ross who asks Flash to join his new Thunderbolts. Ross’ Thunderbolts were working under the philosophy that if “the infection cannot be cured. It has to be cut out.” So, Flash worked with a number of other cutthroat volunteers: Punisher, Elektra, and Deadpool.

In exchange for helping Ross, each volunteer would eventually get a turn choosing the mission, getting the help from the rest of team and resources from Ross. Flash had been concerned with his ability to hold the symbiote back, especially now. Working with the team had made Venom’s appetite for rage even greater. So, for his mission, Flash wanted to let the symbiote take over and test its strength against the team.

He chased them around Ross’ bunker, but eventually the team prevailed. Ross used one of his Hulk supersonic slaps to remove Venom from Flash, and than Ghost Rider was able to detain the symbiote with his hellfire chains. Content with knowing it was possible, Flash re-bonded with the symbiote and left the team.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Tony Stark later asks Flash to join the Guardians of The Galaxy as a representative of the Avengers in space. Flash has a number of adventures with the team, and remains with them for a while. During a visit to the Planet of the Symbiotes, the Venom symbiote is cured of its madness and evolves into a new form.

When the Guardians are stranded on Earth after the second superhuman civil war, Thompson returns to fighting crime. He chooses to stay behind on Earth when the Guardians repair their ship and return to the stars.

Unfortunately, Flash later loses control of the Venom symbiote during a fight with a government agent, causing it to run wild and abandon him. The symbiote later finds a new host in Lee Price, before returning to Eddie Brock.

The new Anti-Venom

When Andi’s Mania symbiote is stolen from her, Flash suspects that the culprit is also behind his separation from Venom. Using the remaining symbiote particles in his bloodstream as a tracker, Flash tracks Venom to Alchemax Tower, where he finds that it has once again bonded with Eddie Brock. A fight ensues, with Flash trying to get the symbiote to return to him. Unable to choose which host to bond with, the Venom instead symbiote envelops both men. Just then, Spider-Man arrives to help, and overturns a vat of the serum Alchemax developed onto the symbiote, hoping it will kill the organism once and for all.

However, rather than killing Venom, the serum causes the portion of the creature that was covering Flash to invert its colors. With his new, white symbiote outfit, Flash decides to dub himself Anti-Venom, the name Eddie Brock had used in the past after gaining his own inverted version of the Venom symbiote. In addition to the previous Anti-Venom ability of purging poisons, toxins, and infections from the body, he also had the ability to heal physical injuries.

He teams up with Spidey and Venom to take on Maniac (Lee Price bonded with Mania). He had possessed members of Black Cat’s crew and targeted a meeting of the five biggest crime families. Flash’s new abilities allowed him to disconnected possessed members and leave them with a lasting immunity. Spidey offered a sample of his blood so that the Anti-Venom suit would absorb his inherent Anti-Maniac immunity. With it, Flash was able to subdue Maniac.

Before they parted ways, Flash approved of Eddie and Venom’s bonding after they displayed heroism.

Venomized

Flash was called in by Alchemax to help them find a solution to an invasion of Poisons. Poisons were an alien species that used symbiotes to attack superhumans. They were going to use Flash’s anti-symbiote powers to render the Poisons harmless, but Venom protested believing the symbiotes were just as much victims of the Poisons as the superhumans were. Flash accompanied Venom and Spidey into the field to capture and interrogate a symbiote, however, when Flash used his powers on a Venomized Punisher, the symbiote completely melted with no evidence of The Punisher to be found.

Flash was concerned about hurting anyone who might be Venomized, so took a backseat in the fight. He joined one of two contingent of heroes that planned to attack a ship in low orbit. A Venomized Thanos attacked the quinjet that Flash was on, grounding them. While the other team continued toward the ship, Flash and the grounded heroes continued to fight off the Venomized superhumans, including one of Kid Kaiju‘s creations that Flash was forced to kill.

When the other team successfully killed the Queen Poison, Flash witnessed the Poisons on Earth die and dissolve.

Threat Level: Red

Flash was blackmailed into a job working security for Liz Allan‘s company. When the Goblin King broke in and stole some of their resources, Flash teamed up with Spider-Man to take him down. They tracked him to a nightclub where they found his dead body and a tied up J.J. Jameson. Jameson informed them that Norman Osborn had bonded with the Carnage symbiote to become the Red Goblin.

The Red Goblin mortally injured a number of Spider-Man’s friends including Miles Morales and Human Torch. Agent Venom did his best to heal Spidey’s allies, but overtaxing his powers left him vulnerable to attack. While injured in the hospital, Flash learned that Spidey was actually Peter Parker and decided to re-enter the battle before he had fully recovered. He and Spidey (who had bonded with the Venom symbiote) took on the Red Goblin. Flash tried to use his ability to purge the Carnage symbiote, but Red Goblin mortally wounded him. This caused Spidey to give into Venom’s rage. With his dying breath, Flash talked Spidey and Venom through it until they calmed down.

Flash was given a military funeral with full honors.

King in Black

After his death, Flash’s connection to the symbiotes allowed him to enter the symbiote Hive-Mind. He joined Rex Strickland‘s army of previous hosts when Knull invaded Earth. When Eddie was killed fighting Knull, Flash recruited him into Strickland’s army. When Eddie’s son, Dylan, was able to dissolve symbiotes and free hosts, a portal opened in the Hive-Mind. Flash and the others could see that the symbiotes beyond the portal were being imprisoned for losing their connection to Knull.

Flash volunteered to enter the portal and free the symbiotes. He was even able to bond with one of the symbiotes, allowing him to return to the land of the living as a symbiote dragon. As Knull was defeated and the symbiote dragons were becoming unstable, Flash flew to the cemetery where he was buried. Landing and bleeding out in the graveyard reanimated his body along with his Anti-Venom abilities.

He tried to lay low, especially with all the anti-alien sentiment after the symbiote invasion. However, he got caught in the crossfire between a random barista who was bonded with a symbiote and the Guardsman, who were hired to track and kill all surviving symbiotes. Flash fought the Guardsman and was caught by someone’s camera phone with his face exposed.

Extreme Carnage

Soon after his resurrection, Flash got a job at a veteran’s shelter. He embarrassed himself though when he psychically linked to the Carnage symbiote unintentionally and lashed out on a fellow shelter worker. Coincidentally, Iron Man caught up with Flash at the same time, wanting his help with the many symbiote threats he had been tracking since Knull’s defeat.

They tracked Carnage to the campaign Senator Peter Krane, whose platform recently switched to anti-alien since Knull’s attempted invasion. Flash determined he needed a team to take on Carnage’s security detail. Unfortunately, the Guardsman already got to Andi, who was locked up at Alchemax. Flash broke in to bust her out, only to watch her be gutted by Phage (bonded to Krane’s head of security). The only way to save her was for Doctor Steven to splice the Scream symbiote with Anti-Venom antibodies, turning her into a new symbiote, Silence.

With new powers, Andi was able to connect to Toxin’s void, inviting both Toxin and his new host, Bren, to Flash’s mission. With intel from Flash’s friend Hank, who got a job with the campaign, he learned the campaign planned to upstage the President’s commemoration of those who died during Knull’s invasion with their own demonstration, which they would use as cover to assassinate Sen. Krane.

Together, with added help from Iron Man and Sleeper, they fought off the symbiotes the best they could. Eventually, most of the evil symbiotes would be contained by Alchemax, but Agony and Carnage got away. With them still out there, Flash agreed to keep his new team together.

Character Profile

• Height: 4’1″ (formerly 6’2″)
• Weight: 160 lbs. (formerly 180 lbs.)
• Eye Color: Blue
• Hair Color: Reddish blond
• Citizenship: American
• Place of Birth: Forest Hills, Queens, New York
• Marital Status: Single
• Occupation: Adventurer; formerly gym teacher, assistant coach, black ops agent, U.S. Army corporal, special advisor tp the Mayor’s Office of Veteran Affairs, Oscorp employee, and college football player.
• Known Relatives: Harry Thompson (father), Rosie Thompson (mother), Jessie Thompson (sister)
• Distinguishing features: Double amputee, lost both legs during military career.

Powers

As Venom

Flash has all the abilities of a Spider-Man including enhanced strength, speed, wall-crawling, and—unlike the original Spider-Man—he can generate his own webbing from his wrist. He is strong enough to engage Carnage in combat and tear the turret off a tank. He is also fast enough to dodge bullets from machine guns. He can also generate tendrils from the suit to hold multiple weapons, such as machine guns. He is also able to use the shape-changing properties of the suit in order to create bladed weapons similar to Carnage, and create disguises for himself, such as an A.I.M. agent’s uniform. This makes it ideal for Flash to work as a secret agent for the government. Flash is also granted a healing factor thanks to symbiote. He has shown to regenerate missing eyes and heal from being disemboweled.

Recently, the Venom symbiote and Flash have bonded.

Flash also has military training and experience from his time in the army and a tour of duty fighting insurgents in the Iraq War. The suit even forms makeshift legs for Flash, which he lost during his time in the military.

Losing Control

Unlike Peter Parker, Flash is able to manipulate the symbiote with a combination of oral sedatives and strong will. However when Flash gets angry he loses control of the symbiote and conversely it begins to control him. This will also happen if he is in the suit for more than 48 hours.

When Flash loses control he becomes far larger and much stronger, as well as much more savage – killing just about anything in sight.

Anti-Venom suit

In addition to replicating the abilities of the Venom suit, the Anti-Venom symbiote is caustic to the Venom symbiote, and prolonged contact will kill it. It is also deadly to the Poisons.

The Anti-Venom suit can also purge human bodies of unnatural impurities, such as drugs, toxins and diseases. It also has the ability to heal physical injuries.

Alternate Versions

House of M (Earth-58163)

In this reality, Flash is the play-by-play commentator for the “Sapien Deathmatch.”

MC2 (Earth-982)

In this alternate future, Flash is now the coach of his high school alma mater, Midtown High. He married Felicia Hardy, but later got a divorce. They had a daughter together named Felicity Hardy. He still doesn’t know that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, nor that Felicia was Black Cat. He is also unaware that Mayday Parker—daughter of Peter and Mary Jane Watson and star player on the school’s varisty women’s basketball team—is Spider-Girl.

Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610)

In this reality, Flash also goes to high school with Peter Parker and bullies him, except his real name is Fred and he is a star on the basketball team instead of the football team. This version of Flash is consistently harder on Parker, shows bigotry toward mutants, and seems to have far fewer redeemable qualities than his Earth-616 counterpart. It was revealed that when Gwen Stacy died, Flash had a crush on her and had wanted Parker to set them up together.

Other Media

Films

Spider-Man

In the 2002 film Spider-Man, Thompson was played by Joe Manganiello. He is depicted as Mary Jane‘s boyfriend at the start of the film, and, like his comic book counterpart, is a bully who torments Peter. In this film, Harry also goes to high school with Peter and Flash, and instead of taking Flash’s side in the bullying he is a friend of Peter’s and also sometimes a target of Flash’s. Later in the film, after Peter accidentally uses a web to splash Flash with a tray of food, a fight between them breaks out in the school’s hallway. Peter wins this fight, discovering his new powers in the process and knocking Flash to the ground with just one punch. Mary Jane later tells Flash that he was secretly grateful Parker didn’t hurt him more. At graduation he and Mary Jane break up.

Spider-Man 3

Manganiello reprises his role for a brief cameo, where he can be seen at Harry Osborn‘s funeral.

The Amazing Spider-Man

Chris Zylka portrayed Flash in the 2012 Spider-Man reboot, The Amazing Spider-Man. In the film, he starts off as Peter’s high school bully but stops his behavior after he learns that Peter’s Uncle Ben has been killed. In one scene, he actually offers to allow Peter to beat him up in order to work out his lingering anger and grief.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Flash Thompson appears in the 2017 MCU reboot, Spider-Man: Homecoming, played by Tony Revolori. This version of the character is still a school bully and Peter’s rival, but is depicted as being more wealthy and intelligent than past portrayals of the character. He is also of Latino descent rather than being white like in the comics.

Tony Revolori reprises his role in the 2019 follow-up, Spider-Man: Far From Home. He accompanies Peter and other classmates to Europe as part of a summer field trip. It is revealed that he is a superfan of Spider-Man, has neglectful parents who don’t answer texts or pick him up personally at the airport, and was snapped by Thanos.

Television

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends

The television show Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was Flash Thompson’s first animated appearance, where he was voiced by Frank Welker. In the episode “Video-Man,” he discovers that Angelica Jones and Firestar are one and the same person, but he is unable to remember by the end of the episode. In “Spider-Man Unmasked,” Sandman learns Spider-Man’s true identity as Peter Parker and Firestar tricks Flash into wearing a Spider-Man’s costume to a party, which successfully misleads the Sandman into thinking he’s made a mistake. In the end, Flash tries to take some credit in Sandman’s defeat but Peter throws some sand at him, scaring him.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series

In the 1994 cartoon Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Flash was voiced by Patrick Labyorteaux. This version of Flash repeatedly tries to develop a romantic relationship with Felicia Hardy (the Black Cat), but is unsuccessful. He later finds a more comfortable relationship with the brainy Debra Whitman. Flash does not physically bully Peter in this series, but he does trade insults with him on various occasions. He is an outspoken fan of Spider-Man, refusing to believe Jameson’s reporting that a rampage by the Insidious Six was caused by Spider-Man. Flash’s loyalty to Spider-Man was vindicated when this was exposed as a frame up by the Chameleon.

Although Peter and Flash continued their rivalry, he was invited to Peter’s wedding where he met Felicia again. Flash tried to get along with the other beautiful girls in attendence but repeatedly failed, sometimes being pushed back by Debra Whitman.

Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

In Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, Flash appears in the episode “Flash Memory,” and is voiced by Devon Sawa. This version is based on the high school Flash, although his dislike for Peter is actually pushed to new extremes. Not only does Flash bully and insult Peter, at one point he is shown to even be willing to endanger Peter’s life.

The Spectacular Spider-Man

Eugene “Flash” Thompson appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man, voiced by Joshua LeBar. He continues to bully Parker, even when Peter already has his super powers. Flash is always trying to out smart Parker but usually fails. He is similar to his original portrayal in the comics, dating Liz Allan until they break up in the episode “Reaction,” seemingly due to Liz developing a crush on Peter. he both bullies Peter and idolizes Spider-Man, unaware that they are the same person. In “The Uncertainty Principle,” he had to be a cheerleader for Halloween due to a bet he lost to Peter in an earlier episode, but convinced the rest of the football team to also dress as cheerleaders to spare himself the shame. He and Mary Jane had also been voted the king and queen of the Fall Formal, which leads him to try asking out Mary Jane, but she turns him down as she did not want an actual relationship. After seeing Peter in his Spider-Man costume (Parker claimed it was his Halloween costume to protect his identity), he argued that Peter looked nothing like Spider-Man and he should’ve dressed up like the wall-crawler himself instead. After Peter becomes angrier and more easily agitated from being bonded with the Venom symbiote, it is Flash that snaps Peter back into reality by reminding him that his friends only want to help. Flash later shows his more heroic side when he and his friends help save Gwen Stacy from falling to her death at the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

In “First Steps” it is revealed that he and Peter were best friends in Nursery School. Peter also gave Flash his trademark nickname because of his tendency to streak as a little boy. He is also shown to have an attraction to the show’s version of Sha Shan, who doesn’t want anything to do with him. However, she eventually went out with him after he reported Harry’s use of the Goblin serum on the team, feeling that it’s better that he earn trophies fair and square than cheat.

Ultimate Spider-Man

Flash appears in Ultimate Spider-Man, voiced by Matt Lanter. True to his comic counterpart, he both bullies Peter and idolizes Spider-Man, unaware that they are the same person. He gradually grows nicer to Peter over the course of the series, and it is eventually revealed that he lives in a broken down shack with neglectful parents. He also used to torment Alex O’Hirn, who later returns and attempts to kill Flash after becoming the Rhino. In Season 3, Flash becomes Agent Venom after bonding with one of the mass produced symbiotes created by Doctor Octopus, and is taken into custody by S.H.I.E.L.D. at Nick Fury‘s behest. After some convincing from Spider-Man, Fury allows Flash to join S.H.I.E.L.D. as a hero-in-training. At the end of season 3 he along with Amadeus Cho and Aunt May know Spider-Man and Peter Parker are one in the same.

In the series finale, Flash becomes an instructor at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, helping train the next generation of teen superheroes.

Marvel’s Spider-Man

Flash Thompson appears in the series, voiced by Ben Diskin. He is Peter’s former classmate from Midtown High School, and is trying to be a better person after having bullied him in the past. He is also still a massive Spider-Man fan, having even written a blog about him. In the episode “Venom,” he unwillingly becomes the host for the titular alien parasite and has to be stopped by Spider-Man (likely as a nod to Flash’s time as Agent Venom in the comics).

Video Games

• Agent Venom is a playable character in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online.
• Agent Venom appears as an ambush enemy in Marvel Contest of Champions.
• Agent Venom appears as a playable character in Spider-Man Unlimited.
• Agent Venom appears as a Team-Up character in Marvel Heroes 2016, voiced by Crispin Freeman.

Merchandise

• Diamond Select Toys released an Agent Venom figure for the Marvel Select line as part of the Disney Store Exclusive Spider-Man Fearsome Foes Pack. It was later re-released as a solo figure.
• Agent Venom was featured in Hasbro’s Titan Heroes line.
• Agent Venom was featured in the Domez figure series from Jazwares.
• Flash was featured in the HeroClix figure game as both Agent Venom and Space Knight Venom.
• Agent Venom was featured in Hasbro’s toy line for the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon.
• Kotobukiya released an Agent Venom statue for the ARTFX line. A variant depicting his Thunderbolts colors was also released.
• An Agent Venom figure was released for Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line as a Walgreens exclusive.
• Hasbro released Venom Space Knight as the Build-A-Figure for the 2016 Spider-Man Marvel Legends wave.
• Agent Venom was featured in Funko’s Pop! line of bobbleheads. An Agent Anti-Venom variant was also produced.
• Hasbro released a Marvel Legends Agent Anti-Venom figure as part of their Marvel 80th anniversary celebration.