Venom (Eddie Brock)

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Venom
Eddie Brock as Venom
Publisher Marvel Comics First appearance Amazing Spider-Man #252 (alien symbiote) Amazing Spider-Man #298 (as Venom). Created by David Michelinie Todd McFarlane
Characteristics Alter ego Edward Charles "Eddie" Brock Abilities Alien symbiote grants the host all of Spider-Man's powers (having been formerly bonded with Spider-Man), as well as limited shapeshifting ability and the power to avoid detection by Spider-Man's "spider-sense".

Venom (Eddie Brock) is a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain and anti-hero commonly thought to be an arch-enemy of Spider-Man. He first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #299 (April 1988).

Venom is the result of symbiosis between an extraterrestrial symbiote and Eddie Brock, a human host. Before this merger, Eddie was a journalist who held a personal grudge against both Spider-Man and Peter Parker.

Contents 1 Publication history 2 Fictional character biography 2.1 The Beginning 2.2 Progeny 2.3 Planet of the symbiotes 2.4 Venom on trial 2.5 Clone of the symbiote 2.6 Separation 3 Personality 4 Powers and abilities 5 Other versions of Venom 5.1 Ultimate Venom 5.2 Marvel Zombies 6 Appearances in other media 6.1 Television 6.2 Spider-Man: The Animated Series 6.2.1 Appearances 6.3 Spider-Man Unlimited 6.3.1 Protagonist 6.3.2 Spider-Man (2002) 6.3.3 Spider-Man 3 6.4 Video games 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Publication history

Writer David Michelinie and artist Todd McFarlane are generally credited with the character's creation, based on a number of plot ideas and concepts from various other creators, though the degree to which McFarlane should be credited with co-creating the character has been a source of dispute in the comic book industry. Venom's existence was first indicated in Web of Spider-Man #18 (September 1986), when he shoved Peter Parker in front of a subway train without Parker's spider-sense warning him, though only Brock's hand was seen on-panel (It would later be established that the alien symbiote, having once been grafted to Parker, did not trigger his spider-sense). The next indication of Venom's existence was given in Web of Spider-Man #24 (March 1987), when Peter Parker had climbed out of a high story window to change into Spider-Man, but found a black arm coming through the window and grabbing him, again without being warned by his spider-sense. He then made a partial appearance on the final page of The Amazing Spider-Man #298, in which he was obscured by shadow, before making his first full appearance on the final page of #299 (May 1988).

The question of who created the character of Venom became an issue of contention in 1993 when writer David Michelinie wrote in to the comic book industry magazine Wizard, which had referred to Michelinie in issue #17 (January 1993) as the "co-creator" of Venom. In his letter, which was printed in issue #21 (May 1993), Michelinie contended, despite his praise of McFarlane, without whom he conceded the character would not have attained the popularity that it did, that he was the sole creator of the character. Michelinie pointed out that Venom's earliest appearances were in Web of Spider-Man #18 (Sept. 1986), written by Michelinie and drawn by Marc Silvestri; and Web of Spider-Man #24, plotted by Michelinie, scripted by Len Kaminski, and drawn by Del Barras.

The character would remain unseen and inactive until Amazing Spider-Man editor Jim Salicrup required a villain for that book’s 300th issue, and Michelinie suggested a villain consisting of the alien symbiote grafted onto the body of a human female. Salicrup accepted the suggestion, but changed the character to a male. Michelinie then devised the Eddie Brock identity. Michelinie contends that the plots for issues #298-299, as well as the visual descriptions of the character, were written and brought by Salicrup before McFarlane was ever assigned to the book.

Writer Peter David corroborated Michelinie’s view in his But I Digress column in the June 4th, 1993 Comics Buyer's Guide, in which he stated that Michelinie discussed the ideas behind the character with him at the time of its creation. At that time, David was the writer on The Spectacular Spider-Man and wrote the "Sin Eater" storyline from which Eddie Brock’s back story would be derived, well before McFarlane was assigned to the art duties on Amazing. Because artists who design the costumes or appearances of major characters and/or illustrate their first appearances are generally credited as co-creators, Venom is a complex situation, because the costume from which Venom's appearance is derived was not designed by McFarlane.

Erik Larsen, who followed McFarlane as artist on Amazing, and who added Venom's pointy teeth and tongue as well as the green drool to Venom's appearance, responded to Michelinie's letter with one of his own that was printed in Wizard #23 (July 1993), in which he dismissed Michelinie's contributions to the character, arguing that Michelinie merely "swiped" the pre-existing symbiote and its powers to place it on a character whose motivations were poorly conceived, one-dimensional, unbelievable, and clichéd. Larsen also argued that it was McFarlane’s rendition of the character that made it sellable.

The pre-existing elements that dealt with the symbiote costume itself - to which Michelinie did not contribute - have also been noted. For example, editor Jim Shooter came up with the idea of switching Spider-Man to a black-and-white costume, possibly influenced by the intended costume design for the new Spider-Woman. Artists Mike Zeck and Rick Leonardi, as well as others, designed the black-and-white costume. Writer/artist John Byrne asserts on his website that the idea for a costume made of self-healing biological material was one he originated when he was the artist on Iron Fist to explain how that character’s costume was constantly being torn and then apparently repaired by the next issue, explaining that he ended up not using the idea on that title, but that Roger Stern later asked him if he could use the idea for Spider-Man's alien costume. Stern in turn plotted the issue in which the costume first appeared but then moved on and it was writer Tom DeFalco and artist Ron Frenz who had established that the costume was a sentient alien being and also that it was vulnerable to high sonic energy during their run on The Amazing Spider-Man that preceded Michelinie's. Regardless, Peter David's position is that Michelinie is the sole creator, since the idea of creating a separate character using the alien symbiote was Michelinie’s, as was Eddie Brock's backstory, and that without the idea to create such a character, the character would not have existed.

This dispute arose at a time when artists such as McFarlane and Larsen were publishing books with their new company Image Comics. During the time which Todd McFarlane was producing artwork for Marvel, the company stated that Venom as a creation of McFarlane's, and Michelinie shared credit as co-creator. It was not until McFarlane's departure from Marvel that any controversy arose over this issue. Regardless of the issues surrounding his creation, Venom was created under a work-for-hire contract and Marvel owns all rights to the character.

Venom's original color was jet black, but has since become deep blue or purple.

[edit] Fictional character biography

[edit] The Beginning

Born in San Francisco, Edward Charles Brock Junior was raised in a Catholic upbringing to a cold and unloving father from whom he desperately tried to gain approval. Though as a child, he excelled in many subjects, particularly athletics, his father's response was always in the form of half-hearted encouragements, due to the fact that Eddie's birth had caused the death of his late wife. After reading a newspaper article on the Watergate Scandal in college, Brock quit athletics and switched his major to journalism.

Upon graduating, he moved to New York and obtained a job at the Daily Globe, a rival of the Daily Bugle. He proved himself to be highly talented, though even this could not get his father's approval.^[1] At some point in his career, he married Anne Weying. She was apparently attracted by his wit and gentility, traits he had always hidden from his father.

Sensing an opportunity, Brock decided to investigate in the Sin-Eater case and surprisingly came across someone actually confessing to the murders. Brock interviewed the man as The Globe's popularity soared. However, with the authorities pressing for a suspect, Eddie was forced to reveal his subject's identity. To his horror though, it turned out that Spider-Man had caught the real killer and the man he had been interviewing turned out to be a compulsive confessor. Fired from his job in disgrace, Brock's father practically disowned him and refused to see his son again. With no decent publishers willing to hire him, Eddie was forced to work for sleazy tabloid magazines. Blaming Spider-Man for ruining his career, Brock resumed his passion for athletics through weightlifting to reduce stress. Though his body grew to near-olympic standards, his rage remained. Tiring of her husband's incessant brooding, Anne divorced him. With both his professional and personal life shattered, Brock contemplated suicide and went to Our Lady of Saints Church where he pleaded to God for forgiveness, unaware the symbiote Spider-Man had discarded lay waiting for him.

The symbiote, attracted by Brock's intense hatred of Spider-Man, bonds with him, imparting him with the knowledge of Spider-Man's secret identity. Brock and the symbiote name themselves "Venom" and torment Spider-Man and his family. The symbiote is later revealed to be attracted to Spider-Man,^[2] and it attempts to leave Brock and reunite with Spider-Man. The bond between the symbiote and Brock is too strong, however, and the separation results in mental trauma to both. Brock is remanded to the Vault, a prison for superpowered criminals, until he escapes by faking his death and murdering one of the guards.

Later, along with the origin story, the comics reveals Brock had been diagnosed with a form of cancer that increases his production of adrenaline.^[3] Instead of their mutual hatred of Spider-Man, Brock's increased adrenaline production, on which the symbiote feeds, is the primary reason for their bonding. The bonding also saves Brock from his cancer.

[edit] Progeny

Venom is subdued and incarcerated when the plague-spreading super-villain, Styx, renders the symbiote unconscious.^[4] The symbiote finds and bonds with Brock, aiding in his escape. During the escape, the symbiote gives birth and leaves its spawn, which bonds to Brock's cell-mate Cletus Kasady, creating Carnage.^[5]

Venom abducts Spider-Man to a remote island where they fight. Spider-Man fakes his death to convince Venom that his vendetta is over, and Venom resigns himself to life on the island.^[6] Venom's retirement ends when Spider-Man, unable to defeat Carnage, returns and enlists Venom's aid.^[7] In the 1993 Spider-Man crossover storyline "Maximum Carnage", Venom teams up with Spider-Man and a number of other heroes to defeat Carnage when he and a team of powerful supervillains overtake New York City. Having made peace with Spider-Man after he rescued his ex-wife, Eddie moves back to his hometown of San Francisco, where he acts as the protector of an underground society of descendants of survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. There, he has a brief relationship with a woman called "Beck". His career as a lethal protector though is cut short when the Spider-man clone known as Ben Reilly hunts him down and separates Brock from the symbiote after an intense battle.

After Carnage is born, Venom assumes the rest of his progeny (the Life Foundation symbiotes Scream, Lasher, Riot, Phage, and Agony) will turn out the same way, and thus should be destroyed. However, the Life Foundation symbiotes are afraid of becoming like Venom, and instead want his help controlling their symbiotes so they can use them for good. Even though the Life Foundation symbiotes rescue him from imprisonment, Eddie refuses to help them and Scream goes insane and kills them (Venom: Separation Anxiety #4). When Scream later reforms, she aids Venom a couple of times. The remains of the other four symbiotes merge to form Hybrid, who considers Venom a threat.

[edit] Planet of the symbiotes

For a while, Eddie begins to have doubts as to the nobility of his cause and temporarily abandons his alien other. The telepathically projected grief of the symbiote attracts a scouting party of other members of its own species which begin possessing people and forcing them to steal material needed to create a portal to their homeworld. When the portal opens, the symbiotes invade New York, taking over the bodies of both civilians and superheroes alike. Eddie rejoins with the symbiote to assist Spider-man and Ben Reilly in the fight. Eddie convinces the heroes to distract the symbiotes whilst he and his other concentrate on creating a "psychic scream" that would render the invaders unconscious. To Spider-Man and Ben's horror though, the new attack actually results in the death of every alien symbiote on the planet.

[edit] Venom on trial

Venom is captured in his sewer hideout and put on trial, with Matt Murdock acting as his defense,^[8] and his symbiote held in check with a chemical inhibitor. Carnage is called as a witness, but he overcomes his own inhibitor and attacks. Venom, Spider-Man, and Daredevil team up and subdue Carnage. However before the trial can continue, Venom is unexpectedly taken into custody by a secret government organization who offer him amnesty if he joins them as an agent. Though Venom at first relishes his new found immunities, he leaves after being abandoned during a dangerous mission.^[9]

Venom infiltrates Ravencroft prison, slaughters the guards and temporarily absorbs the Carnage symbiote. He joins the Sinister Six, but Venom turns on the other members after they mock him, crippling Sandman and Electro before making peace with Spider-Man.

Like all prior agreements with Spider-Man, this peace was short lived as Venom's hatred for Spider-Man was renewed when Anne Weying, driven over the edge by fear of her husband commits suicide after seeing Spider-Man in his black suit. Venom loses his chance for revenge when the powerful human/alien hybrid known as Senator Ward forcefully removes the symbiote from Brock once more.

The Carnage symbiote gives birth to the Toxin symbiote. Carnage attempts to kill the newborn Toxin, but Venom opposes him until he realizes that Toxin's policeman host will not ally with him, and calls a truce with Carnage to destroy Toxin, who is aided by Spider-Man. Spider-Man and Toxin drive off Carnage and Venom.^[10]

[edit] Clone of the symbiote

An alien race secretly operating within the United States government clones the Venom symbiote. Venom absorbs the clone, gaining its knowledge, and he decides to carry out the aliens' orders.^[11] Before he does, however, Brock learns that he has cancer and will die if he does not permanently bond with the symbiote.^[12] The Symbiote rejects Brock, not desiring to be bonded with his diseased body any longer. Ultimately, Spider-Man tricks the symbiote into permanently merging with Brock.^[13]

[edit] Separation

Following the revelation of his cancer, Brock had a religious awakening (it is implied this was brought about after having seen The Passion of the Christ) and decided against permanently merging with the symbiote. Brock instead chose to sell the symbiote to crimelord, Don Fortunato, intending to donate the $100 million received to charity before dying.^[14] Angelo Fortunato, the Don's son, became the second Venom for a brief period of time. However, Angelo proved to be a weak host for the Symbiote, being humiliated in a battle with Spider-Man. The symbiote abandoned Angelo mid-leap, and the subsequent fall killed Fortunato. Upon hearing that Angelo had died due to the symbiote, Brock slit his wrists in an alley and was seen waiting to die. However, he was found before his death and survived the suicide attempt. Eddie is currently recovering in a hospital.^[15] When Peter Parker unmasked himself publicly as Spider-Man, Eddie was among the many who watched the revelation.

[edit] Personality

A major theme of Eddie Brock's villainy is protecting the innocent. It arose from his initial anger with Spider-Man, when he felt that Peter Parker's 'scoop' on the Sin-Eater story destroyed something innocent deep inside Eddie. His usage of lethal force in his battle against crime is often compared with The Punisher. Though both view murder as an acceptable method of crime fighting, there are several important differences between the two. Unlike the Punisher who does what he perceives as his duty with emotional detachment, Venom makes little effort of hiding the obvious glee he experiences in terrifying and butchering those he considers guilty. Also unlike the Punisher, whose sole goal in life is to track down and destroy criminals, Venom does not actively seek them. He is much more concerned about protecting the victims of crime rather than focusing solely on eliminating the perpetrators.^[16]

Eddie isn't always consistent with his methods, though some times he recognizes the inconsistency. He deeply regretted having to kill the guard he did when he escaped the Vault the first time, even giving the dead man a parting platonic kiss. Eddie doesn't always recognize his methods are flawed. He once 'rescued' a little girl from a clown he thought was threatening her. Eddie's fearsome appereance, with his huge tongue and long teeth, terrified the girl, rendering her mute for some time afterwards.

He does get it right sometimes. He has repeatedly shown himself to perform feats of heroic nobility, ranging from saving people falling from buildings^[17] to throwing himself in front of bullets. This has been used against him, as some of his opponents know he will let them escape in order to rescue an innocent civilian.

Before his religious re-awakening, Brock showed himself to be prone to extremely violent mood swings whenever separated from his other, showing none of the joviality displayed when fighting as Venom. In fact, he'd even brood over his crimes, expressing a great deal of guilt until once again being rejoined and once again becoming the lethal protector.^[18]

Even after their divorce, Eddie was totally devoted to his wife Anne, the first person to have ever treated him with the affection he never received from his father. Though he did once find himself in the position to start a new relationship, he never followed through with it, stating that he was "too dangerous" to romantically commit himself.^[19] However, he did try several times to rekindle his relationship with Anne, until her death, which left him devastated.

[edit] Powers and abilities

See also: Symbiote (comics)

As a result of the symbiote's former bond with Spider-Man, it grants its hosts abilities parallel to those of the wall-crawler (i.e. superhuman strength, agility, and reflexes, and the ability to adhere to walls).

The symbiote is capable of enhancing the strength of its host to varying degrees. Due to Eddie Brock's natural physical strength from weight-training, his strength as Venom is greatly increased, far in excess of Spider-Man's, though his full strength often fluctuates. Venom has demonstrated strength ranging from only slightly greater than Spider-Man's to being capable of trading blows with high-powered individuals such as Juggernaut.

Venom's body is highly resistant to physical injury, capable of withstanding assault from high-calibre bullets as well as attacks from super powered individuals. Venom is also capable of surviving in harmful areas for long periods of time such as underwater or in toxic gases, the symbiote filtering breathable air to the host. Additionally, the symbiote is capable of healing injuries in the host at a faster rate than normal human healing allows. The symbiote is also capable of healing injuries and illness that current human medical care cannot such as cancer.

The symbiote contains a small 'dimensional aperture', similar to a pocket, that allows the host to carry items upon his/her person without adding mass to the costume. It also possesses some limited psychic ability, making it capable of obtaining information from its hosts and even other people and symbiotes simply by touch. This ability allowed Eddie Brock to know the secret identity of Spider-Man when the symbiote bonded with him. It can, however, be forced to forget information if the symbiote is inflicted with heavy trauma. The symbiote is also capable of psychically detecting its offspring; however, this ability can be blocked.

Due to Spider-Man being a host to the symbiote, Venom, and as a result his offspring, is able to bypass Spider-Man's spider-sense. As such, Venom is capable of attacking Spider-Man without alerting him, making Venom a deadly foe.

The symbiote is capable of mimicking the appearance of any form of clothing, camouflaging with its surroundings, and even mimicking other people.

The suit can also shoot webbing similar to that of Spider-Man, albeit from the back of the host's hand instead of the wrist, but as this is made from the symbiote itself, overuse weakens it. However, the symbiote is still capable of producing vast amounts of this webbing before it is forced to stop. Furthermore, it does have an upper limit as to how much webbing it can produce. In Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1, #300, Spider-Man defeated Venom by forcing the symbiote to continually fire off its webbing, after correctly deducing that it uses its own substance to create it.

The symbiote is weak against sonics and fire.

Though it hasn't been fully explained, Venom is immune to Ghost Rider's penance stare.^[20]

In some incarnations, the symbiote (and, by extension, Venom) requires a certain chemical (most likely phenethylamine) to stay sane and healthy, which has been said to be found abundantly in two sources: chocolate and human brain tissue. Thus, Venom is forced to steal/purchase large amounts of chocolate or become an unwilling cannibal who devours the brains of those he kills.

Venom can trace his offsprings though Carnage sometimes slips through the cracks.

[edit] Other versions of Venom

See also: Venom (comics)

[edit] Ultimate Venom

In Ultimate Spider-Man, Eddie Brock, Jr. is Peter Parker's closest childhood friend. Instead of a sentient alien, the Venom symbiote is a genetically engineered protoplasmic "suit" designed by Richard Parker and Edward Brock, Sr. Parker intends it to be used for medical purposes in his quest to cure cancer but Brock Sr. is more interested in the military applications of the suit. After the deaths of both men, Eddie continues the research. Peter Parker meets up with Eddie and the pair bond over their shared history before Eddie informs Peter of their legacy. Peter returns at night, determined to continue his father's research by taking a sample, but it instead bonds with him. After nearly being driven to murder by the suit, Peter warns Eddie of its danger and takes the sample to an industrial smoke stack where he destroys it. Eddie, after having his romantic intentions rejected by Gwen Stacy becomes furious with Peter when he caught him destroying their "inheritance". Eddie then uses a second, larger sample and becomes Venom. The suit takes full control of Eddie, driving him to viciously attack Peter at his high school. Venom disappears after a flash caused when some power cables come in contact with water on the street. Later, in the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, Eddie gains full control of the Venom suit after he absorbs the remnants of the first sample in Peter's blood. In doing so, he develops the familiar white spider symbol on his chest.

In Ultimate Spider-Man, Venom is much more physically powerful than Spider-Man, although he is not as fast or agile. He cannot create organic webbing, instead using extruded tentacles to swing from building to building. In the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, he quickly leaps from building to building, jumping several hundred feet in a single bound. "Ultimate Venom", unlike the regular Venom, not only activates Peter Parker's spider-sense, but overloads it to the point that Peter is in such pain that he sometimes cannot move. Unlike the mainstream Venom, Ultimate Venom is not specifically vulnerable to sonics or fire, nor is he particularly concerned about killing innocent bystanders. In fact, the only way to prevent the suit from consuming Eddie is to allow the suit to "feed" on the random humans around Venom.

Eddie Brock Jr. is one of the most heavily modified characters in the Ultimate Marvel universe, bearing little similarities to his classic Marvel counterpart. Compared to the original character, Eddie Brock Jr. is a young, scientifically minded and thinly built man. He does, however, retain the original's vindictiveness and obsessiveness.

During the 'Double Trouble' story-arc, a reporter named Eddie Brock was seen at a press conference held by Justin Hammer. Though his face was never shown, he was asking questions for the Daily Globe. He does not appear to be connected in any way with the Eddie Brock who becomes Venom - this may simply be an example of a character being inserted into the Ultimate Marvel universe before his backstory was fully fleshed out.

The Spider-Man 3 film version of Eddie Brock is based on Junior in name^[21] and romantic interests.^[22]

[edit] Marvel Zombies

See also: Marvel Zombies

Venom appears in the Marvel Zombies mini-series where an alternate Earth is over-run with a virus that turns people, namely most of the heroes and villains, into zombies. In this reality, a rotting carcass, Eddie's body is withering and no longer a suitable host, causing the symbiote to begin to die as there are no normal humans left for it to take. Eddie loses his "edge" thereafter, and Zombie Spider-Man kills him. The fate of the symbiote is unknown, but the organism is presumed dead, as the Earth is later described as devoid of all "intelligent life".

[edit] Appearances in other media

[edit] Television

[edit] Spider-Man: The Animated Series

Like the comics' version of Venom, the version in this '90s cartoon is a former reporter named Eddie Brock who becomes bonded to an alien symbiote that was once attached to Spider-Man. The symbiote's origin is altered however, the alien being brought to Earth from an Earth-based space exploration. During their return, the astronauts are assaulted by the symbiote and crash their ship in the center of New York where Spider-Man arrives to help, inadvertently collecting the Symbiote when he leaves. Realizing that the symbiote's benefits are outweighed by the negative emotions it is creating in Spider-Man, he uses the sound of bells in a church tower to force it to leave his body where it bonds with a webbed-up Brock hanging below. Despite the fact that he is a popular character, Venom was only featured in a handful of episodes. Both Brock and Venom were voiced by Hank Azaria.

[edit] Appearances

• "Night of the Lizard" (as Brock)
• "The Spider Slayer" (as Brock)
• "Return of the Spider Slayers" (as Brock)
• "The Alien Costume, Part One" (as the symbiote)
• "The Alien Costume, Part Two" (as the symbiote)
• "The Alien Costume, Part Three" (as Venom)
• "Venom Returns" (as Venom)
• "Carnage" (as Venom)

[edit] Spider-Man Unlimited

Venom has also appeared in the later television series, Spider-Man Unlimited. Throughout this series, Venom is seen working together with Carnage in an effort to perpetuate the spread of an alien hive mind throughout the series' Counter-Earth. Within this series, Venom also displays powers markedly similar to that of Carnage. Venom was voiced by Brian Drummond.

[edit] Protagonist

Venom's first appearance in a motion picture was originally to be as the star of the now defunct film, Venom, written by David Goyer and produced by New Line Pictures. Venom would have been portrayed as an anti-hero, and Carnage would have been the villain. The script was not produced, and the film rights to the Venom character ultimately reverted to Sony.[1]

[edit] Spider-Man (2002)

In the 2002 film Spider-Man, it is mentioned that a Daily Bugle photographer named "Eddie" hasn't been able to get a good photo of Spider-Man. Presumably this is Eddie Brock (which the DVD's "Weaving the Web" pop-up factoids feature confirms). In the novelization of the film Eddie actually has a cameo and is mentioned by his full name, with J. Jonah Jameson unwittingly making an ironic allusion to Venom by screaming "Would it kill you to get a decent suit!?". Brock was set to be played by R.C. Everbeck; a cameo role was filmed, but was subsequently cut from the film during production.

Further information: Spider-Man (film)

[edit] Spider-Man 3

Main article: Spider-Man 3

The evil Venom, aka Edward "Eddie" Brock, Jr, played by Topher Grace, will appear in the third part of the Spider-Man film series. Trailers and interviews indicate Eddie will act as a mirror to Peter Parker in terms of employment and romantic interests. He works at the Daily Bugle as a photographer, and is one of the first to get a picture of Spider-Man wearing a new black costume. This version of Eddie is revealed to be shallow, bossy, and attempts to woo women with his smooth talk.^[23] At one point in a trailer, Eddie is pushed against a wall by an angry Parker. On that same wall hangs a framed headline which reads "Spider-Man Shows His True Colors". To compound matters, Eddie's crush Gwen Stacy begins to pursue Parker romantically. A scene from an exclusive trailer released at Comic Con in 2006 also finds Eddie sitting alone in a church saying, "I want you to kill Peter Parker." This supposedly implies that, like the comics, he blames Peter/Spider-Man for his failures. The original teaser trailer for the film shows Parker ripping off the living, black, symbiotic costume in an active belltower, then cuts to Eddie looking up and saying "Parker?????" in shock. Another trailer shows a scene of the symbiote dripping from the ceiling onto Brock. Indeed, it has been indicated that Brock will merge with the symbiote to form Venom. The latest and final trailer shows Peter facing Venom, who has kidnapped Mary Jane in a taxi and holds the taxi in a large black web. He then smashes through the top of it, reveals his face and his new jagged teeth as he evilly says "Hey, Parker". It can be seen in some parts of the same trailer that Venom will not always appear with his mouth open like in the comics, although at a certain point we see him web-slinging and see his teeth at that moment. In another trailer shown with the film 300, we see the same sequence of Venom going through the transformation as always but in the end of the trailer, Spider-Man is wandering around aimlessly. This is very similar to the comics in that Venom blocks out Spider-Man's spider-sense. Soon after Peter pauses, Venom's hands come down on the screen and pull Spider-Man up.

A digital model of Venom has appeared on the web repeatedly, and showed Venom to look like the McFarlane & Bagley rendition of the character. However, the model had the same raised black webbing on its body that Spider-Man's film costume has. This model also appeared to have large muscles. A white spider symbol was present. A prototype Venom action figure appeared for pre-ordering on the internet in January 2007. The figure showed Venom's costume to look much like Spider-Man's black costume, only with a disorganized web pattern and with the classic Venom design aspects. Also, it was shown on the action figure that Venom's spider changed colors from white to a slate-like blue-ish grey.^[24] A series of children's books are based on the film, and one focuses directly on Venom. The book's cover features a rendition of Venom which has the white spider symbol.

[edit] Video games

• The Amazing Spider-Man (Game Boy)
• Spider-Man 2: The Sinister Six (Game Boy Color)
• Spider-Man: The Animated Series (Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo).
• Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage (Sega Genesis, SNES)
• The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Sega CD)
• Spider-Man & Venom: Separation Anxiety (Sega Genesis, SNES, PC)
• Spider-Man (PC, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast)
• Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (Dreamcast, PlayStation, Arcade)
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Arcade)
• Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube)
• Ultimate Spider-Man (Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, PC, Xbox, Mobile)
• Spider-Man arcade game
• Spider-Man 3 ( PlayStation 2, Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3).
• In the game, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Spider-Man has the symbiote as an unlockable costume (PlayStation 2,3, and Portable, PC, XBox, Xbox 360, Gameboy Advance and Wii) and Venom himself will be a playable character in the Xbox 360 expansion pack.

Preceded by Dr. Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus

Spider-Man Movie Villains Spider-Man 3

Succeeded by Flint Marko/Sandman

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Venom on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki
• Ultimate Venom on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki
• Venom's profile at Spiderfan.org
• Marvel Database: Venom