The Symbiote Suit is one of the primary suits used by Peter Parker in Marvel's Spider-Man 2. It is the direct rage form of the Black Suit, serving as a Symbiote Surge transformation form during the second act, while also becomes an unlockable normal suit after the story mission "It Chose You". Its role as the Symbiote Surge form is later replaced by the Anti-Venom Suit from the third act onward.
History[]
Initially, the Black Suit can only temporarily transform into the Symbiote Suit when Peter uses the Symbiote Surge ability, drastically empowering his attacks.
After curing Curt Connors from the Lizard serum injected by Kraven, Connors shows Spider-Man a fragment of the meteorite that brought the Venom symbiote to Earth. Accidental contact with the meteorite shows Peter a vision of the symbiote's first encounter with humanity - an incident that caused the loss of Connors' arm - and permanently transforms the Black Suit into the Symbiote Suit.
This change is more than just cosmetic, as exposure to the meteorite increases the symbiote's effects on Peter, causing the rift between himself and his friends to grow more and more. Harry Osborn particularly suffers, as without the regenerative abilities of the symbiote, his sickness begins killing him again, and he is required to undergo heavy use of drugs in a largely futile attempt to keep himself alive.
Shortly after this, an exhausted Peter returns home and promptly falls asleep, only to vanish shortly after during the night when a squad of Kraven's Hunters appear in Queens to capture him. Spider-Man brutally rips through the Hunters, much to the horror of Mary Jane Watson, who quickly contacts Miles Morales, asking for his help with both the Hunters and Peter's vicious behavior. While they succeed in sealing Mary Jane and Peter in a tunnel, MJ discovers that the symbiote has been puppeteering Peter's body, as Peter had been asleep the whole time.
Kraven kidnaps Miles in an effort to bring Spider-Man to him. When Miles frees Martin Li, Li finds Peter and tells him where to find the still-captive Miles. Peter arrives and, like the night before, effortlessly and violently tears through another squad of Hunters before confronting and maiming Kraven himself. Peter is on the verge of murdering Kraven, but is stopped by Miles, who then becomes the new target of the symbiote's relentless fury until Miles is able to help Peter remove it.
Peter brings the symbiote to Dr. Connors at Oscorp Tower, only to be intercepted by Harry, who shatters the canister keeping the symbiote contained and quickly bonds to it again, becoming the monstrous Venom in the process.
This suit is briefly seen again when a horde of Venom's symbiotes swarm Peter, attempting to infect him again. The infection is stopped by the combined efforts of Miles and Martin Li, who enter Peter's mind to free him of the symbiote's hold on his mind. After they succeed, Peter is revitalized and newly-empowered, and now dons the white Anti-Venom Suit.
Characteristics[]
The Symbiote Suit is a visceral, jagged variant of the Black Suit, bearing a stronger resemblance to its classic counterpart. It lacks the segmented carapace-like appearance of its predecessor, but retains the organic, sinewy alien texture. The eyes are more narrow, invoking an angry expression. The spider emblem's legs are more distinctly separated, with only the lower six legs connecting under Spider-Man's arms. The upper two legs now connect over his shoulders.
As a Venom symbiote suit, it utilizes black webbing and matching black tendrils for the Spider-Dash and Spider-Jump moves, and acts as the Symbiote Surge transformation until its removal following the mission "Anything Can Be Broken." Its role as the Symbiote Surge transformation is then replaced by the Anti-Venom Suit from the events of the "Set Things Right" mission onward.
Suit Styles[]
- Color 1: The default color scheme.
- Color 2: White with black eyes and logo. Resembles the Anti-Venom Suit.
- Color 3: Black with white eyes and red logo. Resembles concept art of the Black Suit. Also resembles Knull.
- Color 4: Red with white eyes and logo. Resembles Carnage.
Original appearance[]
For more background of the Symbiote Suit throughout comic book history, see all appearances of Venom and the original appearance of Venom on the Marvel Database
The earliest instance of Spider-Man wearing a "Black Suit" came about due to a fan contest hosted by Marvel Comics in 1982, where the costume idea for the character was submitted by a fan named Randy Schueller, with the initial intent being that the suit would function as a costume for stealth purposes. Marvel's chief editor, Jim Shooter, was impressed with the pitch and bought the rights to the black costume from Schuller for $220. It made its first official appearance in a publication during the crossover event Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars (1984–85), which united the heroes of the wider Marvel Universe against a multiversal entity known as the Beyonder. During the events of issue #8 (Dec. 1984), Spider-Man's classic costume was damaged during his displacement on Battleworld with the other heroes, and Bruce Banner/Hulk informs Parker of a device that can generate any type of fabric from thought, leading Parker to test the machine for himself. The device generated a black sphere which began to wrap around Parker, creating the Black Suit. The machine would be retroactively established as a containment chamber for a symbiote from the planet Klyntar, who was deemed an outcast it for not consciously aligning with the morals of other symbiotes to overtake hosts and instead vowing to protect them.
The Black Suit would be expanded upon in The Amazing Spider-Man #252 (Jan. 1984), now being established as an alien, symbiotic substance that would bond to Parker while sleeping and take his body for joyrides while he remained unconscious, physically overexerting Peter beyond his natural limits. Knowing of the symbiote's desire to completely overtake him, Parker would visit the Baxter Building in issue #258 (Jul. 1984) to have it examined by Reed Richards and Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four, who deduced its weakness to fire and sound waves. Richards promptly used a sonic gun to force the symbiote off Peter, while Parker himself would have to resort to a makeshift costume in lieu of being unable to repair his original suit. He would repurpose a Fantastic Four uniform with a paper bag on his head, garnering the public nickname of "The Bombastic Bag-Man."
Unknown to Parker, the symbiote would resurface in Web of Spider-Man #1 (Jan. 1985) after escaping the Fantastic Four's custody and bonding to his red-and-blue costume, causing him to travel to a nearby church and use its rooftop bell to expose the symbiote to the same sound waves that amplify its vulnerability. As established later in The Amazing Spider-Man #300, disgraced journalist Edward "Eddie" Brock, who was previously humiliated by Parker's expose of his fraudulent reporting at the Daily Bugle, was present at the church as Peter was removing the symbiote from his body, seeking repentance for his suicidal tendencies. Upon removal, the symbiote would find its way onto Brock and leverage a combination of his self-loathing along with the substance's desire for taking revenge on Spider-Man, becoming the monstrous Venom in the process.