Marvel's Spider-Man Wiki
Advertisement

Venom, codenamed VNM-252, is a major character in the Marvel's Spider-Man series, serving as an antagonist in Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

It is an alien symbiote that bonds with human bodies to use as hosts. The symbiote briefly appears in the end credit scenes of both the first game and Miles Morales, where Harry Osborn was confirmed to be its host. After temporarily leaving Harry to bond with Peter Parker, it eventually returns to Harry, becoming Venom.

History[]

Past[]

Venom Meteorite from MSM2 screen

The Symbiote arrives on Earth in a meteorite.

At some point, Oscorp discovered definitive signs of life from an incoming meteor. When the meteor landed just outside of New York City, a security team including Norman Osborn and Curt Connors went out to investigate. There they discovered a black, tendril-like creature that quickly latched itself to Connors's right arm when he attempted to approach it. Forced to shoot off the arm to release Connors, the team was able to contain the organism within a capsule-like container.

Venom Symbiote from MSM2 screen

The Symbiote near the crash site.

The organism was designated "VNM-252", and studied extensively in secret. Researchers dubbed it a "symbiote" upon realizing it could mutualistically bond at the sub-cellular level with a human host. For this reason, Osborn bonded the symbiote to his son Harry, who was suffering from the incurable Oshtoran Syndrome, in hopes that they could stall the disease's progression long enough for treatment to be developed.

Marvel's Spider-Man[]

Pax in Bello screen 5

Venom and the contaminated Harry, watched by his father, Norman.

Following the Devil's Breath crisis, Norman Osborn visits his son as Norman places his hand on the tank in despair. However, Norman does not notice that the symbiote has reacted to his movement.

Miles Morales[]

The Battle For Harlem screen 4A

Harry awakes while attached to Venom in a container.

While the Symbiote is still bonded to Harry after the end of the game, off-screen, Connors is re-enlisted by Norman to examine and study the young Osborn's disease, and the substance which kept him alive. Just as Harry wakes up hearing the news of Rio Morales becoming a member of the New York City Council since the fall of Roxxon and the Underground, Norman becomes impatient of seeing his son remain in the container long enough, and orders Curt to get him out, despite the doctor's warning.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2[]

Symbiote Spider-Man 3

Peter is now able to take out four of Kraven's Hunters, due to the new abilities the symbiote provides for him.

While Harry is free, the symbiote keeps his Oshtoran Syndrome in check, keeping him healthy. He does not discover its other powers until his visit to Coney Island with Peter, Mary Jane, Miles Morales and Ganke Lee, where its tendrils allow him to help Peter save some guests from a collapsing roller coaster.

After some experimenting with the symbiote's powers, Harry assists Peter in his fights against Kraven, manifesting the symbiote as military armor. The symbiote, however, is drawn to Peter, even briefly generating a spider emblem on the armor after briefly coming in contact with him. Eventually, after Peter is fatally stabbed by Kraven, the symbiote transfers to him, manifesting as the Black Suit and healing him. Its powers enable Peter to fight off Kraven's Hunters, but when Harry requests the symbiote back, it refuses to return, remaining attached to Peter. It eventually begins twisting Parker's personality, even to the point where Miles had to fight him to get it off. Parker was successful in removing it and returning it to Harry at Oscorp.

Despite this, however, Peter attempts to implore Harry to destroy it, as it has proven itself to be too dangerous. Enraged, Harry strikes the containment unit holding the alien with his cane, cracking the glass. The symbiote, however, shattered what was left, sending Peter into a nearby wall and re-bonding with Harry, becoming Venom. Now with the symbiote's power, Harry fought his way through Oscorp security and then outside, where he engaged Kraven and his hunters. After the fight, it was Venom who proved the victor, granting Kraven a warrior's death by eating his head off.

Distraught at what he has done, Harry retreats to his mother's grave, where Venom uses Emily's voice to manipulate Harry and use his desire to "heal the world" to its benefit. Venom spreads itself and starts to turn New York into a Symbiote colony before spreading to the rest of the world.

Venom infects Mary Jane into Scream, until Mary Jane breaks free of the influence thanks to Peter, and quits the Daily Bugle because of J. Jonah Jameson's tirade on further ruining Spider-Man's life when he was influenced by Venom.

Venom then breaks into Doctor Connors' lab and steals the meteorite that brought him to Earth as a means of increasing his powers and infects New York even further.

After discovering the location of the meteorite, Peter, Miles and MJ come up with a plan: Peter will lure Venom away from the meteorite, Miles will fight the symbiotes to distract them and MJ will take the meteorite. The plan works as Peter lures Venom away from the meteorite and the two fight at Midtown High School, the place where Harry and Peter became best friends and Venom says that Midtown will be where they become brothers. Venom tries to convince Peter to join him but Peter refuses, leaving Venom hurt. Venom realizes that the meteorite has been stolen and grows wings and carries Peter with him to take it back.

Venom eventually arrives at EMF to reclaim the meteorite, but Miles manages to hold him back long enough for MJ to use a particle accelerator to destroy it. As a result, Venom's symbiote spawns begin to disappear and Peter then proceeds to use the powers of his Anti-Venom symbiote to separate the symbiote off of Harry, burning it away.

Characteristics[]

Appearance[]

Venom from MSM2 Concept Art

Concept art of Venom's design.

On its own, the Symbiote is a sentient black mass of tendrils. This tendril mass is fully aware, and can move itself using its various appendages. This no-host form of Venom just squeals and shrieks for communication. However, when bonded to a human host, its appearance varies based on said host.

While initially bonded to Harry Osborn, it forms as black tactical armor, with elements of the Spider-Man suit, such as black and white lenses. Later, it forms a stylized spider emblem after touching Peter Parker.

After Peter bonded with it, it formed the Black Suit, a jet-black, body armor-like Spider-Man suit with glossy white eyes, white web-shooters, white arrow-like patches on the hands, and an elongated, stretchy spider logo on the chest and back. This logo was connected by its eight legs running across the ribcage.

The suit could also mutate into the Symbiote Suit; this form was more organic, its eyes were sharper and more jagged, and the spider emblem's legs had distinct sharp edges. This emblem was connected by its lower six legs running across the rib cage and its upper two legs running across the shoulders. At first, the Black Suit could temporarily mutate into the Symbiote Suit while using Symbiote Surge, before eventually taking on the form permanently after making contact with the Hive Meteorite.

Eventually, after being separated from Peter and bonding with Harry once again, the symbiote adopts a muscular humanoid form. This form is the biggest seen yet, as this Venom form is exactly 10'4 feet tall. This form also has a mouth with two rows of long fangs, an elongated tongue, and the white spider emblem its previous forms had. For eyes, this form uses distinct, alien-like white eyes, which have curves in some places.

In some special situations, Venom becomes Enraged. When this happens, a new form is created. This new form acts as a shield, or an extra layer of Symbiote mass. This shield form makes Venom grow a rougher, pore filled body, as well as extra tendrils growing on Venom's back and shoulders. Its eyes also grow a somewhat transparent second layer. And finally, Venom's spider emblem changes, this time being much more noticeable and sharp, removing the curves the original had. Venom has the ability to switch between its normal and Enraged forms at will.

Finally, the symbiote has the power to sprout gigantic wings out of its back. These wings can appear when Venom is normal and enraged, and are made of the Symbiote's goo. The outer frame of the wings are colored black, and beige spikes adorn the frames. The inner wings are crimson colored, with tattered edges. When these wings sprout, they modify Venom's emblem slightly. Instead of the insignia being connected on its back and stomach, the connection is broken, and the back emblem is removed. The stomach half however, still remains.

Personality[]

When first bonded with Harry, the Symbiote appeared to be a mere cooperative life-form that kept him alive and granted him his powers. At this point, it seemed that Harry could effectively control the Symbiote which briefly allowed him to become a superhero. However, even in this state, it still showed subtle signs of free will, attempting to bond with Peter once before finally succeeding to heal him.

After bonding with Peter, the Symbiote started to show a greater degree of control over him than it did with Harry, exacerbating his aggression and more negative qualities. When Peter fell asleep, the Symbiote grabbed at the opportunity and took control over his body while he was out. During this time, the Symbiote appeared protective, yet very possessive of its current host. It further showed extremely violent and animalistic traits, ruthlessly attacking perceived threats like the Hunters, who followed Peter back to his house to capture him, and assaulting Mary Jane for shocking it with her stun gun. It reaches its worst point once it encourages Peter to violently confront Miles after the latter stops him and the Symbiote from hatefully killing Kraven.

After Peter removed the Symbiote and it returned to Harry to become Venom, the Symbiote revealed itself to be a very dangerous and malevolent creature which had the objective of terraforming the Earth into a Symbiote colony. Much of its personality and behavior seemed to depend on whomever it was bonded to but it would twist their desires and corrupt them, using its host to further its own agenda and influence if not outright control them; this ability was especially shown with Harry. Venom also seemed to have a vendetta against those its host fought, remembering Kraven before dueling and ultimately killing him, but averted killing those its host had an affinity for, not killing Norman and later attempting to manipulate the Spider-Men to join it.

Abilities[]

The Symbiote possesses several powerful abilities. Firstly, it is fully sentient and can communicate with its host in a language they understand. It assimilates its host's personality traits, especially negative emotions like grandiosity, obsessiveness, depression, and more. For instance, with Peter Parker, it exploited his grief over losing Aunt May to manipulate him. With Harry, it capitalized on his insecurities and desire to "heal the world."

Throughout the series, Venom has showcased his incredible superhuman strength through combat, from Harry as Agent Venom easily beating Kraven in a duel, to Peter in the Black suit capable of stopping an even more powerful Lizard, to eventually Harry as Venom in his hulking form killing Kraven, who had taken the lives of several supervillains. Venom is so powerful, it could scare a hunter into fear and submission after mercilessly beating him in combat.

Venom also has remarkable regenerative capabilities, healing wounds and even keeping certain medical conditions in remission, such as Harry Osborn's Oshtoran Syndrome. It can shapeshift, creating various weapons like tentacles, maces, or even wings for flight. It can also produce new Symbiotes, each unique in size, shape, and color. Said symbiotes come in 2 different body styles: relatively human proportions, and brute proportions (tons of muscle). These symbiotes also come in 4 color patterns. Yellow and black, pink and black, green and black, and white and dark blue. All of these creatures lack eyes, replaced by a spiral symbol.

Venom and other Symbiotes share a Hive Mind, enabling them to perceive their surroundings mentally. It can absorb matter, redirecting projectiles, and enhance its host's physical abilities. Its genetic memory allows it to copy the powers of those it bonds with and retain them even after separating from said hosts, making it a formidable force when combined with negative emotions. After being bonded to Spider-Man, it also makes Venom attuned to his spider-sense, making him invisible, as well as mimic his spider-sense. As a symbiote, Venom also shares a mental connection to his host, able to communicate with them telepathically and with various other voices.

Furthermore, the Symbiote thrives on its host's negative emotions, exerting control over their deepest flaws. It can sense negative emotions in others, leading it to bond with new hosts to become physically formidable. It can even terraform the environment by covering it in biomass and generate energy projectiles.

Weaknesses[]

The Symbiote's most exploitable weakness is vulnerability to sound vibrations. Exposure will cause intense pain to itself and its host, and sufficient volume may be fatal. With enough sound, the host can eventually rip the Symbiote off their body with their willpower. They are also highly susceptible to the effects of the Anti-Venom symbiote, as well as Martin Li’s Negative Energy.

Original appearance[]

For more background of Venom throughout comic book history, see all appearances of Venom and the original appearance of Venom on the Marvel Database

The Symbiote first appeared as Spider-Man's alien costume in The Amazing Spider-Man #252 in May 1984, with the circumstances behind the costume change revealed in the December, 1984 issue of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars.

It would later appear as Venom in The Amazing Spider-Man #299 in April 1988, with Eddie Brock serves as its original and well-known moniker. Its tactical armor form, known as Agent Venom, first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #654 in February 2011 during the early days of Heroic Age, first worn by Flash Thompson.

Unlike other variants of the Symbiote, who are very weak to sound vibrations and extreme heat, this one seems invulnerable to extreme heat.

References[]

Advertisement