Venom (comics)

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Ultimate Spider-Man

The Venom suit (and Eddie Brock) are greatly altered in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. The symbiote is not extraterrestrial nor is it shown to be sentient in any way. Instead it is a genetically created "suit" designed by Eddie Brock and Peter Parker's biological fathers as a cure for cancer. It is meant to bond to the user and protect them from internal and external harm, but also puts a great psychotic pressure on the user.

Peter is able to control the "suit" to a greater extent than anyone before because of his powers. But when it bonds to Eddie it takes complete control of him, turning him into a life-form that appears similar to the mainstream Venom, with similar powers.

Mangaverse

In the Marvel Mangaverse continuity, Venom is the name of a human man, a former member of Spider-Man's clan. Venom's costume is black, and his spider symbol is white, and also much larger than Spider-Man's.

Venom is responsible for the murder of Peter's Uncle Ben, Venom's own father in the Mangaverse, at the command of New York's Kingpin of Crime. Peter defeats him and spares his life. Venom later usurps Kingpin for control over New York's ninja criminal gangs.

Separately, the Venom symbiote appears as a black liquid that is released from a cursed amulet. The symbiote draws energy from the amulet's wearer, which can be fatal after prolonged exposure. The wearer's strength and agility are increased, and his or her ability to control their own violent urges is reduced. When Peter Parker becomes possessed by the evil amulet, removing it leaves him near death.

Venom captures the amulet and chooses to sacrifice his own life to force it to save Peter, repaying the debt he owes for Peter sparing his life. This act revitalizes Peter, but leaves Venom nothing but a skeleton. The amulet, containing Venom's life force, is used to heal the crippled Kingpin.

In the Legend of the Spider-Clan one-shot story "Elemental Evil", Venom inexplicably reappears in the mountain-top home of the Spider-Clan, alive and whole, his skin now a dark blue. He also gained new powers, including a pair of vicious jaws and a long drooling tongue, bringing him closer in appearance to his Earth-616 counterpart. Despite their history Peter agrees that Venom will teach the ways of the Spider-Clan and the use of his powers to Peter. Venom and the rest of the Spider-Clan aid in training Peter to become more powerful, tapping into the mystical side of his spider abilities. In the end, Peter discovers that the group is run by Peter's biological mother who ordered the death of Aunt May to rid him of emotional attachments. As a result, Peter refuses to take his place as leader, rejecting the clan. Venom is awarded with rulership over the Spider-Clan. No reason is given for Venom's resurrection or his new powers, but when asked about it, Venom only said "I was lucky."

Venom 2099

Venom 2099 (Kron Stone) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics Supervillain created by Peter David. Similar to many other characters in the Marvel 2099 imprint, Venom 2099 was a futuristic re-imagining of an established Marvel character.

Kron Stone, in the year 2099, half-brother to that era's Spider-Man, bonded with the symbiote to become the Venom 2099. The symbiote was described as having mutated over the years, and displayed new abilities in this timeline, including acidic blood and saliva. It was revealed that the symbiote bonded with Kron on a molecular level giving Kron an amorphous physiology that allowed his body to take on the properties of the symbiote itself.

Later, after the symbiote was separated from Kron, it merged with Roman the Sub-mariner who fled to the ocean (Spider-Man 2099 #44).

Venom 2099 first made an appearance as Kron Stone in "The Punisher 2099" #1-5. His past was revealed in Spider-Man 2099 issues #15-20. He was then featured as Venom in Spider-Man 2099 issues #35-40

Kron Stone is the older half-brother of Miguel O'Hara, (they share the same father, Tyler Stone). Kron has always been a bully and takes enjoyment in other people's pain. The relationship between the two is so conflicted that Miguel tries to kill his brother.

In his introduction, Stone gives the orders to have Jake Gallows' family killed. Gallows finds Stone and fatally wounds him with a knife and dumps his body into the sewer. Following the altercation Kron lies dying in the sewer, his body brushed up against a black ball. The ball then bonds with him and forms a new Venom. With this new power Stone seeks to emotionally torture his half-brother by hurting those close to him, going so far as to kill Miguel's former love Dana. The future Spider-Man and Venom fight, and Spider-Man 2099 is the victor after he has the town turn on sonics through all of the speakers, thus neutralizing Venom. They then bring him back to the lab for study.

In other media

Television

Venom appears in several of the Spider-man cartoon series. In "", Eddie Brock, voiced by Hank Azaria, joins with the symbiote and attempts to torment Spider-Man. Venom eventually helps Spider-Man and Iron Man defeat Dormammu, but ends up being sucked into a portal, as he saves his girlfriend from Carnage. At times in the show, Eddie Brock sounds just like Kirk Van Houten from the Simpsons, who is also voiced by Hank Azaria. In the later series, "Spider-Man Unlimited", Venom is voiced by Brian Drummond. He and Carnage attempt to conquer Counter-Earth with an invasion of symbiotes. Eddie Brock appears in "The Spectacular Spider-Man", voiced by Ben Diskin. He is a close friend of Peter, who is greatly interested in science. He begins to develop a hatred for Peter and Spider-Man over time, and after becoming Venom, he attempts to make Peter suffer.

Film

Venom's first appearance in a motion picture was originally planned for a titular film written by David S. Goyer and produced by New Line Cinema, in which Venom would have been portrayed as an anti-hero and Carnage as the antagonist. Goyer said in an interview the film rights to Venom ultimately reverted to Sony. [ [http://ugo.com/channels/filmTv/features/davidgoyer/ Ugo.com (no date): "David Goyer Interview"] ] Venom appears in the 2007 feature film "Spider-Man 3", played by Topher Grace. Eddie Brock joins with the symbiote after Spider-Man abandons it, and uses his newfound powers to attempt to kill Peter as revenge for Brock's public humiliation. Avi Arad, producer and former Marvel Comics executive, plans to produce a Venom spin-off, although it is currently unknown if Topher Grace will reprise his role. [cite news | author=Paul Fischer | url=http://www.darkhorizons.com/news07/aviarad.php | title=Exclusive Interview: Avi Arad for "Bratz" | publisher=Dark Horizons | date=2007-07-24 | accessdate=2007-08-16 ] Regardless, Marvel is moving forward with the film, and the studio has met with several "A list" writers about it. [cite news | url=http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4249&Itemid=99 | title=Exclusive: Venom Film Moving Forward | publisher=IESB.net | date=2008-02-02]

Video games

Venom is a playable character and boss character in a number of video games. His first appearance was in the Game Boy side-scroller The Amazing Spider-man (handheld game) released in 1990, as the game's primary villain. A sequel to this game entitled The Amazing Spider-man 2 curiously lacked Venom, even though it was hot on the success of the Carnage (comics) storyline and featured Carnage as a main villain. Venom's second and possibly one of his most memorable appearances was in the arcade game, released in 1991. Venom is featured prominently in the game as the first major boss character and he is encountered several more times throughout the game, including the final battle.

He is a main character and playbale for the first time in ' and '. Venom is encountered several times in 2000's "Spider-Man", in addition to the Venom symbiote being unlocked as an alternate costume for Spider-Man.Ultimate Venom is the main villain in "Ultimate Spider-Man", and his playable appearance after completing the game is particularly famous for his GTA style gameplay and ability to eat civilians. He is one of the playable characters in ', ', and "". He is also the final boss in Spider-Man 3.

Venom will be the main antagonist of "". He is also included in the downloadable expansion "Villains Pack" for the Xbox 360 version of as well as being included as a playable character in the sequel, .

Bibliography

Until 2003, Venom never had his own "Ongoing" series. However, from 1993 to 1997 Venom had 17 mini-series that were steadily released back to back from month to month. This run could have been one series where each mini-series would have been considered a story arc. Together, these mini-series comprised a total of 60 issues, 1 Flashback, and a 1995 Annual.

References

External links

* [http://www.spiderfan.org/comics/title/venom.html Synopsis and Reviews of the Venom 2003 Series at Spiderfan.org]
* [http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.687 History of the alien costume on Marvel.com]
* "The Dark Side of Spider-man" at SKB
* [http://www.spideykicksbutt.com/DarkSideoftheSpider/DarkSideoftheSpiderPart1.html Parts 1] and [http://www.spideykicksbutt.com/DarkSideoftheSpider/DarkSideoftheSpiderPart2.html 2]
* [http://www.thevenomsite.com An informational site dedicated to Venom]