Venom (Angelo Fortunato)

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caption=Angelo Fortunato as Venom.
Art by Frank Cho.
character_name=Venom
real_name= Angelo Fortunato
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Marvel Knights: Spider-Man" #7
creators=Mark Millar
Terry Dodson
alliances=
aliases=
powers=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 (Angelo Fortunato) is a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain, being the second to take on the mantle of Venom. He first appeared in "Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #7" and was killed off a mere issue later.

Fictional character biography

Angelo was the youngest son of Don Fortunato, a prominent Mafia capo of New York's criminal underworld. Due to his frail physique and shy attitude, Angelo was frequently bullied and humiliated by his father. Tiring of his son's weakness, the Don attended a supervillain auction, where he purchased the Venom symbiote from Eddie Brock for $100 million. Though Eddie warned Angelo of the dangers inherent in the symbiote, the boy answered that he had nothing to lose as his life had been one of non-stop ridicule.

Once he bonded with the symbiote, Angelo discovered the secret identity of Spider-Man, whom he wished to destroy to prove himself worthy to his father. Angelo attacked Spider-Man during a high school reunion, injuring many bystanders in the process. They engaged in a ferocious battle which brought them out into the streets of New York. For a while, it seemed that Angelo had the advantage, seeing as he was learning how to use the symbiote's mimetic abilities faster than anticipated. However, when he killed an innocent civilian whom he mistook for Spider-Man, the superhero stopped holding back and beat Angelo into submission.

Angelo attempted to escape, all the while with the symbiote berating him for his cowardice. Irritated by the boy's lack of resolve, the symbiote ruthlessly abandoned Angelo in mid-leap, letting him fall. Spider-Man attempted to save him, only to find out he had run out of web fluid. Angelo was killed by the subsequent fall.

Powers and abilities

With the Venom symbiote, Angelo has superhuman abilities and has the ability to shoot webbing like Spider-Man can, and can disguise himself as other people or blend in with his background as Brock could. He is also undetectable to Spider-Man's "spider-sense". However, the advantage of being physically stronger than Spider-Man ultimately could not make up for Angelo's inexperience and inferiority complex. Also, it appears that Angelo wasn't as strong as Brock was or the later Venom, Mac Gargan is.

In other media

Video games

* Angelo Fortunato appears in "" as a Marvel Knights skin for Venom.
* In the Game Boy Advance version of "Spider-Man 3", Eddie Brock dies in a similar manner to Fortunato, having the symbiote abandon him in midfall.

Trivia

* Ironically, Angelo's name translated from Italian means "Lucky Angel".
* With the exception of Spider-Man himself, he is the only wearer of the Venom symbiote to not have a protruding tongue.