User blog:ARTaylor/30 Years of Venom

April marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Marvel Comics debut of Venom. The character made his first appearance in 1988 in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #299 in a brief cameo appearance, later making his full debut the following month in #300.

Venom is the combination of the symbiote and a human, the most famous of which is Eddie Brock. The symbiote was an alien that Spider-Man acquired as a suit during the Secret Wars. When Mister Fantastic realized it was trying to take him over, he got rid of it and the symbiote bonded with Brock. The symbiote's anger at Peter's rejection combined with Eddie's anger at being disgraced by Spider-Man resulting in one of the webslinger's most dangerous enemies. He is easily recognized by his twisted version of Spider-Man's black suit, enormous white eyes, gaping mouth, razor sharp teeth, and long twisted tongue. Venom has all of Spider-Man's powers as well as all his memories, but with the added effect of being undetectable by the hero's Spider-Sense.

Venom started his life by terrorizing Mary Jane Watson, Peter's wife, and making her terrified of the black suit that Peter wore at the time, a copy of the symbiote costume given by Black Cat, forcing him to return to his original red and blue costume. Eddie spent several years as Venom battling Spider-Man until his offspring, Carnage, endangered everyone. Venom teamed up with his archnemesis and together they defeated the crazed villain. Eddie then decided to become an anti-hero, going to San Francisco to protect the city just as Spider-Man protects New York City.

Eddie eventually discovers that the symbiote has given him cancer and auctions the symbiote off, eventually bonding with Mac Gargan. Gargan becomes Venom, eventually joining the Thunderbolts and later Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers as Spider-Man. He is eventually defeated and the symbiote removed. This time a government group takes the symbiote and bonds it with Flash Thompson to form a black ops hero called Agent Venom. Working as a hero, Flash used the symbiote to join the Secret Avengers, Thunderbolts, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Eventually, Flash gives up the symbiote and most recently it has returned to Eddie to become the classic Venom.

Venom has become one of Spider-Man's most popular villains alongside Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. He has gone on to appear in numerous video games, animated series, and feature films.

Venom's first major foray outside the comics came in the 1994 animated Spider-Man series. Eddie Brock and Venom were both voiced by Hank Azaria. Numerous episodes of the first season built up the rivalry between Eddie and Peter eventually culminating in the epic three-part episode "The Alien Costume". These episodes radically changed Venom's backstory. Instead of going to another planet to acquire the suit, Spider-Man accidentally gets the symbiote on him when John Jameson's shuttle crashes. The series also had the symbiote make Peter darker and more aggressive before it is rejected. Following the arc, Venom wouldn't be seen again until the third season which saw not only the return of Venom but debut of Carnage. And, just as in the comics, the show saw Eddie using the symbiote to become a hero. Despite the few appearances by the character, the series influenced almost every version of Venom afterwards with the comics, following shows, and movies taking inspiration from the show.

The follow-up series Spider-Man Unlimited saw Venom returning and working with Carnage. The premise of the show was that the two symbiotes hijacked John Jameson's shuttle to Counter-Earth with the intention of taking over the planet. This version was voiced by Brian Drummond. This time Venom and Carnage were seen prominently throughout the series. However, the character, like the series overall, was much less welcomed than the previous show. The visual design of Venom was influenced, as with the rest of the series, by Venom of the 2099 universe. This version was much bulkier, had large spikes jutting out of his body, and could change his shape at will.

Venom was absent from the short-lived Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, the only series to not have the character since his creation. It's possible that since the show was following the events of the live-action movies that they would have gotten to him eventually.

The next version came in The Spectacular Spider-Man. This version of Eddie followed the Ultimate comic line of him being a childhood friend of Peter who eventually turns against him. However, the symbiote followed the 1994 version of John Jameson accidentally bringing it to Earth and then making Peter more aggressive. However, one new aspect the series introduced was the symbiote controlling Peter's body while he was asleep. This Venom was voiced by Benjamin Diskin.

The persona of Venom appeared throughout the Marvel Animation Universe in the series Ultimate Spider-Man, Avengers Assemble, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., and Guardians of the Galaxy. This version was the first to not be involved with Eddie Brock. It followed the Ultimate comic line of being a creature engineered by Doctor Octopus who bonds with numerous different people including Flash Thompson, Nova, Power Man, Iron Fist, Spider-Man, Harry Osborn, Green Goblin, Skaar, She-Hulk, Red Hulk, Hulk, and Dracula. It was primarily with Harry, who served as a version of Eddie, and eventually ended up with Flash who became Agent Venom.

Danny Trejo played a version of Venom on the Disney crossover episode of Phineas and Ferb.

Dee Bradley Baker played the character on the short Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Maximum Overload.

Most recently, the symbiote was seen in an episode of Spider-Man.