Venom

Venom is the villainous combination of Eddie Brock and the symbiote suit previously worn by Spider-Man. Venom is one of Spider-Man's greatest enemies, along with Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin.

Spider-Man
Following Spider-Man's separation, the symbiote suit bonds with the trapped Eddie Brock. Together the two escape and vow revenge on Spider-Man.

When Shocker and Rhino ambush Spider-Man Venom appears and takes out the two. As Spider-Man gets up Eddie Brock introduces himself as "we" and reveals that he has acquired the wallcrawler's former alien suit. Venom tells him that they are now part of a life force that has existed since the dawn of time. The symbiote has amassed knowledge from thousands of worlds and millions of civilizations all so it could survive, and now it is sharing that knowledge with Eddie.

Venom swings off and Spider-Man follows but is attacked from behind by Venom. Spider-Man realizes that Venom never set off his Spider-Sense. Venom tells Spider-Man that his webbing is stronger than his and that he is no longer Eddie Brock, they are Venom. Venom tells him that Spider-Man will see him everywhere he looks, even in his nightmares, then swings off. Dr. Connors tells Spider-Man that because the symbiote first tried to bond with him it must have figured out a way to block his Spider-Sense. Spider-Man ueses a receipt for exercise equipment found in Eddie's old apartment in order to find where Eddie is now. As Peter changes into Spider-Man he spots Eddie clinging to the side of a building watching him. Venom wonders what people would do if they knew who Spider-Man was, especially Jameson. The two battle on a nearby roof but Venom eventually disappears. Venom taunts Spider-Man with the thoughts of going after Aunt May or Mary Jane.

Venom ties of Spider-Man and hangs him over the side for all the public to see. J. Jonah Jameson and Robbie Robertson see the two. Then Venom rips off Spider-Man's mask and drops it down below. Jameson realizes this could be his one chance to identify the wallcrawler and grabs a camera to try to zoom in on him. Venom taunts the wallcrawler with promises to keep Mary Jane company when he is gone. Jameson is unable to focus on Spider-Man since he keeps moving. Spider-Man eventually grabs a broken fan and cuts Venom's webbing and flees. Spider-Man uses a nearby flag to provide a temporary mask.

Venom beats Peter to the movie theater and meets up with Mary Jane Watson first. Peter shoves Eddie away and drags Mary Jane away. Peter explains that Brock is a weirdo. Venom follows them but disappears before Mary Jane can see him. Peter sees another vision of Venom and runs into the subway with Eddie close behind but Eddie does not make it.

Venom follows Peter to his home and just as he did with Mary Jane Eddie acts extremely nice to Aunt May so she thinks he is a good boy. Peter takes Eddie outside where he transforms into Venom and pushes over a tree onto Peter. Peter realizes that Venom will never stop torturing him and he needs to fight back.

Venom returns to his new place only to find that Spider-Man decorated one wall with articles about Eddie being fired in disgrace. Spider-Man leads him on a chase and eventually heads into the subway. The two jump onto the train but Venom gets knocked off. Venom steals a truck and makes it back onto the train.

Unbeknownst to Venom, Spider-Man has been leading him to the new shuttle launch site. The first in the New York Area and the same one named after John Jameson. Spider-Man climbs up the scaffolding with Venom following closely. Spider-Man eagerly awaits the activation of the engines, hoping that it doesn't fry him along with Venom. The engines do start and the symbiote falls off of Venom. Spider-Man webs up the symbiote and attaches it to the rocket as it blasts off into space.

Launch Control finds Spider-Man and the unconscious Eddie Brock going down in the elevator. When the military arrives they only find Eddie. The military checks the perimeters but Spider-Man has hitched a ride on the roof of one of the HUMVEEs and jumps over the fence. Spider-Man congradulates himself for beating the most relentless and unforgiving villain he ever faced.

While separated Eddie is put into the Ravencroft Asylum for the criminally insane under the care of Dr. Ashley Kafka, who Eddie begins to fall for. Eddie tells her that he only wanted to help people, fight for the innocent, which is why he became a journalist. Then the alien symbiote gave him the power to do anything but first he had to destroy Spider-Man for all that he did to both Brock and the symbiote. But Kafka tells Brock that the symbiote was only a stress induced delusion. Kafka ends their session when Kasady arrives and is put in the cell next to Brock's. Kasady "flirts" with Kafka causing he and Brock to get into an argument.

While in space, the symbiote reproduces and creates another symbiote.

Deep beneath the ground Dormammu calls for his assistant, Baron Mordo. Dormammu tells Mordo that the symbiote is back and it is time for Eddie Brock to play his part. Using his astral form Mordo comes to Brock to tell him that Dormammu can give him back the symbiote. Kasady overhears and begs Mordo to give him the symbiote and he'll do whatever Dormammu wants him to. Brock agrees and Dormammu tells Mordo that the last piece of the puzzle is at Stark Enterprises.

Back in his cell, Brock gets a visit from a young woman he doesn't recognize but "they" recognize him. The Venom symbiote suddenly comes off her and back onto Brock, forming the vicious Venom once again. Kafka arrives and realizes that Brock was telling the truth all along. Kasady watches as Venom escapes and says that he deserves the symbiote.

Dormammu tells Venom that only Brock's rage and frustration could make Venom, that he is unique. Dormammu tells him that Mordo got into the controls for the John Jameson Space Probe in Stark Enterprises and guided it back to Earth. Now Venom must get something very important for Dormammu.

At Stark Enterprises the test begins and the interdimensional portal opens. However, Peter's Spider-Sense goes off and the portal begins to malfunction. Peter sees some security footage of Venom attacking Stark Enterprises. Venom enters the presentation room and Rhodes tries to stop him but without success. Spider-Man arrives but Venom quickly overpowers him.

Venom is about to destroy Spider-Man when War Machine knocks him away. Venom begins fighting both heroes. Mordo worries that Venom will be too occupied with Spider-Man and War Machine to grab the probe that makes the interdimensional portals. Dormammu reassures him that he leaves nothing to chance. The Venom symbiote reproduced and there is now another symbiote in need of a host.

Back at Stark Enterprises, Spider-Man tells War Machine that Venom reacts to sound. War Machine has the perfect thing and it works until Carnage arrives and disables it. Carnage reveals to Spider-Man his former identity. Carnage and Venom team up to stop Spider-Man and War Machine until Dr. Kafka arrives and distracts Venom. Carnage defeats both the heroes and is about to destroy the wallcrawler. Carnage is about to off Spider-Man when Venom stops him because he wants the webslinger for himself. The two begin fighting when Baron Mordo appears to stop them. Carnage grabs the interdimensional probe and the two escape.

After bringing the probe to Mordo Venom and Carnage restart their fight. Dormammu stops the fight and tells the two that he in order to enter their world they need an equal amount of life energy to put in his world to replace him. Venom refuses and leaves. Dormammu lets him since Carnage will be sufficient for this new assignment.

At the Parker home, Aunt May is once again worried about Peter as she is every time he's out late. Eddie Brock arrives looking for Peter and Aunt May tells him Peter's at The Daily Bugle. Mary Jane Watson confronts him as he leaves knowing that Brock is not Peter's friend. Brock leaves by telling her that "they" remembers why Peter loves her.

At J3 Jameson is yelling at Stark for having "incompetent" security. Stark says it's because they don't like yellow journalism. Dr. Kafka tells them that the symbiotes are not freaks but normal human beings with a disease. Unbeknownst to them Venom arrives on the room and enters the building. Venom enters the room attacking Jameson and webbing up Peter Parker. Dr. Kafka gets Eddie to reveal himself and Peter is able to get away. Eddie struggles to overcome his "other half" when he sees Spider-Man and looses control. Venom overpowers Spider-Man and while Iron Man saves him he is unable to stop Venom. Eddie struggles for control and takes Dr. Kafka and leaves. Iron Man and Spider-Man are searching the city for Venom when Madame Web takes him and shows what is going on with the villain. Eddie, now in control, tells Dr. Kafka that the symbiote went mad when he spared Spider-Man and sees her as a threat to it. Eddie loves her and she loves the man under the alien costume and knows someone who can separate the two. Kafka takes Eddie to see Dr. Conners who, after analyzing the piece that Spider-Man left, believes he can separate Venom using heat and sonics. Dr. Conners is successful and puts the symbiote into a container using sporadic sonic and heat blasts to keep it contained.

Spider-Man remembers Madame Web's words and realizes that Venom knows where Baron Mordo would be and goes off to see Eddie. Iron Man and Spider-Man arrive at the ESU Science Hall and ask Eddie for help. Eddie feels he needs to rebond with the symbiote in order to do anything but Dr. Conners warns him that he'll never survive another separation. Eddie feigns submission and breaks the container becoming Venom once more. Eddie gains control of the symbiote and tells Spider-Man that they're partners, for now.

The urn is now full and the portal is open. Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Venom arrive before Carnage can release the urn into the portal. Carnage distracts Venom with Dr. Kafka and opens the urn releasing Dormammu. Knowing how drastically overpowered the three heroes are Spider-Man hatches a plan requiring that Venom and Iron Man hold off the three villains without him.

Spider-Man reverses the polarity of the probe and sucks Dormammu back to where he came from. As Dormammu gets sucked back the life energy he took is released into each person, such as Detective Lee and Dr. Kafka. Dr. Kafka awakes and thanks Eddie for saving her, but now the symbiote is taking over again and becomes Venom. Dormammu fully reenters the portal but Spider-Man is unable to shut down the probe. Dormammu created some kind of link between he and Carnage that won't break therefore keeping the portal open. Venom throws Carnage into the portal but Carnage quickly grabs Dr. Kafka. Venom saves her by sacrificing himself to stop Carnage.

Spider-Man Unlimited
At some point both Venom and Carnage escape Dormammu's dimension and team up. The two also gain new abilities and the desire to control everyone. Venom and Carnage board the John Jameson's shuttle to Counter-Earth despite Spider-Man's efforts. While there the two attempt to take over Counter-Earth with an invasion of symbiotes. Spider-Man then travels to Counter-Earth and joins a band of freedom fighters to fight the High Evolutionary, along with the occasional battle with Venom and Carnage. At one point Eddie is separated from the symbiote and Spider-Man is forced to reunite.

Powers
Because of the symbiote's former bond to Spider-Man, whoever acquires the symbiote has all of his powers. Venom can cling to walls, shoot webbing, has great strength, and extreme agility. However, Venom's abilities are greater than Spider-Man. He is stronger and so is his webbing.

Venom's most powerful trait is that he is immune to Spider-Man's Spider-Sense making him the one enemy that can sneak up on the wallcrawler. One possible explanation is that while bonded to Spider-Man the symbiote figured out a way to block it. Another is that since the symbiote was a part of Spider-Man that his Spider-Sense recognizes the symbiote as friendly, as it would Aunt May or Mary Jane.

After escaping from Dormammu's dimension Venom gains the ability to change into a somewhat liquid form. His appearance changes to appear larger with boney protrusions. How exactly Venom and Carnage gained new powers is unknown. It is possible that Dormammu gave them his new powers or they learned it at some point.

Weaknesses
Like Spider-Man when he had the symbiote suit, Venom is vulnerable to sound. Spider-Man used this weakness to separate the two initially. Although not specifically stated, Venom is also vulnerable to fire and extreme heat. Dr. Conners used a combination of sonic and heat waves to separate the symbiote from Eddie.

Background
Venom goes through three different designs. The first is seen in The Alien Costume trilogy. This version has slightly blue and red highlights. The second version appeared during Venom's second appearance. This version had brighter blue and red highlights and more highlights overall, seen more prominently on his arms. The third version appeared in Spider-Man Unlimited, where all characters featured some design changes along with a new animation studio. This version eliminated the red highlights and added more blue, and also a greater muscle mass and bones that protrude.

Venom is one of the points that creates a disconnect between Spider-Man and Spider-Man Unlimited. In The Alien Costume, Part Three Venom is separated and Eddie is sent to Ravencroft. However, in One Is The Lonliest Number it is stated that Venom is captured, together, and is imprisoned by S.H.I.E.L.D. How this is explained within the Marvel Animated Universe is unknown.