| Symbiote | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Real Name | Symbiote | ||||||||||||||||||
| Alternate Identity | Spider-Man Venom | ||||||||||||||||||
| Powers and Abilities | For Spider-Man: Enhances all powers For Venom: Gives Eddie Brock all of Spider-Man's enhanced powers while nullifying Spider-Sense | ||||||||||||||||||
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- Symbiote is from the Non MAU series The Spectacular Spider-Man.
The Symbiote is an alien lifeform that attempts to take over other lifeforms that it needs to survive. It attached itself to Spider-Man as a suit and gained his powers and memories. He then rejected the symbiote and it bonded with Eddie Brock to become Venom.
Hosts[]
- Peter Parker: The symbiote's first host.
- Eddie Brock: Joined together they became the villain Venom to seek revenge on Spider-Man.
Biography[]
It is unknown where the symbiote comes from. It is only known that it attached itself to a meteor that made its way through the galaxy. It is extremely malleable, being almost liquid-like.
The symbiote attached itself to Colonel John Jameson's space shuttle where it was able to survive the extreme heat of reentry into Earth's atmosphere. It was taken to Curt Connors at Empire State University for analysis. Peter phoned Brock who tells him that because of the Lizard ordeal, Martha Connors does not trust Peter to be near their business. The symbiote latched onto a space shuttle at some point before it's landing, and was quickly put into a containment cell in Dr. Connors' lab. When the Black Cat attempted to steal it, Spider-Man arrived to fend her off. The symbiote latched itself onto Spider-Man during the battle, and covered him very shortly after, creating the black suit. When the alien life form disappears, everyone assumes that Spider-Man stole it, and Brock is upset at Peter for taking pictures instead of calling the police during the robbery. Spider-Man used the symbiote to stop Chameleon, who had attempted to steal his identity. ("Persona")
Soon after, however, the suit began controlling Peter's body at night and using it to fight crime and to roam free through the night. Once, the alien used Peter's body to defeat the Sinister Six while he was asleep at night, nearly murdering Doctor Octopus in the process. Peter began to notice that the suit was changing his personality, making him much more cynical and arrogant, and soon realized the symbiote's true intention: to completely take him over, mind, body, and soul. ("Group Therapy")
Peter removed the symbiote in a church, and returned it to the lab. Later that night, Brock returns to the laboratory to pack his things when he finds Spider-Man dumping the symbiote in its cylindrical container. Brock is overjoyed with the prospect of getting his job back, but his hopes come to naught when Spider-Man lowers the temperature of the containment, freezing the alien to death. Brock berates and curses Spider-Man, deeming him as bad as Peter, when he notices that the alien is still alive and is calling to him.
Brock opens the container and the symbiote ensnares him. The alien tells Brock he has sensed and liked his hate. It then asks him if he hates Spider-Man and Peter. Brock confirms and the symbiote reveals that Peter is Spider-Man. The alien then proposes Brock a bond to enact revenge on their common enemy. Brock agrees and the two merge, becoming an over-sized creature, sporting the likeness of Spider-Man's black costume, but with jaws and a protruding tongue. ("Intervention")
The creature goes to the Tombstone's headquarters just after Spider-Man goes back on their deal, and offers to fill in. Tombstone tells the creature he needs to prove himself by killing Spider-Man. The creature gladly accepts.
On the next day, Brock takes a call from Peter commiserating for his lost job, and Brock pretends forgiveness and proposes a get-together later on. Peter declines because he needs to be with Aunt May and Brock guarantees they will meet soon. After Peter comes back from another hospital visit, the creature pulls him out of his room and engages Spider-Man in his backyard. He lashes out at Spider-Man for spurning the symbiote and vows to destroy Peter and Spider-Man, dubbing himself Venom. Spider-Man puts up a fight, but Venom is considerably stronger and knocks him around for a while. He finally restrains Spider-Man with his webbing and claims that killing him now would be too easy. First, he wants to hurt him by going after every person he cares about, so he takes off after Aunt May. Venom had sent her an anonymous bouquet of flowers, and just as he creeps towards the window, Spider-Man intercepts him.
A fight ensues, and Spider-Man manages to keep Venom away from Aunt May's room window. Venom declares that she is not his only target, and after revealing to Spider-Man that he is Brock, he goes after the person Peter loves the most – Gwen.
Brock meets Gwen at the Thanksgiving Day Parade and suspends her from a balloon. Venom intercepts Spider-Man before he can save Gwen and boasts of how he doesn't trigger Spider-Man's Spider-Sense. Another fight ensues, and Spider-Man tries to get through to Brock, but Brock declares that they are not brothers, and while Peter always had Aunt May, Brock has always been alone until he bonded with the symbiote. The fight pursues until Spider-Man tricks Venom into slashing Gwen's balloon, causing it to descend slowly. Venom still tries to knock Gwen over, but she is rescued and taken to safety. Afterwards, Venom takes on Spider-Man and declares that he is done playing with him. Spider-Man pretends surrendering himself to the symbiote. The alien detaches itself from Brock, who collapses in disbelief. ("Nature vs. Nurture")
A few weeks later, Brock starts stalking Peter. He allows himself to be seen by both Peter and Spider-Man in the hopes that Peter would become paranoid and drive him to the place where he had buried the symbiote. Brock is spotted twice by Spider-Man while on patrol, and then crashes in Flash Thompson's birthday party. He goes on camera to say that he plans to crash more parties and that "they" will see Peter soon. In the following hours, Spider-Man battled with Sandman abroad an oil tanker. Brock put on a sweatshirt with Venom's arachnid symbol and slips away in a rooftop in plain sight. Spider-Man spots him and assumes that Brock has bonded with the symbiote again. He goes back to the construction site only to find out that the alien is still buried under hard cement. Unsuspecting, Spider-Man swings off and Brock webs down with a web-shooter he had created from Peter's memories. He thanks Peter for leading him to the symbiote's location and starts mauling the soil with a sledgehammer. He eventually frees the symbiote and bonds with it again. ("First Steps")
Some time later, Venom goes on a crime spree to frame Spider-Man. He changes his appearance so as to look like Spider-Man when he was donning the black suit, and foils a robbery in progress in a convenience store. He ensnares the crooks as they make a run with the stolen money, and when the police show up, he subdues them too and absconds with the loot. On the next day, he attacks an armored van from Midtown's Bank, causing it to overturn. When Spider-Man drops in, Venom snares him to the top of a nearby building. A fight ensues and he accidentally sets the building aflame. Venom declares that he wants to destroy every aspect of Peter's life. Just as soon as Colonel Jupiter makes an entrance, Venom slips away. From afar, he watches a squabble between the two heroes, and sees this as an opportunity to further his plan.
He attacks Colonel Jameson in his loft, posing as Spider-Man, and flees before he can be followed. Venom succeeds in instigating a fight between Spider-Man and Colonel Jupiter. Spider-Man eventually defeats the Colonel and unwillingly drives him insane.
On the following day, J. Jonah Jameson is blaming Spider-Man for destroying his son and wants retribution. In that moment, Venom bursts in The Daily Bugle and announces that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. ("Growing Pains")
On the next day, Brock walks into the ESU lab and announces his return, claiming to have taken some downtime after being sacked. He proposes Gwen they catch up over coffee, alone, but Peter immediately extricates Gwen saying they have a date with Harry Osborn. Dr. Martha Connors offers Brock his job back, which he gladly accepts. He then takes Peter aside and says he is disappointed that his disclosure didn't do the expected damage. Before Brock can say what he intends to do, Peter pushes him away and walks out.
Later that night, Brock is walking down a street and gets pulled up by Spider-Man onto a rooftop. Spider-Man tries to reason with him, saying that he is going to hurt many people. Though, as he turns to Venom, Brock turns the tables on the webslinger declaring that many people will get hurt because of Peter's secrets, and he can't wait to see them turn on him. And fight ensues and the two fall down in front of the ESU Student Store, which is crawling with reporters. As every objective turns to the brawling arachnids, Venom introduces himself and announces that he is going to unmask Spider-Man. Spider-Man resists and repels Venom, who claims that if Spider-Man isn't Peter he wouldn't resist so much. Then Venom lands a blow on Spider-Man with so much strength that he hurls him all the way to a rooftop. When he leaps after him, Spider-Man has already slipped away.
On the following day, Brock resumes his work at the ESU lab and steals a vial of gene cleanser. There, he is also interviewed about Spider-Man being Peter, and he nonchalantly admits that they grew up together and should have realized the truth before. Then, Venom goes after Spider-Man and tells him that after unmasking him he will pour the cleanser down his throat, making him a helpless target for his enemies. Venom actually manages to unmask Spider-Man, but Peter retrieves his mask just before anyone can see his face. The two fight and chase each other around, until they end up fighting inside the Midtown High School biology classroom. Spider-Man fences Venom with a few sonic waves, but this only enrages him more. They fight all the way to the gym and Venom tries to force-feed Spider-Man with the gene cleanser. When Flash Thompson provides a distraction, Spider-Man gets loose with the cleanser.
Venom grabs Spider-Man and demands the vial, so Spider-Man shoves it down Venom's mouth. As the symbiote starts to release Brock, he tries to hold on to it but to no avail. Spider-Man tells Brock that he is free and can stop hating. Brock retorts that hate is the only reason the alien loves him. Moments later, Brock is wheeled to an ambulance strapped in a gurney, promising revenge and asserting that the symbiote will return and that he is Venom. The symbiote, now weakened, crawled into the sewers. ("Identity Crisis")
Powers and Abilities[]
On its own, the symbiote is extremely durable. It survived the harsh environment of the cosmos while living aboard a meteorite. It also survived the extreme heat of atmosphere reentry on the outside of the space shuttle.
The symbiote can significantly enhance the innate abilities of the host. It increased Spider-Man's already considerable strength and agility. It also gave him unlimited organic webbing that was stronger than his webfluid.
It can psychically bond and even invade the minds of those it is in contact with, as shown when it "spoke" to Eddie and Peter. The symbiote then enhances the host's aggressive side.
It was able to morph into various clothing to hide itself, something both Peter and Eddie made use of.
It can mutate its DNA to replicate the unique abilities of its host so that, in the event of separation, these powers can be passed on to future hosts. This enables the organism to "improve itself" with every host i.e. absorbing Peter's power and Eddie's nourishing hatred.
It developed an immunity to Spider-Sense on account of its contact with Peter Parker.
Weaknesses[]
Sound causes the organism extreme discomfort.
The gene cleanser can break the bond with the host and force the suit off its current owner.
It is known that certain potent acids can eat away at the suit though it can regrow its biomass.
Background[]
Depending on who the host was, the symbiote was voiced by both Josh Keaton and Benjamin Diskin.
When first on Spider-Man, the suit appears to be a black version of his normal suit. This is inspired by the look of the symbiote in the film Spider-Man 3. It eventually evolves into the original comic book look with the large white emblem and no webbing overlay (originally inspired by Julia Carpenter). Venom maintained his original look.
Cletus Kasady was seen in the episode "Reinforcement". In the comics, Kasady bonded with the Venom symbiote's offspring to become Carnage. His appearance may have been a tease for this story that did not occur when the series was canceled.
In the Comics[]
All symbiotes are vulnerable to extreme heat. The series did not specify this, and in fact had it surviving atmospheric reentry.
In the original comics, Spider-Man went to an alien planet and fought alongside many other superheroes against many supervillains. After Spider-Man's suit was damaged he went off in search of another but accidentally found the symbiote, becoming a new suit. In the Ultimate comics, it was a suit designed by Eddie and Peter's fathers to cure cancer. This version mostly follows the symbiote's story changes from Spider-Man.
External Links[]
- Wikipedia
- Venom (Symbiote) (Earth-616) at Marvel Database