Named after an arc going through the Super Specials attached to Spider-Man's various titles in 1995 that purported to explain the origins of the Venom symbiote, I feel it's important to take it from the top when it comes to discussing these alien foes of Spider-Man. It all started with a new black costume in the 1980s Spider-Man comics that could morph at a thought into whatever Spider-Man desired, civilian clothes included. This costume was found in the Secret Wars 12-issue miniseries, where a piece of what Spider-Man assumed to be alien cloth wrapped itself around him to not only repair his damaged costume but give it a new, sleeker form inspired by the new Spider-Woman, Julia Carpenter. Bringing it back with him from the Battleworld construct where he and other superheroes did battle with various Marvel villains at the behest of a godlike being called the Beyonder, Spider-Man was thrilled with the utility of his new suit, until he started getting more tired and irritable than usual, even though he was still getting his sleep. Turned out the suit had its own consciousness and was taking him swinging at night while his body was supposed to be sleeping. Even more horrifyingly, the suit wanted to bond with him on a more permanent basis, forcing Spider-Man to separate from it in an attempt to retain his individual identity. Heartbroken at the rejection, the symbiotic suit found another wearer in Eddie Brock, a disgraced journalist who blamed Spider-Man for his fall on account of Spider-Man inadvertently exposing his expose of the serial killer known as the Sin-Eater as a fraud. United in their hatred for Spider-Man, the composite being named "themself" Venom and dedicated their life to stalking and bedeviling Spider-Man for his scorning of them, using the knowledge of his secret identity and their immunity to his spider-sense to facilitate their torment of him . . .
. . . at least until Eddie Brock got religion and realized that the symbiote had done nothing but ruin his life. Remorseful of all the killing he'd done in the name of his vendetta against Spider-Man and at the urging of the alien being fused to him as a living costume, Brock separated himself from the symbiote, and it would find a host in Angelo Fortunato, the young son of a notorious crime boss who'd actually bought the alien for him off an underworld auction in the hopes of making his son "grow a pair." Angelo took to being Venom like a duck to water, at least until he realized how badly outmatched he was against an enraged Spider-Man, indignant at Angelo's murder of a bystander that taunted him while dressed as Spider-Man. Disgusted that Angelo was as weak as ever in spite of his new power, the symbiote abandoned him as he was fleeing for his life, leaving him to fall to his death despite Spider-Man's best efforts to save him, and found a new host in MacDonald Gargan, a.k.a. the Scorpion. Gargan also took to being Venom like a duck to water, but was in time repressed by the symbiote's homicidal tendencies and cannibalistic impulses, to the point that as Venom, he was more monster than man, and ultimately separated from the symbiote once finally apprehended by the U.S. military, who appropriated the symbiote for use in "Project Rebirth 2.0," which was designed to create black-ops super-soldiers for them by bonding the symbiote to a specially trained and treated soldier who would be able to overpower the alien and use it to fight for the United States of America.
The soldier in question turned out to be none other than Flash Thompson, Peter Parker's erstwhile high school bully, who had matured over the years due to his time in the military, a time that also saw him sacrifice his legs in the name of saving his comrades on the battlefield. Project Rebirth 2.0 not only gave him the ability to walk again, but the chance to be a hero just like his idol Spider-Man, so long as Flash maintained rigid self-discipline, lest the symbiote take over and go on a killing spree. Currently, "Agent Venom" is not only a black-ops agent for the U.S. military, he is now a member of Steve Rogers' Secret Avengers division.
And that's just the circuitous story of Venom. As some may know, Venom spawned other symbiotes, the first being the bloodthirsty Carnage symbiote which fused itself into the bloodstream of the equally bloodthirsty serial kNamed after an arc going through the Super Specials attached to Spider-Man's various titles in 1995 that purported to explain the origins of the Venom symbiote, I feel it's important to take it from the top when it comes to discussing these alien foes of Spider-Man. It all started with a new black costume in the 1980s Spider-Man comics that could morph at a thought into whatever Spider-Man desired, civilian clothes included. This costume was found in the Secret Wars 12-issue miniseries, where a piece of what Spider-Man assumed to be alien cloth wrapped itself around him to not only repair his damaged costume but give it a new, sleeker form inspired by the new Spider-Woman, Julia Carpenter. Bringing it back with him from the Battleworld construct where he and other superheroes did battle with various Marvel villains at the behest of a godlike being called the Beyonder, Spider-Man was thrilled with the utility of his new suit, until he started getting more tired and irritable than usual, even though he was still getting his sleep. Turned out the suit had its own consciousness and was taking him swinging at night while his body was supposed to be sleeping. Even more horrifyingly, the suit wanted to bond with him on a more permanent basis, forcing Spider-Man to separate from it in an attempt to retain his individual identity. Heartbroken at the rejection, the symbiotic suit found another wearer in Eddie Brock, a disgraced journalist who blamed Spider-Man for his fall on account of Spider-Man inadvertently exposing his expose of the serial killer known as the Sin-Eater as a fraud. United in their hatred for Spider-Man, the composite being named "themself" Venom and dedicated their life to stalking and bedeviling Spider-Man for his scorning of them, using the knowledge of his secret identity and their immunity to his spider-sense to facilitate their torment of him . . .
. . . at least until Eddie Brock got religion and realized that the symbiote had done nothing but ruin his life. Remorseful of all the killing he'd done in the name of his vendetta against Spider-Man and at the urging of the alien being fused to him as a living costume, Brock separated himself from the symbiote, and it would find a host in Angelo Fortunato, the young son of a notorious crime boss who'd actually bought the alien for him off an underworld auction in the hopes of making his son "grow a pair." Angelo took to being Venom like a duck to water, at least until he realized how badly outmatched he was against an enraged Spider-Man, indignant at Angelo's murder of a bystander that taunted him while dressed as Spider-Man. Disgusted that Angelo was as weak as ever in spite of his new power, the symbiote abandoned him as he was fleeing for his life, leaving him to fall to his death despite Spider-Man's best efforts to save him, and found a new host in MacDonald Gargan, a.k.a. the Scorpion. Gargan also took to being Venom like a duck to water, but was in time repressed by the symbiote's homicidal tendencies and cannibalistic impulses, to the point that as Venom, he was more monster than man, and ultimately separated from the symbiote once finally apprehended by the U.S. military, who appropriated the symbiote for use in "Project Rebirth 2.0," which was designed to create black-ops super-soldiers for them by bonding the symbiote to a specially trained and treated soldier who would be able to overpower the alien and use it to fight for the United States of America.
The soldier in question turned out to be none other than Flash Thompson, Peter Parker's erstwhile high school bully, who had matured over the years due to his time in the military, a time that also saw him sacrifice his legs in the name of saving his comrades on the battlefield. Project Rebirth 2.0 not only gave him the ability to walk again, but the chance to be a hero just like his idol Spider-Man, so long as Flash maintained rigid self-discipline, lest the symbiote take over and go on a killing spree. Currently, "Agent Venom" is not only a black-ops agent for the U.S. military, he is now a member of Steve Rogers' Secret Avengers division.
And that's just the circuitous story of Venom. As some may know, Venom spawned other symbiotes, the first being the bloodthirsty Carnage symbiote which fused itself into the bloodstream of the equally bloodthirsty serial k
