Venom

Backstory:

Eddie Brock was a journalist who tried to expose the identity of a serial killer only for the real killer to be caught by Spider-Man, thus he ended up accusing the wrong man. Disgraced, he came into contact with an alien Symbiote, rejected by Spider-Man. The Symbiote bonded with him and they became Venom.

Powers and Abilities:

Superhuman Physical Characteristics,

Multiple Selves (Type 3; Eddie Brock and Venom coexist in a symbiotic relationship),

Enhanced Senses (Venom has 360 degree vision and can see out of any part of his symbiote, and can hear heartbeats),

Regeneration (Mid for Eddie; Regenerated from having his head stabbed by Wolverine and being shot in the head, High-Mid for Venom; Regenerated from being blown up and can regenerate from just a severed tongue),

Self-Sustenance (Type 1; Does not need to breathe, Venom is able to process breathable gases for its host when they would otherwise be unable, allowing them to survive underwater and in space as well as filtering out toxic gasses in the air),

Acrobatics & Martial Arts (Possesses basic combat training),

Empowerment (The Venom Symbiote physically empowers the person it is bonded to),

Power Mimicry (When bonded to a superhuman host, a symbiote can interface with their genomes and physiology to imprint their unique powers and abilities into itself, granting subsequent hosts access to those powers). The Venom Symbiote mimics the super powers Spider-Man, such as webs and wall crawling as well as the ability to bypass his Spider-Sense),

Shapeshifting, Transformation, Elasticity & Weapon Creation (The Venom Symbiote is able to restructure itself in various ways, such as tentacles, spikes, blades, or even wings, and can form a variety of disguises and shapeshift to resemble clothes and even other people),

Size Manipulation (Able to grow large enough to envelop a city block and shrink to fit inside a brick of cocaine, hide in a small portion of a wall, and shrink parts of himself to a sub-cellular scale),

Body Control (Can control his pulse and respiration and stop his heart at will),

Stealth Mastery, Camouflage & Invisibility (Venom's camouflage allows its host to be rendered virtually invisible, and he is stealth is effective enough to bypass the senses of Spider-Man and Wolverine and ambush Kraven),

Flight (Venom can grow a pair of wings and use them to fly),

Limited Adaptation (Corrupted Symbiotes are able to gain resistances to things such as heat and sonic vibrations with repeated exposure, though this takes a significant amount of time to accomplish),

Poison Manipulation (Possesses fangs that can inject a powerful poison which is potent enough to even affect Sandman's sand form and nearly kill him with a single bite),

Resistance to:

Disease Manipulation & Poison Manipulation (The Venom Symbiote is able to cure its host of all earthly illnesses and purge their body of poisons),

Corrosion Inducement (The Venom Symbiote was able to withstand Styx's touch which causes organic matter to decay on contact),

Madness Manipulation (Was able to break free from the Realm of Madness despite their mental state being in such bad shape that they should have been trapped there permanently),

Acid Manipulation (The Venom Symbiote's tissue is highly resistant to acid),

Paralysis Inducement (Unfazed by being hit with multiple paralyzing darts),

Radiation Manipulation (Unaffected by being hit with pure microwave radiation),

Telepathy (As a result of Venom being a bond between two separate minds, it takes longer than conventional for a telepath to affect its mind, however this defense is not absolute).

Weaknesses: The Venom symbiote, like all others of its kind, is vulnerable to heat and sonic based attacks. They can cause the symbiote physical pain and discomfort, though as Venom has evolved this weakness only applies to exceedingly powerful applications of these attacks. The Toxin symbiote is more resilient to these attacks than most other members of its species.

James Heller

Backstory:

Following his attempted suicide mission against Alex Mercer, Mercer infected Heller with his variant of the virus. Driven by a powerful need for vengeance, he set out into the city to uncover the truth behind Alex Mercer, Blackwatch, and the second outbreak of the Blacklight virus.

Powers and Abilities

Superhuman Physical Characteristics,

Regeneration (Low-High, Mid-High over time; Should have regeneration on-par with Alex Mercer's, which is molecular regeneration),

Shapeshifting (He is able to transform into anyone he's consumed, and can also modify his body's proportions and form them into weapons at will. Should be comparable to Alex Mercer, who has every portion of his body being under his conscious control, to the extent that he is able to become a repository of genetic ability, where he can mix the best version of any creature into a single, super-effective form and even reconfigure his molecular structure to become something else with his control of his body, and so he is able to control every molecule of his body. Should have Shapeshifting capabilities similar to the Supreme Hunter, a duplicate of Alex Mercer that has the capacity to consume and become anything living. His level of shapeshifting should be comparable to other shapeshifters of the Blacklight Virus, such as the Supreme Hunter's disguise being able to deceive Alex Mercer and with James Heller not being able to spot that one of the Evolved has superhuman capabilities, thus allowing him to become a perfect copy of one of his previously absorbed targets that even other shapeshifters of the Blacklight Virus aren't able to discern without prior knowledge),

Immortality Negation via Absorption (Types 2 and 3 – Up to Mid-High; Should be comparable to Alex Mercer, who could kill a Hunter just by absorbing its brain, despite a Hunter being able to survive and operate without a brain unless sufficiently damaged, along with Alex Mercer being able absorb the Evolved, who should have comparable regenerative abilities and immortality to his own. Is able to absorb Alex Mercer after heavily battering him with the same Blacklight Virus that he has granted to James Heller),

Power Mimicry,

Transmutation and Absorption (Absorbs the powers, abilities, memories, skills, and experiences of any living thing, with any part of his biomass via his Consume ability without the need to weaken or batter them. This also allows him to negate his target's regeneration capabilities. Every living being that he absorbs makes him stronger. The Blacklight Virus is capable of mimicking and storing genetic information from infected organisms and more, and can duplicate copies of its infected host's genetic structure, and is able to copy and combine genetic traits to the extent that it results in him being a repository of genetic ability, where he can mix the best version of any creature into a single, super-effective form. Can absorb even inorganic materials such as Radio transceivers and clothing, to the extent that both the radio transceivers and clothing are "imitated" and that the inorganic materials comprising them become "a part of the facade" as a result of being transmuted into viruses),

Enhanced Senses (Thermal Vision, can detect heat, see through walls and other solid objects as well as detect people infected with the Blacklight Virus, can also hunt for specific targets with his Hunting Viral Sonar. Should be comparable to Alex Mercer in sense of hearing),

Adaptation and Reactive Evolution (Should be comparable to Alex Mercer due to possessing the same shapeshifting capabilities granted by the Blacklight Virus as he does),

Flight via Shapeshifting,

Immortality (Types 1, 2, 3; Should be comparable to Alex Mercer, who is "effectively immortal" and operate without needing the brain or other internal organs, such as operating with a large hole in his head and being able to sit up with a regenerating hand on the ground and with upper body and neck in upright position even before the top half of his skull and brain was reformed. Should be comparable to the Supreme Hunter, who is "immortal" and can move his fingers and hand even as a puddle that is still in the middle of regenerating),

Acrobatics (Can run up walls and other vertical surfaces),

Skilled Hand-to-Hand Combatant

All previous abilities, plus Alex Mercer's powers

Resistance to Mind Manipulation (Withstood having the every past memory and primal thought of the infected being forcibly uploaded to his mind at once),

Disease Manipulation,

Poison Manipulation,

Deconstruction,

Fusionism,

Body Puppetry and Biological Manipulation (Molecular level; Should be comparable to Alex Mercer, who was able to resist the Parasite and adapted to Bloodtox. Was able to resist Alex Mercer's attempt to kill him through manipulation of his body with the virus, though it may be limited only to specific circumstances involving attempts to kill him with it as his body was successfully manipulated by Alex Mercer previously),

Limited Resistance to Power Mimicry, Transmutation and Absorption (Should be comparable to Alex Mercer, who has absorbed Hunters, Leader Hunters and Elizabeth Greene, as well as resisting the mimicking capabilities of James Heller's own Blacklight Virus; thus, should have similar resistances to the assimilation and mimicking abilities of the Blacklight Virus unless weakened or heavily battered)

All previous plus, Flight via Airtime (allows Heller to fly indefinitely),

Gravity Manipulation via Anti-Gravity Field (anything that Heller hits/touches becomes trapped in an anti gravity field, floating helplessly. This extends to people/objects that are hit by people/objects thrown at them by Heller),

Energy Manipulation via Warp Vortex (objects thrown by Heller will become engulfed in a vortex of energy, pulling in nearby objects and people, causing severe damage. Only one vortex can be created at a time, whether or not this is a game mechanic is unknown),

Vibration Manipulation via Shockwaves (makes it so every time Heller jumps into the air, a massive shockwave pulls everything up with him)

Weaknesses: Is described to be a brute and is not particularly known for his intelligence, which is applicable to him even when he has Absorption to increase his intelligence. (But don't let that fool you. You don't become a U.S Sergeant without some level of appreciable intelligence.) The less biomass in his body, the slower his regeneration will be. Comparable to Supreme Hunter in terms of physiology, who can regenerate his entire body from a puddle of blood in mere instants, but when he is drastically damaged and loses his biomass he has difficulty regenerating a hand. James can only regenerate "instantly" from a massive damage after devouring biomass.

Song: Symbiotic Successor

James Heller, a former marine afflicted by the Blacklight virus, stood after emerging victorious over the corruptive machinations of his predecessor, Alex Mercer. His sole focus was the retrieval of his beloved daughter, Maya, above all other concerns. He didn't care if the world was saved or if New York succumbed to the grip of the infected or evolved, but he did clean up because this would ensure her safety.

James, immersed in his task of cleaning up the remaining infected threats on the street, was unaware of a lurking symbiotic predator in the shadows. Heller had ultimately corralled the last of the infected into a dead end of the alleyways, preparing to eliminate them, when the predator dropped down and viciously dispatched two of the infected, crushing them beneath its feet before finally finishing off the last one by devouring its head.

James, visibly taken aback, silently mouthed the words "What the hell?" as he observed the towering figure standing before him. The muscular frame of the creature appeared gooey and sinewy, boasting a white spider insignia on its chest, and its razor-sharp teeth adorned with green drool that dripped off its long tongue. As the creature loomed menacingly, it revealed itself as Venom, the anti-hero, and growled the chilling remark,

"Nothing but empty calories. Perhaps you'll be more filling."

"Oh, don't even try, you bastard!"

James spat out with a fearless fervor as he lunged towards Venom, his hands contorting into razor-sharp claws and wildly lashing out, stripping away bits of the Symbiote and exposing the lower layers beneath. Venom merely chuckled and watched the attacks with a calm demeanor, his wounds effortlessly healing due to his regenerative powers.

"My turn."

Venom, with a firm grip, allowed his arm to stretch and transform into a whip-like tendril, forcefully slamming James against the left and right walls repeatedly. Then, with another swing, he hurled his prey high into the air before slamming him into the ground. Despite the impacts, Heller's resilience prevailed, and he managed to morph his arm into an organic blade, slicing off the hand that held his head.

Despite the minor discomfort, Venom's hand regenerated swiftly, and he watched as James Heller dashed away up the building, seeking distance to strategize. The symbiote let out a low chuckle as his organic webbing connected with the top of the building, pulling him up after his prey. With feral agility, Venom proceeded to crawl up the walls and viciously attack James, smashing him through the sturdy bricks until they reached the rooftops. With a forceful throw, he sent Heller flying hard across the area.

James, after bouncing off the uneven rooftops a handful of times, formed razor-sharp claws to grip the surface and halt his momentum. As the symbiote unleashed another line of webbing, attempting to pull him back, he wasn't anticipating the increased muscle mass achieved through the Blacklight virus, which allowed Heller to swiftly land a powerful punch. The impact loosened some of Venom's fanged teeth and a splatter of green saliva, sending him staggering back.

Heller quickly morphed his hands into hammer fists, and with a mighty punch, sent Venom hurtling high into the air, over the street below. With unparalleled agility, the bio weapon then leaped up to meet the airborne symbiote, positioning himself above him above to bash him downwards. As they descended together, Heller focused his bio-mass on his elbow, preparing for a heavy impact. With tremendous strength, he dove elbow-first, delivering a powerful blow that blasted the surrounding area, the force of the impact clearing everything nearby and crashing Venom into a hapless vehicle beneath.

James positioned himself above the prone Venom, firmly grasping his throat with one hand while morphing the other into sharp claws. With a defiant declaration, he roared,

"Like hell I'd let you fucking eat me!"

He attempted to deliver a decapitating blow but found his attack intercepted by the symbiote's quick reflexes when he opened his eyes. As he clutched at James' throat in retaliation, Venom stood up, the wounds already beginning to heal due to his healing factor.

James desperately struggled to free himself, attempting to drive his sharpened claws into Venom's arm. However, the symbiote quickly countered, biting off the bio weapon's hand, causing Heller to cry out in pain. As he consumed the severed appendage, Venom reveled in wicked delight, his voice echoing with a menacing hunger,

"Mmm. Eyes, lungs, pancreas. So many snacks, so little time."

Venom tried to subdue James by inundating his body with his viscous tar-like essence, only to be met with resistance as the bio weapon fought back, managing to turn the tables. With a powerful surge of determination, Heller absorbed the symbiote's hand instead, morphing it into a colossal blade. As he roared defiantly, he lashed out, slicing Venom across the chest.

"I said I won't let you eat me, you sick fucking freak!"

Frustrated to see that his hand wasn't healing as quickly as desired, Venom leaped back, swiftly using organic webbing to extinguish the street lights and become invisible, blending into the surrounding shadows. James, using his thermal senses, scoured the area, trying to pinpoint Venom's location. He struggled to detect a heartbeat or even breathing, but with his heightened perception, he spotted the heat signature of Eddie Brock, Venom's host body concealed beneath the living symbiote.

"Found you, motherfucker."

James snarled as he shaped his arm into a tendril-like whip and lashed out, ensnaring the unsuspecting Venom from his concealed spot. Heller then hurled him in the opposite direction, but the symbiote quickly reacted, shooting out organic webbing to halt himself and then using the momentum to slingshot himself back, roaring furiously with his hands transformed into deadly blades.

James rapidly molded expansive shields of bio-mass around his arms, defending against Venom's onslaught. In return, he released a counter-strike that sent the symbiote hurtling backwards into a nearby Blacklight tank. Although rattled from the impact, Venom responded with malevolent glee, hoisting the tank and flinging it at the bio weapon. James quickly reacted, morphing his hands into hammer fists and smashing the tank into the ground, reducing it to scrap metal.

James leaped onto the wrecked tank, swiftly tearing off the TOW missile launchers and firing a salvo of missiles in Venom's direction. The symbiote reacted with fluid agility, either redirecting the projectiles using his organic webbing or morphing around them to evade the barrage. Venom quickly grabbed the remaining TOW launcher with another strand of webbing and swung it forcefully, causing an explosion that hurled the bio weapon backwards.

James let out a guttural grunt as he slammed into a parked cab, crushing it under the force. Infuriated, he snatched it up overhead and hurled it at the approaching symbiote, only for Venom to swat it away with a casual backhand. As James charged with a colossal organic blade, he managed to stab the symbiote in the stomach, but the injury seemed insignificant as he was promptly seized and hurled with great force into a nearby building. Despite the impact, Heller remained undeterred, and quickly began scaling the structure.

Venom swiftly shot up into the air towards the building, touching down directly in front of James. The two engaged in a fierce blades battle, furiously slashing at each other as their skin rapidly mended from each slice. Venom skillfully blocked Heller's ensuing hammer fist, followed by two swift kicks, and then utilized his webs to strike at multiple angles. However, James managed to regain the upper hand by ensnaring the symbiote with a whipfist and throwing him off balance, causing them both to plummet through the sky.

The two combatants continued to plummet towards the ground, with Venom attempting to land a web kick, but James deftly countered by hurling him into the building and pummeling him to the ground with forceful hammer fists. The impact sent the symbiote crashing into a car before stumbling onto the street. James comes gliding in and roundhouse kicks Venom so hard in the jaw that it rips off. The intense battle continued underground as they made their way down some stairs leading into the subway system.

The chaotic clash between the two continued as they fought their way down into the subway system, causing nearby people to flee in panic. When James managed to create some distance, Venom climbed onto the ceiling, utilizing his organic webbing to hitch a ride on the passing train. The symbiote's momentum increased dramatically as he was pulled forward, enabling him to deliver a powerful high-speed kick to Heller's chest.

James let out a strained grunt as he was forcefully dragged against the wall under Venom's feet. In a futile attempt to decelerate the brutal grinding, he tried to morph his hand into claws, only to have the sharp blades ripped off due to the immense force. With a strong kick, Venom launched Heller towards a lower train track, where he landed hard on the hard metal tracks. The impact sent shocks of pain through his body, causing him to release a guttural groan.

James slowly rose to his feet, watching as Venom, hunger gnawing at him, leaped down. In an effort to defend himself, he delivered a powerful hammer fist, forcefully swatting the symbiote back onto the opposite track as another train approached. With quick agility, Venom dodged the incoming train and swung onto the underside of the suspended tracks, positioning himself behind James. In a quick move, he kicked the bio-weapon into the speeding side of the train.

James let out a pained grunt as he collapsed onto the ground. Venom seized the opportunity and pinned him against the side of the train, the bio-weapon's face screaming silently as one half was scraped clean off. With a forceful throw, he hurled the bio-weapon down once more, the Blacklight virus's bio-mass oozing out in a gruesome display. In a final attempt, Venom tried to grab James again, but his hands were quickly absorbed, the bio-mass utilized to rapidly heal the bio-weapon's wounded head.

James gripped onto Venom's head from behind, throwing the symbiote against the train. However, the resilient suit quickly re-oriented itself, rolling across the floor like a living slime before pouncing forward and sinking its venomous, saliva-colored fangs deep into Heller's neck. The bio-weapon cried out in pain as he stumbled backwards, falling against an archaic pipe which Venom promptly shattered. With a powerful kick, the symbiote launched Heller into the ground, creating a deep crater in the process.

James lay panting, his battered body feeling as if it were being consumed from within by a fever, as the harmful poison coursed through his system. Venom landed before him, exhausted and weakened but still hungry. Lacking the patience for bragging or quips, the symbiote quickly seized control of the situation, devouring the bio-weapon's head whole, finally satiating his relentless hunger.

"Never wound what you can't kill."

As Venom was on the verge of discarding the lifeless corpse, the headless body unexpectedly took hold of him with an iron grip. Venom attempted to struggle, trying to fight off the assimilation, but unfortunately, he was helpless against the powerful absorption process. Both the symbiote and its host, Eddie Brock, were absorbed into James Heller's ever-evolving body. The bio-weapon panted heavily, shaking off the surreal experience of being momentarily devoured, before collapsing onto his back to recuperate.

Strength: This is relatively a tough one to call. In terms of strength, Venom has several times stronger, lifting a 200 ton ferris wheel in a weakened state while James is merely capable of throwing tanks around. However, Heller is superior to Alex Mercer, who survived a 450 KT nuke blowing up in his face. So while he can overpower and hurt James, he can't necessarily kill him either with brute force.

Speed: While James has the superior reaction time, at about 66% light speed given his compressed absorption of memories, he can't actually match Venom movement and combat speed, which is Mach 2000 based on Death Battle, and has never displayed any feats of that calibre.

Skill: James has the better skill, having absorbed many strong combatants with similar and varied skills that Venom can't boast despite his hopping between hosts.

Experience: However, even if James had all the life experience of everyone on Earth who ever lived, he still can't stack up to the Symbiote's timeless experience through the universe.

Powers: Both have molecular scale shapeshifting and healing factors, so this could be a very long fight of attrition, but Heller's absorbtion of the symbiote would both prevent possession of his body, and cancel out his regeneration. Venom's saliva can harm beings like Sandman, despite his inorganic composition, but James has resisted poisons before. And due to his complete molecular control, Venom would be hard pressed to try and puppet or overwhelm his molecules. And thanks to his 150X stronger durability to Venom's 3 Kilotons to survive every window shattering within only 10 miles, he would't need a constant supply of biomass to regenerate.

The winner is James Heller

Next time:

"Have you ever seen a little girl run so fast she falls down? There's an instant, a fraction of a second before the world catches hold of her again... A moment when she's outrun every doubt and fear she's ever had about herself and she flies. In that one moment, every little girl flies."

"It takes more than power to succeed...far more! It requires a strong will to win and that can't be merely bred into you!"