Real Name: Edward "Eddie" Brock
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 260lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Reddish Blond
Current Aliases: None
Former Aliases: None
Dual Identity: Known to local authorites
Current Occupation: Mad killer bent on revenge, Vigilante for the Innocent
Former Occupation: Journalist for the Daily Globe
Citizenship: United States of America
Legal Status: Criminal record in U.S.
Place of Birth: San-Francisco, California
Marital Status: Divorced
Known Relatives: Carol Brock (father), Anne Weying (ex-wife, deceased in Amazing v.2 #19), Mary Brock (younger sister, mentioned in Nova v.3 #6-7)
Known Confidants: "Beck"
Known Allies: Spider-Man, Morbius, Vengeance
Major Enemies: Spider-Man, Carnage, Life Foundation, Juggernaut, Scarlet-Spider, Jury
Usual Bases: New York City (again)
Former Bases: New York City, San-Francisco, California
Current Groups: None
Former Groups: None
Education: BA in Journalism

Powers: The various Venoms possess abilities parallel to those of Spider-Man, based on the symbiote's time bonded with the wall-crawler: Superhuman strength, agility, superhuman reflexes, and the ability to adhere to walls. It is unclear whether these powers were copied from Spider-Man or innate to the Symbiotes themselves. However, Venom is physically much stronger than Spider-Man. The symbiote replicated Spider-Man's superhuman strength and added to it Brock's own strength, which has become superhuman, near SpiderMan's actual strength. Venom's body is also highly resistant to physical injury, much more so than Spider-Man's. Venom has withstood the impact of high caliber bullets without injury. In addition, Venom's living costume has the ability to take the appearance of any form of clothing, blend with its surroundings, and even mimic other people. The suit can also shoot webbing similar to that of Spider-Man, but as this is made from the symbiote itself, overuse weakens it. Venom has been known to use his webbing or costume-generated tendrils to suffocate his victims. The symbiote is also able to heal the host (a power that all the symbiotes share), and can protect its host in numerous ways, such as absorbing bullets and "spitting" them out. Also, the symbiote can convert oxygen in elements such as water or air into oxygen for its host, allowing the host to breathe under water, or with the ability to mimic other people, copying dead skin to give the appearance of no heartbeat, while providing oxygen to the host, which allowed Eddie to break out of the Vault the first time.


The symbiote also has a few rarely-used abilities. It contains a small 'dimensional aperture', similar to a pocket, that allows the wearer to carry items upon his/her person without adding mass to the costume. This was only used by Peter Parker, who carried his camera in the suit's aperture. When the symbiote was separated from Parker, the aperture emptied and the camera returned to Earth. There is no evidence that Carnage or any other symbiotes have such a pocket. Second, the symbiote even has some psychic powers - it is able to gain all the knowledge a person has just by a simple touch. It has used this power on its own kind and on Eddie Brock's wife. Third, the symbiote can extrude itself down to a molecule's width and travel along phone lines. Fourth, according to Venom, all symbiotes can detect their offspring telepathically, although the only time this has been used (Amazing Spider-Man #262, when Venom first learned of his offspring,) Carnage was immediately able to "block" this ability after their first encounter.


The Venom symbiote exponentially adds to the abilities of its current host, and then adds these advantages to successive hosts. While bonded to Spider-Man, the symbiote did not add to his strength much, because he already had enhanced strength, but due to Eddie Brock's working out and lifting weights, the symbiote multiplied his human strength to make Eddie stronger than Spider-Man. He has demonstrated strength ranging from slightly greater than that of Spider-Man to the capability of lifting a tank. This range is attributed to the discretion of individual writers, and can be contradictory. For the purpose of this character, Venom can press or lift 45 to 50 tons under optimal conditions, putting him on an equal platform with his offspring, Carnage.

The original Venom, Eddie Brock, had some notable skills aside from the superhuman abilities granted by his costume. He was highly skilled in investigative journalism and deductive reasoning. He was also extremely athletic, especially in terms of strength; his strength was of the order of an Olympic athlete.

In some incarnations, the symbiote (and, by extension, Venom) requires a certain chemical (most likely Phenethylamine) to stay sane and healthy. It is thought to be a major chemical involved in love. In the comic, they say that this chemical is only found abundantly in two sources: chocolate and human brain tissue. Thus, in these incarnations, Venom is forced to steal/purchase large amounts of chocolate, or become an unwilling cannibal who devours the brains of those he kills. In one such story, the symbiote willingly abandoned Eddie Brock because of his reluctance to devour brains, although the separation of Brock and the symbiote was something which has been portrayed as impossible for years. However, the recent sale of the symbiote seems to confirm symbiotes can indeed be separated from their hosts.

The symbiote is weak against sonics and fire.

History: While embroiled in a minor storyline fighting the Secret Wars on an alien planet, Spider-Man had to give up his web shooters to help the heroes escape being crushed by a mountain (dropped on them by the Molecule Man). Needing to find equipment to replace his web shooters, Spider-Man was informed by other heroes of a machine in a nearby lab that could repair his suit. Spidey went searching, but unwittingly activated the wrong machine, freeing from imprisonment a sentient alien symbiote. As Spider-Man touched the black blob, it flowed over his body, forming a new costume which he soon discovered responded to his thoughts, was able to mimic street clothes and seemed to provide an inexhaustible supply of webbing. Once back on Earth, Spider-Man learned the true nature of the costume, and discovered that the symbiote desired to fuse permanently with him, enveloping him at night as he slept, using his unconscious body to go out and fight crime. With the aid of Mister Fantastic, Spider-Man removed the costume by using sonic waves, to which it was vulnerable, but it broke free from the Fantastic Four's custody, and attempted to bond itself to Spider-Man in a church tower. The clanging of the church bells, coupled with Spidey's forced rejection of the symbiote, weakened the alien, and it slithered away, seemingly to die.

Meanwhile, reporter Eddie Brock (born in San Francisco, California to Carl and Janine Brock) had been penning a number of articles in The Daily Globe on the recent Sin-Eater case, a storyline that ran in Amazing Spider-Man’s sister title, The Spectacular Spider-Man. Following a false lead, he proceeded to write a series of columns identifying Emil Gregg as the perpetrator of the crimes. When Spider-Man caught the real criminal, policeman Stan Carter, Emil Gregg was discovered to be a compulsive confessor. The Globe became a laughing stock, Brock was fired, shunned by his peers, and forced to write scathing celebrity exposés and alien abduction drivel for the scandal rags. Brock took up weight lifting in the hopes of reducing his stress, but was unsuccessful in alleviating his obsessive hatred of Spider-Man. Planning to kill himself, Eddie went to a church to apologize to God for not being strong enough to handle life. There, Eddie was discovered by the alien costume, which bonded to him. Because of the symbiote's previous connection with Peter Parker, Brock was now aware of Spider-Man's secret identity. This increased Brock's hatred for both Parker and Spider-Man, leading Venom to become one of Spider-Man's most dangerous rogues.


This 'origin' story has been somewhat retconned in order to add depth to the characters involved. It is revealed that Eddie was diagnosed with cancer before the Sin-Eater case, and was told he had little more than 3 months to live. It is this, not the Sin-Eater situation, which finally drove Eddie to decide to kill himself.

The symbiote's motivations were also changed. It was originally implied that the symbiote sought Eddie because they both had a hatred of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, but the revised canon is that the form of cancer Eddie had come with an enhanced production of adrenaline - exactly what the symbiote feeds off of, thus making some type of cure that heals him of his disease.


Despite his lethal ability and homicidal hatred of Spider-Man, Venom remains curiously protective of those he considers "innocent". He will generally avoid killing bystanders in his quest for vengeance. Of course, the fact that he is insane means that his definitions of "innocent" and "necessary casualties" fluctuate as his needs demand. He has teamed up with Spider-Man on several occasions, most notably to battle the symbiote's homicidal offspring, Carnage. Venom has occasionally worked alongside other anti-heroes and superheroes, such as The Punisher and Ghost Rider.

Some time later, Venom was brought to justice and put on trial, his symbiote held in check with a chemical inhibitor that prevented it from manifesting. He was saved from jail when the Black-Ops government agency, the Overreach Committee, coerced him into becoming one of their agents, via the implantation of a bomb inside his chest. After combating several unusual threats in this role, Venom misinterpreted an order to intimidate J. Jonah Jameson as an instruction to kill him, leading to his first true confrontation with Spider-Man in some time. The ensuing battle at a construction site, however, ended when an explosion concussed Venom, giving him selective amnesia, making him forget Spider-Man's true identity. Shortly thereafter, Venom operated on himself to remove his bomb, but when he attempted to publically release the secrets of the Overreach Committee, an overdose of the chemical inhibitor forcibly separated Brock and his symbiote, which apparently died.

Carelessly discarded, the alien regenerated, once again seeking out Brock. As Venom once more, they absorbed Cletus Kassady's symbiote, and joined the Sinister Six, but soon regretted it and then tried to kill their former teammates. He attacked Sandman, and Electro, leaving both for dead. At this point, Venom made some peace with Spidey (again), only to renew his hatred for the web-slinger when Brock's wife committed suicide. Venom lost his chance for revenge when the powerful human/alien hybrid known as Senator Ward split Brock and the symbiote apart once again.

A clone of the Venom symbiote then appeared, created from a severed sample of the symbiote scavenged by the government from an earlier battle. This clone - created by a covert alien race lurking in secrecy within the government - actually burned out its hosts, killing them, unlike the original symbiote. The only two to survive it for a significant period were the Antarctic researcher Patricia Robertson, thanks to technology, and the X-Man Wolverine, thanks to his healing factor. Robertson was later fully overcome by the symbiote, but Brock, having since recombined with his symbiote, absorbed the clone. Filled with its intelligence and the alien design it had been created for, Brock professed he would carry that design out himself, but did not get the chance when he discovered that he had cancer, and he could not survive without a permanent merge with the symbiote. In the end, Spider-Man convinces the symbiote to go through with this "permanent merge."