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| It might be an evil, homicidal alien, but it knows how to make a cool logo. |
Since my Guardians of the Galaxy build up week went so well,
I’m going to give Venom his own week and see how it goes. I’ll be doing the
same thing with the Flash the week before his return to TV, so don't say I favor Marvel too much. Unlike with the Guardians of the Galaxy week, Venom and later Flash, week will instead focus on the "super" identity and the number of people that have worn it over the years. Now, on with the show. Venom is a
complex character that seems to go through major changes with each new iteration.
Because of this, I’ll be going back to the source to examine how the character
has evolved. No, I’m not talking about back when Spider-man wore it, I’m
talking all the way back, to the suit itself.
The creature that became the powers
behind Venom is an alien life form known as a Symbiote. The creatures are
amorphous blobs that form parasitic bonds, physical and mental, with host creatures to feed off their
biological process, specifically the adrenaline secreted during death defying
stunts. That’s perhaps the only thing “symbiotic” about these creatures, they
strengthen the bodies they are bound to so they can get more than one or two
feedings out of them. The Venom Symbiote, I’ll just call it Venom here for
short, was considered insane by its “brothers.” Where the average Symbiote uses
the mental connection it makes with its host to dominate the hosts personality,
Venom sought mutual bonds instead. Since for its kind, this is
the equivalent of talking to a steak dinner while it’s in your stomach, I can
kind of understand where the other Symbiotes were coming from. Venom was
imprisoned on a planet and left to die.
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| Love and hate are powerful emotions... |
An unspecified amount of time
later, a being known as the Beyonder took the planet Venom was locked away on,
and several others like it, and incorporated them into what he called
Battleworld. Basically he made heroes and villains from across the universe
fight in gladiator style combat. It sounds kind of awesome, not going to lie.
Spider-man was one of the heroes captured by the Beyonder. Spider-man
accidentally freed Venom from its prison, believing the prison was an automatic
costume creator. The machine he wanted was next to it. Poor placement on the
interior designer’s part. The Venom suit read Peter's mind, saw that he had been "admiring" Spider-woman's costume, and modeled Spider-man's new look to match it.
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| It doesn't really need a face, so why make one? Just to freak people out? I don't get it. |
After getting off Battleworld, the
suit was a dream come true for Peter Parker. It could change its shape and
color, making it easier for him to go from Civilian to Hero mode. It created its
own “webs,” thus eliminating the need for web-shooters. And it amplified his strength, I don't think I need to list off why that's awesome.
He discovered the suit was vulnerable to heat and intense sonic energy, but
since Peter himself is kind of vulnerable to that it didn’t seem like a
problem. The suit also seemed to make Peter angrier and more prone to violence, but that didn't prove it was a living pile of somewhat evil goo. It wasn’t until Peter started to notice that the suit enveloped him at
night when he was asleep to fight crime that the real problem of his new costume came to light. Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four discovered the black suit was alive and
sentient. How you prove something is capable of intelligent though when it can't seem to communicate is beyond me. Richards also helped peel Peter out of the gunk before containing it.
Venom was not happy with the separation, broke free, returned to Peter’s house
and turned into one of his spare red and blue suits. Finding himself again
stuck with the suit, Peter goes to desperate measures to get rid of it.
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| If it wasn't for the fact it's eating him, the suit would be awesome. |
Peter climbed to the top of a
Cathedral and fought to get the suit off once and for all. The bell’s thunderous clang weakens
the suit, giving Peter an edge. Now, I’ve read two different explanations to how
he got Venom off of him. One, is the one you see in the TV shows and Movie,
that the bell was apparently enough to force the suit off. The second, and more
interesting one for me, is that while the suit was weakened, the noise wasn’t
enough to force it off. This explanation points out that Venom is a highly empathic
creature. Because of this, and after seeing the level Peter was willing to go to free himself, it
left. It was by no means happy with the split, but still left of its own accord
for Peter’s benefit. There is a heart in that pile of black sludge after all,
at least for a bit. It dripped down the bell tower, and into the life of his
second host, Eddie Brock.
The Venom suit is an interesting
organism. As stated above it naturally enhances the bodies of whomever is
bonded with it. It has since studied Peter’s abilities while the two were
connected and has passed on Spider-man like powers to whoever is wearing him.
Furthermore, the Venom suit can mask itself from Peter’s Spider Sense, either
through some sort of chemical blocking or simply because it moves too fast. This
is particularly dangerous for Spidey, since his unorthodox fighting style is
pretty reliant on his Spider Sense to be effective. Hell hath no fury like a
black blob monster scorned. Venom has also passed these Spider/Anti-Spider-man
powers to its various offspring.
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| Breaking up is hard when the other party is clingy. |
The Venom Symbiote has appeared in
almost all of Spider-man’s TV, movie and video game incarnations since his
creation. He is one of Peter’s Big Three baddies, the other two being Doctor
Octopus and Green Goblin, after all. Its performances have been…mixed to say the least. Sometimes
he’s a begrudging ally, sometimes he’s Peter’s worst nightmare. It kind of
depends on the day.
The movie version of its effects on Peter were pretty accurate, amplifying Peter's powers while at the same time making him more prone to violent outbursts. Where it loses me is the emo clothing change and the Saturday Night Fever Strut. Why? Just...Why?
The largest part it has ever played
on its own was in the video game Spider-man Edge of Shadows. In it, the Venom
suit seems to be going through a breeding cycle, creating hundreds of Symbiotic
offspring that bond with whoever gets too close, be they your generic New
Yorkers to Wolverine. The result is about as terrifying as you can imagine. This
is the largest part for the suit itself, because unlike in previous versions, it’s
the one in control. Eddie Brock, Venom’s longest running and most common host,
is fighting it for most of the game. It’s kind of weird and awesome at the same
time.
The Venom suit is an interesting villain
by itself because in many ways it’s just a spurned ex. Think about it, after
Spider-man “breaks-up” with it, it continually seeks out stronger, meaner hosts
before coming at him again in an almost “See? This could have all been yours”
style of fighting. The Spectacular Spider-man TV show cased this best, since
Peter was only able to beat Venom the first time by tricking the suit into
thinking he wanted it back. The suit went right to him, leaving Eddie Brock to
scream in anger at being abandoned. It has proven to be Spider-man’s most persistent
villain, and while its movie version left a LOT to be desired I’ll be glad to
see it on the big screen again. I’ll get more into that when I go over Eddie
Brock’s stint as Venom, next time.
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| I hate what they did to you overall, but at least they made you look cool. |
http://www.inspiringwallpapers.net/venom-comic-2.html
http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles-7/venom-vs-carnage-vs-sandman-vs-green-gobin-1575278/
http://thedailybugle.wikia.com/wiki/Venom
http://www.comicvine.com/articles/the-best-and-worst-parts-of-sam-raimis-spider-man-/1100-143368/?comment_page=1
http://marvel.wikia.com/Venom_%28Symbiote%29_%28Earth-96283%29
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