One of Spider-Man’s most dangerous
foes is Venom, the alien symbiote that he brought back from Battleworld. The
hate filled pile of living black ooze has been a constant threat to both
Spider-Man and Peter Parker since their ‘falling out’ back in the 1980s. But,
another serious danger lies in the offspring of Venom. The Venom Symbiote has
given birth asexually several times over the years, his most famous spawn being
Carnage, but there are a few others like Scream, as well as Phage, Lasher, Riot
and Agony, better known collectively as Hybrid, Mania, and, technically,
Anti-Venom. I mean, calling Anti-Venom his “son” is easier then calling him a
mutated clone or whatever the heck he was. Carnage has also budded a few times,
the one we’re going to focus on is his first son, Toxin. Let’s get to it.
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| Imagine seeing this thing coming at you in the dead of night. |
Toxin’s
first day was violent, to say the least. His “parent” Carnage had realized he
was pregnant and was trying feverously to find a way to stop the birthing. Why?
For one, Carnage is completely disgusted by the thought of reproducing. And for
another, Carnage feared that, as he is obviously more powerful than his sire,
that his spawn would be stronger still and thus a threat to his existence.
Venom, on the other hand, also sensed Carnage’s pregnancy and was trying to
stop Carnage for destroying his grandson. Venom’s logic being that the future
symbiote would be a potential ally, and thus worth saving. Also, since the new
symbiote would be the 10000 of their line, chances of psychosis and extreme violence
were pretty high, so it’s in everyone’s best interest that Venom look after
things. Looking at his extended family, listed above, I can safely say that
this creature had no chance of being ‘normal.’ Venom and Carnage battled across
New York City, Carnage eventually losing his father by knocking him into the
East River, gross, and buries himself in an attempt to stop the birthing. This resulted
in an explosion.
Said explosion brought police attention,
specifically Officer Patrick Mulligan. What he found was a mostly exposed
Cletus Kasady, the Carnage Symbiote having expended most of its body and energy
in attempting to stop the birth, and then the birth itself. Weakened to the
extreme, Carnage decided to implant his son in the unwitting police officer, so
he can come back and kill it later once he’d recovered a little. Around the
same time, notorious cat burglar Black Cat stole some new age painting during
the whole symbiote hullaballoo.
Not realizing that he’d been
infected with an alien parasite, Patrick returned home to his pregnant wife. They
start playfully arguing about what their son’s name and profession will be, but
are interrupted by Venom crashing into their apartment. He had sensed his
grandson’s location and came to protect it. Venom gets kind of creepily close
to the Mulligans, wanting to know what it’s like to actually give a darn about
one’s offspring, but is also interrupted by someone. Spider-Man. The Web-Head
was able to track the hulking black monster thanks to the trail of dingy East River
water Venom left. Venom and Spider-Man duke it out while the Mulligans
high-tail it out of there. Venom explains the whole Carnage Pregnancy thing,
just in time for Carnage to show up. The red menace chucks Pat’s wife off of
the stairs and takes Pat out of the building to disembowel him. For some
reason. Villains, they always like wasting time. Thankfully, Gina Mulligan was
saved from going splat by Spider-Man, who then had to rush Gina to a hospital.
Apparently near death experiences can induce labor. Who knew?
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| He has his father's eyes. And fangs. And claws. |
Because Carnage is the sort of
psycho that likes to play with his food, he delays killing Pat, and chase him
around a rooftop. It might have been slightly cathartic for Pat, if Carnage wasn’t
trying to skewer him. Carnage and Pat cause enough of a ruckus to get the attention
of Black Cat. She’d been a building over selling her stolen goods and rushed
over to save Pat. Good kitty. And while the shadowy feline-themed burglar would
have been ripped to shreds by Carnage, Venom shows up just in time to
discipline his son. During their wrestling match, Venom reveals that he decided
to name the new symbiote Toxin, as a tribute to himself. Vain goo monster, isn’t
he? He throws Carnage under a train, and Pat escapes. He meets his wife and new
born son, Edward, at the hospital. Venom and Spider-Man spend the next few days
watching over the Mulligans, independent of each other, as Toxin… incubates.
Once he gets back on the job, Pat gets a lead on the art thief
from a few days ago and tracks down Black Cat. He tries to arrest her, and she
resists. Despite her strength and feline agility, Pat shows off some inhuman
speed and strength as well. He’s just about to cuff Black Cat when Carnage, as
Cletus Kasady, busts down the door. Kasady symbiotes up to kill them all, but
unfortunately for him, his son decided to make his first appearance. Pat is
engulfed by the new symbiote, becoming Toxin. Toxin trounces Carnage, and hurls
him across the city. He and Black Cat come to an agreement, he doesn’t
implicate her in the art theft, and she doesn’t spread that he has a black and
red goo monster living inside him.
A few days later, the Mulligans
move to a new apartment and have something of a housewarming/christening party.
Pat feels uneasy, but a visit from his father inspires him to do something
about Toxin’s father. Using Toxin’s unnatural tracking ability, he found Cletus’
apartment. Unfortunately, Carnage detects Toxin too, so they’re forced into
another brawl. Toxin proves stronger, but, despite his earlier impulses, can’t
bring himself to kill Carnage. He runs off.
After seeing that Toxin may prove
too… noble for his purposes, Venom decides it’s best to go with Carnage’s plan.
Father and son form a temporary alliance to kill the next generation. The next
day, Toxin stops a bank robbery, but Pat starts losing control of the alien. He
threatens to drink their brains, but regains enough control to just arrest
them. Spider-Man lowers himself from the ceiling and congratulates the
fledgling superhero. A few days later, Pat meets Black Cat at a funeral. The
dude she was selling the stolen painting to had died during the Carnage
confrontation. The funeral is interrupted by Venom and Carnage.
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| Think he feels it, crawling under his skin? |
Like Carnage and Venom before him,
Toxin has many abilities that were copied from Spider-Man. The ability to cling
to walls, super-strength, and the overall design of his form are all lifted from
Spider-Man. He’s immune to Spider-Man’s spider-sense, and can track just about anything
if he’s got a sample of it. While Pat is calm and in control, he looks like a
red-and-black version of Spider-Man. But, if he gets anger enough he’ll morph,
adding a lot of muscle mass and getting the family grin. Like Carnage, he can
morph parts of his body into weaponry. Mostly spears. Toxin is the strongest
Symbiote to date, but has some quirks. Unlike his father, grandfather, and
siblings, he doesn’t try to control his host or bond with Pat to the extreme
degree. Where Venom is “We,” Carnage is “I.” Pat and Toxin are “him and me,”
essentially. Toxin is also very childlike in his thought process, prone to
temper tantrums and such.
To date, Toxin hasn’t been used
outside the comics. But who knows when that will change.
I like Toxin, and Pat. I had a
general knowledge about both of them before writing this post, but have only
just recently read their story in the Venom
vs. Carnage mini-series. For the first time, since Spider-Man, we see what
happens when a decent human being is bonded to an alien organism that feeds on aggression.
Every time he uses Toxin, it seems like he’s worried he’s losing a bit of
himself. There is a very good moment at the close of the V vs C mini-series,
where Pat is looking after his son, when “something” from his earlier fight
with Venom and Carnage drops on the baby. It’s an innocuous object, mostly, but
it really shakes up Pat, and is what makes him resolve to cut himself off from
Gina and Edward, to protect them from his new other life. It’s a simple moment,
but understandable. In his stories that follow, you get to appreciate his loss,
and how difficult it must be, being bonded to something that is slowly driving
him insane. Not pretty. He’s the savage alien, the strongest symbiote, the terrible
Toxin. Next time, one last Spider-Man thing. Let’s talk about his original
movie, 2002s Spider-Man.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/36/TOXIN3.jpg
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/9/90/Venom_Vs._Carnage_Vol_1_4_Textless.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20051026192734
http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel//universe3zx/images/6/64/Toxin_inline.jpg
http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel//universe3zx/images/6/64/Toxin_inline.jpg
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