Eddie Brock

Venom (Eddie Brock)
File:Venomamazingspiderman299.png First full appearance of Venom on the last page of Amazing Spider-Man #299 (April 1988). Art by Todd McFarlane.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Amazing Spider-Man #299 (April 1988)
Created by	David Michelinie Todd McFarlane
In-story information
Alter ego	Edward Allan Charles "Eddie" Brock
Team affiliations	Sinister Six Daily Globe Daily Bugle The New York Times
Notable aliases	Venom, The Lethal Protector, Anti-Venom
Abilities	Alien symbiote

Eddie Brock, also known as Venom, is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in the Amazing Spider-Man #299 (April 1988) and was created by artist Todd McFarlane and writer David Michelinie.

Publication history

Creation and conception

Writer David Michelinie and artist Todd McFarlane are generally credited with the character's creation, based on a number of plot ideas and concepts from various other creators, though the degree to which McFarlane should be credited with co-creating the character has been a source of dispute in the comic book industry.

The question of who created the character of Venom became an issue of contention in 1993 when Michelinie wrote to the comic-book industry magazine Wizard, which had referred to Michelinie in issue #17 as "co-creator" of Venom. In his letter, printed in issue #21 (May 1993), Michelinie wrote that he was the character's sole creator, while saying also he believed that without McFarlane the character would not have attained the popularity it did.

Writer Peter David corroborated Michelinie's view in his "But I Digress" column in the June 4, 1993 Comics Buyer's Guide, in which he stated that Michelinie discussed the ideas behind the character with him at the time of its creation. At that time, David was the writer on The Spectacular Spider-Man and wrote the "Sin Eater" storyline from which Eddie Brock's back story would be derived, well before McFarlane was assigned to the art duties on Amazing. Because artists who design the costumes or appearances of major characters and/or illustrate their first appearances are generally credited as co-creators, Venom represents a complex situation, because the costume from which Venom's appearance is derived was not designed by McFarlane.

File:AmazingSpider-Man346.jpg

Erik Larsen, who followed Todd McFarlane as artist on Amazing Spider-Man, added Venom's tongue as well as the drool to the character's appearance.

Erik Larsen responded to Michelinie's letter with one of his own that was printed in Wizard #23 (July 1993), in which he dismissed Michelinie's contributions to the character, arguing that Michelinie merely "swiped" the preexisting symbiote and its powers to place it on a character whose motivations were poorly conceived, one-dimensional, unbelievable, and clichéd. Larsen also argued that it was McFarlane's rendition of the character that made it commercial.

The preexisting elements that dealt with the symbiote costume itself - to which Michelinie did not contribute - have also been noted. For example, editor Jim Shooter came up with the idea of switching Spider-Man to a black-and-white costume, possibly influenced by the intended costume design for the new Spider-Woman. Artists Mike Zeck and Rick Leonardi, as well as others, designed the black-and-white costume. Writer/artist John Byrne asserts on his website that the idea for a costume made of self-healing biological material was one he originated when he was the artist on Iron Fist to explain how that character's costume was constantly being torn and then apparently repaired by the next issue, explaining that he ended up not using the idea on that title, but that Roger Stern later asked him if he could use the idea for Spider-Man's alien costume. Stern in turn plotted the issue in which the costume first appeared but then left the title. It was writer Tom DeFalco and artist Ron Frenz who had established that the costume was a sentient alien being and also that it was vulnerable to high sonic energy during their run on The Amazing Spider-Man that preceded Michelinie's. Regardless, Peter David's position is that Michelinie is the sole creator, since the idea of creating a separate character using the alien symbiote was Michelinie's, as was Eddie Brock's backstory, and that without the idea to create such a character, the character would not have existed.

In an interview with Tom DeFalco, Mcfarlane claims that Michelinie did indeed come up with the idea of Venom and the characters basic design ("a big guy in the black costume"). However he contends that it was he (Mcfarlane) who gave Venom his monster-like features. He claims; "I just wanted to make him kooky and creepy, and not just some guy in a black suit."

This dispute arose at a time when artists such as McFarlane and Larsen were enjoying a great deal of popularity and clout with readers, and capitalizing on their popularity by publishing creator-owned books with their new company, Image Comics, and it is possible that this issue was a subtext of the greater debate over the importance of writers versus artists that was being waged in the industry at the time. Prior to McFarlane's departure from Marvel, the company stated that Venom was a creation of McFarlane's, and Michelinie shared credit as co-creator. Regardless of the issues surrounding his creation, Venom was created under a work for hire contract and Marvel owns all rights to the character.

Publication

Venom's existence was first indicated in Web of Spider-Man #18 (Sept. 1986), when he shoved Peter Parker in front of a subway train without Parker's spider-sense warning him, though only Brock's hand was seen on-panel. The next indication of Venom's existence was in Web of Spider-Man #24 (March 1987), when Parker had climbed out of a high story window to change into Spider-Man, but found a black arm coming through the window and grabbing him, again without being warned by his spider-sense. He then made a partial appearance on the final page of The Amazing Spider-Man #298 (April 1988), in which he was obscured by shadow, before making his first full appearance on the final page of #299 (May 1988).

The character would remain unseen and inactive until Amazing Spider-Man editor Jim Salicrup required a villain for that book's 300th issue, and Michelinie suggested a villain consisting of the alien symbiote grafted onto the body of a human female. Salicrup accepted the suggestion, but changed the character to a male. Michelinie then devised the Eddie Brock identity. Michelinie contends that the plots for issues #298-299, as well as the visual descriptions of the character, were written and bought by Salicrup before McFarlane was ever assigned to the book.

Throughout most of his career in print, Brock's sole motivation for hating Spider-Man was because the webslinger's capture of the villain Sin Eater exposed the man who had previously confessed to Brock to being responsible for the Sin Eater's crimes as a compulsive confessor, thus destroying Brock's credibility and reputation as a journalist. The symbiote was attracted to Brock's hatred. In 2003, writer Paul Jenkins, in the second volume of Spectacular Spider-Man, revealed Brock had cancer and the symbiote was attracted to it because it released adrenaline, which the symbiote fed off of. In the same comic, there were many victims (who were cancer patients) who suffered identical injuries - Venom sucked out their energy from the adrenal gland. The symbiote's feeding off the cancer kept Brock alive and his hatred of Spider-Man stemmed from the fear that Spider-Man would accept the symbiote back, leaving him to be taken by the cancer.

Fictional character biography

As a child, Edward Allan Charles Brock is raised in a Roman Catholic household in San Francisco. His father is cold and unloving towards him because he blames Eddie for his wife's death during childbirth. Eddie constantly attempts to obtain his father's approval, though even after excelling in school, he only receives half-hearted encouragements. Though exceptional in athletics, Brock switches his major in college to journalism after reading an article on the Watergate scandal. Upon graduating, he moves to New York City and obtains a job at the Daily Globe. He proves himself to be highly talented, though even this does not get his father's approval. He eventually marries Anne Weying, who is attracted by his wit and gentility.

Bonding with the symbiote

File:Venom origin in church.jpg

Eddie Brock bonding with the symbiote

After being diagnosed with terminal cancer, Brock decides to take his mind off it by burying himself in his work. He investigates the serial killer nicknamed Sin-Eater, and surprisingly finds someone actually confessing to the murders. Once the case is finally closed, it is revealed that the real killer was already caught by Spider-Man, and that Brock had been interviewing a compulsive confessor. Brock is fired from his job in disgrace, and his father practically disowns him. With no decent publishers willing to hire him, he is forced to work for sleazy tabloid magazines. Now with his fear of the cancer growing, Brock resumes his passion for athletics through weight training to reduce stress. Though his body grows to near-Olympic standards, his anger and depression remain, causing Anne to divorce him. With both his professional and personal life shattered, Brock contemplates suicide and goes to a church where he prays to God for forgiveness, unaware the symbiote Spider-Man has discarded is waiting for him.

Attracted by the adrenaline caused by his cancer, the symbiote bonds with Brock, feeding off the cancer and keeping him alive. Brock willingly accepts it due to stopping the cancer and the powers similar to those of Spider-Man, though he learns that the symbiote thinks of him as second rate compared to Spider-Man. Brock, knowing that the symbiote could potentially go back to Spider-Man, leaving him to die, becomes determined to torment Spider-Man and his family. The symbiote imparts him with the knowledge of Spider-Man's secret identity, and Brock names himself "Venom" in reference to his opinion of his job.

Progeny

After being rendered unconscious by Styx, the symbiote is removed, and Brock is incarcerated to await trial. The symbiote finds Brock, enabling him to escape from jail, though the symbiote reproduces at the same time. The offspring quickly bonds to Brock's cell mate, Cletus Kasady, creating Carnage. Soon after, Venom abducts Spider-Man, and takes him to a remote island where Spider-Man fakes his death. Venom, content with the outcome, resigns himself to life on the island. Once Spider-Man becomes unable to defeat Carnage, he enlists Venom's help to defeat Carnage and other supervillains. His willingness to kill the villains causes a deep rift with many of his allies, who only wish to subdue them.

Venom soon makes peace with Spider-Man after Anne Weying is rescued by him, so he moves back to San Francisco, where he acts as the protector of an underground society descended from survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. He is taken prisoner by the Life Foundation, and is forcefully made to spawn five more symbiotes. With the help of Spider-Man, he escapes the prison, managing to incapacitate the other symbiotes. He is later involved in conflicts with corrupt businessmen and a group of extraterrestrial mercenaries known as 'Stalkers', who kidnap various members of the society, including two romantic interests of Brock. After rescuing them, Ben Reilly finds Venom, separating the symbiote from Brock after an intense battle. After defecting from the Foundation, the symbiotes forcefully birthed from Venom seek his help to keep themselves from becoming like Carnage, but he refuses to help. Their leader, Scream eventually goes insane and kills the other four, who eventually reform into Hybrid. Scream eventually enters a normal state of mind, and seeks to help Venom.

Brock soon abandons the symbiote after having doubts as to the nobility of his cause, and its telepathically projected grief attracts other members of its species. They create a portal to their home world, allowing them to invade New York and take over its inhabitants. Brock eventually becomes Venom once again, working with Spider-Man and Ben Reilly to defeat the symbiotes. He manages to create a "psychic scream" designed to incapacitate them, though it ends up killing all of them.

On Trial

Brock is captured in his sewer hideout and put on trial, with Matt Murdock acting in his defense, and his symbiote held in check with a chemical inhibitor. Carnage is called as a witness, but he overcomes his own inhibitor and attacks. Venom, Spider-Man, and Daredevil team up and subdue Carnage. However, before the trial can continue, Venom is unexpectedly taken into custody by a secret government organization who offered him amnesty if he joined them as an agent. Though Venom at first relished his new found immunities, he left after being abandoned during a dangerous mission. This would lead to Eddie Brock being given selective amnesia from a head wound and later being separated from the symbiote, which is presumed killed by the government Overreach Committee.

The symbiote in fact survives and tracks down the amnesiac Brock, turning him into Venom again.(It is worth mentioning that after this point the symbiote seems to often dominate Brock, losing all morals and even saying I instead of we.) Venom then infiltrates Ravencroft prison, slaughters the guards, and temporarily absorbs the Carnage symbiote. He joins the Sinister Six, but turns on the other members after they mock him, crippling Sandman and Electro before making peace with Spider-Man.

Like all prior agreements with Spider-Man, this peace is short-lived, as Venom's hatred for Spider-Man is renewed when Anne Weying, driven over the edge by fear of her husband, committed suicide after seeing Spider-Man in his black suit. Venom loses his chance for revenge when the powerful human/alien hybrid Senator Ward forcefully removes the symbiote from Brock once more.

The Carnage symbiote gives birth to the Toxin symbiote. Carnage attempts to kill the newborn Toxin, but Venom opposes him until he realizes that Toxin's policeman host would not ally with him. Venom calls a truce with Carnage in order to destroy Toxin, who is aided by Spider-Man. Spider-Man and Toxin drive Carnage and Venom away.

An alien race, secretly operating within the United States government, clones the Venom symbiote. Venom absorbs the clone, gains its knowledge, and decides to carry out the aliens' orders. Before he does, however, Brock knows that he will die if he does not permanently bond with the symbiote. The Symbiote rejects Brock, not desiring to be bonded with a diseased body anymore. Ultimately, Spider-Man tricks the symbiote into permanently merging with Brock.

Separation

A dying Eddie Brock, separated from the Venom symbiote

After bonding once more with the symbiote, Brock has a religious awakening and decides against permanently merging with the symbiote. Brock instead chooses to sell the symbiote to crimelord Don Fortunato, intending to donate the $100 million received to charity before dying. Angelo Fortunato, the Don's son, becomes the second Venom for a brief period of time. However, Angelo begins killing innocent people in his quest for glory and later proves to be a weak host for the Symbiote, being humiliated in a battle with Spider-Man. The symbiote abandons Angelo mid-leap, and the subsequent fall kills him. Upon hearing about this, Brock feels responsible and attempts to commit suicide by slitting his wrists, but survives.

The symbiote then becomes attached to Mac Gargan, better known as the Scorpion at the time. When Peter Parker unmasks himself publicly as Spider-Man, Brock is among the millions of witnesses. He is shown in the hospital, rapidly succumbing physically to his cancer and experiencing hallucinations of the symbiote, representing his dark side. He spots Mary Jane Watson Parker watching over a comatose Aunt May, who has been seriously wounded by a bullet. Brock has no idea what to do, but his dark side then persuades him to kill Aunt May.

Brock orders a dress-up costume of Spider-Man's black costume and sets out to kill her, first murdering a nurse for getting in his way. At the last minute, he has a change of heart, finding he cannot murder someone as innocent as Aunt May. Eddie repeatedly slices his wrists in order to get rid of Venom. He tells Peter Parker that while he's done terrible things, he's not a terrible person, and asks for his forgiveness before jumping out the window. Peter breaks his fall by catching him with two strands of webbing. Awakening chained to his bed, Brock decides to take better control of himself in the short time he has left. He tells his dark side that he accepts its presence, as long as it recognises that from that moment on, he is in control.

Anti-Venom

Eddie Brock's first appearance as Anti-Venom

While once again praying at a church Brock was discovered by philanthropist Martin Li who is secretly Mr. Negative. After Matt Murdock proves in a court of law that Brock was not responsible for his actions while bonded to the symbiote and has charges dropped, Li gets Brock a job in his soup kitchen. It is revealed that a touch from Mr. Negative completely cures Eddie's cancer and the remnants of the Venom symbiote within his body bond to his white-blood-cells. Upon being assaulted by Mac Gargan, the current Venom, the Venom symbiote attempts to leave Gargan to re-bond with Brock, much to Gargan's (and Brock's) dismay. However, upon making contact with Brock, Brock's skin is shown to be caustic to his former symbiote, and as a white substance seeps out of his pores covering his body, Brock becomes Anti-Venom. After engaging Venom into a fight and receiving some help from Spider-Man, "Anti-Venom" cures Gargan from the symbiote, but also feels some remnants of the symbiote inside Peter's blood and start "curing" him as well, but end up sucking the radiation from Spider-Man's blood too, something that might depower him. While he's not successful in depowering Spider-Man, Anti-Venom gains another advantage over him: since then, whenever Spider-Man and Anti-Venom are in close proximity, Spider-Man's powers suffer a strong decrease in their level. Soon Thunderbolts guards arrive to take the disabled Gargan to the ship while Songbird and Radioactive Man battle Spider-Man and Anti-Venom. After the fight, Spider-Man flees and Anti-Venom sneaks on the Thunderbolts ship, where he steals back Peter's camera, looted by Norman Osborn in a bid to reverse-engineer the tracing system allowing the camera to zero on Spider-Man's chest. After then, he's able to help Peter escape Osborn's tracer, and forewarn him about his next move, in a show of friendship and good-will.

Character

The Venom symbiote and Eddie Brock bond together up to a certain point. They share many views, but each has their own say as Venom, leading to Venom referring to himself as "We" instead of singular pronouns. The symbiote, having once bonded with Spider-Man, holds a grudge against him. Along with Brock's own personal hatred, Venom is constantly out to kill and torture Spider-Man, though he is often able to put this anger aside and form truces with Spider-Man. Before Brock's religious re-awakening, Brock shows himself to be prone to extremely violent mood swings whenever separated from his other, showing none of the joviality displayed when fighting as Venom. He often broods over his crimes, expressing a great deal of guilt until once again being rejoined and once again becoming the lethal protector.

Venom has little interest in wealth, money, or power. He often fights against crime, though in contrast to Spider-Man, he is fine with murdering the criminals. In several Spider-Man novels he is even shown threatening to eat them, and some, like The Venom Factor, hint that he actually does carry out some of those threats. He finds this method much more efficient than Spider-Man's method of justice. Venom makes little effort of hiding the obvious glee he experiences in terrifying and butchering those he considers guilty. Though, he sometimes is inconsistent, with the human side of Venom feeling saddened by his actions. Though he likes to stop the perpetrators, he is much more concerned about protecting the victims of crime. This has been used against him, as some of his opponents know he will let them escape in order to rescue an innocent civilian.

Brock's father didn't provide him with the affection he desired, so he is totally devoted to his wife Anne, even after their divorce. He tries to rekindle their relationship up until her suicide, which leaves him devastated. At one point, he tries to start a new relationship, but cuts it off because it is "too dangerous" to romantically commit himself. Upon his entry into hospital life, Brock becomes depressed while trying to fend off his murderous side. After murdering a nurse and almost attacking Peter Parker's aunt, he becomes overwhelmed by remorse and he is able to take control.

The Anti-Venom doesn't show the split personality of his predecessor. Instead, as Anti-Venom Brock's personality is in control, albeit with the unnatural compulsion to "protect the innocent" in a way similar to the threatening one of the former Venom, and "cleanse evil", ridding the world of any traces of the Symbiote once bonded with himself. He even addresses Spider-Man as "friend" and tries to help him by destroying the symbiote remnants in his body, where as he had once sworn to kill him, although this also threatens to remove Spider-Man's radioactive spider blood. It is worth noting that Brock refers to himself as "I" rather than "We" when Anti-Venom, making it possible that his new symbiote is not a sentient being. However, when using the symbiote, Brock's dialogue becomes much more sophisticated, using more intelligent words than when not using it, perhaps indicating that the symbiote is sentient up to a certain degree.

Powers and abilities

Main article: Symbiote (comics)

The symbiote provides Eddie Brock with various abilities similar to Spider-Man, its former host, including superhuman strength, agility, and reflexes, webbing creation, and the ability to adhere to walls. It does not inherit the "Spider-sense", but it does allow him to bypass Spider-Man's own senses. Due to Eddie Brock's muscular physique and natural physical strength from weight-training, his strength as Venom is superior to Spider-Man's by tenfold. Venom's webbing is very similar to that of Spider-Man, albeit from the back of the host's hand instead of the wrist. The webbing is created from the symbiote itself, so it is much stronger. This also creates an upper limit for the webbing, as overuse can significantly weaken the symbiote, as evidenced by the manner of Venom's defeat in Amazing Spider-Man #300. It can also create tentacles and tendrils to grab enemies in addition to producing the standard webbing.

Venom's body is highly resistant to physical injury, and it can help its host survive in hostile environments by filtering air. It can also heal any injury or illness Brock suffers much more quickly than human medical care, and allowed him to survive indefinitely with terminal cancer. The symbiote is very susceptible to high-pitched sonic frequencies and fire. The Venom symbiote contains a small 'dimensional aperture', allowing Brock to carry items without adding mass to the costume, and it is able to transform to mimic any human or become camouflaged with its surroundings. The symbiote shares all of its knowledge with Brock, and projects its own desires into his mind. It is also capable of psychically detecting its offspring; however, this ability can be blocked.

The symbiote cannot be detected by Spider-Man's spider-senses, due to its former bond with the hero. As a result, Brock proved able to keep up with the more experienced Spider-Man in combat, while also being able to stalk Peter Parker without his realizing it.

After divesting himself of the symbiote, Eddie Brock's lingering symbiote cells are charged with the mystical energies of Mr. Negative. The cells bond with Eddie's leukocytes, forming a new symbiote, the Anti-Venom. As the chalk-white Anti-Venom, Brock has all the abilities and powers of Venom, plus a caustic touch able to break the bonds between other symbiotes and their host, and the supernatural ability to "cleanse" human bodies from foreign influences and mutations, like Mac Gargan's symbiote cells and Spider-Man's irradiated blood.

He also doesn't share the main weaknesses of the symbiote race from which he spawned: namely, extreme heat and sonic waves cannot harm him whatsoever

Other versions

Main article: Venom (comics)

Marvel Zombies

In the Marvel Zombies series, a zombified Brock/Venom are killed by the cosmic powered zombie Spider-Man during the first part of the series. As he "dies" again, he reveals to Spiderman that the symbiote was already dying, Eddie no longer being a suitable host on his undead state.

Ultimate Venom

File:Ultimate venom.jpg

Venom, as depicted in Ultimate Spider-Man #38 (May, 2003). Art by Mark Bagley.

In the Ultimate Marvel series, Eddie Brock Jr. is Peter Parker's closest childhood friend; both his and Peter's deceased parents were working on a genetically-engineered protoplasmic "suit" as a medical tool to help cure cancer; Eddie continues his father's work. After Peter accidentally bonds with a sample and destroys it, Eddie, furious of Peter's actions, bonds with a sample which takes over Eddie, transforming him into the large, strong, power-hungry, symbiotic monster known as Venom. In the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, which is semi canon, the suit causes Eddie great pain, and is forced to consume humans to sustain his life. Unlike in "Amazing Spider-Man," Venom does trigger Peter's spider-sense. He also does not think of himself as "Venom," nor does he refer to himself as "we"--him and the symbiote. He spins "webbing" out of his fingers instead of the back of his hands and has large tentacles that come out of any part of his body. Eddie absorbs particles of the suit in Peter's blood, relieving him of his pain and causing the suit to develop the white spider symbol on his chest.

In the storyline "War of the Symbiotes," Venom has been captured by the Wild Pack on Bolivar Trask's orders. During his fight with Spider-Man, one of Venom's symbiotic tentacles was cut off by Beetle and Venom pursued him. After Spider-Man intervenes and Beetle escapes, the symbiote suddenly begins to possess Spider-Man. The Ultimates show up to battle Spider-man, and Brock takes this oppertunity to escape.

In the "Ultimates 3" Ultron creates a nanobot version of Venom, which attempts to kidnap the Scarlet Witch. The robot Venom is defeated by the Ultimates.

What If?

In the What If...? Spider-Man Had Kept His Cosmic Powers story, Venom is easily beaten by Spider-Man with his Captain Universe powers, and is forced to surrender to him. Venom later focuses on becoming a hero, his new arch-enemy becoming the Hobgoblin, who had his face accidentally turned into a replica of Peter Parker's face by Spider-Man.

Another popular issue of What If...? features the symbiote bonding not with Eddie Brock, but with Frank Castle (Punisher).

Other Media

Television

• Eddie Brock appears in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, voiced by Hank Azaria, who blames Spider-Man for getting him fired, joins with the Venom symbiote and attempts to torment Spider-Man's personal life. He eventually helps Spider-Man and Iron Man defeat Dormammu, but ends up being sucked into a portal, while saving Ashley Kafka from Carnage.

• Venom appears in Spider-Man Unlimited, voiced by Brian Drummond, and attempt to conquer Counter-Earth alongside Carnage with an invasion of symbiotes.

• Eddie Brock appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man voiced by Benjamin Diskin. He is greatly interested in science and a close friend of Peter, who begins to develop a hatred for Peter and Spider-Man over time, and after becoming Venom, attempts to make Peter suffer.

Film

File:Venomoviepic7.png

Venom lunges at Spider-Man in Spider-Man 3 (2007).

• Venom's first appearance in a motion picture was originally planned for a film produced by New Line Cinema and written by David S. Goyer, in which Venom would have been portrayed as an anti-hero and Carnage as the antagonist. Goyer said in an interview that the film rights to Venom ultimately reverted to Sony.

• Venom appears in the 2007 feature film Spider-Man 3, played by Topher Grace. Eddie Brock joins with the symbiote after Spider-Man abandons it and attempts to kill Peter Parker as revenge for Brock's humiliation.

• Avi Arad, producer and former Marvel Comics executive, plans to produce a Venom spin-off, although it is currently unknown if Topher Grace will reprise his role. Regardless, Marvel is moving forward with the film. It has been reported that Sony is going to be developing the film and Jacob Aaron Estes will be the writer. Todd McFarlane, who defined Venom's look in the comics, hopes Sony makes him creepier than what he was in Spider-Man 3.

Video Games

• Venom is a main character in Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage and Spider-Man and Venom: Separation Anxiety.

• Venom is a boss character in the 2000 Spider-Man video game; the Spider-Man 3 video game adaptation; and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.

• Venom is a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes; Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes; Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects; Ultimate Spider-Man; Spider-Man: Friend or Foe; and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion.

• Venom is included into downloable expanation "Villains Pack" for Xbox 360 version of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, voiced by Steven Blum, with his Classic, Marvel Knights, Thunderbolts and Ultimate skins.