Venom (Marvel Comics character)
| Venom | |
|---|---|
Art by Clayton Crain
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance |
As "The Alien Costume": The Amazing Spider-Man #252 (May 1984) As Venom: Cameo: The Amazing Spider-Man #299 (April 1988) Full appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (May 1988) |
| Created by |
"The Alien Costume": Randy Schueller Roger Stern Tom DeFalco Mike Zeck Ron Frenz Venom: David Michelinie (writer) Todd McFarlane (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego |
Peter Parker Eddie Brock Ann Weying Patricia Robertson Angelo Fortunato Mac Gargan Flash Thompson Lee Price |
| Species | Klyntar |
| Team affiliations | Spider-Man |
| Notable aliases | Spider-Man, The Black Suit, Alien Costume |
| Abilities |
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Venom is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with Spider-Man. The character is a sentient alien Symbiote with an amorphous, liquid-like form, who requires a host, usually human, to bond with for its survival. After bonding with a human host, the Symbiote bestows its enhanced powers upon the host. When the Venom Symbiote bonds with a human, that new dual-life form usually refers to itself as "Venom". The Symbiote was originally introduced as a living alien costume in The Amazing Spider-Man #252 (May 1984), with a full first appearance as Venom in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (May 1988).
The Venom Symbiote's first known host was Spider-Man, who eventually separated himself from the creature when he discovered its true nefarious nature. The Symbiote went on to merge with other hosts, most notably Eddie Brock, its second and most infamous host, with whom it first became Venom and one of Spider-Man's archenemies. According to S.H.I.E.L.D., it is considered one of the greatest threats to humanity, alongside Magneto, Doctor Doom, and Red Skull.
Comics journalist and historian Mike Conroy writes of the character: "What started out as a replacement costume for Spider-Man turned into one of the Marvel web-slinger's greatest nightmares." Venom was ranked as the 22nd Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time in IGN's list of the top 100 comic villains. IGN also ranked Mac Gargan's incarnation of Venom as #17 in their list of "The Top 50 Avengers", while the Flash Thompson incarnation was ranked as #27. The character was listed as #33 on Empire Magazine's 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters.
The original idea of a new costume for Spider-Man that would later become the character Venom was conceived by a Marvel Comics reader from Norridge, Illinois named Randy Schueller. In 1982, Jim Shooter, Marvel's editor-in-chief at the time, sent Schueller a letter acknowledging Marvel's interest in the idea, which they ended up purchasing from him for $220.
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