Marvel Comics Venom - The Ultimate Foe

Spider-Man has had many foes and villains grace the pages of his comics over the course of his publishing history. From the arch-rival Green Goblin to the maniacal and obsessed Doctor Octopus, Spidey has faced some of the toughest and smartest villains around, and has quite a rogues gallery of foes that come calling every so often. But none were quite like Marvel Comics’ Venom.

Venom was exactly like Spider-Man, only faster, stronger and with more abilities. After all, the symbiote that melded with Eddie Brock was once attached to Spider-Man and learned and adapted to the wall-crawler’s special gifts as well as his instincts, reflexes and memories. And it passed these on to Brock to form one of the greatest foes in Spider-Man’s history, Marvel Comics’ Venom.

During the Secret Wars, an off-world battle where the Beyonder pitted heroes and villains unwittingly against one another, Spider-Man unknowingly encountered the goo-like symbiote. It appeared on Spidey just like a costume of odd material. And when Spidey returned to earth he took the symbiote with him. Later he learned that the symbiote was a sentient parasitic being that wished to fuse with him and would sometimes even control his body in his sleep. After learning that it had a weakness to sonic sound and fire Spidey was finally able to separate himself from the symbiote.

It was also revealed later that the symbiote was exiled to Battleworld, the home of Secret Wars, from its own race because it wanted to fuse with its hosts instead of using them up and discarding them as was the way of its kind.

Enter Eddie Brock, who already hated Spider-Man, and who found out he had cancer. As Brock began building his body to a higher level of performance he encountered the symbiote who, also bitter about the rejection of Spider-Man, bonded with Brock and gave him double the reason to become the web-slinger's worst nightmare. Eventually Brock, aka Marvel Comics' Venom, would see the error of his ways and fight on the side of angels. This is precipitated by the 'birth' of Carnage, the combination of the offspring of the Venom symbiote fused with psychopathic killer Kletus Cassidy, who Venom teamed with Spidey to take down.

Several others have bonded with the symbiote as well, including Mac Gargan, the criminal formerly known as Scorpion, who currently portrays Marvel Comics’ Venom. And in an upcoming storyline there is a new character called Anti-Venom, but details have yet to be revealed on where he came from or what his powers are.

While many villains will be remembered as some of Spidey’s greatest foes, one must always include Marvel Comics’ Venom in that list.

Marvel Comics History: The Fallen
Let's take a moment of silence to mourn those fallen in Marvel Comics history… These brave souls have died for their various causes, and we miss them dearly. Some of them even stayed dead! So far… This is not a comprehensive list by any means, but there are some deaths in Marvel Comics history