MARVEL SUPER VILLAINS: VENOM
Here is a series dedicated to the kid in me. All things super hero. To this day I still have my comic book collection, each placed in plastic bags and boxed in my closet. With this summer being the Summer of Super Heroes in the movies, I thought this might be a fun series to put together. PLEASE NOTE: This is an industrial park and can be muggle heavy at times. Weekends would be the easiest time to gather the caches, though anytime would be fine. Parking should not be an issue and the critter factor should be low. I hope you enjoy this series.
Venom, or the Venom Symbiote, is a fictional extraterrestrial life form appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, usually those featuring Spider-Man. The creature is a Symbiote, a sentient alien, with a gooey, almost liquid-like form that requires a host, usually human, to bond with for its survival, as with real world symbiotes, and to whom it endows enhanced powers. When the Venom Symbiote bonds with a human, that new dual-life form refers to itself as Venom.
The Symbiote's first known host was Spider-Man, who eventually separated himself from the creature when he discovered its true 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.
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, and 33rd on Empire's 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters.
Though it requires a living host in order to survive, the Venom Symbiote has been shown to be adept at fending for itself independent of a host. The Symbiote is capable of shapeshifting abilities, including the ability to form spikes or expand its size, as well as mimic the appearance of other humanoids after it has obtained a host. The organism can additionally use its shape-shifting abilities to conceal itself by altering its coloration or by becoming completely invisible. It also contains a small "dimensional aperture," allowing its hosts to carry items without adding mass to the costume. The Symbiote also exhibits telepathic abilities, primarily when it needs to communicate with its host.
Because of its contact with Spider-Man, the Symbiote grants all of its subsequent hosts that hero's powers and cannot be detected by his spider-sense. As Spider-Man's fighting style is partly dependent on his spider-sense, his effectiveness was somewhat hampered when he battled Eddie Brock.
The Venom Symbiote considerably enhances the strength of whoever has bonded with it, dependent on the bond of the relationship it has with its wearer. This allows its wearer to move at superhuman speeds and lift substantial amounts of weight, in addition to granting its host increased dexterity and agility. Retaining its memory from the time it was bonded with Spider-man, Venom is also capable of producing a limitless supply of webbing similar to Spider-man's own variety.
Venom exhibits some immunities to the supernatural powers of others such as the Penance Stare of Ghost Rider or Spider-Man's extrasensory spider-sense. Some incarnations of the Venom Symbiote have shown it able to replicate itself. This ability is shown in Spider-Man: Reign, when Venom recreates his own Symbiote to combat his loneliness. This ability is also used by Venom in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows when he discovers the ability to copy his Symbiote and uses it to take over Manhattan.