Dress in black and let's get weird its Superhero Sunday Venom edition.
The History
Venom has only been around since 1984 but has a very dense/clunky history. I want start from the beginning but then focus on the main points and provide some reading material for you all. The idea of a new Spiderman costume was what inspired venom and the idea was bought for $220.00 by Marvel. Mike Zeck and David Michilinie created the alien host with Spiderman and it was Todd McFarlane that drew first appearance of Venom.
The Character
First what we refer to as venom is actually an alien symbiote that combines with a human host. The alien race of parasites would travel to planets and attach to host, they would provide the host with enhance abilities while draining there life. Venom was different and wanted to commit to its host rather than killing it. The alien race decided that the venom symbiote was insane and was imprisoned on Battleworld.
Battleworld is a planet that the Marvel heroes and villains fought on during secret wars and where Spiderman would become attached to the symbiote becoming the first host of Venom. Once off Battleworld Spiderman could feel the enhanced alien suit corrupting him. To rid himself of the suit Spiderman crashed himself into a bell tower creating sound waves that disrupt and damage the symbiote. Spiderman thought the venom alien to be dead.
Flash forward to Eddie Brock heading home on the subway after being fired from the Daily Planet. He blamed Spiderman for getting him fired and hates him. During this time it only gets worse for Eddie as he learns he has cancer. Eddie becomes desperate and goes to a church to pray. It is the same church with the bell that the symbiote was destroyed with. The symbiote being a banded and left for dead hates Spiderman. It can sense Eddie’s hatred as well and attaches to him. This fuels both of them and makes Venom proper. Eddie Brock as Venom wants to destroy Spiderman and they do many battles over the years. Venom uses the same abilities of Spiderman because that was the first host and it imprinted the web slinging/ wall crawling abilities into the alien. Eddie Brock is the most popular Venom and villain for Spiderman but there have been several other hosts so let’s find out where Venom goes.
The next main player to dawn the mantle of Venom was Mac Gargan aka Scorpion. This happens during the Sinister 12 story line where the Venom approaches Mac offering additional strength in hopes to taking down Spiderman. Mac wears the suit for a few years through the Dark Reign until ultimately being defeated by Spiderman and the Avengers.
Alas my favorite Venom, Flash Thompson. Once the Dark Avengers are defeated the military captures the symbiote in order to study it. They want to start a new super solider project where the suit would be worn by a host and sedated/controlled by the government. Flash Thompson is a war vet and lost his legs in the war. He went to fight because he looked up to Spiderman and wanted to be a hero too. Flash now back home has an alcohol abuse problem and PTSD. He becomes a prime candidate the suit would restore his legs and provide purpose. But the struggle of becoming corrupted and evil from the suit is a hard battle. Ultimately Flash runs away with the suit and in 2015 is Venom Space Knight.
Why this hero (villian)?
I love this history of Venom from starting as a villain to Spiderman to become a rich story filled hero. The symbiotes have far for history and there is an excellent site you should all check out. TheVenomSite.com