Merge:Venom

Venom is a Marvel Comics supervillain and an enemy of Spider-Man. He first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #298 (March 1988). He is a result of symbiosis with an alien life form and a human. The human that has been associated with the symbiote the longest is Eddie Brock, a reporter who was angered that Spider-Man proved one of his stories wrong, ruining his career. Discovering the abandoned symbiote, the two merged into one of Spider-Man's most popular enemies. After years of continuity, Eddie parted with the symbiote, which possessed a gangster's son and later Mac Gargan, a long time Spider-Man foe.

Venom I
While embroiled in a minor storyline fighting the Secret Wars on an alien planet, Spider-Man had to give up his web shooters to help the heroes escape being crushed by a mountain (dropped on them by the Molecule Man). Needing to find equipment to replace his web shooters, Spider-Man was informed by other heroes of a machine in a nearby lab that could repair his suit. Spidey went searching, but unwittingly activated the wrong machine, freeing from imprisonment a sentient alien symbiote. As Spider-Man touched the black blob, it flowed over his body, forming a new costume which he soon discovered responded to his thoughts, was able to mimic street clothes and seemed to provide an inexhaustible supply of webbing. Once back on Earth, Spider-Man learned the true nature of the costume, and discovered that the symbiote desired to fuse permanently with him, enveloping him at night as he slept, using his unconscious body to go out and fight crime. With the aid of Mister Fantastic, Spider-Man removed the costume by using sonic waves, to which it was vulnerable, but it broke free from the Fantastic Four's custody, and attempted to bond itself to Spider-Man in a church tower. The clanging of the church bells, coupled with Spidey's forced rejection of the symbiote, weakened the alien, and it slithered away, seemingly to die.

Meanwhile, reporter Eddie Brock (born in San Francisco, California to Carl and Janine Brock) had been penning a number of articles in The Daily Globe on the recent Sin-Eater case, a storyline that ran in Amazing Spider-Man's sister title, The Spectacular Spider-Man. Following a false lead, he proceeded to write a series of columns identifying Emil Gregg as the perpetrator of the crimes. When Spider-Man caught the real criminal, policeman Stan Carter, Emil Gregg was discovered to be a compulsive confessor. The Globe became a laughing stock, Brock was fired, shunned by his peers, and forced to write scathing celebrity exposés and alien abduction drivel for the scandal rags. Brock took up weight lifting in the hopes of reducing his stress, but was unsuccessful in alleviating his obsessive hatred of Spider-Man. Planning to kill himself, Eddie went to a church to apologize to God for not being strong enough to handle life. There, Eddie was discovered by the alien costume, which bonded to him. Because of the symbiote's previous connection with Peter Parker, Brock was now aware of Spider-Man's secret identity. This increased Brock's hatred for both Parker and Spider-Man, leading Venom to become one of Spider-Man's most dangerous rogues.

This 'origin' story has been somewhat retconned in order to add depth to the characters involved. It is revealed that Eddie was diagnosed with cancer before the Sin-Eater case, and was told he had little more than 3 months to live. It is this, not the Sin-Eater situation, which finally drove Eddie to decide to kill himself.

The symbiote's motivations were also changed. It was originally implied that the symbiote sought Eddie because they both had a hatred of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, but the revised canon is that the form of cancer Eddie had came with an enhanced production of adrenaline - exactly what the symbiote feeds off of, thus making some type of cure that heals him of his disease.

Despite his lethal ability and homicidal hatred of Spider-Man, Venom remains curiously protective of those he considers "innocent". He will generally avoid killing bystanders in his quest for vengeance. Of course, the fact that he is insane means that his definitions of "innocent" and "necessary casualties" fluctuate as his needs demand. He has teamed up with Spider-Man on several occasions, most notably to battle the symbiote's homicidal offspring, Carnage. Venom has occasionally worked alongside other anti-heroes and superheroes, such as The Punisher and Ghost Rider.

Some time later, Venom was brought to justice and put on trial, his symbiote held in check with a chemical inhibitor that prevented it from manifesting. He was saved from jail when the Black-Ops government agency, the Overreach Committee, coerced him into becoming one of their agents, via the implantation of a bomb inside his chest. After combating several unusual threats in this role, Venom misinterpreted an order to intimidate J. Jonah Jameson as an instruction to kill him, leading to his first true confrontation with Spider-Man in some time. The ensuing battle at a construction site, however, ended when an explosion concussed Venom, giving him selective amnesia, making him forget Spider-Man's true identity. Shortly thereafter, Venom operated on himself to remove his bomb, but when he attempted to publicly release the secrets of the Overreach Committee, an overdose of the chemical inhibitor forcibly separated Brock and his symbiote, which apparently died.

Carelessly discarded, the alien regenerated, once again seeking out Brock. As Venom once more, they absorbed Cletus Kassady's symbiote, and joined the Sinister Six, but soon regretted it and then tried to kill their former teammates. He attacked Sandman, and Electro, leaving both for dead. At this point, Venom made some peace with Spidey (again), only to renew his hatred for the web-slinger when Brock's wife committed suicide. Venom lost his chance for revenge when the powerful human/alien hybrid known as Senator Ward split Brock and the symbiote apart once again.

A clone of the Venom symbiote then appeared, created from a severed sample of the symbiote scavenged by the government from an earlier battle. This clone - created by a covert alien race lurking in secrecy within the government - actually burned out its hosts, killing them, unlike the original symbiote. The only two to survive it for a significant period were the Antarctic researcher Patricia Robertson, thanks to technology, and the X-Man Wolverine, thanks to his healing factor. Robertson was later fully overcome by the symbiote, but Brock, having since recombined with his symbiote, absorbed the clone. Filled with its intelligence and the alien design it had been created for, Brock professed he would carry that design out himself, but did not get the chance when he discovered that he had cancer, and he could not survive without a permanent merge with the symbiote. In the end, Spider-Man convinces the symbiote to go through with this "permanent merge."

Venom II
However, Brock then proceeded through a religious awakening and sold the symbiote to the crimelord Don Fortunato, intending to donate the $100 million received to charity before dying. Angelo Fortunato, the Don's son, became the second Venom for a brief period of time (technically, the Venom clone and its hosts were not really Venom). However, Angelo proved to be a cowardly and pathetic host for Venom. It left Angelo during a leap, and the subsequent fall killed Fortunato. Upon hearing that Angelo had died after the symbiote abandoned him, Brock slit his wrists in an alley. He survived the suicide attempt, and is currently in hospital, making it possible for the symbiote to return to him sometime in the future.

Venom III
After Angelo's death, the symbiote bonded with Mac Gargan, the Scorpion, and became part of the new Sinister Twelve. While he was swiftly defeated by Spider-Man, as the Avengers, Fantastic Four and Daredevil dealt with the rest of the Twelve, he is still the third Venom. Recently, Venom III was seen on a wanted list of The Thunderbolts (issue number 103) and is on the loose once again, and he reappears in Beyond! as well.

Upcoming Appearances

 * It is confirmed that Venom III will be seen during Civil War in issue number 5 and thereafter.


 * Recently, Joe Quesada confirmed that Eddie Brock is in fact alive, which was confirmed in Amazing Spider-Man v1 #533 (August, 2006) as Eddie was seen in a hospital.

Powers and abilities
The various Venoms possess abilities parallel to those of Spider-Man, based on the symbiote's time bonded with the wall-crawler: Superhuman strength, agility, superhuman reflexes, and the ability to adhere to walls. It is unclear whether these powers were copied from Spider-Man or innate to the Symbiotes themselves. However, Venom is physically much stronger than Spider-Man. The symbiote replicated Spider-Man's superhuman strength and added to it Brock's own strength, which is that of an Olympic level weightlifter. Venom's body is also highly resistant to physical injury, much more so than Spider-Man's. Venom has withstood the impact of high caliber bullets without injury. In addition, Venom's living costume has the ability to take the appearance of any form of clothing, blend with its surroundings, and even mimic other people. The suit can also shoot webbing similar to that of Spider-Man, but as this is made from the symbiote itself, overuse weakens it. Venom has been known to use his webbing or costume-generated tendrils to suffocate his victims. The symbiote is also able to heal the host (a power that all the symbiotes share), and can protect its host in numerous ways, such as absorbing bullets and "spitting" them out. Also, the symbiote can convert oxygen in other elements such as water, allowing the host to breathe under water, or with the ability to mimic other people, imitating dead skin and giving the appearance of no heartbeat, while providing oxygen to the host, which allowed Eddie to break out of the Vault the first time.

The symbiote also has a few rarely-used abilities. It contains a small 'dimensional aperture', similar to a pocket, that allows the wearer to carry items upon his/her person without adding mass to the costume. This was only used by Peter Parker, who carried his camera in the suit's aperture. When the symbiote was separated from Parker, the aperture emptied and the camera returned to Earth. There is no evidence that Carnage or any other symbiotes have such a pocket. Second, the symbiote even has some psychic powers - it is able to gain all the knowledge a person has just by a simple touch. It has used this power on its own kind and on Eddie Brock's wife. Third, the symbiote can extrude itself down to a molecule's width and travel along phone lines. Fourth, according to Venom, all symbiotes can detect their offspring telepathically, although the only time this has been used (Amazing Spider-Man #362, when Venom first learned of his offspring,) Carnage was immediately able to "block" this ability after their first encounter. Fifth, He is also immune Spider-Man's "spider-sense" making him one of Spider-Man's greatest and most dangerous foe, though he is not the only one, as all of Venom's spawn are immune to it.



The Venom symbiote exponentially adds to the abilities of its current host, and then adds these advantages to successive hosts. While bonded to Spider-Man, the symbiote did not add to his strength much, because he already had enhanced strength, but due to Eddie Brock's working out and lifting weights, the symbiote multiplied his human strength to make Eddie stronger than Spider-Man. He has demonstrated strength ranging from slightly greater than that of Spider-Man to the capability of lifting a tank. This range is attributed to the discretion of individual writers, and can be contradictory. Originally, the successive offspring of the symbiotes, such as Carnage and Toxin, possessed greater strength due to natural evolution. However his strength is currently unknown; some of that strength is due to his evolution in more modern and recent comics, as well as the power level of the symbiotes successive hosts. There were a few times when Venom's powers were greatly increased, such as during his battle with Juggernaut, when he was mutated by the Mercurial Virus (liquid mercury made sentient).

The symbiote granted Angelo Fortunato its full abilities. Mac Gargan, the former Scorpion, has only used the symbiote once, and it is unclear to what extent he has been enhanced.

The original Venom, Eddie Brock, had some notable skills aside from the superhuman abilities granted by his costume. He was highly skilled in investigative journalism and deductive reasoning. He was also extremely athletic, especially in terms of strength; his strength was of the order of an Olympic athlete.

In some incarnations, the symbiote (and, by extension, Venom) requires a certain chemical (most likely Phenethylamine) to stay sane and healthy. It is thought to be a major chemical involved in love. In the comic, they say that this chemical is only found abundantly in two sources: chocolate and human brain tissue. Thus, in these incarnations, Venom is forced to steal/purchase large amounts of chocolate, or become an unwilling cannibal who devours the brains of those he kills. In one such story, the symbiote willingly abandoned Eddie Brock because of his reluctance to devour brains, although the separation of Brock and the symbiote was something which has been portrayed as impossible for years. However, the recent sale of the symbiote seems to confirm symbiotes can indeed be separated from their hosts.

The symbiote is weak against sonics and fire. Furthermore, it does have an upper-limit as to how much webbing it can produce. In Amazing Spider-Man #300, Spider-Man defeated Venom by forcing the symbiote to continually fire off its webbing, after correctly deducing that it uses its own substance to create it.

Controversy over creator credit


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. Venom's existence was first indicated in Web of Spider-Man #18 (September 1986), when he shoved Peter Parker in front of a subway train without his spider-sense warning him, disturbing Peter a great deal, though only Eddie's hand was on-panel. Another hint was given in Web of Spider-Man #24 (March 1987), when Peter Parker had climbed out of a high story window to change and go into action but found a black arm coming through the window and grabbing him, despite his spider-sense not warning him. He then made a partial appearance on the final page of The Amazing Spider-Man #298, in which he was obscured by shadow, before making his first full appearance on the final page of #299 (May 1988).

The question of who created the character of Venom became an issue of contention in 1993 when writer David Michelinie wrote in to the comic book industry magazine Wizard, which had referred to Michelinie in issue #17 (January 1993) as the "co-creator" of Venom. In his letter, which was printed in issue #21 (May 1993), Michelinie contended, despite his praise of McFarlane, without whom he conceded the character would not have attained the popularity that it did, that he was the sole creator of the character. Michelinie pointed out that Venom's earliest appearances were in Web of Spider-Man #18 (Sept. 1986), written by Michelinie and drawn by Marc Silvestri; and Web of Spider-Man #24, plotted by Michelinie, scripted by Len Kaminski, and drawn by Del Barras.

The character would remain unseen and inactive until Amazing Spider-Man editor Jim Salicrup required a villain for that book's 300th issue, and after Michelinie suggested the female-symbiote character, Salicrup 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 brought by Salicrup before McFarlane was ever assigned to the book.

Writer Peter David corroborated Michelinie's view in his But I Digress column in the June 4th, 1993 Comics Buyer's Guide, in which he related that Michelinie discussed the ideas behind the character with David at the time of its creation. At the time, David was the writer on The Spectacular Spider-Man who wrote the Sin Eater story from which Eddie Brock's back story would be derived, long 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 the co-creators of them, Venom represents a complex situation, because the costume from which Venom's appearance is derived was not designed by McFarlane, and the only aspect of Venom's appearance to which McFarlane contributed was giving the character an evil looking mouth.

Erik Larsen, who followed McFarlane as artist on Amazing, and who added the pointy teeth and tongue as well as the green drool to Venom's appearance (and who would go on to found Image Comics with McFarlane), 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 pre-existing 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 sellable.

The pre-existing elements that dealt with the symbiote alien 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 moved on and 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.

It is perhaps not coincidental that 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 exploiting 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. During the time which Todd McFarlane was producing artwork for Marvel, the comics giant advertised the character as a creation of McFarlane's, and Michelinie had no opposition to sharing credit as co-creator. It was not until McFarlane's departure from Marvel that any controversy began to arise from the Amazing Spider-Man creative team. Furthermore, most point to the decline of Venom's character in the early 90s, after McFarlane had left Marvel, as indication that he had some creative input into the character. Whereas the Spawn character walked a similar line of psychopathology and heroism successfully for the first few years of release, Venom's character only grew more convoluted with each subsequent story that he was featured in.

In any case, Venom was created under a work-for-hire contract, and Marvel owns all rights to the character.

Source: But I Digress by Peter David; 1994; pages 104-106; Reprinted from the June 4, 1993 Comics Buyer's Guide

Source: http://www.byrnerobotics.com/FAQ/listing.asp?ID=7&T1=Miscellaneous+Questions#96

Source: Correspondence with Peter David.

Source: Wizard #21 (May 1993)

Source: Wizard #23 (July 1993)

Earth X Venom
In the alternate future known as Earth X, May "Mayday" Parker merged with the Venom symbiote after the death of her mother Mary Jane Watson. However, May can completely control the symbiote, and actually communicates with it. The symbiote was even altered due to the merge with May, assuming a black-and-red version of Spider-Man's costume, complete with vein-like web designs. Despite the fact that May uses the symbiote for good, her father, Peter Parker, doesn't approve of the merger.

Ultimate Venom
Main article: Ultimate Venom

MC2
Main article: Normie Osborn

The Venom symbiote appears in the "Spider-Girl" title (the MC2 Universe), first attempting to re-bond with Peter Parker (and calling himself "Spider-Venom"). Later, the symbiote appears again when it is forcefully bonded to Spider-Girl's friend Norman "Normie" Osborn III (the grandson of the original Green Goblin).

Osborn has the opportunity to destroy the symbiote forever, but decides to let it live. When his fianceé, Brenda Drago, is viciously wounded in an attack by the Hobgoblin, he joins Spider-Girl in the hunt to track Hobgoblin down. They discover that the Hobgoblin's entire purpose is to lure Spider-Girl to a group of assassins known as the Scriers, and Spider-Girl is impaled by one of their swords. Osborn transfers the symbiote to Spider-Girl, and it heals her wounds and removed the blade's poison from her system.

Spider-Girl and the symbiote resume pursuing Hobgoblin. Hobgoblin uses an ultrasonic weapon, and the symbiote sacrifices itself to save Spider-Girl. Spider-Girl explains to her father that the symbiote had been vulnerable when he rejected it, and it was corrupted by the hate and anger of the second host. When she (Spider-girl refers to the symbiote as a "she") bonded to Normie Osborn, it was changed by his loving nature.

Spider-Man 2099
Later, in the "Spider-Man 2099" series, the symbiote resurfaced from the sewers of New York and bonds with the half-brother of Miguel O'Hara (Spider-Man 2099) to form Venom 2099. The symbiote was eventually isolated before a riot unleashed it and it joined with Namor the Sub-Mariner.

Marvel Mangaverse
In the Marvel Mangaverse continuity, Venom is a human renegade. A member of Spider-Man's ninja clan; he is also Spider-Man's older cousin. The distinctive black and white design is here the result of a full-body tattoo or body paint. Venom's skin is pale and colorless, a side-effect from when he was poisoned with spider venom as a child. Venom was responsible for the murder of Peter's Uncle Ben, Venom's own father in the Mangaverse, at the command of New York's Kingpin of Crime. Peter defeated him and could have slain him, but chose to spare his life. Venom went on to apparently murder the Kingpin (who later was revealed to have survived, barely) and take over New York's ninja criminal gangs for himself.

The symbiote also makes an appearance, although this time it as a more mystical origin, associated with a rival ninja clan whose outfits look very much like the original black costume. Venom had once been the champion of this 'Shadow Clan,' but eventually rejected them and went to follow his own path. The Mangaverse creature has broadly similar attributes to both the original symbiote and the Ultimate version; it draws energy from the wearer, which can potentially kill the host after time, bestows increased strength and agility, and reduces the host's ability to control their own violent urges. The symbiote takes the form of a black liquid that is released from a cursed amulet.

When Peter Parker was possessed by the evil amulet, removing it nearly caused him to die, as the amulet took all of his life force along with it. Venom captured the amulet, and chose to sacrifice his own life force to it in order to save Peter, repaying the debt he owed when Peter spared his life. This act revitalized Peter, but Venom was left as nothing but a skeleton. The amulet, said to contain Venom's life force, eventually wound up in the hands of a crippled Kingpin, who used its power to fully heal himself. It is possible that the spirit of Venom may exist within the amulet, and he may yet return.

Video games

 * Venom is the final boss in the Game Boy game The Amazing Spider-Man.


 * Venom appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in 1991. While playing on the Nightmare difficulty setting, Venom appeared as a recurring enemy. He was also featured in the Sega CD version of the game in 1993.


 * Venom has appeared as a playable character in several video games. He was a playable character in both Marvel vs. Capcom and Marvel vs. Capcom 2.  He also appeared in the Spider-Man game Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage and starred in Spider-Man and Venom: Separation Anxiety, both of which were based on actual comic book plotlines.


 * Venom appears twice as a boss in the Spider-Man video game for the Sony Playstation, Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, and Game Boy Color.


 * In the Spider-Man arcade game Venom must be fought three times: Twice normally, and once when he has grown ten times his normal height. After defeating the main antagonist Dr. Doom, as a surprise final challenge, the player must fight off a series of Doom-created clones of the symbiote.


 * In the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, Venom is a playable character and can wander about the massive virtual city at will, as well as appearing as a boss when playing as Spider-Man


 * Venom is an unlockable character in Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects.

Venom will also be in the Spider-Man 3 video game based on the upcoming movie.

Defunct Film
Venom's first appearance in a motion picture was originally to be as the star of Venom, written by David Goyer(who wrote Batman Begins and the Blade trilogy) and produced by New Line Pictures. Venom would have been portrayed as an anti-hero, and Carnage would have been the villain. The script was not produced and the film rights to the Venom character ultimately reverted to Sony.

Spider-Man (2002)
In the 2002 film Spider-Man, it is mentioned that a Daily Bugle photographer named "Eddie" hasn't been able to get a good photo of Spider-Man. Presumably this is Eddie Brock, and in the novelization of the film Eddie actually has a cameo and is mentioned by his full name, with J. Jonah Jameson unwittingly making an ironic allusion to Venom by screaming "Next time, get a decent suit!". Brock was set to be played by R.C. Everbeck and a cameo role was filmed, but was cut during production.

Spider-Man 3 (2007)


Promotional images for Spider-Man 3 have confirmed that Spider-Man will have the black symbiote costume in this film. Topher Grace has also been confirmed as Eddie Brock. Sony has confirmed that Venom will appear in this film as the company has released a wallpaper of Eddie Brock transforming into Venom. A special trailer, shown at Comic Con 2006, ended with the first fully CGI rendered Venom dropping onto all fours before the camera zooms in on his gaping mouth. Testimony from those who viewed this say that Venom was exactly like he was in the comics: a large, slobbering creature with his tongue and trademark toothy grin. He has been described as mostly resembling McFarlane's Venom.

Television

 * Main article: Venom (Spider-Man: The Animated Series)

Prose
Venom appeared regularly in the Marvel novels and anthologies published by Berkley Books and Byron Preiss Multimedia Company from 1994-2000. These appearances tied in with the comics published at the time, and include:

Short stories:
 * "An Evening in the Bronx with Venom" by John Gregory Betancourt & Keith R.A. DeCandido in The Ultimate Spider-Man (1994)
 * "The Deviant Ones" by Glenn Greenberg in The Ultimate Super-Villains (1996)

Novels:
 * Spider-Man: The Venom Factor by Diane Duane (1994)
 * Spider-Man: The Lizard Sanction by Diane Duane (1995)
 * Spider-Man: The Octopus Agenda by Diane Duane (1996)
 * Spider-Man: Venom's Wrath by Keith R.A. DeCandido & Jose R. Nieto (1998)

List of symbiote hosts
Venom's Hosts
 * Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
 * Eddie Brock
 * Ann Weying (Eddie's ex-wife) (deceased)
 * Angelo Fortunato (deceased)
 * The Scorpion (Mac Gargan) (currently the symbiote wearer)

Alterniverse
 * May Parker (Venom) (Earth/Universe/Paradise X)
 * The Punisher (Frank Castle) (What If...v2#44)
 * Norman "Normie" Osborn III, grandson of the Green Goblin (MC2)
 * May Parker, the symbiote briefly absorbed both Normie and May at once (MC2)
 * Hulk ("What If..." v2. #4)
 * Thor ("What If..."v2#4)

Wildstorm Universe
 * Bonded with Pike in the Backlash and Spider-Man crossover

2099
 * Kron Stone, the half-brother of Miguel O'Hara
 * Namor the Sub-Mariner

Ultimate Venom
 * Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
 * Eddie Brock Sr.
 * Eddie Brock Jr.

Venom's Clone's Hosts
 * several of the staff of Christmastown, an arctic military installation and next to all of the staff of the arctic lab that created the clone.
 * Several residents of Voici, a town in Canada's Northwestern Territories
 * a husky
 * a raven
 * Wolverine (James "Logan" Howlett)
 * Communications Specialist Patricia Robertson, U.S. Army.

Solo series and oneshots

 * Spider-Man: The Trial of Venom'' one-shot (1992)
 * Venom: Lethal Protector #1-6 (February – July, 1993)
 * Venom: Funeral Pyre #1-3 (August – October, 1993)
 * Venom: The Madness #1-3 (November, 1993 – January, 1994)
 * Venom: The Enemy Within #1-3 (February – March, 1994)
 * Hulk vs. Venom one-shot (April, 1994)
 * Venom: The Mace #1-3 (May – July, 1994)
 * Venom: Nights of Vengeance #1-4 (August – November, 1994)
 * Venom: Separation Anxiety #1-4 (December, 1994 – March, 1995)
 * Venom: Carnage Unleashed #1-4 (April – July, 1995)
 * Venom: Sinner Takes All #1-5 (August – December, 1995)
 * Venom Super Special one-shot (August, 1995)
 * Rune vs. Venom one-shot (December, 1995)
 * Venom: Along Came a Spider #1-4 (January – April, 1996)
 * Venom: The Hunted #1-3 (May – July, 1996)
 * Venom: The Hunger #1-4 (August – November, 1996)
 * Venom: Tooth and Claw #1-3 (December, 1996 – February, 1997)
 * Venom: On Trial #1-3 (March – May, 1997)
 * Venom: License to Kill #1-3 (June – August, 1997)
 * Venom: Seed of Darkness #-1 one-shot (July, 1997)
 * Venom: Sign of the Boss #1-2 (September – October, 1997)
 * Venom: Finale #1-3 (November, 1997 – January, 1998)
 * Spider-Man: Venom Agenda oneshot (January, 1998)
 * Venom #1-18 (June, 2003 – November, 2004)
 * Venom vs. Carnage #1-4 (August – December, 2004)

Reprints

 * Venom: The Return one-shot (1990; reprints Amazing Spider-Man (1963 series) 330, 347, ''Amazing Spider-Man Annual #25)
 * Venom: Deathtrap: The Vault graphic novel (March, 1993; reprints Avengers: Deathtrap: The Vault)
 * Venom: Shiver trade paperback (2004; reprints Venom #1-5)
 * Venom: Run trade paperback (2004; reprints Venom #6-13)
 * Venom: Twist trade paperback (2005; reprints Venom #13-18)
 * Venom vs. Carnage trade paperback (2005; reprints Venom vs. Carnage #1-4)

Appearances in novels and short stories

 * Spider-Man: The Venom Factor by Diane Duane, October 1994
 * "An Evening in the Bronx with Venom" by Keith R. A. DeCandido and John Gregory Betancourt, in The Ultimate Spider-Man, ed. Stan Lee, December 1994
 * Spider-Man: The Lizard Sanction by Diane Duane, October 1995
 * "The Deviant Ones" by Glenn Greenberg, in The Ultimate Super-Villains, ed. Stan Lee, August 1996
 * Spider-Man: The Octopus Agenda by Diane Duane, October 1996
 * Spider-Man: Venom's Wrath by Keith R. A. DeCandido and Jose R. Nieto, October 1998