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Symbiotes

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Klyntar (Symbiotes) (Discuss).
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History

Quote1 Though we are a benevolent species, there is no literature on my home planet. And though it is our goal to make the universe better, we create no art, no music, no culture. At least, not as other civilizations would understand it. All we have are our hosts -- the beings we join with -- to forge through the cold and unforgiving cosmos with. The bond between a Klyntar and its host is sacred. They give our lives context and our existence meaning. They give us history. All we have are our hosts to tell us who we are. Quote2
—Venom Symbiote[src]
File:Knull (Earth-616) and Klyntar (Race) from Venom Vol 4 4.png

Knull creating the first of his symbiote-army.

The Klyntar, originally and better known as the Symbiotes, are a species of inorganic,[8] amorphous, symbiotic extraterrestrials created from the "living abyss" at the beginning of the universe by the primordial deity Knull, who manifested a sword of living darkness called All-Black from his shadow to slaughter the Celestials and other deities.[9]

The exact point in time when Knull first began creating amorphous parasites out of the Living Abyss is unclear. While manifested on Earth in the 21st century, Knull stated that he first began experimenting with his powers and discovered he could do so while stranded on a desolate planet following the loss of All-Black to Gorr; bonding them to lesser creatures in order to transform them into predatory monsters. However, the Silver Surfer encountered parasitic symbiotes when sent back in time to before Knull had lost the Necrosword.[10][11]

Regardless of exactly when the symbiotes were first created, Knull proceeded to amass a massive army and established himself as the nexus of their hive-mind, using them to conquer countless planets and devour entire civilizations across billions of years. When Knull attacked Earth in the 6th century using a composite symbiote-dragon, he was defeated by Thor and his connection to the symbiotes was severed. Destabilized, the symbiotes sought out hosts to give their lives context and existence meaning; and the symbiotes who had bonded to benevolent hosts poisoned the hive-mind with traits such as nobility and honor. The symbiotes eventually rebelled against Knull and imprisoned him at the centre of an artificial planet in the Andromeda Galaxy, naming it and themselves after their word for "cage."[5]

Ashamed of their dark origins, the symbiotes of Klyntar invented and perpetuated a lie that their species was naturally benevolent.[5] Endeavouring to spread peace throughout the universe, the Klyntar symbiotes established a hive mind capable of sensing the "voice" of the Cosmos and created an intergalactic peacekeeping society called the Agents of the Cosmos by using the symbiosis they needed to subsist in order to transform "worthy" hosts into the ultimate noble warriors. However, to achieve this "perfect" symbiosis, the host needed to have a perfect blend of moral and physical ideals. If not, the resulting symbiosis would corrupt both the Klyntar and its host.[7][12] In their desperation to expunge their violent past, the Klyntar hive-mind cut off corrupted symbiotes from the hive-mind, developing a means of "cleansing" them and executing those who failed the trial or relapsed into violence.[7][13]

The exiled corrupted symbiotes resumed infecting and overtaking entire planets,[14][15] spreading what the Klyntar claimed was misinformation about their benevolent counterparts.[7] As a result, despite the Agents of the Cosmos' efforts the species as a whole re-developed the reputation of being predatory monsters that dominate their host mentally and physically while parasitically feeding off their emotions and bodies. The corrupted symbiotes tended to force their hosts to perform spectacular and terrifying feats in order to feed off of their adrenaline and other hormones, such as phenethylamine. Eventually, the hosts would be sucked dry of vital fluids,[8] collapse from exhaustion due to the constant stress and exertion, or simply die in a failed stunt;[16] whereupon the symbiote would seek out a new host to repeat the process.[17] At some point in time, a colony of feral symbiotes encountered the Silver Surfer and the planet they had conquered was devoured by Galactus, causing them to develop an instinctual fear of the Surfer via their genetic memory.[18] At another point in time, feral symbiotes invaded the Microverse, where their very existence proved corrosive and toxic, and attempted to consume the Enigma Force itself, but were repelled.[19]

While corrupted symbiotes are cut off from their species' hive-mind and purportedly unable to access their full potential,[7] it has been noted on several occasions that certain long-lived specimens have become more powerful over time, usually by bonding to multiple successive hosts.[20][21] and can develop increased resistance to heat and sonics with repeated exposure. In some cases, they can undergo spontaneous mutation and develop new abilities, such as the Carnage and Maniac symbiotes developing the ability to infect others with pieces of their biomass.[22][23][24] The Venom and Carnage symbiotes are able to feed off negative emotions, the latter being able to convert negative emotions into biomass.[25][26] Successive generations of symbiotes will also be more powerful than their predecessors, and feral symbiotes are instinctually indifferent or hostile towards their progenitors and progeny.[27]

Many corrupt symbiotes, such as Venom, Carnage, Toxin, and Zzzxx, possess ravenous predatory appetites for the flesh of other life-forms and will influence or force their hosts to commit cannibalism to satiate this.[28][29][30] It is for this reason that feral symbiotes consider themselves to be the ultimate predators of the universe,[31] and are regarded with revulsion and terror by most other species.[32][33] At least one feral Klyntar, the Carnage symbiote, has demonstrated the ability to convert consumed organic material into additional biomass, using this power to assist in conquering the town of Doverton, Colorado and to regenerate from a small tissue sample after being separated from its host.[25][26] Feral symbiotes are much more effective at bonding to their host if the host has the same feelings and urges as the symbiote. For example, the Venom symbiote bonded successfully with Eddie Brock because they shared anger and desire for revenge towards Spider-Man. As this shows, symbiotes are able to project their own emotions and personal desires, in addition to reflecting and reacting to the emotions and desires of their host, to the point of assuming complete control over their host's body if they so choose. For example, Anne Weying was terrified of and revolted by the Venom symbiote, but when bonded to it revelled in the power it gave her and rapidly succumbed to its bloodlust.[34][35][36] A symbiote's influence over its host can be resisted and suppressed through a number of means, including willpower and chemical sedatives. Symbiotes in general are weak to intense heat and sonics, although successive generations can develop a resistance to these weaknesses, and an individual symbiote can also mutate to become more resilient over time. Symbiotes can also amalgamate with one another to become more powerful, as seen with the Hybrid symbiote,[37] the Venom symbiote assimilating its clone,[38] the Venom-Carnage hybrids created by Marquis Radu,[39] and the Venom symbiote merging with the Tyrannosaurus symbiote.[40]

Even if separated from a host, trace remnants of the symbiote's biomass - called a "codex" - will remain in the host's body,[41] as seen with the Venom symbiote leaving remnants of itself within the bodies of Peter Parker and Eddie Brock.[42][43] The Carnage symbiote has taken this process to an extreme by merging with its host's blood, making separating them very difficult.[44] The purpose of the codex is to share information about the host with the rest of the hive,[41] though it can influence the host, enabling them to track the symbiote if separated from it.[45][46] The remnants a symbiote leaves within its host can also be reactivated if exposed to additional symbiote biomass or another stimulus like Lightforce energy;[47][48][49] though they can also reject and attempt to expel the additional symbiote biomass.[50] Symbiotes can absorb the codices of other symbiotes to become more powerful, temporarily acquiring their traits and whatever unique powers the codex's host may have possessed.[41][51][52]

The symbiote that would eventually become Venom was purportedly the 998th generation of a lineage of symbiotes,[27] hatched on the planet Klyntar from an egg.[53] Bred to be an Agent of the Cosmos, it was bonded to the inhabitant of an icy planet, who proved to be an unworthy host filled with hatred and cruelty. The host used the young symbiote to carry out a genocide against his homeworld, leaving it a barren wasteland and corrupting the symbiote with rage and bloodlust.[54] At some point the symbiote joined a group of corrupted Klyntar who used their hosts as chattel, and was labeled as deranged due to its desire to form a single, strong, symbiotic bond with its host and protect them.[55] The symbiote was placed in a prison canister and supposedly condemned to death by disintegration.[14]

During the Secret Wars, when several of Earth's heroes and villains were transported to Battleworld by the Beyonder, Deadpool went looking for the alien technology Thor had stumbled upon to repair his tattered costume. Instead, he found the machine holding the symbiote captive. The released symbiote did indeed form a "costume" for him -- as the species naturally covers their entire host -- but Deadpool sensed that it was alive and returned it to its prison, concerned his insanity would adversely affect it.[56] Spider-Man followed shortly afterwards and bonded to it, the symbiote responded to Parker's thoughts by patterning itself after the new Spider-Woman's black and white costume.[57]

Venom Vol 1 12 Textless

Venom

The new "costume" had several useful properties -- the ability to mimic other forms of clothing, a "dimensional aperture" which could store small objects without adding bulk to the costume, and its own source of webbing -- which Spider-Man initially attributed to its alien origins. After returning to Earth, the costume could not stand to be separated from Parker for very long, and it often engulfed the sleeping hero, sending him out to fight crime under its control. The then-villainous Puma -- who was fighting Spider-Man at the time -- was the first to perceive that the costume's webbing was organic, causing the hero to seek the advice of Reed Richards. Richards isolated the living costume, setting into motion a series of events that would lead to the creation of Venom -- the merger of the symbiote and Spider-Man critic Eddie Brock.

Carnage Vol 1 5 Textless

Carnage

Venom proved to be a particularly malicious foe, and broke several laws in pursuit of revenge against Spider-Man. On one occasion, while Brock was incarcerated for his crimes as Venom -- and while he patiently waited for the escaped symbiote to free him -- he shared a cell with serial killer Cletus Kasady. The symbiote did in fact liberate Brock, but in so doing left behind its spawn. The symbiote spawn bonded with Kasady, turning him into the lethal villain Carnage (Cletus Kasady). Because Kasady bonded with the symbiote on a cellular level (something Brock refused to do), Carnage proved more formidable than either Venom or Spider-Man, and the two eventually formed an uneasy alliance to deal with the threat. The Carnage symbiote was capable of greater control of its constituent matter than the Venom symbiote. At one point, it managed to travel by telephone line by thinning itself to a strand of cellular width, though Venom replicated this feat to bond with Anne Weying. It could also transform its host's appendages to a greater degree than the Venom symbiote could, allowing Carnage to form spikes, blades, and axe heads at will. The Carnage symbiote appears to be more dense as well, allowing its host to become more durable and stronger than the Venom symbiote would allow.

File:Howard Ogden (Earth-616).JPG

Riot

At one point, Venom was captured by the Life Foundation, an organization that made a comfortable living in preparing for the world's nuclear annihilation. Convinced that a nuclear war was inevitable, the Life Foundation's clients payed to assure that the human race (and they in particular) would survive the cataclysm in luxury. The Life Foundation was at one point researching a way to create "super-cops" to police their new Utopia. Towards that end, they probed the Venom symbiote and extracted the last five of its "seeds" -- the basis for later spawn as the symbiotes reproduce asexually. These were cultured and bonded to five of the Life Foundation's best security personnel to form the Guardians. The individuals eventually became known by the codenames Scream, Riot, Phage, Agony, and Lasher. Either due to the extraction process, the effect of the Earth environment on the spawn, or both, these symbiotes proved to be even more mutated than Carnage. They possessed the same ability to manipulate their forms as Carnage, though the five hosts never quite got the hang of actually communicating with the under-developed symbiotes.

File:James Murphy (Earth-616).JPG

Agony

After several crushing defeats, Scream had a psychotic breakdown (possibly contributed to by her schizophrenia) and determined that all symbiotes were evil. She killed off her former compatriots with a sonic blade, not realizing that the symbiotes themselves had survived. The four symbiotes were kept for a time in the Vault, a high-security prison for super-beings, but were freed from the lab by guardsman Scott Washington, who decided that they were not evil and did not deserve a lifetime of pain and suffering. Washington was fired when it was discovered that he had freed the symbiotes. All four symbiotes were weakened, and survived by merging together to form a single, more powerful symbiote. This symbiote later went on to merge with Washington, who had been crippled after a scuffle with the Eazy X gang following his return to the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. After bonding with the hybrid symbiote, he regained use of his legs, and began extracting revenge on the gangs that had destroyed his neighborhood as the crimefighter "Hybrid".[58]

File:Lasher (War Dog) (Earth-616) and Lasher (Klyntar) (Earth-616) from Carnage, U.S.A. Vol 1 2 0001.png

Lasher

Spider-Man led Brock to doubt the nature of his relationship with his symbiote, suggesting that it had been controlling him. When Brock ordered the symbiote to separate from him so that he could consider the matter, the pained symbiote let out a "psychic scream" of anguish so powerful that it drew others of its kind from space. Using a unwilling innocent as its host, the Venom symbiote and the extraterrestrial symbiotes constructed a portal to an alien world, the native population of which had been enthralled by the symbiotes. The symbiotes then launched a full-scale invasion of Earth, starting in New York. In the ensuing chaos, Carnage found that he could absorb the symbiotes to increase his symbiote's mass and power, and temporarily became monolithic in size by doing so. Brock realized that the creatures were highly sensitive to emotion, and (with his now-penitent symbiote) released a wail of anguish so great that it was able to kill most of the invading symbiotes.

File:Rico Axelson (Earth-616) and Phage (Klyntar) (Earth-616) from Carnage, U.S.A. Vol 1 2 001.jpg

Phage

Soon after, the presence of the surviving symbiotes attracted their only known predator, the Xenophage. Xenophages are a race of amorphous, shape-shifting aliens whose diets consist mainly of symbiotes, though they are not above eating the occasional humanoid if they get particularly hungry. The Xenophage took a particular interest in Venom, as symbiotes tend to become more "flavorful" after bonding with a host for a long period of time. Venom managed to dispatch the first Xenophage, though more eventually arrived on Earth to seek out their exotic prey.

Edward Brock (Earth-616) becomes Toxin in Venom Vol 2 17

Toxin

During a battle with the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, Venom's tongue was severed.[59] This portion of the symbiote was used to create a duplicate, Mania, which rampaged through an Arctic research facility and military base, pursued by a nanorobotic alien called "the Suit".[60] The clone was revealed to have been programmed by a second nanite alien, Bob, to destroy humanity should it reunite with the original Venom symbiote. The symbiote clone was bonded to Patricia Robertson, and ultimately consumed by the original Venom symbiote. Years later, when Agent Venom attempted to protect his student Andrea "Andi" Benton from Jack O'Lantern using the Venom symbiote, it regurgitated the clone in order to purge itself of a demon.[61] The possessed clone bonded to Andi, who defeated Jack O'Lantern and took to calling herself Mania.[62] Looking to avenge her murdered father, Mania used the symbiote clone to fight crime in Philadelphia, but found herself being targeted by Department of Occult Armaments agents Crossbones and Master Mayhem. With the help of Agent Venom and Mephisto, she was able to defeat them.

Much later, Carnage realized he was also about to spawn. Fearing the spawn would become more powerful than him and disgusted by the notion of reproduction, he resolved to destroy the spawn as soon as it was born. Venom, controlled by the symbiote, also became aware of the spawn and resolved to protect it and culture it as an ally. After the new symbiote was spawned, Carnage was too weak to kill the creature himself, and the symbiote found a human host in officer Patrick Mulligan. Venom had warned Carnage that every thousand generations or so the symbiotes' genetic memory can break down, and the new symbiote must be instructed by its "grandparent" to correct the errors. Since Venom has not been able to do so, this new symbiote bothered the unfortunate cop with the numerous questions, quandaries, and tantrums that normal children experience as they age. The difference, of course, is that normal children tend to have fewer urges toward homicide. For a while, Mulligan did his best in balancing work, his family life, the difficult new symbiote, and his new career as the crimefighter "Toxin"; however, he was later murdered by Blackheart, who took the symbiote and bonded samples of it to clones of X-23. The Toxin symbiote was subsequently stolen by the Crime Master and bonded to Eddie Brock. Despite initially seizing control of him in an attempt to kill its grandparent, the Toxin symbiote and Eddie have since worked out a similar relationship to the one Eddie once had with Venom.

File:Edward Brock (Earth-616) as Anti-Venom.PNG

Anti-Venom

Eddie Brock, disgusted by the Venom symbiote's growing bloodlust after having a religious awakening and fearing for the fate of his soul, sold the symbiote to Don Fortunato, who gave it to his son Angelo. Disgusted by his cowardice, the symbiote abandoned Angelo of its own accord and later sought out Mac Gargan. Gargan initially feared the symbiote's growing influence over him after it forced him to commit cannibalism to satiate its hunger, but later came to embrace its bloodlust. After the events of Brand New Day, Eddie Brock started working for Martin Li and Aunt May at the F.E.A.S.T. center. Thanks to Mr. Li's "mysterious powers", Eddie was cured of his cancer and the remnants of the symbiote were fused to his white blood cells. Unfortunately, the then-current Venom, Mac Gargan, entered the F.E.A.S.T. center looking for Spider-Man, having sensed one of the symbiote's former hosts. He found Eddie instead, and the symbiote immediately attempted to rebond to its former host. However, the mystically-enhanced fusion between the symbiote's cells and Eddie's lymphocytes emerged, forming Anti-Venom, proving corrosive to the original symbiote. Eddie later sacrificed the Anti-Venom symbiote to create a vaccine for the Spider Flu, but it appears a portion of it was somehow acquired by the Hobgoblin, who enfranchised the identity as one of his "Hob-Heroes" after his Inversion.

File:Tanis Nieves (Earth-616) 0001.png

Scorn

Later, when Carnage was returned to Earth after his apparent death, Hall Industries used the symbiote to produce advanced prostheses. Dr. Tanis Nieves was provided with one after losing one of her arms in an altercation between Hall Industries' Iron Rangers and the Doppelgänger. This biomechanical prosthetic developed into a new machine/symbiote hybrid called Scorn, which Tanis bonded to in order to stop Carnage.

Following its separation from Mac Gargan, the Venom symbiote was given to Eugene "Flash" Thompson by the US military, having been administered a sedative to keep it from seizing control of him. Flash later allowed the symbiote to bond to him, and it expressed a preference for him as a host, despite attempting to return to Eddie Brock and later "Peter Parker." When not suppressed, the symbiote tended to rampage and attempt to eat any nearby enemies, and later exhibited a desire to acquire demonic powers, bargaining with Mephisto to receive a Hell Mark and attempting to absorb Zarathos during the Circle of Four. These ambitions were cut short when it was forced to relinquish those powers to its clone, Mania, after a demon that was implanted in it by Daimon Hellstrom began attempting to take it over. During Flash's sojourn into space as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Venom symbiote became increasingly erratic, eventually seizing control of him and rampaging until they were separated, whereupon it took control of numerous members of the Guardians of the Galaxy until it managed to arrive to the destination it was being led to: the original Planet of the Symbiotes.[63] There, the Guardians were met with the benevolent Klyntar, who revealed to them the true origin of the symbiotes. The Klyntar explained that the reason Venom Symbiote was acting erratically was that as soon as it returned to space, the Klyntar managed to reconnect it to their hive-mind, and it was initially disconcerted until it was drawn closer and a better connection was established, allowing the Klyntar to guide it to their homeworld. Now reconnected with the collective, the Venom symbiote's corruption was repaired and it re-bonded with Flash, making him into a stronger and purer Agent Venom.[64] Bonding to Mercurio, a Gramosian space pirate, caused the symbiote to temporarily relapse into its villainous ways, though with Flash's help it was able to suppress its rage and malevolent urges.[65]

At some point following his moral inversion, Tony Stark created the "Endo-Sym" armor, which, similarly to the Iron Ranger armor, was made using "building blocks" taken from a symbiote. After Rescue and the Iron Man A.I. attempted to damage the armor with sonic blasts, Stark revealed he had the foresight to find a way to remove that inherited weakness.[66]

ZZZXX (Symbiote) (Earth-616) from X-Men Kingbreaker Vol 1 2 0001

Zzzxx

Another feral symbiote, unrelated to Venom's lineage, was captured by Shi'ar Emperor D'Ken and given the moniker Zzzxx. Classified as one of the most dangerous entities the Empire had encountered, it was recruited by Vulcan to serve as one of his praetorian guards and eventually took Raza Longknife as a host.[67] Zzzxx was later separated from Raza and imprisoned on Ego. It was retrieved and fired at an evil, alternate universe incarnation of Charles Xavier, who had become a giant brain-monster, and was last seen eating him.[68]

A group of evil symbiotes bonded to a swarm of Brood, which they later abandoned and ate, in order to take over the S.W.O.R.D. satellite and everyone aboard it, including Abigail Brand and the pregnant Deathbird. The symbiotes were defeated and jettisoned into space by Spider-Man and the Special Class of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Spider-Man was forced to bond with a symbiote for a power boost, controlling it with the help of the telepathic No-Girl, which caused it to take on an appearance identical to the Venom symbiote. He ultimately lost control of it, but it was subdued and separated from him.[17]

File:Knull (Earth-616) from Absolute Carnage Vol 1 5 0001.jpg

Symbiote Dragons

All the symbiotes were taken away from their planet by the Poisons,[69] in order to forcibly bond them with powerful hosts so they could assimilate them. However, they were eventually defeated, and the symbiotes returned to their homeworld.[70] Unfortunately, Knull started to awake,[5] and a cult dedicated to him brought Carnage back from the dead using the Grendel symbiote to use him as his apostle. As a remnant - a codex - is left in a host's body, which serve as a connector to the Klyntar's hivemind, he decided to get as many codices as he could in order to awake Knull.[71] Eventually, the Grendel symbiote and the codices were assimilated by the Venom symbiote, which awakened Knull. His awakening destroyed Klyntar, shattering it into countless individual symbiotes that he merged into a fleet of Symbiote Dragons to resume his conquest and destruction of the universe.[72]

Alternate Reality Versions

Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610)

In Earth-1610, the Venom symbiote was developed as a proto-plasmic suit by Richard Parker and Edward Brock Sr., who intended to use it as a medical cure for cancer. When they ran out of money to fund the project, they turned to Bolivar Trask, who took their research and weaponized it as the Symbiote Effect project. Edward Brock Sr., however, managed to save a small sample of the symbiote for his son, Edward Brock, Jr., to find. When Peter Parker discovered that the suit was dangerous and destroyed half of the sample, Eddie used the second half to become a ravenous monster called Venom.

A sample of the Venom Suit was used by Dr. Curt Conners to create the Carnage symbiote by combining it with his own genetic material and that of Peter Parker. The Carnage symbiote needed to vampirically feed on other organisms to stabilize itself, and was killed by Peter Parker. A sample of it was taken by Ben Reilly, and used to create a genetic duplicate of Gwen Stacy, who remained bonded to the Carnage symbiote until it was absorbed by Venom.

Larval Earth (Earth-8311)

In Larval Earth, the Symbiote is not identified as such: The Bee-Yonder suddenly appeared in front of Spider-Ham and used his powers to change his red-and-blue uniform into a black-and-white one; giving no other explanation, the Bee-Yonder, apparently a fashion consultant, teleported away to change the style of Ducktor Doom's ensemble. Spider-Ham, who liked his original suit,[73] returned to the red-and-blue uniform after this encounter,[74] Later, during the event known as Secret Furs, Spider-Ham was seen using a different black-and-white uniform while fighting Doctor Octopussycat for a refrigerator in Bobcat Barker's "Whale of Fortune" test.[75]

Earth-9997

Unlike the symbiotes of Earth-616, the symbiotes of Earth-9997 were - like all sentient life - created by the Celestials as "antibodies" to guard the embryos they implanted into planets. Like the Asgardians and Mephisto, the symbiotes eventually reached the third stage of metamorphosis and apotheosized into metaphysical entities given physical form by what others believed them to be and required of them.[76][77] The Venom symbiote was given form by Spider-Man, who believed it to be a symbiotic living costume; and after being bonded to Edward Brock for several years, it bonded to Peter's daughter May Parker - who managed to tame and rehabilitate it to further her career as a superhero.[78]

Earth-12041

Two varieties of symbiote exist in this reality: the amorphous extraterrestrial life-forms native to the planet Klyntar - which was destroyed by Thanos,[79] and the amorphous artificial life-forms engineered from the genetic material of Spider-Man.[80] Both are referred to as Symbiotes and are seemingly functionally identical, despite being completely unrelated to each other.

The alien symbiotes were once a peaceful race also known as the Klyntar who lived in symbiosis with the other life forms on their home planet. Physically, they were mostly pale with red eyes, and were also capable of flight (an ability they could bestow on anyone bonded to them). They were also significantly more intelligent than their corrupted counterparts. Thanos abducted the Klyntar and took them to the barren Planet X where he experimented on them in an attempt to weaponize them. Thanos' experiments turned the Klyntar into the "feral" Symbiotes that became a menace to the Galaxy.[81]

Thanos abandoned his experiment when he realized the Symbiotes were too difficult to control, but left behind a "doomsday weapon" that would destroy the planet in case the Symbiotes turned on him. By the time the Guardians of the Galaxy visited Planet X, they discovered the Symbiotes had spread across the entire planet. The Guardians came to Planet X so Groot, the last remaining Flora colossi, could use the World Pod to revive his planet and species. The Symbiotes' infestation was so thorough, however, that the Guardians chose to destroy Planet X with Thanos' weapon rather than leave it in their hands. The Guardians found the last remaining pure Klyntar and escaped Planet X before it blew up. They relocated to the nearby Planet Y, where the Klyntar promised to protect the new Flora colossi when Groot planted the World Pod.[81]

Doctor Octopus attempt to replicate Spider-Man's abilities to create an army of Spider-Soldiers via his DNA resulted in artificially creating the following Symbiotes; Venom, Gamma Venom, Anti-Venom and Carnage.

Apparently Thanos kept a red Symbiote that he could control on his Sanctuary asteroid which later bonded with him.[82] It appears that a large portion of Symbiotes survived the destruction of Planet X, as the feral alien parasites have claimed a whole domain for themselves on Battleworld.[83]

Neo-Alvers (Earth-50101) from Web Warriors Vol 1 6 001

Earth-50101

On Earth-50101, the symbiotes are a type of parasitic demon summoned using an ancient amulet that acts as the source of their power. They have outward-curved tusk-like fangs, and their main body has six arms, giving it a strong resemblance to an asura.[84][85]

Earth-807128

File:Venom (Klyntar) (Earth-807128) from Wolverine Vol 3 69 0002.jpg

On Earth-807128, the Symbiotes roam the Black Hills of South Dakota. At one point, a tyrannosaurus bonded to the Venom symbiote attacked Wolverine and Hawkeye, only to be stopped by Black Bolt [86]

Edward Brock (Earth-TRN562) and Cletus Kasady (Earth-TRN562) from Marvel Avengers Academy 001

Marvel Avengers Academy (Earth-TRN562)

On Earth-TRN562, the Klyntar were taken from their home planet to Earth by Oscorp, who experimented on them. When Spider-Man attempted to send the aliens home, he accidentally released them across New York City. After finding Avengers Academy, Venom organized his fellow symbiotes into taking over the academy and the world. The Symbiotes taken to Earth were Carnage, Lasher, Phage, Scorn, and Venom.

Unlike the Klyntar of Earth-616, these are innately evil. They're also able to morph their bodies to be able to stand up, walk, and fight with superhuman speed, strength, and durability. The Symbiotes can even spread themselves out, with multiple versions of one symbiote running around at once.[87]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Symbiotes can feed on their host's adrenaline, usually released into the bloodstream during the fight-or-flight response. They have also been shown to depend on their hosts for a steady supply of phenethylamine, a chemical found as a neurotransmitter in the human brain. While this has been known to lead some symbiotes to consume the brains of others, the chemical can also be ready found in processed chocolate. Other symbiotes - like the clone of the Venom symbiote - deliberately drain their hosts' vital fluids and/or physically consume them from the inside-out. While the symbiotes are connected to a host, they raise their host's dopamine levels. They can apparently be killed, or at least be forced into some sort of death-like state, by an overdose of dopamine-inhibitor. Symbiotes aren't able to bond with hosts who have high levels of vitamin C in their blood streams. There are several levels of biological symbiosis, or "bonding" that can be achieved between a symbiote and its host, each with different biological consequences.

When bonded to a superhuman host, a symbiote can interface with their genomes and physiology to imprint their unique powers and abilities into itself, granting subsequent hosts access to those powers.[88] Symbiotes can also bond to inorganic material, letting them interface with and augment machinery as sophisticated as the Ironheart Armor Model 2 and a Kree Empire battleship.[50][89]

Symbiotes have some ability to sense the thoughts and emotions of sentient creatures, though to what extent remains unclear. The Venom symbiote was able to pattern itself after Spider-Man's thought, and respond to his mental commands even without significant bonding. The psychic scream of the Venom symbiote was able to draw the attention of space-faring symbiotes, while powerful feelings of emotional anguish were able to actually kill many symbiotes.

Symbiotes have a genetic memory, allowing them to exploit their parents' knowledge through ancestral recall. On Earth, this allows Venom's descendants to benefit from the symbiote's former bond with Spider-Man by gaining spider-like powers. Certain memories seem to be more readily accessible than others. For example, the trauma of Galactus devouring a world populated by symbiotes so scarred the surviving members of the species that it still invokes an intense reaction in all symbiotes today.

Symbiotes are genderless, usually reproduce asexually (though some symbiotes are hatched from eggs),[53] and are thought to generally produce only one offspring in a lifetime. According to the Maker, symbiotes reproduce not at random as previously assumed, but to bolster their numbers in response to dire threats to the safety of their species.[90] In the case of Venom, seeds were forcibly extracted to produce more offspring. There is no family structure, and in fact it seems to be common among corrupted symbiotes for parent and offspring to hate each other. However, this observation is taken mostly from the relationship between the symbiote known as Venom and its children. Venom hates Carnage because of its murderous nature (owing to its first host being a nihilistic serial killer who had an antagonistic relationship with the Venom symbiote's preferred hosts). When its other "children" were born Eddie Brock thought that they would end up like Carnage, so he placed his hatred of him on them. However, recently the Venom symbiote was pregnant after absorbing a clone of itself and wanted to rebond with Spider-Man because rebonding with Brock would kill the child because he had cancer. While they have a latent ability to sense the proximity of their progeny, they usually have no interest in them. The one exception comes once every 1,000 generations, when a symbiote is born with a high risk of psychotic breakdown, and must be guided by older symbiotes, or else destroyed.

Their unique properties make the symbiotes immune to most conventional weapons. They are dense enough to absorb the force of powerful blows and stop bullets before they reach the host being. They are able to process breathable gases for the host when it would otherwise be unable (underwater, for example). They seem to confer a weak healing factor on strongly-bonded hosts, but that bond can also send host and symbiote alike into shock if they are forcibly separated.

  • Symbiotes seem to have some latent psychic abilities, allowing them to respond to the thoughts of their hosts, and each other. When Venom's symbiote was in anguish, it let out a psychic scream that effected sensitive humans worldwide, and was received by symbiotes in a nearby star system.
  • The symbiote amplifies the strength of its "wearer", so that a reasonably fit human (such as Brock) can compete and even exceed even Spider-Man's strength. It also confers improved speed and agility on the host.
  • By virtue of having partially bonded with Spider-Man, Venom and its descendants all have spider-like powers, including the ability to cling to surfaces and produce organic webbing. Most can also avoid detection by Spider-Man's "spider sense" might also work on other people such as Electro in Web of Shadows.

Abilities

  • Symbiotes can control the actions of their hosts to a certain point.
  • Symbiotes that have fully bonded with their hosts have a more biologically complex symbiosis with their hosts, and can share thoughts and memories with them. Carnage has also been known to hide in its host's blood stream.
  • The symbiotes are said to have 'genetic memory,' and can read the memories of others of their kind by absorbing chunks of their material.
  • Symbiotes tend to be dense, and can absorb even the force of bullets before they reach their hosts.
  • All symbiotes have the ability to form tendril-like pseudopods. Venom has used this to great effect by forming weak tendrils and shields from his constituent matter. Carnage discharges tendrils of her constituent matter instead of webbing. Scream has numerous tendrils composing her costume's "hair", which she has used as a powerful whip.
  • Most symbiotes have the power to form solid appendages from their bodies, and have been shown to form spikes, talons, and blades. Carnage was known to throw axes from time to time, but the weapons quickly crumbled when separated from the symbiote. Venom's ability to form webbing is probably a primitive form of this ability. Mac Gargan has been shown to be able to form a scorpion-like tail while hosting the symbiote, and the Venom symbiote of Earth-982 allowed host Norman Osborn to form solid appendages, such as a extra limbs. This shows that any symbiote can gain the ability to form more solid appendages if exposed to the Earth environment for a long enough period of time. That this ability has also been displayed by the symbiotes used by the Agents of the Cosmos indicates this is not unique to Earth-born symbiotes, as was originally theorized.[12][91]
  • The Life Foundation symbiotes have also been shown to form a powerful acid from their constituent matter. The Venom symbiote of Earth-928 in the year 2099 demonstrated an ability to reduce an engulfed victim to bones within seconds, using the ability to kill New York gang leader Bloodmace. This may suggest that any symbiote exposed to the Earth environment for a long enough time may gain similar powers.
  • Venom and his descendant symbiotes have been shown to be adept at controlling their coloration. This allows them to take on the appearance of normal clothing, to provide highly effective and complex camouflage, and to even disguise their hosts' physical features.[92]
  • Symbiotes have the ability to process breathable gases when the host normally cannot breathe (for example, in water or space).[93]
  • Symbiotes can expand to considerable limits in order to cover any host or object.[94]
  • Symbiotes seem to have some ability to combine their constituent matter. During Maximum Carnage, the Venom and Carnage symbiotes seemed to mix in an attempt to destroy each other. Later, the Carnage symbiote would absorb other symbiotes during the symbiote invasion of New York. The Venom symbiote absorbed a cloned symbiote worn by Patricia Robertson. The Hybrid symbiote is the merger of four of the Life Foundation symbiotes. This was exploited by Baron Karza, who cloned the Venom and Carnage symbiotes using his Body Banks and merged them together in order to create a symbiote army. This inspired Carnage to attempt to assimilate the Venom symbiote, but he was stopped by Kaine.
  • The Carnage symbiote has shown the ability to somehow convert negative emotions into biomass,[95] enabling it to fully regenerate from a few cells.[96] The Venom symbiote also has the ability to feed off its host's rage,[53] and implies this ability is common to corrupted Klyntar.
  • There is evidence to suggest that the relative power - or at least physical strength when bonded to a host of comparable build and musculature - increases with each generation, given that Toxin is known to be much stronger than his "mother", Carnage, who in turn is known to be significantly more powerful than her progenitor, Venom.
  • It is implied that the more successive hosts a symbiote has, the more powerful it becomes. Klaw speculates this to be the reason the Carnage symbiote has abandoned Cletus Kasady for more powerful hosts before returning to him,[20] and Flash Thompson tells "Peter Parker" that the Venom symbiote was far stronger than it had been when it initially bonded to Spider-Man. This is supported by the Venom symbiote being able to form a scorpion-like tail when bonded to Mac Gargan and fully transforming into various forms of weaponry when bonded to Flash Thompson, an ability it was explicitly stated to lack when bonded to Eddie Brock.
  • It was revealed that the window period between the contact and the full bonding between a symbiote and its host are 48 hours. Apparently, this period is reset every time the host and symbiote are seperated.

Average Strength Level

  • Average strength level unknown, though the larger they expand the more weight they can lift.

Weaknesses

  • Most symbiotes have a weakness against intense sonic vibrations and heat, with known exceptions being Payback and the Grendel symbiote. Knull reveals this is a psychosomatic vulnerability dating back to their creation, and that his later, stronger iterations do not have this weakness.[9] Samuel Sterns mentioned that symbiotes also have a weakness to magnesium, though this is not known by many people and it would likely be an extension to its intolerance of heat.[97] However, this turned out to be false as it had no effect on Agent Venom and its revealed that Samuel acquired this information on Wikipedia.[98]
  • The Symbiote attached to the Edward Brock of Earth-2149 was shown to be dying after the zombification of its host; suggesting it cannot subsist upon dead flesh or tissue. Though this issue has never been addressed by its mainstream counterpart, there is nothing to suggest it could not also be the case; though the multiple zombified incarnations of Venom that appear in the third Secret Wars indicate it may be unique to that incarnation.
    • That said, the Carnage symbiote successfully resuscitated its favorite host, Cletus Kasady, after he had been smothered to death.[96]
    • Additionally, the Venom symbiote of Earth-70134 was able to bond its spawn to the corpse of Gwen Stacy, and would have done so to Mary Jane.[99]

Habitat

Habitat

Cold and quiet

Gravity

Same as Earth's

Atmosphere

Same as Earth's

Population

Population unknown

Miscellaneous

Level of Technology

Superior to earth's technology

Cultural Traits

Symbiotes are fully aware and sentient creatures, but in their natural state are vicious predators, compelling their hosts to violence and corrupting them.[54] However, they can be influenced by their hosts,[100] which resulted in them seeking to forsake their dark nature. The symbiotes formerly worshipped the dark god Knull, but rebelled against him and imprisoned him. Going to extreme lengths to expunge their origins from their history,[5] the symbiotes of Klyntar have no notable cultural traits, or at least none other civilizations would understand, nor do they express themselves through literature, art, nor music. Outside of a desire to maintain peace across the galaxy via the Agents of the Cosmos,[7] the Klyntar only gain some form of cultural identity when they are bonded to a host.[100] Malevolent symbiotes who broke away from the Klyntar hive-mind formed into the intergalactic Symbiote Imperium and seek to conquer the universe.

Representatives

Agony, Anti-Venom, Carnage, Hybrid, Lasher, Mania, Phage, Raze, Riot, Scorn, Scream, Toxin, Venom, Zzzxx

Known Symbiotes from Earth-616

File:Symbiote Family Tree.jpg

Notes

  • Symbiote can be pronounced three different ways: Sim-Bee-Ote, Sim-Bee-Ot, or Sim-Bi-Ote.

Trivia

  • The majority of the human hosts to the symbiotes are citizens of New York. It happens because Spider-Man (who brought the first symbiote to Earth) lives there; the symbiote invasion of Earth was also focused on New York.
  • Venom is the oldest of all the introduced symbiotes of the Marvel Universe. This makes him highly-prized to the Xenophage, as symbiotes that have been bonded to hosts for long periods of time are considered a delicacy.
  • Hybrid was the first fully heroic symbiote, while Toxin is the first heroic symbiote to get his own series. While Venom has shown certain heroic tendencies, often acting to protect those people he considers to be "innocents", he is also frequently portrayed as obsessive, mentally unstable, and even psychotic. He has also displayed ample willingness to use lethal force. His mental instability and his intense hatred of Spider-Man has usually contributed to his portrayal as a villain, but with the symbiote's fourth host, Flash Thompson, Venom was a hero, often losing control when near Spider-Man, other symbiotes, or the Scarlet Spider. It also has two series.
  • Carnage surpassed its "father" Venom by being the first symbiote shown to produce weapons from its limbs. It does not shoot webbing, but strands of tissue. There is some speculation that this is due to the symbiote's gestation on Earth.
  • Toxin was said to be the most powerful symbiote of them all - having the abilities of both Venom and Carnage combined. Again, this may be due to his gestation on Earth.
  • The Venom symbiote appears in Spider-Man 3 and Venom.
  • Scream appears as one of the villains in Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride.
  • Despite having copied Spider-Man's powers, the Venom Symbiote of Earth-616 and its progeny are not considered Spider-Totems.[105] Whether this holds true for non-extraterrestrial versions of the symbiotes is unknown. Additionally, in spite of this declaration, versions of Venom and Carnage still appeared alongside the various Spider-Men and Women that were depicted in the Web of Life and Destiny in Spider-Woman (Vol. 5) #3. Octavia Otto also recruited a female Venom to help her and the Web-Warriors combat the Electro-Verse.[106]
    • In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, it's mentioned that having been bonded to a Spider Totem made the Symbiote into a weak imitation of a Spider Totem, and not an actual Totem since the Totem essence was essentially borrowed.
  • The symbiotes have undergone a number of retcons, including needing to absorb phenethylamine and/or adrenaline to survive, turning their hosts evil, and being a spacefaring empire. Many of these retcons were aimed at further developing character of Venom, who went from a villain to an anti-hero. For example, the retcon establishing the symbiotes as a benevolent peacekeeping force was intended to appeal to new fans who did not know that Venom was ever a villain and simply perceived the character as "a hero, a good guy with a super cool costume that can do amazing things" instead of a monster.[107]
  • According to The Maker, when symbiotes are bonded with other lifeforms, the green liquid that "leaks" from their mouths is how the symbiote excrete waste when it dissolves foreign matter that enters the host's body.[108]

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. ↑ Savage She-Hulk (Vol. 2) #4
  2. ↑ War of the Realms #4
  3. ↑ Scarlet Spider (Vol. 2) #11
  4. ↑ Absolute Carnage: Weapon Plus #1
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Venom (Vol. 4) #4
  6. ↑ King Thor #2
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 3) #23
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Venom #12
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Venom (Vol. 4) #3–4
  10. ↑ Silver Surfer: Black #1
  11. ↑ Cates, Donny (25 June 2019) DONNY CATES on Twitter: "No yeah, that’s the necrosword. Why wouldn’t it be?" Twitter. Retrieved on 25 June 2019.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Venom: Space Knight #2
  13. ↑ Venom: Space Knight #10
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Venom Super Special #1
  15. ↑ Spider-Man and the X-Men #5
  16. ↑ Venom Super Special #1
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Spider-Man and the X-Men #5
  18. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #430
  19. ↑ Venom (Vol. 2) #26
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Superior Carnage #5
  21. ↑ Superior Spider-Man #23
  22. ↑ Carnage #4
  23. ↑ Carnage, U.S.A. #1
  24. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man: Venom Inc. Alpha #1
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Carnage #1
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Superior Carnage Annual #1
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Venom Vs. Carnage #1
  28. ↑ Venom: The Hunger #1
  29. ↑ Thunderbolts #116
  30. ↑ Venom #155
  31. ↑ Rune vs Venom #1
  32. ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 3) #14
  33. ↑ Deadpool: Back in Black #3
  34. ↑ Venom Sinner Takes All #3
  35. ↑ Venom Sinner Takes All #5
  36. ↑ Venom: Along Came a Spider #3–4
  37. ↑ Venom: Along Came a Spider #1
  38. ↑ Venom #18
  39. ↑ Venom (Vol. 2) #27
  40. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #6
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 Venom (Vol. 4) #8
  42. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #568–69
  43. ↑ Superior Spider-Man #25
  44. ↑ Superior Carnage #2
  45. ↑ Venom #159
  46. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #793
  47. ↑ Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #13–14
  48. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #569
  49. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #792
  50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 Venomized #1
  51. ↑ Absolute Carnage: Symbiote of Vengeance #1
  52. ↑ Absolute Carnage #3
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 53.2 Venom: Space Knight #12
  54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 Venom: Space Knight #8
  55. ↑ Venom: Dark Origin #4
  56. ↑ Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars #3
  57. ↑ Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8
  58. ↑ Venom: Along Came a Spider #1–4
  59. ↑ Venom #11
  60. ↑ Venom #3
  61. ↑ Venom (Vol. 2) #42
  62. ↑ Venom (Vol. 2) #38
  63. ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 3) #21–22
  64. ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy #23
  65. ↑ Venom: Space Knight #7–10
  66. ↑ Superior Iron Man #9
  67. ↑ X-Men: Kingbreaker #2–3
  68. ↑ Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard #5
  69. ↑ Venom #163
  70. ↑ Venomized #5
  71. ↑ Web of Venom: Carnage Born #1
  72. ↑ Absolute Carnage #5
  73. ↑ Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham #12
  74. ↑ Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham #13
  75. ↑ Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham #17
  76. ↑ Earth X #X
  77. ↑ Universe X #2
  78. ↑ Earth X #1
  79. ↑ Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy S1E08
  80. ↑ Ultimate Spider-Man S1E04
  81. ↑ 81.0 81.1 Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy S2E11
  82. ↑ Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy S3E02
  83. ↑ Marvel's Avengers Assemble S4E19
  84. ↑ Spider-Man: India #4
  85. ↑ Web Warriors #6
  86. ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 3) #69–71
  87. ↑ Marvel Avengers Academy
  88. ↑ Venom #162
  89. ↑ Venom: First Host #3
  90. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #20
  91. ↑ Venom: Space Knight #10
  92. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #252
  93. ↑ Carnage #4
  94. ↑ Carnage, U.S.A. #1–5
  95. ↑ Carnage #2
  96. ↑ 96.0 96.1 Superior Carnage Annual #1
  97. ↑ Thunderbolts (Vol. 2) #19
  98. ↑ Thunderbolts (Vol. 2) #23
  99. ↑ What If? Spider-Man The Other #1
  100. ↑ 100.0 100.1 Venom (Vol. 3) #3
  101. ↑ Venom: Space Knight #8
  102. ↑ Venom: Space Knight #12
  103. ↑ Venom: Dark Origin #4
  104. ↑ Venom #13
  105. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3) #12
  106. ↑ Web Warriors #9–11
  107. ↑ Arrant, Chris (21 January 2015) VENOM Revamped & Redesigned in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #23 Newsarama. Retrieved on 10 November 2018.
  108. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #7
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