Leonard Elkhart (Earth-616)

Leonard Elkhart
Name	Leonard Elkhart
Aliases	Len
Affiliation and Relationships
Relatives	Spouses: Lorraine Elkhart (ex-wife) Children: Dan Elkhart (son, deceased)
Host of	Venom (former symbiote)
Marital Status	Divorced
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Eyes	Irises: Blue
Hair	Grey-haired
Origin and Living Status
Living Status	Deceased
Reality	Earth-616
Cause of Death	Spine torn out by Carnage
Personal Information
Identity	No Dual
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Formerly judge
Education	University
Base of Operations	Illinois
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Al Milgrom, Herb Trimpe
First	Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #99 (November, 1984)
First	Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #99 (November, 1984)
Death	Absolute Carnage: Symbiote Spider-Man #1 (September, 2019)
Death	Absolute Carnage: Symbiote Spider-Man #1 (September, 2019)

History

Leonard "Len" Elkhart was a judge from Illinois who, after being divorced by his wife Lorraine, decided to go on vacation to Manhattan; despite having been warned about how the city was swarming with supervillains.

Bonded to the symbiote

Initially wowed by the sight of Spider-Man, Len quickly got used to the sight of superheroes. One evening while walking near the Baxter Building, he was ambushed by the symbiote that had been masquerading as Spider-Man's black suit, which bonded to him and used him to return to Peter Parker's apartment. Confused, Len returned to Illinois and visited a doctor, who came up empty-handed as to the cause of his sudden blackout. Picked up by his son, Daniel, Len agreed to have lunch at a Kwikkee Burger, where they witnessed a woman named Lorina Dodson attack and injure several staff and customers with superhuman strength over not being able to order a breakfast burrito past eleven o'clock.

After Dodson was arrested, Len was chosen to oversee her arraignment, where he denied her bail and sent her back to jail awaiting trial. That evening Len and Dan returned home to find Dodson waiting for them in her super-villain identity of the White Rabbit. Dodson pulled a fake gun on them, stating she had recognized him from the restaurant and wanted revenge, but the shock of the prank caused Dan to have a heart attack and die despite Dodson's attempts to resuscitate him with her electrified gloves. His ex-wife bitterly accusing him of Dan's death, Len vengefully took the gun his ex-wife had given him and went to Dodson's trial intending to kill her, but when he was accosted he accidentally shot and killed the court recorder covering the trial. Dodson, who until that point had been remorseful over Dan's death, gleefully proclaimed that Len was just as bad as her and escaped using a rabbit mech. Taking her words to heart, Len allowed himself to be arrested and pled guilty.

Before going to prison

Sent to prison, he allowed the criminals he'd sentenced to do as they pleased to him, embracing the nihilistic belief that there are no innocent people and all it takes is one bad day to bring one's inner criminal to the surface, though they eventually stopped when they realized he'd stopped caring about anything. Years later, Len was diagnosed with terminal cancer, leaving him with only a short time left to live; and he regaled the prison's parole board with his story before being returned to his cell, indifferent to whether he was released or not. He was visited by the White Rabbit, who mentioned she'd been keeping tabs on him and asked if they could be friends. Len's furious retort was interrupted by the arrival of a strange guard he didn't recognize, and when Len asked who he was the guard revealed himself to be Carnage. Len asked what Carnage wanted with him, and was told that the serial killer was after the trace remnants of symbiote left in his body from his encounter with the Venom symbiote years ago. Embracing death, Len gladly allowed Carnage to kill him by ripping out his spine.

Personality

Prior to the death of his son, Len was a man dedicated to justice, though he had a wry sense of humor -- joking to his son that he had terminal cancer, and needling him over his enjoyment of fast food. After Dan's death, Len was overcome by grief and rage, trying to kill White Rabbit to avenge him. After accidentally killing a court recorder, Len embraced the nihilistic belief that there was no good in the world and stopped caring about anything. When Dark Carnage showed up to claim his codex, Len thanked him for freeing him from the torment of his life.

Notes

• In Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #99, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #100 and Absolute Carnage: Symbiote Spider-Man #1, Len's hair is alternately drawn as being white and platinum blond.

See Also

• 4 appearance(s) of Leonard Elkhart (Earth-616)
• 9 image(s) of Leonard Elkhart (Earth-616)
• 1 quotation(s) by or about Leonard Elkhart (Earth-616)