Rex Strickland (Earth-616)

Tyrannosaurus
Name	Rex Strickland
Current Alias	Tyrannosaurus
Affiliation and Relationships
Group Affiliation	Formerly U.S. Army, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Sym-Soldier Program
Relatives	Parents: Unnamed father
Host of	Tyrannosaurus (formerly)
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	5′8″ (1.73 m)
Weight	150 lbs (68.04 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Brown
Hair	Black
Unusual Features	Scars on his left cheek and jaw from napalm burns
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human
Living Status	Deceased
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	United States of America
Place of Death	Vietnam
Cause of Death	Being incinerated by a self-destructing Life Model Decoy.
Personal Information
Identity	Secret
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Assassin; former soldier
Base of Operations	Mobile
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman
First	Venom (Vol. 4) #1 (May, 2018) (Photo) Venom (Vol. 4) #2 (June, 2018) (Full appearance)
First	Venom (Vol. 4) #1 (May, 2018) (Photo) Venom (Vol. 4) #2 (June, 2018) (Full appearance)
Death	Web of Venom: Ve'Nam #1 (August, 2018)
Death	Web of Venom: Ve'Nam #1 (August, 2018)

He was my host in Vietnam. He was a good man and he died out there and then I... I became him. I am him. I have been for a very long time.

—Rex Strickland's Symbiote[source]

History

Vietnam War

At the age of 19, Rex Strickland served as a soldier in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. When pinned down by a Viet Cong sniper in 1966, Rex chose to sacrifice himself for his squad and was riddled with bullets and burnt by napalm as a result. Awakening in a field hospital, he was approached by Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. and offered the chance to become a super-soldier by bonding to a piece of an ancient alien symbiote they had unearthed.

As Tyrannosaurus, under Knull's thrall

Rex - codenamed Tyrannosaurus - and his comrades were dispatched to destroy a Việt Cộng military depot, but quickly lost control of their symbiotes and began devouring anyone they encountered. For four months, Rex and the other Sym-Soldiers would black out only to awaken surrounded by half-eaten corpses, their symbiotes screaming at them in an eldritch language. When a Nick Fury Life Model Decoy and Logan were dispatched to subdue them, the Tyrannosaurus symbiote separated from Rex and disguised itself as him in an attempt to catch Fury and Logan off-guard. Rex alerted them to the deception and helped fend off his former comrades, even separating Logan from his symbiote when it took him over. When the Nick Fury LMD was about to self-destruct in an attempt to leave no witnesses, the Tyrannosaurus symbiote rebonded to Rex - conveying remorse for its actions - and threw Logan to safety. The symbiote tried to shield Rex from the ensuing explosion, but it was seared off him and he was immolated.

Legacy

Following Rex's death, his consciousness was stored in the Symbiote Hive-Mind as a codex, letting the Tyrannosaurus symbiote assume his identity, personality, and appearance. His symbiote showed great appreciation for what its species called the "Light". Touched by his nobility, several years later, it would try to free his ex-colleagues from the Grendel's offshots with the help of Venom, though their efforts would be in vain as the Grendel would reconstitute itself. Venom and Tyrannosaurus fused with each other and immolated the Grendel in a steel-smelting blast furnace, killing both the Grendel and Tyrannosaurus, though a piece survived.

With Knull's awakening imminent, Rex - reunited with the Tyrannosaurus symbiote in the symbiote afterlife - began assembling a team of benevolent symbiotes and their hosts' codices - among them Agent Anti-Venom - to oppose him. After Eddie Brock's death, his consciousness was also trapped in the Hive-Mind, where Rex saved him from being taken by Knull's minions and recruited him into this team, volunteering to help him reclaim the Venom symbiote from Knull. Along with Flash Thompson's codex, they found themselves in the God Hive. Flash took possession of a Symbiote Dragon in the real world, alerting Knull of their presence. He took possession of the Tyrannosaurus Symbiote as his avatar and engulfed Eddie in living abyss, seemingly destroying the codex of Rex and his symbiote from the Hive-Mind.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

Black Symbiotic Costume: When bonded to the Tyrannosaurus Symbiote, Rex had access to the following powers:

• Superhuman Strength: While bonded to his symbiote Rex could lift roughly 800 lbs.
• Superhuman Durability: The symbiote enhaced Rex's durability to superhuman levels.
• Superhuman Stamina
• Superhuman Speed
• Superhuman Agility
• Superhuman Reflexes
• Regenerative Healing Factor
• Constituent-Matter Generation
• Shapeshifting: The symbiote could disguise Rex as others and camouflage him.

Trivia

• Rex Strickland is based on Danny Glover's character Lieutenant Michael Harrigan from Predator 2, and his last name—originally Harrigan—is a reference to Strickland Propane from King of the Hill.

See Also

• 5 appearance(s) of Rex Strickland (Earth-616)
• 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Rex Strickland (Earth-616)
• 2 minor appearance(s) of Rex Strickland (Earth-616)
• 3 mention(s) of Rex Strickland (Earth-616)
• 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Rex Strickland (Earth-616)
• 11 image(s) of Rex Strickland (Earth-616)