Venom (comic book): Difference between revisions

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[[File:156-VenomSBHImage_1135.jpg|frame|[[Marvel vs. Capcom|We are Venom!]]]]

 

Venom is a ''[[Marvel Comics]]'' characters, and arguably one of the most famous of [[Spider-Man]]'s [[Rogues Gallery]], though over time his character and motivation have [[Character Development|evolved]]. Venom is an [[Ensemble Darkhorse|extremely popular]] character in the Spider-Man franchise. The Eddie Brock version of the character was playable in ''Separation Anxiety'', and later, the first and second ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom]]'', making the leap from comic to video game. Mac Gargan was playable as Venom in the second [[Marvel Ultimate Alliance]] game, with Eddie Brock's appearance as an alternate costume.

 

Venom is an alien symbiote that was used to build a new suit for [[Spider-Man]], inspired design-wise by the second [[Spider Woman]] (Julia Carpenter) during their team-up in ''[[Secret Wars]]''. The costume change was initially unpopular with fans (although the black costume would later be brought back as fans began to like it a bit more) so it quickly went through a [[Retcon]] as an alien symbiote that wanted to bond with Peter Parker. Horrified, Spidey managed to repel the symbiote by taking advantage of its weakness to sonic noises via church bells. Some writers and editors did not like Peter's motivation at the time so there was a second [[Retcon]] that the suit [[Clothes Make the Superman|was more powerful]] than his ordinary suit, but was slowly driving him insane with rage. Wanting to create a new villain for his rogues gallery, the writers decided the creature [[Comic Book Death|survived]] to bond to a series of new hosts:

After the events of Spider-Island, Flash went AWOL to retain the Symbiote and hopefully protect his friends and family. This led Captain America to send Red Hulk after him. Recently, Flash teamed up with [[Red Hulk|Rulk]], [[X-23]] and the newest [[Ghost Rider]] against Blackheart while all were in Las Vegas and saved the world from [[Hell on Earth]]. With those actions in mind, Captain America placed Flash, under the belief that Flash had the symbiote [[Functional Addict|under control]], within the [[Secret Avengers]].

 

=== Tropes common to all versions of Venom: ===

* [[Animal-Themed Superbeing]]: Venom is a spider-based villain, justified in that the symbiote's first host was [[Spider-Man]]. Considering his third host was previously called The Scorpion, this trope was doubled, in a way.

* [[Anti-Villain]] /AntiHero: Technically [[Anti-Hero]] is only true for the first and fourth host, although the third was on the [[Thunderbolts]]. Even then, Eddie was on the farthest end of the [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes]]. He generally tried not to kill innocent people in his quest for vengeance against Spider-Man, but often bent his own rules when it came to fighting other super heroes or prison guards who got in his way. Once he ended his feud, he was very much a [[Sociopathic Hero|Heroic Sociopath]]. To give you an idea, even guys like [[The Punisher]], [[Wolverine]], and [[Ghost Rider]] tried taking him down permanently during this period.

 

=== Tropes unique to Venom III/MacDonald Gargan/Mac Gargan ===

* [[Ax Crazy]]: Not surprising, since the character was written by most writers in a way to top every extreme Venom was associated with.

* [[Hulking Out]]: His first appearances as Venom had a [[Spawn]]-like vibe, with his [http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100612050236/marveldatabase/images/8/86/MacDonald_Gargan_%28Earth-616%29_0080.png eyes being visible within the white patches], but later appearances resemble a [http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/5/55948/1082048-ven_r2_super.jpg more monstrous version of Eddie Brock's Venom form]. Also played straight with his ability to shift between "Spider-Man" mode and "Venom" mode during the ''[[Dark Avengers]]'' arc.

 

=== Tropes unique to Venom IV/Flash Thompson ===

* [[Ascended Fanboy]]: As a teenager, Flash was a Spidey-fanboy. Flash forward to post-''[[Dark Reign (comics)|Dark Reign]]'', and Flash is made the government issue Spider-Man.

* [[Failure Hero]]: No matter how much Flash tries, he gets as much and even worse crap dropped in his lap than Peter Parker in a much shorter amount of time.