Venom: A name notorious to draw the attention of anyone with even minor comic book prowess. A face of an era, a shadow to the comic book legend that is Spider-Man. Today for Favorite's Week, I'll be covering my favorite anti-hero, Venom.
The Alien Suit that created the Venom persona was actually first worn by Spider-Man himself. After he saw how the alien suit was making him more aggressive, Spider-Man ditched the suit only to find out it found a new host. Photographer Eddie Brock was an slimy, greedy, egotistical man bent on taking Peter Parker's job as The Daily Bugle's photographer, but his boss J. Jonah Jameson found out that Brock's photos of Spider-Man were fabricated. Eddie and the alien suit met in a church and when fused they discovered they had a common enemy, Spider-Man/Peter Parker. As Venom, Brock became one of Spidey's deadliest foes, but for a time he tried to be a hero like Spider-Man and defend the city of San Francisco. Even after Brock was separated from the alien suit, he tried to continue an anti-hero career by using a Venom suit created from his own white blood cells and calling himself Anti-Venom. Currently, Eddie is bonded to another alien suit and calling himself Toxin.
The next man to use the Venom suit was another Spider-Man villain known as Mac Gargan/The Scorpion. Seeing his potential as a host, the suit chose Mac and gave him incredible abilities that he would use to rack in more respect from the villain community. As Venom, Mac joined teams like The Thunderbolts and The Sinister Twelve. Norman Osborn-formally the Green Goblin-would even hire Mac to use the suit as a Spider-Man disguise among Osborn's Dark Avengers. While bonded with the suit, Mac was just as homicidal as Brock with the darker edge of becoming a cannibal. After the alien suit was removed from Mac, he started dying from a mix of separation from the suit and his own genetic mutation breaking down. The evil scientist Alistair Smythe broke Mac out of prison and gave him a new Scorpion suit providing life support.
The latest and my preferred Venom was Peter Parker's high school bully, Eugene "Flash" Thompson. After high school, Flash decided to join the US Army and serve in Iraq. He did this so he could be a hero just like his idol Spider-Man. After making a sacrifice in the line of duty and losing his legs in the process, Flash volunteered to be the military's host for the alien suit (which also could replace his missing legs). Hoping to use this new Venom as their super-soldier, the US Army would allow Flash 24-hours as Venom to complete his mission before the suit took over. Flash's career as Agent Venom proved successful as he's been part of groups like The Thunderbolts, The Secret Avengers, and The Guardians of the Galaxy. Speaking of the Guardians, while with them Flash visited the alien suit's home planet. There he discovers the Klyntar-the actual name of the alien suits-are benevolent creatures who only wish to help others. The reason Venom appeared evil was because most of it's hosts were driven by negative emotions.
I've said before that Venom scares me by appearance, but that doesn't make him any less of a villain or a hero. Flash Thompson is my favorite Venom because of the irony of his creation. Peter's high school bully becoming inspired by Peter's alter ego to make a self sacrifice and earn himself the power held by monsters. Maybe it isn't irony, maybe I just love a good redemption story. More so, Venom's story is one of evolution, from a homicidal nightmare to a hard-edged defender of the innocent. Plus his design is awesome! Thanks for reading.
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