October has become all about Venom, in case you were wondering. While Eddie Brock may be his most well known host, the symbiote has been involved with others. One such host was Flash Thompson, former bully of Peter Parker turned hero who wields a deadly alien as his weapon of choice.
Eugene “Flash” Thompson was born to Harrison and Rosie Thompson, his father was an abusive alcoholic and would beat Flash which helped lead to Flash becoming a bully in school. His biggest target was Peter Parker, physically and verbally abusive towards him until Peter was suddenly able to stop Flash from fighting him during a boxing match. A football super star, Flash gained his nickname due to how fast he was on the field. Flash was also a huge fan of Spider-Man often dressing like him and even starting his school’s Spider-Man fan club. When Flash got to college, he would become friends with Peter, apologizing for his behavior back in high school. Once he was out of college, Flash joined the military and would excel in his endeavors. During his time with the army, he would end up badly injured, losing both his legs past his knees.
Project: Rebirth was the program that created Captain America, the goal of super soldiers has had many attempts, often irreplicable. When a new Project: Rebirth was about bonding a symbiote to a human soldier, Flash was a perfect candidate for it. The symbiote he was given was none other than the Venom symbiote, once united, they became Agent Venom, the symbiote would give Flash new legs and the Flash was able to maintain control over the symbiote in their work together. Now with powers similar to Spider-Man, Flash was effectively living out his dream as a fan of the web slinger. As Agent Venom, the bonding was less a merging of minds and more of how Iron Man and Jarvis is in the MCU films, with Flash in charge with the symbiote giving guidance and assistance.
Flash proved to be a great asset with Venom and the two would go on many successful missions together, such as aiding with the quarantine of Spider Island. So successful were they, that when Project: Rebirth was shut down, the two would go rogue to continue helping others. During this time, they would be chased by Captain America and Red Hulk to get back the symbiote but when they saw all the good Agent Venom was doing, they decided to let Flash and the symbiote continue to work together. Captain America was so impressed, he invited them to join the Secret Avengers, the covert ops branch of the Avengers.
Agent Venom would deal with all manner of strange threats, from Carnage to the occult, the duo would find themselves fighting off many dangers. When they were recruited into the Thunderbolts, the influence of such violent teammates allowed the symbiote to overwhelm Flash and the two would eat some of their enemies before Flash could regain control. Flash would learn that the medications that allowed him to keep the symbiote in check had made his body depend on the symbiote to survive. The Avengers would try to help him out with this and in the process gain membership into the official roster and become their representative with the Guardians of the Galaxy.
While in space with the Guardians he would become good friends with the team and rediscover the home world of the symbiotes, allowing the two to create a stronger bond than before and cure Flash of his dependency of the symbiote and help cure the symbiote’s blood lust. The two were now more powerful than before and would go planet to planet, helping those in need. When the Guardians returned to Earth, it was during the second Civil War between heroes, Agent Venom and the Guardians join Captain Marvel’s side and would face off against many of their own friends. Shortly after this, Flash would lose access to the the symbiote and it would bond with Eddie Brock once more.
A synthetic Anti-Venom had been made and Flash was able to bond with it to become Agent Anti-Venom and use his new powers to help heal others. Using his powers Agent Anti-Venom would help stop the Poison invasion, his abilities were perfect for it, though Flash had to be careful since they were too powerful at times. When Green Goblin and Carnage were to bond and become the Red Goblin, they would prove to be a very devastating foe to Flash, Spider-Man, and their allies. Thankfully, the healing powers of the Anti-Venom symbiote allowed Flash to heal allies who would have died otherwise, but this would come at a cost. Flash would sacrifice himself so he could heal his friends and allies so that the Red Goblin could be taken down once and for all. Flash was given a military funeral with high honors.
There you have it! Flash Thompson has had quite the wild ride in comics. He’s been in movies, TV, even as Agent Venom in animated form. He took the symbiote to a new territory as just a hero instead of anti-hero or villain territory it was used to. Will Flash return in comics? Will he get a new symbiote? Who knows! See you next time!
Suggested Reading
Amazing Fantasy #15
Amazing Spider-Man #654
Amazing Spider-Man: Venom Inc. Alpha #1
Amazing Spider-Man #800
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
