One of the most iconic Spider-Man villains. Eddie Brock would join with an alien entity to become one of the most famous team-ups in comic books since Batman and Superman. So how does an alien goo and a journalist find common ground in hating the friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man? Let’s find out!
Edward “Eddie” Charles Allan Brock was born to Carl and Jamie Brock, but sadly, Jamie would die in childbirth leaving an angry and bitter Carl to raise Eddie alone. Always trying to earn his father’s respect, Eddie would do his best in everything he could growing up. He would attend Empire State University, get a degree in Journalism, he would marry an intelligent woman named Anne, and get a job as a reporter for The Daily Bugle newspaper. None of this impressed his father but Eddie was still determined to prove his worth to his father and the world.
Eddie would be diagnosed with adrenal cancer, given months to maybe just a few years left to live, this put a fire in his heart to find a big story to report so he could leave his mark on the world.A big break would come when a serial killer was on the loose and Eddie had found a way to contact the killer. His interviews became famous but Eddie’s guilt and concern for not admitting to who his source was to help stop any future killings ate at him. The day he revealed his source sold the most copies of any article he had ever written but that was the same day Spider-Man caught the killer, who was the neighbor to the man he had admitted was his source. So instead of solving the case, Eddie looked like a fool and was fired from the Bugle. Forced to take a job at a sleazy tabloid, soon, his whole life began to fall apart. Anne would divorce him since he kept spiraling and so he would have to move. Turning to weight lifting, Eddie would bulk up, focusing his efforts on strengthening himself and hating Spider-Man with a passion.
As luck would have it, one night while Eddie was in a church, seeking forgiveness from God for his sins, another person was feeling betrayed by Spider-Man. An alien symbiote that had attached to Spider-Man was being driven from him in the church belfry above Eddie. Having lost his former host, the alien symbiote would latch on to the nearest living thing, Eddie. The two were able to fuse together and their hatred of Spider-Man connected them even more, the symbiote shared what it knew of Spider-Man, including his secret identity of Peter Parker. Even more, the symbiote would feed off the cancer, allowing Eddie to live without the parasitic aspect of the symbiote risking to kill him.
The two would call themselves Venom and begin talking as one, using “we” instead of “I” when speaking. The pair become a deadly monster with the powers of Spider-Man but with Eddie’s peak human strength, the symbiote was able to enhance his strength to be even more than that of Spider-Man’s. Soon, they were hunting Spider-Man down, ready to destroy his life like he had done to theirs. Since the two had completely bonded, Spider-Man had a tougher time fighting them since he couldn’t do the same kind of sonic attack to Venom without risking killing Eddie in the process. Eddie and the symbiote would be locked away for a time but eventually they’d escape and become a thorn in Spider-Man’s side several times, often ending up imprisoned after their confrontations.
One time, Brock would find himself held in a maximum security prison when it was believed the symbiote had been killed, he would be bunked with Cletus Kasady, a heinous serial killer. The symbiote wasn’t dead, but was gestating an offspring symbiote that it would release in the prison cell just before breaking out with Eddie again. This spawn would fuse with Kasady forming the monstrous Carnage. Venom having become more than just Eddie or the symbiote, the two would lure Spider-Man to an island to kill him, Spider-Man faked his death, and the two would live happily on the island for a time, believing they were freed from their most hated enemy. On this island, the two would end up teaming up with several heroes who found themselves stranded there and dealing with troubles.
While Venom was happy on the island, Spider-Man had to deal with Carnage and realized this was likely tied to Venom and would have to break the illusion he was dead to them for them to help stop an even worse monster. An uneasy truce was made and the three went after Carnage and were able to stop him but Venom would be caught in the process. It would take another break out and witnessing Spider-Man help save Eddie’s ex-wife, Anne, to get their hatred for Spider-Man to subside. A new truce was formed and Venom, remembering his time with heroes on his island home, made him desire to be a hero as well, well try to.
Venom proved to be a lethal protector, having moved to his home town of San Francisco to be its hero. He would begin finding his own enemies and other heroes to team up with to stop them. To live in the city, Eddie got to be his own man again and live a secret identity and unite with the symbiote to become Venom when needed. Things would end in San Francisco when Eddie had a break up. Back in New York, Eddie and the symbiote would have their own break up when Eddie would refuse to follow through with the symbiote’s ideas. They would separate and reunite on several occasions, be villain or hero when it felt right. Eventually they would appear to separate for good, the symbiote would find a new host it would bond with, leaving Eddie to develop his cancer again and nearly die.
Using what little time he had left to help the world, Eddie would work for F.E.A.S.T. where he would come into contact with Mister Negative whose powers would cause the symbiote trying to reconnect with Eddie to create a new splintered off symbiote to merge with Eddie, Anti-Venom, who was far more aligned with Spider-Man and work with him instead of Negative. Spider-Man and Anti-Venom would fight the new host for Venom, the former Scorpion, another Spider-Man villain. This would be only the beginning of Eddie’s adventures with other symbiotes though.
That’s all for this time! Eddie Brock has so much more story tied with alien symbiotes and his time with the original one and his tenure as Venom isn’t over yet. Join us next time as we continue talking about the second host but first true bond for the man who would be Venom. See you next time!
Suggested Reading
Web of Spider-Man #18
The Amazing Spider-Man #300
The Amazing Spider-Man #569
Venom
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
