Symbiote (comics)

Fictional biography

The Klyntar, as the symbiotes call themselves, originate from an unnamed planet from the Andromeda Galaxy, and are a benevolent species which believes in helping others, which they attempt to do by creating heroes through the process of bonding to the morally and physically ideal. Hosts afflicted with chemical imbalances or cultural malignancy can corrupt symbiotes, turning them into destructive parasites which combat their altruistic brethren by spreading lies and disinformation about their own kind, in order to make other races fear and hate the species as a whole.

The corrupted Klyntar became more widespread than their benevolent counterparts, establishing a space faring culture dedicated to infecting and overtaking planets. The corrupted Klyntar force their hosts to perform death-defying feats in order to feed off of the resulting rushes of adrenaline, and other hormones, such as phenethylamine. These host beings would be sucked dry, exhausted by the constant stress and exertion, or simply die in a failed stunt.

At some point, corrupted symbiotes overran a planet which was later devoured by Galactus. Due to their genetic memory, all symbiotes now loathe both Galactus and his former herald, the Silver Surfer. ZZZXX, a symbiote with a predilection for eating brains, was also captured by the Shi'ar, and imprisoned and studied for years until it was released and employed as a Praetorian Guard by Gabriel Summers.

The Venom symbiote is the first permanent symbiote resident of Earth, brought by Spider-Man after the events of Secret Wars. It was later established that the Venom symbiote was considered crazy by its fellow parasites since it sought, like the peaceful Klyntar, a mutual bond with a host rather than domination, and for that reason the symbiote was placed in a prison canister, and supposedly condemned to death by disintegration on a planet that would later become part of Beyonder's Battleworld where it briefly bonded with Deadpool while he was trying a machine that create any article of clothing a person can imagine, however, after sensing it feeding on his thoughts, Deadpool rejected the symbiote. Yet having communicated with Deadpool's twisted psyche drove the symbiote insane. The symbiote soon afterwards bonded with Spider-Man and returned with him to Earth where it remained bonded for some time until Spider-Man discovered the suit was actually an alien symbiote and forced it off. Stung by the rejection, the symbiote went looking for Deadpool again and bonded with him a second time, as the hate for the superhero began to grow. The symbiote eventually went to Eddie Brock and during this time it remained bonded with Brock, it spawned six children, with its first child later having two of its own. Brock would soon reform and spent a considerable amount of time trying to become a hero with the suit.

Though originally happy with Brock, because Brock blamed Spider-Man for his failures, the symbiote gradually became increasingly possessive and abusive of him, eventually being sold off by Eddie. It is later revealed that it only stuck with him because of cancer of his adrenal glands. Since then, the Venom suit has gradually grown more and more monstrous and psychotic. It is currently bonded to Flash Thompson, who struggles to control it, but the symbiote has recently been shown to be developing some slight affection for him. This would suggest the host's mental state might affect the symbiote just as much as the other way around, as the Carnage symbiote is as psychotic as its host and the Venom suit's explosiveness got worse after bonding with its two hosts after Brock, both of which were career criminals. Likewise, the various symbiotes bonded to heroes are not shown to be as twisted, though they occasionally struggle with aggression.

Angel Medina claims he was reluctant to start work on Mighty Avengers because he was working on a Venom project, only to be told he would be drawing a story with "the Avengers vs. an alien invasion—by the Venoms." This story arc was later confirmed to be drawn by Mark Bagley, as Medina would be unavailable. Solicitations state that the New Avengers will also be part of this arc, themselves becoming infested by symbiotes. New Avengers #34 revealed that Doctor Doom is responsible for dropping a "Venom Bomb" on New York that unleashes the symbiotes. The story was completed in Mighty Avengers #8. Further backstory reveals that Doctor Doom collected a tiny sample of the symbiote's cells from the drone he had sent in earlier. Later, it is revealed that Kristoff Vernard actually orchestrated this so that Doom would be arrested for the event above.

A swarm of Brood that had been overtaken by symbiotes later invade the S.W.O.R.D. satellite and possess all of its inhabitants, among them Abigail Brand, and Deathbird. The symbiotes are defeated by Spider-Man (who temporarily merges with one, controlling it with the help of Martha Johansson) and the X-Men.

Powers and abilities

Symbiotes empower the natural abilities of a host to the point where they far exceed that of normal members of the hosts' species. These abilities include the following:

The following are functions that have been demonstrated from various hosts' wills (but are not limited to):

Weaknesses

Symbiote were naturally weakened by intense sounds and intense sonic waves – especially large fires of guns. For example, Spider-Man got the Venom symbiote off him using the intense sound of a church bell. Additionally, in some stories and games, (mostly mentioned in the 2000 Spider-Man video game), they are also weakened by fire. However, as each new symbiote has spawned a child, a natural evolution seems to not only increase their strengths, but also reduce their weaknesses. Even already existing symbiotes can mutate and develop these resistances. Still, there has not been an invulnerable symbiote in mainstream continuity, because the newest breeds can be harmed by incredible amounts of sonic waves and heat. Also, in the Ultimate Marvel Universe, symbiotes are vulnerable to the heat produced by high voltage electricity.

There are other weaknesses as well besides sonics and heat. Iron Man managed to create an antidote formula that could destroy a symbiote (it should be noted that these were actually just virus-like biological organisms created by Doctor Doom, originally based on the Venom symbiote and were specially made as a bio-weapon). With Venom and Carnage, authorities have been able to keep the symbiotes in check with a chemical inhibitor. The criminal Styx nearly killed the Venom symbiote with his lethal touch. Whether a symbiote can mutate and reduce the effect of these weaknesses is unknown, although Carnage claimed to have developed invulnerability to sonics. Also, when a symbiote bonded with Wolverine, it was pushed out by his advanced healing factor, although Wolverine's healing factor had no use when he was bonded to a clone of the Venom symbiote.

In some incarnations, the symbiote is depicted as requiring a certain chemical (most likely phenethylamine) to stay sane and healthy, which has been said to be found abundantly in two sources: chocolate and human brain tissue. Thus, the host is forced to steal/buy large amounts of chocolate or become an unwilling cannibal who devours the brains of those he kills. This peculiar trait has only been witnessed in the Venom symbiote. However, both Carnage and Toxin have threatened their enemies with aspirations to "eating their brains", as well as various other body parts. When Toxin teamed up with Spider-Man and Black Cat, he struggled to keep himself together, telling Spider-Man that he was only "joking" about eating the robbers' brains.

On at least one occasion, Spider-Man was able to exhaust the Venom symbiote by taking advantage of the fact that it made its webbing out of itself; after the symbiote had already used a great deal of webbing to bind him to a bell, Spider-Man forced Venom to use further webbing so that it would exhaust itself, like blood dripping from a wound (although the sheer amount of webbing that the symbiotes would need to use for this weakness to be exploited makes its use in a fight limited).

Another weakness that they have is their hunger for feelings. In the storyline Planet of the Symbiotes, Eddie releases a cry of pain and agony so great that the entire symbiote race commits mass suicide. However, how they kill themselves is not clear.

The Xenophages, a race of extraterrestrial shapeshifters which prey on symbiotes, possess the ability to spew an unknown incendiary chemical that can paralyze symbiotes, and enhance their taste.

It is hinted that Symbiotes' aggressive behavior may be a result of its bonding with a person who has a very abusive behaviors driving them insane. As shown when Deadpool first wore the Venom Symbiote suit before it switches to Spider-Man.

Central symbiotes

The following symbiotes have appeared throughout several years of Spider-Man's history, appeared in multiple media such as film and video games and were main characters/villains in story arcs.

Other, side symbiotes

The following symbiotes have made only a few other appearances in comic books and are usually excluded from adaptations in other media.

Other versions

In the Ultimate Marvel universe, the Symbiotes are featured. The Venom suit is a man-made creation born of an experiment by Richard Parker and Edward Brock, Sr. to develop a protoplasmic cure for cancer. It used Richard's DNA as the starting base for it, thus himself and Peter are "related" to it. The suit enhances the wearer's strength and natural abilities, but also attempts to permanently bond with the host and can affect his/her mind. The Ultimate symbiote is seemingly weak only to electricity. When worn by a host other than Richard's son Peter, the Ultimate Spider-Man, the host is compelled to devour the life energy of other human beings or else have their own be consumed by the suit instead.

The Carnage symbiote also appears in the Ultimate universe as a parasite genetically engineered by Curt Conners from Peter's DNA. Traces of the Venom suit remaining in Peter's blood give Carnage similar properties to the Venom suit. It also devours people, but does not require a host. It is killed after being consumed by fire following its attempt to absorb Peter to become whole. It later reappears in the form of Gwen Stacy, and during an encounter with Venom, the latter absorbs the Carnage suit into itself, making Venom "complete" though more monstrous than ever before.

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