Original Venom returns to Marvel Universe
ne of SpiderMan’s most popular bad guys is back.
In this week’s “Venom” #150, Eddie Brock has again bonded with the alien symbiote to form Venom. The issue is written by Mike Costa with artist Tradd Moore.
This comes just as Sony Pictures has announced a plan for a “Venom” film to star Tom Hardy.
“Tom Hardy is Eddie Brock in #Venom, the upcoming film from Sony’s Marvel Universe releasing October 5, 2018 – production starts this fall,” tweeted Sony Pictures, along with a photo of Hardy in a Venom T-shirt.
The character of Venom —who appeared in “Spider-Man 3” back in 2007 —has a bit of a complicated origin.
Venom began as a symbiotic organism from another planet, who bonded with Spider-Man during the events of “Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars” in 1984. While fighting on an alien world, Spider-Man uses alien technology, he believes, to create a new costume.
Spider-Man thought the symbiote was simply a costume that responded to his thoughts; later it turned out it was a living creature. The idea for the black costume originally had come from fan Randy Schueller, who pitched — and was paid for — the idea of a stealth costume for the hero.
Upon determining the symbiote was alive and acting without his influence, Spider-Man separated himself from it. Somewhat later it bonded with Eddie Brock, a disgraced journalist who held a grudge against Peter Parker.
Brock and the symbiote became known as “Venom,” who was one of the most popular villains of the 1990s. His first full appearance is in “Amazing Spider-Man” #300, by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane.
“Venom’s popularity in the ‘90s, especially the early ‘90s, was off-thecharts,” said blogger Dean Compton, of theunspokendecade.com. “His look, even as it evolved into some much more monstrous, had a sleekness and elegance to it that just made it mesmerizing to look at. For a time, he was one of Marvel’s most popular villains.”
The character eventually became an anti-hero and headlined several of his own comic-book miniseries.
“Venom was so popular, that they made him into an anti-hero and set up a ‘series of limited series’ where Venom would get a new #1 every 6 months or so,” Compton said. “He’d also suffer from the same issues as other hot ‘90s Marvel characters like Punisher or Ghost Rider, in that he would consistently guest-star in titles across the Marvel line from ‘Quasar’ to ‘Spirits of Vengeance.’”
Venom’s popularity even went beyond the pages of the comics.
“Venom was a big deal in the ‘90s due to his appearances as a playable character in the SpiderMan games ‘Maximum Carnage’ and ‘Venom/ Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety,’ “Compton said. “Even my pals who didn’t read comics knew about Venom from these fun (although very difficult) Beat-Em Ups for the SNES and Sega Genesis.”
But overuse eventually led to a decline in popularity. “So many appearances so quickly took the shine off Venom in the eyes of many a comic book fan,” Compton said.
Still, the character never completely went away, and the visual and name have had staying power.
After Venom’s heyday in the 1990s, other characters have bonded with the symbiote over the years, temporarily taking on the “Venom” name.
“Notable among them are former Army Ranger Lee Price, formerly using the symbiote to embark on a career as a super villain; Army CorporalFlash Thompson, formerly using the organism as an agent of the United States government and a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy; and career criminal Mac Gargan, operating with the Symbiote as a member of the Thunderbolts and the Dark Avengers,” says the entry at Marveldatabase.com.
Several popular “Venom” creators return for stories in issue #150, which combines the numbering from Venom’s previous series and miniseries.
Robbie Thompson and Gerardo Sandoval create a story that reveals how Flash Thompson came to lose the symbiote before it found its way to former Army Ranger Lee Price.
The 1990s team of “Venom: Lethal Protector,” Michelinie and Ron Lim, present a tale set between the pages of that comic book series, during Venom’s time in San Franscisco.