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Marvel’s Spider-Man 2is the sequel to Insomniac’s massive 2018 PlayStation hit. The game features both Peter Parker and Miles Morales after the latter appeared in his own spin-off adventure.
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In the sequel, Parker and Morales are expected to face off against several new villains, including the Venom symbiote. Before Eddie Brock bonded with the symbiote to create the carnivorous anit-hero, Parker was nearly consumed by it first. The symbiote appears to be a major factor in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, so let’s take a brief look at the history of the alien parasite.
Knull Creates Symbiotes
Long ago, when the cosmos were being created by the Celestials, an evil deity namedKnullcreated symbiotes as his extermination force to reject the evolving universe. The first symbiote he created was calledAll-Black,and he used it tocut off the head of a Celestial.
The severed Celestial head would eventually turn into the spaceportKnowhere.
Knull refitted the severed Celestial head to serve as aforge for his symbiotesand mass-produce an army. Once Knull was satisfied with his army, he declared war on the universe anddestroyed planets and civilizations. During one battle, however, All-Black left Knull in favor ofGorr, who drew upon its murderous intent.
Eventually, Knull’s fight brought him to a medieval version of Earth. He unleashed amassive dragon-like creatureupon the planet, butThor defeated it, and in the process,severed Knull’s connection with the symbiotes.
What Are Symbiotes?
For the first time in its existence, the symbiotes were free from Knull’s control and decided torebel against their creator. They imprisoned him at the center of a planet called Klyntar in the Andromeda Galaxy. Maybe to share a connection with the planet, the symbiotes also decided toname their species Klyntar too.
Klyntar forms asymbiotic bondwith asingle host. When bonded, the symbiotes feed upon their hosts’darkest desiresand alter their personalities and behaviors as such. The hosts also receive significant boosts in their physical abilities that reach nearsuper-human levels. Unfortunately, hosts don’t last long because the symbiotes arefeeding on their life energyand will ultimately absorb their host until their dead.
The majority of the symbiotes wanted to continue causing destruction and sought towardrebuilding the Symbiote Imperium, an empire of the symbiotes. The other symbiotes who were more on the human side created theAgents of Cosmosto help maintain peace in the universe.
Bonding With Spider-Man
In the 1984 storylineSecret Wars, many of Earth’s heroes weretransported to a planet called Battleworldto fight their villains. When Spider-Man arrived, he needed to repair his suit. Hulk and Thor told him touse a deviceinside the alien structure their established as their headquarters.
Spider-Man found the capsule with the symbiote inside, and thinking this was the device they were talking about, released the symbiote. The alien wrapped itself around Peter Parker’s body and gave him ablack suit.
Parker brought the symbiote back to Earth after Secret Wars, but thesymbiote started to affect him. Eventually, Parker discovered the symbiote’s desire of bonding with him and the Fantastic Fourused sound wavesto free Parker from the creature.
Venom
Now separated from Parker, the symbiote hid itself inthe bell tower of a church. It was slowly dying until it found its new host inEddie Brock. The former journalist incorrectly identifiedSin-Eaterand tried to blame the events on Spider-Man. With his reporting career over, Brock looked for solace in the church. Instead, he found the symbiote.
The symbiote’s own hatred for Spider-Man amplified Brock’s hatred for him, andVenom was born. Brock transformed into a massive, bulky monster that wouldeat people whole. Venom’s only desire was tokill Spider-Man, which Brock now knew was Peter Parker from the symbiote.
Because the symbiote bonded with Parker, hisSpider-Sense would not detect it. Venom took advantage of this and ambushed Spider-Man constantly but could never get the better of him. The symbiote also feltenvious of Mary Jane Watsonbecause Parker wanted to be with her instead of it.
Time and time again, Spider-Man thwarted Venom’s plans to kill him and his loved ones. Repeatedly, Brock was sent to aspecial government super-prisonin the Colorado Rocky Mountains called the Vault.
In an attempt to escape, hefaked his deathand went back to New York. He was interrupted in his attack on Spider-Man byStyx and Stone, two other villains who wanted to kill Spider-Man. Obsessed with his desire to kill Spider-Man, Venom lashed out at the pair. However, Styx got the better of Venom anddestroyed the symbiote with his decay power.
Carnage
After losing the symbiote, Brock was incarcerated again and shared a cell withserial killer Cletus Kasady. The two quickly developed a deep hatred for each other during their time together. One night, Kasadytried to murder Brock. To both of their surprise, thesymbiote saved Brock and rebonded with him.
Somehow, the symbiote survived Styx’s touch of decay, and Venom had returned. Venom escaped the prison but unknowinglyleft behind a symbiote offspring. The offspringbonded with Kasadyand the pair createdCarnage.
Kasady was servingeleven life sentences,and her murderous nature combined with the symbiote gave himdeadly powers. Carnage was more powerful than Spider-Man and Venom, and he began a massive killing spree. However, Carnage was subdued by the combined forces of Spider-Man, Venom, and the Fantastic Four, andKasady was incarcerated in the Vault.
Agent Venom
Despite Kasady being incarcerated, he wouldescape numerous timesand forever be the murderous villain. Brock, on the other hand, did experience briefmoments of heroism-but he would be considered ananti-heroat best. Things changed whenFlash Thompsonbonded with the symbiote.
Following the Iraq War, Thompson, Parker’s former high school bully, joined a government project calledRebirth 2.0. The government acquired the Venom symbiote after it was bonded withMac Gargan, the former Scorpion. Scientists tried to bond Thompson to the symbiote in acontrolled wayand not to allow either Thompson or the symbiote to developattachment issues.
Thompsonlost his legsduring the war, but when he bonded with the symbiote, he was able to reproduce them.
Afterextensive exposureto the symbiote, Thompson eventually develops aphysical attachmentto the symbiote that threatens his life.
Agent Venomwasn’t as strong as Brock’s Venom,but he was on roughly thesame level as Spider-Man. Thompson was deployed on several missions, including one to the Savage Land where he wasattacked by Kraven the Hunterbecause he believed Thompson could end his curse.
Throughout his time with the symbiote, Thompson wasmainly a force of good. He was a catalyst in defeating theQueen in Spider-Islandand assisting Scarlet Spider in fightingCarnage in Minimum Carnage. He also was a member of theThunderbolts, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Agents of the Cosmos.
Anti-Venom
Before the symbiote bonded with Thompson, Brock still took advantage of his superhuman abilities. Unfortunately, the symbiote startedfabricating memoriesand convinced Brock he suffered from cancer and needed the symbiote. Somewhat ironically, Brock actually developedbrain cancerfrom the symbiote’s hallucinations and the parasite left him.
Luckily for Brock, hiscancer was curedby Martin Li. Apparently, Brock’s body still contained remnants of the symbiote andreacted with Li’s power. Brock’s body was enveloped in a white suit, and he started calling himselfAnti-Venom.
During the Spider-Island event, thousands of people wereinfected with a virus that transformed them into spider mutations. Reed Richards and Brock realized his Anti-Venom symbiote could cure the disease, but Brockwouldn’t be Anti-Venom anymore. Brock agreed to the procedure andsaved everyone.
Who Are The Strongest Symbiotes?
While many might only think of Venom and Carnage when thinking about symbiotes, there areseveral symbiote characters. Venom might’ve been thefirst symbioteto make an appearance in Marvel comics, it’s not the strongest.
To no surprise,Knull, the creator of the symbiotes,isconsidered the strongest among them. He craftedAll-Black, the deadly sword that Gorr used in his bloody conquest against the gods. Kasady as Carnage is considered one of thedeadliest symbiotesand multiple heroes needed to team up to take him down.
One other symbiote to highlight isToxin. This symbiote was number 1,000 in its lineage and anoffspring of Carnage. Many feared Toxin to be thestrongest symbiotebesides Knull. Its powers are similar to Carnage’s but significantly amplified. Toxin also hasstronger resistanceagainst sound waves, themain weakness of symbiotes.
