Every Venom Host (So Far)

Although Venom is usually associated with Eddie Brock, the symbiote has also bonded to numerous other Marvel characters over the years, including some of the universe’s most prominent heroes and villains. Here are all the characters who have bonded to the Venom symbiote throughout its extensive history in the Marvel Universe, as told in stories available now on Marvel Unlimited.

PETER PARKER

Peter Parker first bonded with Venom in SECRET WARS (1984) #8, where he mistook the symbiote for a way to repair his tattered costume after his fight against an army of super villains on Battleworld. Back on Earth, Peter learned the symbiote was not only a sentient being, but one that was trying to permanently bond with him in WEB OF SPIDER-MAN (1985) #1. 

Eventually, Peter separated himself from the symbiote using its weakness to sound. Since then, Peter has occasionally re-bonded to Venom on a temporary basis, most notably in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2015) #800 to defeat their mutual enemy, the Red Goblin.

EDDIE BROCK

When Spider-Man used church bells to separate from the Venom symbiote in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) #299, it fell into the sanctuary below and bonded with disgraced journalist Eddie Brock. Since both the symbiote and Eddie possessed their own personal grudges against Spider-Man, this bonding was a match made in Hell. 

Venom tormented Spider-Man for years, until eventually Eddie’s own conscience began positively affecting the symbiote. Now, Venom has largely set aside his feud with Spider-Man and become something of a reluctant protector, using his powerful abilities against more nefarious threats.

BEN REILLY

Even Peter Parker’s clone, Ben Reilly, experienced the Venom symbiote, though not nearly as extensively as Peter. The symbiote disguised itself as the blue hoodie in Ben’s Scarlet Spider costume and attempted to fully bond with him, but Ben’s strong will prevented the symbiote from asserting control. 

Teaming up with Spider-Man and Eddie, Ben agreed to return the Venom symbiote to Eddie as long as the three continued to work together in VENOM SUPER SPECIAL (1995) #1.

ANNE WEYING

During Venom’s villainous years, Anne Weying— Eddie Brock’s ex-wife and mother of his son Dylan—helped Spider-Man against Venom and the murderous Sin-Eater. When Sin-Eater shot Anne in VENOM: SINNER TAKES ALL (1995) #2, the Venom symbiote bonded with her to prevent her from dying, and that bonded pair became She-Venom. After She-Venom killed several men who had violently wronged her in the past, Anne relinquished the symbiote back to Eddie, disgusted at what it had revealed about her.

ANGELO FORTUNATO

After Eddie successfully separated himself from the Venom symbiote, he decided to auction it off to the highest bidder in MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN (2004) #7. Mob boss Don Fortunato won the auction, purchasing the symbiote for his physically frail son Angelo with the intention of making him a more assertive and powerful heir. 

After bonding with Venom, Angelo set out to destroy Spider-Man to prove his worth. However, the Venom symbiote grew disgusted with Angelo after Spider-Man soundly defeated them. In MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN (2004) #8, it separated from the aspiring mobster mid-leap, sending Angelo plummeting to his death.

MAC GARGAN

After rejecting Angelo Fortunato, the Venom symbiote approached Mac Gargan, the super villain more commonly known as Scorpion, while he was in prison in MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN (2004) #9. After bonding with Gargan, this new Venom made his debut as a member of the Sinister Twelve. 

Following the super villain team’s defeat,  the Thunderbolts recruited Gargan in CIVIL WAR (2006) #4. This Venom eventually joined the Dark Avengers and, when its leader Norman Osborn was overthrown in SIEGE (2009), Gargan ended up back in prison, where he separated from the symbiote for good in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1999) #648.

CAROL DANVERS

Norman Osborn’s dark reign over the American intelligence community toppled with a crash in SIEGE (2009), where the Dark Avengers’ wrongdoings were exposed and the team was soundly defeated. When Captain Marvel confronted Mac Gargan’s Venom, the symbiote overwhelmed her and sensed that her immense energy and power would make her the perfect host in SIEGE: SPIDER-MAN (2010) #1. Fortunately, Carol quickly regained her senses and repelled the symbiote, leaving it to re-bond with Gargan for the remainder of the battle.

FLASH THOMPSON

After the government confiscated the Venom symbiote from Mac Gargan, they bonded it to combat veteran Flash Thompson in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1999) #654. Taking on the moniker Agent Venom, Flash used the symbiote as a force for good.

As Agent Venom, Flash undertook black ops missions throughout the Marvel Universe. He also limited his exposure to the symbiote to 48-hour intervals in order to avoid making the bond permanent. During this time, Agent Venom became a member of the Secret Avengers, Thunderbolts, and even the Guardians of the Galaxy as he expanded his mission to the cosmos.

THUNDERBOLT ROSS

During his search for allies in the impending battle against Blackheart, General Thunderbolt Ross—in his gamma-radiated alter ego as the Red Hulk—crashed into Flash Thompson’s apartment to recruit Agent Venom in VENOM (2011) #13. To prevent the Red Hulk from harming Flash, the Venom symbiote temporarily bonded with Ross until he discarded it and the meeting deescalated. Later, during the showdown with Blackheart, the symbiote bonded with Ross again to augment his powers against the demon.

OTTO OCTAVIUS

After Otto Octavius hijacked Peter Parker’s body to become the Superior Spider-Man, he mistook Agent Venom and its host as villains and battled the symbiote. Octavius separated the symbiote from Flash Thompson, only for it to escape and bond with him instead, effectively making him the Superior Venom. 

When the Avengers staged an intervention over his increased brutality against criminals, Octavius battled the team. He eventually recognized that the symbiote had affected his mind, so he turned to Flash, who helped them separate in SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN (2013) #25.

LEE PRICE

In an unseen incident, the Venom symbiote separated from Flash Thompson and made its way to the Black Cat’s criminal gang. The symbiote bonded with one of Black Cat’s henchmen, Lee Price, and tried to continue its heroic activities, only for Lee to assert control and steer it back to full-on villainy in VENOM (2016) #1. After Spider-Man and Eddie Brock defeated them in VENOM (2016) #6, the symbiote was forcibly separated from Lee before he was murdered by a resurrected Cletus Kasady.

TEL-KAR

VENOM: FIRST HOST (2018) explored Venom’s history before his fateful encounter with Spider-Man, providing the symbiote with a cosmic backstory. Shortly after the Venom symbiote spawned on the Klyntar homeworld, the Kree recovered it and bonded it to warrior Tel-Kar so he could infiltrate the Skrull military. After Tel-Kar’s deception was discovered, Ronan the Accuser took him into Skrull custody and separated him from the symbiote—which eventually ended up on Battleworld, where it first encountered Spider-Man.

MALEKITH THE ACCURSED

After learning about All-Black, Gorr the God-Butcher’s god-killing blade forged from a living symbiote, the evil Dark Elf Malekith the Accursed desired one of his own. To accomplish this, Malekith stole the Venom symbiote and tortured it until it submitted to his will in WAR OF THE REALMS (2019) #4. He also enchanted portions of the symbiote bond with several of his associates to form his own personal strike force. 

However, the Thor Corps proved too much for them. They defeated the Dark Elf and freed Venom so it could reform and find a less manipulative host.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

While Agent Venom worked with the Guardians of the Galaxy, the symbiote became a liability for the entire team when it separated from Flash and began acting erratically. It then started bonding with individual members of the Guardians, starting with Groot before ultimately bonding with Drax. 

Controlling Drax, the symbiote traveled to the Klyntar homeworld, where it was purified and restored to normal. Afterwards, it safely took Flash as a host again in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2013) #23.

MERCURIO THE 4-D MAN

The cosmic super villain Mercurio the 4-D Man has battled everyone from Thor to Captain Marvel, but he found a different fight on his hands when he confronted Agent Venom. After Agent Venom became the Space Knight, he intervened in an interplanetary conflict involving Mercurio in VENOM: SPACE KNIGHT (2015) #5. Mercurio separated the symbiote from Flash and briefly bonded with it, but it ultimately rejected him and returned to Flash, who defeated the unhinged despot.

MYSTERIO

The series SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN (2019) revealed some previously untold history about Spider-Man’s early days with the Venom symbiote. For instance, during this time, Mysterio tasked Black Cat with stealing a piece of the symbiote for him to examine, only for the Kingpin’s henchmen to interrupt. To escape from this sticky situation, Mysterio temporarily bonded with that piece of symbiote in SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN (2019) #4.

DYLAN BROCK

While Anne Weying was bonded to the Venom symbiote, it combined her and Eddie Brock’s genetic material along with trace amounts of the symbiote itself. As a result, Anne became pregnant with their son, Dylan Brock. Dylan’s unique heritage allows him to telepathically control symbiotes.

After Knull’s defeat, the Venom symbiote initially watched over Dylan as his protector. When Jack O’Lantern mortally wounded Dylan during a mugging, the Venom symbiote bonded with him to save his life, making him the new Venom in VENOM (2018) #35.

MARY JANE WATSON

Following VENOM WAR (2024), in which Eddie Brock and his son Dylan fought over ownership of the symbiote, Venom selected a new host. The mystery of its new host's identity unfurled across the first five issues of ALL-NEW VENOM (2024), where Luke Cage, Rick Jones, Madame Masque, and Robbie Robertson were all eliminated as potential hosts. As revealed in ALL-NEW VENOM (2024) #5, Mary Jane Watson has become the symbiote's latest host, although it has yet to be seen how this came to be.

See Mary Jane step out as Venom in ALL-NEW VENOM #5, on sale now!

Want to meet all of Venom's gracious hosts? Join Marvel Unlimited for instant access to 30,000+ comics on the Marvel Unlimited app or on the web, with digital issues spanning Marvel Comics classics to ongoing series!

Grab these comics and more at your local comic book shop! Or redeem then read your digital copy on the Marvel Unlimited app by using the code found in your print comic. Find and support your local comic book shop at ComicShopLocator.com.

To read your Marvel comics digitally, download the Marvel Unlimited app for iOS and Android devices. Gain an expansive catalog of 30,000+ comics spanning Marvel Comics history, plus access your entire digital library including comics redeemed from print.