The Evolution of Venom (Animated)
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Everyone knows mixing Peter Parker's discarded alien symbiote with disgruntled journalist Eddie Brock creates the beastly Venom, but just how has he changed over the years? Let's go through Venom's appearances in TV and Film to find out...animated!
warning: spoilers ahead!Venom first appeared onscreen in the 1994 Spider-Man Animated Series, he has visible pupils, luscious lips, a creased head, a large spider emblem, and white hand patches that shoot his webbing. Plus, constant red and blue highlights, odd veins on his forearms, and his signature long tongue.
In the follow-up series, Spider-Man Unlimited, Venom is much more monstrous, he no longer has red highlights, he has a protruding spine, animal-like feet, and lacks any sort of pupil. In addition, this is the first on-screen appearance of his limb-like tendrils. He's also seen turning into a gooey puddle, allowing him to merge with his buddy, Carnage.
Venom slims down for his live-action debut in Spider-Man 3, he has a Spider-suit-like texture, no hand patches, a grey emblem, and tiny sharp teeth. This version of him mostly shrieks, and when trapped by vibrating poles, he's taken out with an exploding pumpkin bomb.
In The Spectacular Spider-Man, Venom has longer arms, no white hand patches, and his stomach can apparently open up like a mouth...for, uh, some plausible reason.
In Ultimate Spider-Man, Doc Ock creates the Venom symbiote from a sample of Spider-Man's DNA. It's used by Harry Osborne to become black-suit Spider-Man before its more brutish Venom form unleashes. Later on, the symbiote attaches to reformed bully Flash Thompson, turning him into the tactical superhero, Agent Venom. The Symbiote also infects a slew of other characters, but that's a whole can of goo, so let's keep moving...
In the Phineas and Ferb Marvel crossover, Venom makes a comic-book accurate appearance, with his usual hunger for mischief.
In Hulk and the Agents of SMASH, the symbiote attaches to Skaar, She-Hulk, A-Bomb, Red-Hulk, and regular Hulk, before absorbing most of them to become the gigantic and unwieldy Gamma-Venom.
The anime, Marvel Disk Wars, features another infected Hulk, but this version matches closer to Venom's usual form, although his skin is lighter and he has added veins.
In the 2017 Spider-Man cartoon, Flash Thompson, Eddie Brock, and Max Modell all become their own respective Venom. This version of Venom has pointy elbows and upper thighs, his spider-emblem extends beyond his shoulders, and he has sharp white nails. The Eddie Brock version has a more squished face, while the Max Modell variation has more spikey protrusions and a longer emblem. Once Max gains control of the symbiote, his stomach mouth also makes a reappearance. Additionally, the symbiote briefly merges with Dr. Curt Conners and can even survive without a host. During the Guardians of the Galaxy crossover, the Venom symbiote attaches to Spider-Man, although this Venom is less stocky, and his emblem and eyes occasionally glow bright red.
In Avengers Assemble, Dracula is infected by the symbiote, which retains his armoured suit, long hair, and red vampiric eyes.
In his standalone live-action film, Venom is bulky, lacks any suit texture, and has no emblem. He's strangely veiny and has two layers of teeth. This Venom also attaches to Eddie Brock's ex-girlfriend, Anne, becoming She-Venom. In this film, Venom faces off against evil businessman, Carlton Drake, who becomes the skilled symbiote, Riot.
In the sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Venom ditches Eddie to hit the party scene, then attaches to convenience store owner Mrs. Chen, before finding his way back to his main man. This time, Eddie is bitten by serial killer Cletus Kassidy, turning Cletus into the deranged symbiote, Carnage and despite being much more powerful, he's still taken down by the reunited Eddie and Venom.
But the strongest iteration of Venom is probably his Lego version. Ouch! So, which version of Venom is your favorite? And let us know what other Spidey-Villians you want to see get their own evolutions by commenting on the Venom Evolution on our YouTube Channel!
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