Venom has faced off against Spider-Man dozens of times since the 1980s, but recent years have proven very successful for the symbiote's solo career. So what exactly has the Lethal Protector proven itself capable of? We're here to explain Venom's many superpowers, from the iconic to the truly bizarre.
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00:00Venom has faced off against Spider-Man dozens of times since the 1980s, but recent years
00:05have proven very successful for the symbiote's solo career.
00:08So what exactly has the Lethal Protector proven itself capable of?
00:12We're here to explain Venom's many superpowers, from the iconic to the truly bizarre.
00:17Even though Venom needs a host in order to utilize most of his abilities, the alien symbiote
00:21can still function on its own.
00:23When not bonded to Peter Parker, Eddie Brock, Ane Weying, or a literal horse, Venom is essentially
00:28a sentient ball of goo that pokes and stretches around until it finds a suitable vessel.
00:33Venom and other symbiotes are particularly drawn to those who experience strong emotions,
00:37and they're not so easily removed.
00:39And sometimes these things in nature, when they bind, they can be hard to unbind.
00:45Once a symbiote is bonded to someone, it can cover up its host at will, both exposing itself
00:50and allowing it to unleash its powers.
00:51Usually, it maintains a general form of its host, but it's capable of being creative.
00:56In Venom's first comic book appearance, it takes the form of a black Spider-Man suit,
01:00giving Peter Parker exciting new abilities while also taking control of his body.
01:04Venom is ultimately a shapeshifter, and can take on various forms.
01:07It uses camouflage to blend in with its surroundings when the need arises, often using trees to
01:11its advantage.
01:12It can even mold itself to serve useful functions in a pinch, like when it turns into a parachute
01:17in Venom The Last Dance.
01:19Venom's powers allow for nearly limitless possibilities, but there's so much more it
01:23can do whenever there's a host involved.
01:25Many of the powers people associate with Venom are actually ones that it has inherited
01:29from various hosts, most notably Spider-Man.
01:32In certain adaptations, Venom can climb up walls and shoot its own webs, but that's only
01:36after it bonded with Peter Parker and gained access to his genetic code.
01:39Those powers remained when Venom bonded with Eddie Brock, which comes in handy but also
01:43has some drawbacks.
01:44For instance, in The Amazing Spider-Man 300, Peter is able to defeat Venom once he realizes
01:49that it makes webbing using its own symbiotic material.
01:52The more Venom shoots webs, the weaker its bond with Eddie becomes, which Spider-Man
01:56uses to his advantage.
01:57It may have taken some time for Venom and Eddie to learn how to work as a team, but
02:01the ability to enhance the host's powers and retain them across multiple bodies makes Venom
02:05one of Spider-Man's most powerful villains.
02:07This is why Venom will always have a special connection to Spidey.
02:10Not only do they look alike, but his powers stem directly from the wall-crawler's DNA
02:14— except for in the Tom Hardy movies, of course.
02:17"...Are you gonna, uh, are you gonna eat anybody else?"
02:20"...Most likely."
02:21"...Oh, God."
02:22As with many super-powered characters, Venom has enhanced strength, durability, and stamina
02:28— with the exact extent of those powers varying greatly from version to version.
02:32Generally, it's accepted that Venom increases its host's strength to be able to lift up
02:35to 40 tons.
02:37This puts Venom on pretty equal footing with Spider-Man during fights, and their symbiote
02:41has more than held its own against many other worthy adversaries.
02:44Despite the X-Men villain Juggernaut being strength incarnate in the comics, Venom has
02:47been able to defeat him.
02:49The symbiote even went toe-to-toe with Superman in the DC and Marvel crossover event All Access.
02:54Venom stood its ground for much of the fight, requiring Superman to team up with Spider-Man
02:57to take it down.
02:58Power scaling is often the bane of many comic book fans' existences.
03:02After all, Venom has certainly lost plenty of fights, but combat seems to largely come
03:06down to how much a character knows about Venom's weaknesses of fire and high-frequency noises.
03:10Of course, the symbiote is aided by the fact that it's incredibly durable.
03:14It's easily taking bullets without allowing any damage to come to the host.
03:18When Venom and its host sustain damage in a fight, the symbiote can heal both of them
03:22much quicker than a normal human body would.
03:24However, that only scratches the surface of what Venom can heal.
03:27There have been many storylines in which Venom heals illnesses and diseases in its host,
03:31like in Insomniac's Spider-Man 2 video game, in which Harry Osborn has Astra Syndrome.
03:35Harry's father begins experiments to bond Harry with the symbiote, and initially, Harry
03:39appears to be all better.
03:41Of course, it's not long until the symbiote begins corrupting Harry, and he's resistant
03:45to the idea of separating from Venom out of fear that the disease will make him weak once
03:49more.
03:50Well, Venom offers sheer power.
03:51Its ability to regenerate is definitely one of its more enticing qualities, and a big
03:55reason why hosts can be hesitant to surrender the symbiote.
03:58We're going to heal everyone.
04:03Of course, Venom's healing abilities aren't limited to movies and video games, as Flash
04:07Thompson regained the ability to walk after bonding with the Venom symbiote in the comics.
04:12As long as Venom is attached to a host, the two can communicate telepathically.
04:15That means that it has two minds in one body, which provides the antihero with an additional
04:19layer of defense while going up against other telepaths.
04:22In X-Men Blue Annual Number One, Venom takes on Jean Grey, and while the massively powerful
04:27mutant still emerges victorious, it takes her longer than usual to get the job done.
04:31The primary communication power that makes Venom such a significant threat is the symbiote
04:35hive mind.
04:36The symbiote can access information about other symbiotes from its homeworld and even
04:39gain details about its species' history.
04:42This is all under the surveyorship of Null, the creator of the symbiotes.
04:45He links them all through a hive mind, making himself the nexus that controls them all.
04:49This hive mind has even been shown to transcend the multiverse, which is possibly how Tom
04:53Hardy's Venom knew about Spider-Man, despite the two never merging.
04:57The potential voices don't end there.
04:59In Venom Space Knight Number Two, Venom gains the power of Cosmos Communion, allowing the
05:03Flash Thompson-hosted symbiote to hear those in need from across the vacuum of space.
05:08Spider-Man's famous spider-sense helps him get the upper hand in a tricky situation,
05:12but it isn't actually effective against Venom.
05:13The reason for this comes down to that initial bonding.
05:16Spider-Man can't internally register the symbiote as a foe because it was part of his body for
05:20an extended period of time.
05:22Combined with Venom's camouflaging, it's pretty easy for Venom to get the jump on Peter Parker.
05:27After all, he won't have any warning that a symbiote is about to strike from the shadows.
05:31Ooh, my spider-sense is tingling, if you know what I'm talking about.
05:37This suggests, however, that Venom would indeed trigger the spider-sense of any and all other
05:42spider-powered individuals, like Miles Morales, provided they didn't previously bond with
05:46him.
05:47Ben Reilly, also known as Scarlet Spider, does sense when Venom is nearby during the
05:50battles in the comics.
05:52This is despite the fact that Ben is Peter Parker's clone, which makes things very confusing.
05:56But the less time spent thinking about the clone saga, the better.
05:59It usually appears as though Venom didn't inherit any sort of spider-sense from Peter,
06:03although it does typically display good cognition when it comes to nearby threats.
06:07This is likely due to the symbiote's alien origin and its connection with others of its
06:11kind.
06:12If they're close by, Venom can sense it.
06:14Venom can manipulate its very being to grow whatever kind of appendages it wants, from
06:18long tendrils to functional wings.
06:20When Venom bonded with Mac Garkin, it used its biomass to create a tail similar to the
06:24one the villain wore in the Scorpion getter.
06:26Fewer iterations of the character feature Venom creating weapons through its biomass,
06:30turning its arms into blades and axes.
06:32Agent Venom has even been depicted throwing the biomass like knives that shred enemies
06:36before reabsorbing themselves into Flash Thompson's body.
06:39It's also been known to grow venomous fangs that it uses to disable combatants.
06:43In Let There Be Carnage, it was seen that most of the time, Venom simply prefers to
06:46use fists and tendrils to fight opponents, whereas Carnage opts for bladed appendages.
06:51Venom knows when to bring out the big guns and when to get defensive, even transforming
06:54itself into nigh-invulnerable armor on occasion.
06:58As goofy as Venom likes to be at times, it's actually quite intelligent.
07:01Maybe that's not so surprising, given its penchant for eating brains.
07:05Venom is so much more than a gambling-addicted rage monster.
07:08It's not exactly book smart, but Venom's intelligence manifests itself in other ways.
07:12Venom displays a photographic memory in Let There Be Carnage.
07:15After just a few glimpses of the drawings in Cletus Kasady's cell, the symbiote is able
07:19to recreate them later.
07:20This intelligence extends beyond what Venom might have acquired from previous hosts, as
07:24Venom has access to billions of years' worth of knowledge through the symbiote Hivemind.
07:28Venom is also an adept tactician in the heat of battle, managing to defeat all sorts of
07:32sinister symbiotes through creative means.
07:34Venom has even proven adept at picking up other Earth languages, like Mandarin, which
07:38it uses to greet Mrs. Chen.
07:40Good evening, Eddie.
07:41Hey, Mrs. Chen.
07:42Good evening, Venom.
07:43Mrs. Hi.
07:44It's hard to kill Venom, and not just in combat.
07:48Symbiote can survive in practically any environment, including the far reaches of space.
07:52When Venom travels with Flash Thompson in Venom Space Knight, their ship gets blown
07:56out of space before the pair crash-land on an alien world.
07:59Not only is Venom able to survive the vacuum of space until they wind up on a planet, but
08:03it's able to surround Flash so that he survives, too.
08:06The symbiote can also protect itself and its host from Noxious Gases, even creating a filtration
08:10system when underwater so its host can continue to breathe.
08:13These powers can extend to others outside of the host, as shown in Venom Vol. 2, Number
08:1838.
08:19Flash Thompson unleashes a poisonous gas to try and kill Andy, a student at the school
08:22Flash Thompson works at.
08:23To save her, Flash extends a portion of the symbiote so that she can continue to breathe
08:28safely.
08:29At the same time, though, part of it bonds with her to transform her into Mania, giving
08:32her similarly dangerous abilities.
08:35Venom can famously merge with humans and animals, but one underappreciated ability of the symbiote
08:39is its capability to enhance and effectively possess inanimate objects.
08:44This was put on glorious display in Venom Vol. 2, Number 36, as Flash Thompson gives
08:49Chase to a criminal.
08:50In order to stop the suspect, Venom turns an abandoned vehicle into a hot rod that would
08:54make Dominic Toretto jealous.
08:55The Venom car comes complete with a personalized license plate and a giant tongue sticking
08:59out of the hood.
09:00The most iconic example of this is, of course, the symbiote suit.
09:04In Spider-Man 3, rather than bond directly with Peter Parker, Venom takes on the form
09:08of a black jumpsuit that turns up his powers while also bringing down his attitude.
09:12It nearly bonds with Peter permanently, but ends up teaming with Eddie Brock instead,
09:16turning into the humanoid version of the villain that we all know best.
09:20One symbiote ability that fewer Venom fans seem to know about is his ability to surf
09:24the web, quite literally.
09:25The antihero showed off some serious digital savvy when he uploaded himself to a computer
09:29in Venom Carnage Unleashed, Number 4.
09:32In this particularly crazy comic, Venom takes its symbiotic beef with its fellow symbiote
09:36into the digital realm after a company called Extreme Violence Video Games designs a game
09:41about Carnage.
09:42Feeling stiffed on royalties, Carnage confronts the game's creators after discovering that
09:46symbiotes can transfer into the internet and kill people remotely.
09:49Venom, bearing the same ability, tracks Carnage into cyberspace in order to save the day.
09:54Venom Carnage Unleashed, Number 4, which came out in 1995, is definitely a product of its
09:59time, complete with fear-mongering about violent video games and a total misunderstanding of
10:03how computers work.
10:05That said, there's nothing stopping Venom from once again pulling a Wreck-It Ralph and
10:08breaking the internet.
10:09After all, Carnage seems to have kept his web-surfing powers in live action.