Venom

When Spider-Man returns home from New Jersey, he finds his wife in hysterics. At first, she thinks that he is the same man who broke into their home. Peter pulls off his mask, reassuring his wife that it is actually him. She tells him about the intruder, how he was a large man wearing a Spider-Man costume like his. However, much to her horror, the mask grew a smile full of teeth. She assures Peter that she is fine, but she can't stay the night in the apartment. Peter understands and goes into the bedroom to pack a bag so they can stay in a hotel. Peter wonders to himself what kind of creature could have frightened her so badly.

Meanwhile, in the Bronx, the man who broke into Parker's apartment returns to the ramshackle building he has been staying in. He speaks to another, telling it that they had to leave because the woman kept on screaming. As he walks through the shadows, his costume suddenly disappears. This man assures his other that they will cross paths with Spider-Man eventually. To pass the time, this man begins lifting weights in order so he can stay in enough shape to kill their hated enemy. Later, after they have settled into a hotel room and Mary Jane is asleep, Peter finds that he cannot. All he can think about is the man who broke into their home. He's not sure who he is, but from the sounds of it, he was wearing his old alien costume. Peter recalls how he got the costume on Battleworld during the Secret Wars. He eventually allowed Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four to examine the costume, and that's when he learned that it was a symbiotic creature that was trying to permanently bond with him. Although it was separated from Peter using a sonic weapon, it eventually escaped. When it tried to bond to him, Peter thought he had destroyed it by exposing it to the peals of church bells. While he tries to think of what to do next, Mary Jane wakes up and asks Peter to come back to bed. He apologizes to his wife, as he figured his secret identity would protect her from Spider-Man's foes, but she tells him that she married him for "better or worse".

The next morning, Peter wakes up to some good news, Mary Jane had just got off the phone with a realtor and she has managed to secure a condo in the exclusive Bedford Towers. Peter is surprised that they were able to find a place so quickly, and agrees to move there since Mary Jane is no longer comfortable living in their Chelsea apartment anymore. She asks Peter to go back to their apartment to get his camera so he can take pictures of their new home before they move everything in. This gives Peter the opportunity to swing by the Four Freedoms Plaza and borrow the Fantastic Four's sonic gun, just in case their mystery intruder is there waiting for him. After hearing a voice mail from Aunt May, Peter thinks about how excited she will be to know that they are moving into a bigger place. Peter changes into his street clothes and then goes out into the street. Although his Spider-Sense isn't going off, Peter could swear that he is being followed. Peter is correct, as the man who broke into his apartment the night before is following him from behind. The man holds back until Peter goes into a nearby alley. However, when he goes after Parker, he is too late as he has changed into Spider-Man and web-swinged away. Soon he meets with Mary Jane at Bedford Towers. He is surprised as the size of their new condo, but still wishes he could afford to pay for it. When Mary Jane suggests that Peter consider doing fashion photography, he reminds her that he isn't trained to do that job. Mary Jane suggests that he practice with her. Peter tries his best, snapping photos of his wife, but ultimately feels silly. In order to perk her husband up, Mary Jane removes her shirt and suggests that he take photos for their private collection.

Later, Peter and Mary Jane are having dinner with Aunt May. Among them is Nathan Lubenski, who accuses Peter of ignoring his Aunt ever since he got married. Aunt May scolds Nathan, telling him that Peter needs to set up his new life. When May excuses herself to do the dishes, Mary Jane accompanies her to lend a hand. There she points out that May has been distancing herself from her and Peter. May explains that she didn't want to inadvertently ruin their marriage by being too nosy in their affairs. Mary Jane tells her that the idea is ridiculous and that she and Peter want her in their lives. May is happy to hear this, but warns her nephew that if she isn't the first guest at their new home, she will have the Grey Panthers picket the building. Meanwhile, at the Our Lady of Saints church, the man stalking Peter Parker has come to the place where the symbiote was seemingly slain and decides that this will be a fitting place to end the life of Spider-Man. His discussion with the symbiote is interrupted by a beat cop who believes that this man is responsible for the recent thefts of the church's collection boxes and orders him to freeze. The man merely, turns toward him and wills the symbiote to send a tendril out the leg of his pants and suffocates the officer to death.

The next day, friends of Peter and Mary Jane help the couple move into their new home. As the men finish moving everything in, Mary Jane and her co-worker Sandy Kitzler have prepared sandwiches for everyone. While out on the balcony, Joe Robertson asks Peter if he has given much though to his suggestion of finding another line of work. Peter tells Joe that he has been thinking about going back to school. That's when he spots his mystery stalker web-slinging nearby, and excuses himself to go and deal with him. Changing into Spider-Man and loading up with the sonic cannon, Peter follows after the stalker. He is lured to the dilapidated building in the Bronx. Spider-Man follows after him, confident that his spider-sense will warn him of any trouble. However, it fails to warn him when the stalker attacks him. Spider-Man decides to stall for time so he can reach the blaster and asks who his mystery attacker is. He calls himself Venom, and that he has sought revenge against Spider-Man for stealing his innocence. Drawing the symbiote off his face, Venom reveals himself to be Eddie Brock, a reporter who used to work for the Daily Globe. Brock accuses Spider-Man of ruining his life. He explains that during the Sin Eater murders, he wrote the confessions of Emil Gregg. However, Gregg was exposed as a fraud when Spider-Man captured Stan Carter, the real Sin Eater. The revelation made the Globe a laughing stock and Brock was promptly fired. With his ethics questioned, Eddie could get jobs writing for tabloids.

Brock attempted to get into body building to take his mind off his failings, but could never get over his desire for getting revenge on Spider-Man. Eventually, things became unbearable and Brock decided that suicide was his only option. Still, his religious faith prevented him from committing the task and so he went to Our Lady of Saints to pray for forgiveness. That's when he was approached by the alien symbiote that was rejected by Peter Parker. When it bonded with him, he quickly realized that the symbiote had a mutual hatred for Spider-Man. Brock agreed to bond with it, not only gaining the symbiotes abilities, but also learning everything it knew about Peter Parker. By this point, Spider-Man tries to lunge for the sonic gun, but Venom quickly knocks the hero through the floor. Discovering that Venom is more powerful than he is, Spider-Man relies on his experience and skill to outsmart him. Ultimately, he recovers the sonic blaster and unleashes it upon Venom. Spider-Man quickly discovers that the symbiote and Eddie have permanently bonded. He stops himself, realizing that if he kills the symbiote, he will also kill Eddie Brock, and can't bring himself to do it. When Spider-Man tries to flee and figure out a new plan, Venom recovers and pulls Spider-Man back into the building with his webbing and lands a knock out punch.

When Spider-Man wakes up, he finds himself webbed up to the church bells atop Our Lady of Saints. Brock, having the symbiote form the appearance of a priest's outfit, gloats over his victory. As midnight approaches, Brock explains that the bell will being to chime, crushing Spider-Man. Since the symbiote is vulnerable to the sound of the bell this close, Eddie goes down into the church to wait. Spider-Man struggles to get free, managing to push his hand loose from the webbing and grab the clapper. When the clapper swings in the opposite direction, it pulls Spider-Man free. Venom sees Spider-Man escaping and goes after him. As Spider-Man evades his foe, he recalls how Puma said the webbing the symbiote uses are organic. The wall-crawler deduces that the symbiote uses its own substance to make its webbing, and likely needs time to replenish its supply. Spider-Man forces Brock to use so much webbing that the symbiote begins losing substance, allowing Spider-Man to knock him out. After calling to leave a message for his wife, Spider-Man takes Venom to the Four Freedoms Plaza where the Thing agrees to keep him secure until the maniac can be shipped to the Vault.

When Peter Parker finally returns home to explain everything to Mary Jane, she understands. However, she now cannot stand the fact that Peter is wearing the black-and-white costume because it reminds her of how Venom invaded their lives. Peter agrees to get rid of it and tosses the costume into the fireplace. When he frets about having to make a new costume, Mary Jane reveals that she kept the store bought version of his old red and blue costume that Peter had recently bought in Berlin. Peter thanks his wife and tells her that she is the greatest before putting on this replacement costume and going out to web-sling.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Venom, Mary Jane Watson, Aunt May, Nathan Lubensky, Joe Robertson, Flash Thompson, Harry Osborn, Thing, Randi Cooper, Candi Muggins, Bambi Modica, Arthur Chekov, Sandy Kinzler

Continuity Notes

• In this story, Peter and Mary Jane are identified as husband and wife. However, years later, their marriage was erased from existence by the demon Mephisto. This was in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As a result, in this new timeline, Peter and Mary Jane are still living together in a common-law relationship instead of being married.

• The shocking discovery that Spider-Man’s black costume was alive was revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #258.

• The symbiotes escape is slightly complicated. It was depicted as escaping in Amazing Spider-Man #261/Fantastic Four #274. The symbiote was recaptured by Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four in Spider-Man/Fantastic Four #2. That story states that the symbiote was contained in the Baxter Building until it was destroyed by Kristoff Vernard in Fantastic Four #278. The symbiote was recovered near death by the Intelligencia and revived and set loose upon the world. This was revealed in Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1.

• The symbiote was seemingly killed in Web of Spider-Man #1. What Peter doesn't know is that the symbiote survived -- yet again -- and was briefly bonded to Deadpool, again, in Deadpool: Back in Black #1-5. When Deadpool rejected it again, it returned to the church where it was seemingly destroyed.

• Their ability to quickly obtain a condo in Bedford Towers is due to the machinations of Jonathan Caesar, who is obsessed with Mary Jane, as revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #308.

• Sin Eater's murder spree lasted from Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #107 to 110.

• Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #4 revealed that the reason why Brock went to the church was to commit suicide because he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. However, this was later revealed to be implanted memories created by the symbiote in order to make Eddie more dependent upon the symbiote. See Venom (vol. 4) #11.

• Puma made the revelation that the symbiote was organic back in Amazing Spider-Man #259.

• The Thing appears here in a much more rocky form. At the time of this story, he was mutated into a rockier form in Fantastic Four #309. He eventually reverts back to his trademark brick form in Fantastic Four #350.

• Peter was forced to buy a knock off costume in order to go into action as Spider-Man in Spider-Man Versus Wolverine #1.