Venom: Dark Origin #5
Vowing to kill Peter Parker for ruining his life.[1] He has bonded with the alien symbiote that Spider-Man once wore as a costume and is using its abilities to stalk Peter Parker, who is unable to detect him because the symbiote blocks out his spider-sense.[2] After photographing Spider-Man while hanging off the side of a building,[3] Eddie returns to the ground where he is spotted by a limo driver who wants to know what he’s doing. Not wanting to be discovered, he has the symbiote grab the man and toss him into the back seat of his limo. There, the symbiote slaughters the man out of sight of a mother and her son who are passing by. Eddie finds the murdering of an innocent person distasteful, but necessary if they get in the way of his mission. Eddie then returns to his apartment where he continues his weight lifting without the help of the symbiote. He tells the alien creature that he needs to keep on building his natural strength so that he is even stronger when his other augments his abilities. Once he is finished lifting weights he decides that tonight is the night that Spider-Man dies.
Later, Eddie — now disguised by the symbiote — spies on Peter Parker as his friends help him move into his new apartment. Brock makes a point to let Peter observe him. Sure enough, this angers Parker who comes rushing out to face him as Spider-Man, as he planned. Brock then lures Spider-Man into an abandoned building. There he ambushes Spider-Man, separating the web-singer from the sonic cannon he intends to use against the symbiote. As they fight it out, Brock explains that he knows all of Parker’s secrets and tricks, and it seems like that’s the case as he is able to hold his own in battle against the wall-crawler, able to counter his attacks with ease. As he pounds into Spider-Man, the web-slinger wants to know who he is. At frist, Brock says that he is “the venom that is coming back to sting” him, inadvertently giving himself the name he will always be known as from this moment on: Venom.
However, Spider-Man isn’t interested in Venom’s flowery prose and asks who he really is. When the symbiote pulls back to reveal Eddie Brock’s face, Spider-Man instantly recognizes him as the “Sin-Eater hoax guy.” This angers Brock, who ignores Spider-Man’s warnings that the symbiote is alive and will hurt him. As Spider-Man fights back, he tries to get Eddie to see that his false lead on Emil Gregg made law enforcement waste their time while the real Sin-Eater was on the loose. However Venom doesn’t see it that way and points out that Spider-Man is no different than he was because he sells photos of himself to the Daily Bugle. He is furious that Peter gets to go home with a beautiful woman while he was punished and had his life ruined for his own lies.[4] Hearing Venom speak of Mary Jane reminds Peter how this lunatic terrorized his girlfriend the day before. His anger growing, Spider-Man manages to get ahold of the sonic cannon and blasts Venom with it. He points out to Brock that this is one of the symbiote’s weaknesses before he tries to leave and get the Fantastic Four.
Unfortunately, Venom recovers from the blast quickly and pulls Spider-Man back into the building with a web-line and knocks the wall-crawler out. When Spider-Man wakes up he discovers that he has been webbed up onto the inside of one of the bells at Our Lady of Saints Church, the place where Parker tried to kill the symbiote and the place where Venom was born. He intends to eventually ring the bell so the massive clapper on the bell crushes the web-slinger. After Venom explains the importance of this scene, Spider-Man asks Brock why he wants to kill him. Venom explains that it was Spider-Man’s fault that the real Sin-Eater got caught ruining his chances of breaking the store. Hearing this, Spider-Man admits that this is easier for Eddie than admitting that he screwed up and owning it. Venom thinks that Spider-Man doesn’t understand and swings the clapper at him. However, but this point Spider-Man has freed his arm and stops the clapper and tries to explain that he relates with Eddie’s situation, and tries to explain the time he didn’t do the right thing either.[5]
Breaking free from his bonds, Spider-Man points out the fundamental difference between him and Venom: While Eddie Brock chose to blame others for his mistake, Peter Parker owned his and tried to do better. He then slams the clapper against the side of the bell, the sonic vibrations causing the symbiote a great deal of pain. As he lays into Venom, Peter tells Eddie that he is the better person because leaving the symbiote here for him to Brock to find it was another mistake and he’s going to own that mistake and correct it as well. With that he knocks Venom off the side of the church. Trying to break his fall, Brock tries to fire a web-line after webline, but Spider-Man snaps them each time so that Brock expends the symbiote’s matter, as its organic webbing is made from shed symbiotic cells. With the symbiote completely diminished, Spider-Man breaks the fall at the last moment.
Brock is then turned over to the Fantastic Four where he is imprisoned. In his cell, he thinks about how Spider-Man saved his life when he could have left him to die, but didn’t. In the final battle Brock thinks about how the symbiote kept trying to reach out for Spider-Man. The symbiote tries to reassure him that it won’t ever abandon him, even though Eddie knows it is lying he chooses to believe it.
Recurring Characters
Venom, Spider-Man, Joe Robertson, Flash Thompson, the Thing
Continuity Notes
The hatred that Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote have for Peter Parker is complicated. If you haven’t been following along here are the facts:
When Spider-Man was hunting down the spree killer known as the Sin-Eater in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #107-110, Eddie Brock was interviewing Emil Gregg, a copycat who claimed to be the real deal. Eddie’s reports landed him on the front page of the Daily Globe. When Spider-Man exposed that Stan Carter was the real Sin-Eater, Eddie Brock was disgraced and fired from his job.
The alien symbiote was worm by Spider-Man as a costume from Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8 until he discover it was alive and was trying to bond to him in Amazing Spider-Man #258, prompting him to abandon it. The creature tried to bond with him one last time in Web of Spider-Man #1, but he seemingly killed it using the bell tower at Our Lady of Saints Church.
This is where Brock first found and bonded with the symbiote, which is explained in the last few issue or Amazing Spider-Man #300.
Spider-Man is depicted wearing a black-and-white costume identical to in design to the symbiote. No, there aren’t two symbiotes, this is a cloth version of the costume design created by the Black Cat in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #99. During this period Peter switched back and forth between his classic red-and-blue costume and the black-and-white one. Following Amazing Spider-Man #300, Peter — at the request of Mary Jane — stopped wearing the black-and-white costume unless he absolutely had to because it reminded her of her first traumatic encounter with Venom.
He is photographing Peter swinging by as Spider-Man carrying a sonic cannon that he borrowed from the Fantastic Four. This was following Venom’s encounter with Mary Jane last issue, or Amazing Spider-Man #299. This story is adapted from the events of Amazing Spider-Man #300.
It’s interesting to point out that this story is published following Amazing Spider-Man #545, in which Peter and Mary Jane’s marriage was erased from existence. As such, in this story Mary Jane is referred to as Peter’s “girl” instead of his wife, unlike the original version of this story in Amazing Spider-Man #300.
5. I see the juxtaposition that Zeb Wells it trying to make, but god damn it, even in a Venom origin story we can’t escape form Spider-Man’s fucking origin. In case you’re dense, he’s talking about Uncle Ben getting murdered in Amazing Fantasy #15.
Continuity Errors
The Fantastic Four’s headquarters is depicted as the Baxter Building in this story. That is incorrect. This story is based on Amazing Spider-Man #300 and during that period of time the Fantastic Four’s headquarters was the Four Freedoms Plaza at the time. The original Baxter Building was destroyed in Fantastic Four #278 and replaced by the Four Freedoms shortly after. The FFP was later replaced with a new Baxter Building in Fantastic Four (vol. 3) #39 (it’s a long story)
Another mistake here is that the Thing is depicted his trademark orange brick form. However, this story took place during a time when the Thing was mutated further so that he was protruding rocky spikes from his body after being exposed to a second dose of Cosmic Rays in Fantastic Four #310. He eventually returned to his trademark form circa Fantastic Four #350. (that’s another long story)
Chronology Notes
Amazing Spider-Man #300 (page 4) ~ Uncanny Origins #7 (page 10, panel 3-5): Eddie returns to his apartment satisfied that he sent a message to Spider-Man.
Venom: Dark Origin #5 (page 1-4): Eddie begins stalking Peter. Kills a limo driver who catches him leaping down from a building. Begins pumping iron, determined to kill Spider-Man tomorrow.
Amazing Spider-Man #300 (page 11-12): Eddie follows Peter Parker on the street, loses him when Peter ducks into an alley to change into Spider-Man.
Amazing Spider-Man #300 (page 16-17) ~ Uncanny Origins #7 (page 11): Returns to Our Lady of Saints to revisit his transformation. Kills a cop. Regrets killing an innocent
Amazing Spider-Man #300 (Page 19) ~ Uncanny Origins #7 (page 12) ~ Venom: Dark Origin #5 (page 5) Venom spies on the Parkers as the move apartments. Peter spots him and follows as Spider-Man.
Amazing Spider-Man #300 (Page 20-25) ~ Uncanny Origins #7 (page 13) ~ Venom: Dark Origin #5 (page 6-10): Venom lures Spider-Man back to his apartment. Reveals who he is and why he wants revenge against Spider-Man.
Amazing Spider-Man #300 (Page 26-30) ~ Uncanny Origins #7 (page 13-16) ~ Venom: Dark Origin #5 (page 11-15, Panel 4): Spider-Man recovers his sonic cannon uses it against Venom and realizes that he might kill Brock. Tries to leave and is knocked out.
Amazing Spider-Man #300 (Page 31-37, panel 4) ~ Uncanny Origins (Page 17-19) ~ Venom: Dark Origin #5 (page 15, panel 5-22) Venom takes Spider-Man to the Out Lady of Saints Church tries to kill him with the bell. Spider-Man breaks free. The toll of the bell weakens Venom enough for Spider-Man to knock him out.
Amazing Spider-Man #300 (Page 37, panel 5) ~ Venom: Dark Origin #5 (page 23-24): Venom is incarcerated at the Four Freedoms Plaza.
