University of Panels

19: Venom

(Eddie Brock Jr. 

 

When it comes to popular Spider-Man villains, Venom is easily regarded as one of the greatest, if not the greatest of them all (usually alongside Green Goblin & Doc Ock). While this has caused him to become a tad overrated, that does not detract from the fact that he is a truly awesome and complex antagonist. Originally a journalist for the Daily Globe, Eddie Brock Jr. was once highly respected by his fellow employees. His career came trashing down however, when he attempted to solve the identity of a notorious serial killer known as the Sin-Eater, but his evidence was proved false when Spider-Man had caught the real culprit. Fired from his job, Brock felt humiliated and directed his shame towards Spidey, developed an intense hatred for the wall-crawler in the process. He soon came into contact with the discarded alien symbiote, which was once Spider-Man's black costume. Sharing a mutal hatred for Spider-Man, the symbiote bonded with Brock, becoming the deadly being known only as Venom. Possessing not only all of Spider-Man's powers and abilities, Venom is also one of the few villains to know that Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker.

 

One thing that fascinates me about Venom is how he is actually two characters combined into one: Eddie Brock and the symbiote. One is a former journalist, while the other is a parasitic alien slime. But because the two both share a hatred for Parker, they have joined together to become a single entity. Because Venom is two beings, he always refers to himself as "us" or "we," as he is both Eddie Brock and the symbiote.

 

Talk about having a multiple personality disorder...