What are ten things that everyone gets wrong about Symbiotes? Marvel's Symbiotes first debuted in Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1, 252 (during the "Homecoming" storyline, funnily enough.) When readers first saw Spider-Man decked out in the Black Suit, they fell in love at first sight.
Since then, Marvel's expanded upon the Symbiote's mythology and culture exponentially! Today, we're going to get down and dirty and clear up ten misconceptions that most fans have about Symbiotes like Venom, Carnage, and Toxin. Sony, if you're having trouble drafting up a script for Venom 2, you might want to pay special attention to this article - and have those royalty checks ready baby!
10 Venom Isn't The Strongest Symbiote
Venom is undoubtedly the most popular and well-known Symbiote, but he's not the strongest. One of the only reasons he's able to get the better of Spider-Man is because his powers actively counter the Wall-Crawler; Spidey can't detect Venom with his Spider-Sense, nor does Spider-Man possess infinite webbing. Compared to other heroes and villains, however, Venom isn't all that tough.
Hell, Venom can't even reliably beat his "son" Carnage most of the time! Much like Wolverine, Venom's greatest asset is his popularity - we all love him and Marvel's writers know that. Venom's plot armor is so thick, they ought to officially list it as one of his powers on the Marvel Database.
9 Nor Is He The First
While Venom's chronologically the first Symbiote that we encountered in 1988 ( or 1984 if you want to get technical,) he' s not the oldest Symbiote in the Marvel Universe. That esteemed honor belongs to All-Black the Necrosword, Gorr the God Butcher's primary weapon during his bloody war against the heavens!
All-Black was created eons ago as a weapon that could kill Celestials. As such, All-Black possesses most of the strengths of its fellow Symbiotes and none of their weaknesses. All-Black also has a much more forceful personality than the average Symbiote, meaning that it tries to control its users and turn them into its slaves!
8 They Aren't Genuinely Vulnerable To Heat & Sound
Speaking of weaknesses, you've probably heard that Symbiotes are vulnerable to extreme heat and sound at some point. Spider-Man often uses tools that emit flame or sonic blasts to beat Venom when he's in a bind. Iron Man's also able to do the same since his suits are portable armories that have all sorts of weapons inside them.
But here's the thing - Symbiotes aren't genuinely vulnerable to heat or sound. This weakness is psychosomatic, meaning that it's all in a Symbiote's head. All-Black and Venom have traveled through space and withstood extreme temperatures without incident! With enough willpower, a Symbiote could theoretically overcome their only weaknesses!
7 Iron-Man's Endo-Sym Armor Is Based On Symbiotes
While we're on the subject of the Iron Avenger, we'd be remiss not to discuss Iron-Man's scariest suit - the Endo-Sym armor. You see, Tony once built a suit of armor that functioned like a Symbiote and began calling himself the "Superior Iron Man." Much like a Symbiote, the Endo-Sym armor developed a mind of its own and caused Tony to act more erratically than usual.
That's because Tony incorporated genetic "building blocks" from a Symbiote into the Endo-Sym armor, effectively making an Iron Symbiote suit of armor. Tony could even increase his mass and bulk up while wearing the Endo-Sym suit, allowing Stark to "Hulk-out" when he gets angry enough.
6 Most Symbiote Hosts Come From New York
Tony may have only briefly used the Endo-Sym suit, but he used it while he was in San Francisco - miles away from his main base of operations in New York. Come to think of it, most human Symbiote hosts come from New York!
This is because Spider-Man's a Queens kid who accidentally took Venom back home during the "Homecoming" storyline. Since then, other Symbiotes have been drawn to the Big Apple - either in search of Venom, Spider-Man, or both. We're holding out hope that we'll eventually see more Symbiotes crop up in places like Canada or the UK someday.
5 They Can Eat Each Other
2018's Venom had a lot of elements that worked and plenty of others that didn't. One of our biggest gripes with the film, however, is the fact that the filmmakers didn't try to make the film more of a Dark-Comedy Horror hybrid. Symbiotes are extremely creepy by nature, having obsessive personalities and voracious appetites. Not only will Symbiotes eat animals and humans, but they'll also eat each other!
Recently, Carnage absorbed Venom into his body during the Absolute Carnage storyline. The red demon became instantly more powerful and devilish after merging with his "father." But as we mentioned before, Venom's plot armor is dumb thick. It's only a matter of time until he makes a comeback.
4 Symbiotes Have A Culture
Some of the more astute readers among you are probably peeved that we've exclusively referred to the Symbiotes by one name so far. Well, we're simply paying homage to the fact that we only knew these creatures by that name for years. We didn't learn that the Symbiotes are truly an alien race called the Klyntar until relatively recently.
Marvel's played around with the exact origins of the Klyntar over the years, but here's the gist of it; these aliens were created by an evil entity to help him slaughter Celestials. This entity then goofed and invaded Earth, where Thor smacked him down in the 6th century - severing his control over the Klyntar. The Symbiotes imprisoned their creator on the planet Klyntar, then struck out on their own.
3 And A God
It's only recently that we've learned more about the being that created the Klyntar as well - Knull. This pale, anemic, vampire-looking jerk created the Klyntar to do his dirty work! All-Black was his first weapon; because of their connection, All-Black tries to bring anyone who wields it under Knull's thrall.
Knull has the power to control the Klyntar the way a queen bee controls her hive. We're certain that Knull will show up again in the comics, though we're curious if he'll appear in the MCU or Sony's Spider-Man films.
2 Hybrid Was The First Benevolent Symbiote
When Thor broke Knull's spell over the Klyntar, many Symbiotes sought out more honorable hosts to atone for their sins. However, we wouldn't meet a Symbiote that was completely heroic for many years, until Hybrid bonded with Scott Washington. Most people think that Toxin is the first good guy Symbiote, but Hybrid's got a few years on him.
What makes Hybrid so fascinating is that he's the result of four Symbiotes fusing into one - Agony, Phage, Lasher, and Riot. Despite having to contend with four of these things, Scott still used Hybrid for good until they eventually parted ways with him.
1 The Klyntar Are Evil
Again, Marvel loves to play around with their lore from time to time. For decades, there was an idea that the Klyntar weren't inherently evil - that they only become aggressive when their hosts exhibit violent behaviors.
Well, that's a lie the Symbiotes created to amend their time as servants of Knull. The Klyntar are evil by nature and only changed their ways when Thor dropped the hammer on their creator. Make of that what you will, dear readers.