Summary

• The symbiotes in the Marvel Universe, including Venom and Carnage, are incredibly powerful beings with origins tied to the symbiote god Knull.
• Among all the symbiotes, Scream, also known as Andi Benton, has shown herself to be one of the most powerful. She can unleash Hellfire and has immunity to some symbiote weaknesses.
• Eddie Brock, the host of Venom, has become the most powerful symbiote after being resurrected by the God of Light and using Thor's hammer and the Silver Surfer's ax to defeat Knull. He now rules over the surviving symbiotes.

Symbiotes have long been considered one of the most powerful species that the Marvel Universe has to offer. At one time seemingly a strange species of gooey parasites whose combined forms resembled Spider-Man, these extraterrestrial beings have been revealed as far more important than many thought. With their origins lying in Knull - the nearly omnipotent symbiote god - it only made sense that the creatures have power tied and even subservient to his own.

Still, Venom and Eddie Brock proved that they may be seemingly impossible to kill, and Carnage has similarly been a thorn in the side of nearly every hero the vile symbiote has encountered. Thus, when Knull's darkness was firmly grasped around the world, there were a few independent lights shining through. One of those lights, though, burned from within the living darkness itself, and she still might be the most powerful symbiote of them all.

Updated by Timothy Blake Donohoo on December 1, 2023: The events of King In Black have come and gone, with the status of the symbiotes in the Marvel Universe changing forever. During the storyline's events, Andi Benton/Scream seemingly utilized her most powerful form yet. Since then, she's adopted a new symbiote identity, with Eddie Brock doing the same by way of taking on the role that Knull once occupied. These alterations have made either one of these symbiotic duos into perhaps the most powerful symbiote ever.

Scream May Be Marvel's Most Powerful Symbiote

When the Earth was shrouded in Knull's black, viscous grasp, the skies blacked out and the world beneath them twisted into a nightmarish reflection of its former image. Though some heroes remained, few if any were capable of standing against the dark god of the alien symbiote species on their own power. One of the rare beings that Knull feared was also in possession of a power that he coveted. While Knull lorded over the landscape, his symbiotes stalked the streets, hunting for Eddie Brock's son Dylan. Among the ghoulish army's ranks were the four Life Foundation symbiotes who had once comprised the merged entity known as Hybrid.

Luckily, the black sheep of the family showed up to interrupt her siblings' fun, proving that she could do things that no other symbiote has ever been capable of doing. Scream was able to stop her Life Foundation brethren from harming a young boy, grasping Lasher by the throat and tossing him aside with ease. The others were well aware that their sister is not going to be an easy fight, especially considering the fact that her last host murdered all of theirs in cold blood. They mergeed together to form the most powerful Hybrid symbiote seen theretofore.

Knull's connection to Hybrid alerted him to Scream's presence, and the god of the symbiotes spoke to her directly, telling her it was time to come home to the rest of the Hive. For all the powers that Knull and the symbiotes had at their disposal, they were still susceptible to certain forces. The most powerful symbiotes don't have many weaknesses, and Knull has even fewer, but fire has always been an effective weapon against their kind. Knull himself was actually vulnerable to magic, so it only made sense that magical fire was even more of a threat. In the case of Scream and her host Andi Benton, magical fire wasn't much of a concern and was instead quite the opposite.

Scream's Host Andi Benton Was a Major Threat to the Hive

Before Andi was the host to the Scream symbiote, her life was saved by Flash Thompson, who released a portion of the Venom symbiote to protect her. This piece of Venom bonded to Andi, and she took up the name Mania during her time with the symbiote. Unfortunately, the symbiote had been branded by Mephisto with a Hell-Mark prior to its attachment to Andi, and as her control over her own rage become less tenuous, the demonic brand was transferred to her permanently. Being marked by an ancient demon might not sound like it has an upside to it, but Andi made the best of it to become perhaps the strongest symbiote.

Andi was not only able to unleash Hellfire upon her opponents, but she was also seemingly immune to some of a symbiote's natural weaknesses. The first blaze that she unloaded on Hybrid didn't do much damage, but when the symbiote mass tried to consume her, she lit it up from the inside out, shredding her brethren to pieces. This destroyed their combined form, not to mention finally severing their connection to Knull. With hope in short supply at that time, the idea that one of Knull's own could be able to give him a fair fight made Andi arguably the most powerful symbiote. That she could strip a symbiote of their connection to the Hive is something that the King in Black himself should have feared.

The Fate of Venom, Scream and Knull

Venom

The final battle against Knull in King In Black saw a seemingly defeated Eddie Brock/Venom resurrected by the God of Light. This made him into the most powerful symbiote ever at that time, with the cosmically-empowered Venom using Thor's mystical hammer Mjolnir and an ax created from the Silver Surfer's board as weapons. Destroying Knull seemingly once and for all, Eddie Brock became the new King in Black and the ruler of the surviving symbiotes. Now far more than a mere Spider-Man enemy, the former Lethal Protector had now turned into the strongest symbiote ever.

His connection to the Hive of other symbiotes allows Eddie Brock to remotely control them from throughout the universe. Eventually, he's pulled into the Garden of Time, where he's greeted by a being named Meridius. This has sent Brock on a journey of self-discovery, with the current King in Black taking on several new forms and fighting other powerful symbiotes along the way. Temporarily, his mind and memories were tampered with, with Brock suddenly becoming consumed with a desire to fight Spider-Man, as in the olden days. More recently, he's been forced to team up with Bedlam, an alternate version of himself who was also the King in Black.

Knull

The death of Knull in the King In Black storyline was seemingly the end of the villain, though this came after a long period of hyping him up as the next greatest Marvel villain. Thus, it made no sense to abandon the character completely, even if he had just been killed. The current Venom comic book does more than showcase what may be the most powerful symbiote ever: it also sheds light on the backstory of Knull. Most notably, it's revealed that the purpose of the King in Black is to watch and guard the multiverse. This put the figure at the same level of importance, but Knull had refused to fulfill this goal.

The "Death of the Venomverse" storyline actually brought the villain back, with his goal being to reclaim his rightful crown - in a way. This is Knull from another universe, with Carnage having traveled throughout the multiverse to gain more strength and become the most powerful symbiote ever. Recreating the power-ups that Eddie Brock got to fight Knull, Carnage is opposed by none other than Dylan Brock, Eddie's son and the current host of the Venom symbiote. Thus, it's being made increasingly clear that the tenacious and homicidal Carnage is the true threat, not Knull.

Andi Benton/Scream

Following the events of King In Black, Andi Benton and her Scream symbiote became infected by Carnage's evil. Carnage was trying to create his own symbiote Hive Mind, with the Life Foundation symbiotes meant to be a part of it. Under the influence of Carnage's power, the Scream symbiote betrayed Andi and sided with its dark relative. No longer truly bonded, Andi revoked Scream's immunity to the former's hellfire powers. This meant that Scream was now far from the most powerful symbiote and as vulnerable to flame as anyone else. With Scream dead, Andi was arrested by Gaurdsmen for her actions.

Thankfully, she was almost rescued by Agent Anti-Venom, but not before she was mortally wounded by the cruel symbiote Phage. To save her, Agent Anti-Venom combined fragments of his symbiote with the faint traces left of Scream. This healed Benton by turning her into Silence, one of the newest and strongest symbiotes. Since then, she's continued to oppose the machinations of Carnage and worked alongside Flash Thompson/Agent Anti-Venom. With her own hellfire and her natural symbiote abilities, not to mention her experience with two other examples of the alien species, Silence may be Andi Benton's toughest form and the most powerful symbiote ever.