The alien symbiote has often been a thorn in Spider-Man's side, notoriously bonding with Eddie Brock and creating the anti-hero Venom. Once it finds a host, the species heightens their abilities and manages to elevate their darkest thoughts and feelings to create a force to be reckoned with.
As well as Eddie Brock, their have been others who've harnessed the powers of the symbiote, such as Cletus Kassidy, Jubil van Scotter, and Flash Thompson, but there are also a lot of established superheroes that have had the pleasure - or curse - of being a host to the extraterrestrial species. We take a look at 10 superheroes who have bonded with the alien symbiote.
10 Wolverine
There have been a few versions of Logan bonding with the symbiote, but in 2018's Web of Venom: Ve'Nam, the history of the alien symbiote on Earth took a change in direction, as it showed how Rex Strickland's role as Venom began during the Vietnam War. A group of symbiote super-soldiers were created to aid the US army, but when trying to control the alien life-form it all goes wrong.
Nick Fury employs Logan to help take down the symbiotes in Vietnam, eventually finding them. However, one of the symbiotes is looking for a new host and manages to bond with Wolverine. Whilst attached, Logan sees just what the government has been doing to the symbiotes through the bonding process, and it provides a harrowing experience for both Wolverine and the alien.
9 Red Hulk/Ghost Rider
During the Circle of Four story arc that featured in Venom #13 and #14, Mephisto's son tries to defeat his father, and all hell breaks loose, literally. When Blackheart killed the Red Hulk - along with X-23, Flash Thompson, and the female Ghost Rider - Mephisto offered them a chance to return to Earth if they managed to kill his son.
In the battle that ensued, Red Hulk - already bonding with the Spirit of Vengeance - was given the symbiote by Flash, and his new form caused one hell of a problem for Blackheart. Teaming with the rest of the fallen superheroes, they managed to defeat Blackheart and return to Earth, with Red Hulk's new powers returned to their rightful owners. It was cool while it lasted.
8 The Punisher
Frank Castle has bonded with the Venom symbiote on a few occasions, and both times it turned him into more of a brutal killer than he already is. He bit off Tombstone's head, fired bullets made of the symbiote goo, and generally became one evil dude. In What If Venom Had Possessed The Punisher, Castle constantly fought mentally with what the symbiote wanted him to do.
In Edge of Venomverse, a more harderned version of the Punisher was given help from the symbiote in his mission to kill the Kingpin, but only with the condition that he kill Spider-Man in return.Thankfully, he never had to kill the webslinger, but this story once again showed the evil nature of the symbiote, and how it can affect its host.
7 The Guardians Of The Galaxy
When Venom went on a mission to the symbiote's home planet of Klyntar, he bumped into the Guardians of the Galaxy, and well, it didn't end very well. It bonded with Groot first, causing him to chillingly yell, "I AM GROOT," but eventually Drax managed to stop it, but then it jumped into Rocket Raccoon from above and tried to get the little guy to return home.
After Drax tried to rescue Rocket from the grip of the powerful Symbiote - even after Quill advised against it - it then bonded with him and turned him into a version of Venom that is probably one of the coolest looking versions ever. Eventually it left Drax and returned to Flash Thompson, but not before leaving a lasting impression on the Guardians of the Galaxy.
6 Deadpool
The merc with a mouth has had his fair share of run-ins with the alien symbiote, and everytime it happens we're given some of the best iterations of a Venomised superhero. They first bonded in the What If? series where Deadpool became much more savage as the host. In Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars, Wade Wilson was shown to be bonded with the symbiote before Peter Parker was, therefore becoming the first alien it ever came into contact with.
Back in Black saw the two join forces again, but when Deadpool wouldn't kill Spider-Man, the two separated. It was also revealed in the storyline that Wilson was the one who convinced Eddie Brock to go to the church where the famous bonding between the alien symbiote and Brock first took place.
5 Spider-Woman
It isn't just the male superheroes that the symbiote manages to bond with. When Jessica Drew's Spider-Woman goes on the hunt for Venom, she briefly bonds with the symbiote. Whilst connected to Brock, it's revealed that the symbiote is pregnant, and believes that only with Brock can its offspring thrive, not turn out evil as it had done before the evil Maniac was defeated.
When Spider-Woman saw just what was going on after she bonded with the symbiote, she decided to leave Brock alone. With Jessica Drew recently becoming a mother, she understood its reasoning, and even though the situation was seriously messed up, Spider-Woman abandoned her plans at bringing down Venom.
4 Ms. Marvel
Before Carol Danvers became Captain Marvel, she was Ms. Marvel, and during the events of Siege, she bonded with the Klyntar symbiote. Norman Osborn led an assault on Asgard, and the former Scorpion, Mac Gargan who was acting as the new Venom, began eating Asgardians as a result.
As Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel fought Venom, she ripped Gargan straight out of the suit, but soon after it attached itself to Danvers. After a brief spell of terrorising the city, and a fight which leads to the church where Eddie Brock became Venom for the first time, she managed to trick the symbiote into becoming more powerful. The alien reattaches itself to Gargan and Ms. Marvel escapes.
3 Spider-Gwen
Gwen Stacy may once have fallen from the Brooklyn Bridge and accidentally died when Spider-Man tried to save her, but she's had quite the resurgence as Spider-Gwen. In Earth-65, she has become one of the most important comic book characters in recent times, but that pesky symbiote attached itself to her, thus creating Gwenom.
In 2014' Edge of Spider-Verse #2, the newly-named Gwenom took rather well to the symbiote, although she sometimes gave in to the rage it had instilled in her, especially when she found her father in hospital. Still, the two ended up working well together, with them finding a balance as she continued to fight crime as the Spider-Woman.
2 The Avengers
Most of the Avengers have all bonded with the symbiote at some point, and you can see why Earth's Mightiest Heroes would be the perfect hosts. Hulk was used by the symbiote after leaving Peter Parker's body in What if the Alien Costume Possessed Spider-Man, leaving parker to grow old rapidly and die.
With the symbiote Hulk on a rampage, Thor confronts him and it then attaches itself to the God of Thunder, allowing Black Cat to detroy the hostless symbiote with a sonic weapon. Captain America also became a host in the Venomverse storyline as Captain Venom, led a resistance against the evil aliens known as Poison.
1 Spider-Man
Whilst this may be obvious, we couldn't leave our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man off the list. Peter Parker was the first to bond with the alien, giving him a fancy black suit and more powerful abilities, including an endless supply of webbing. However, it wasn't long before Parker soon decided to rid himself of the controlling alien.
Later versions of the symbiote Spider-Man saw him become enraged - his personality changing for the worse - but the original bond left Parker feeling terrified that the symbiote could think for itself. Unable to live with its sentient existence, he managed to get rid of it before it bonded with him permanently.