In the pages of the original Secret Wars, The Beyonder threw together the heroes and villains from Earth and forced them into battle against each other. Spider-Man's costume was destroyed during the battle, and he ended up finding some black alien goop that formed itself into a new costume. When he returned to Earth in Amazing Spider-Man #252 (1984), he had his new black costume.

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It turned out this wasn't alien goop, but a member of an alien race, a symbiote— and soon, Spider-Man rejected it, and it bonded to Eddie Brock to become Venom. Since that time, Venom became one of Marvel's greatest heroes, and with the King in Black storyline beginning, symbiotes are all the rage, although they have been important for years in Marvel Comics.

10 Venom

Eddie Brock as Venom grinning over a defeated Spider-Man.

"Venom" was where Eddie Brock showed up as one of Spider-Man's most dangerous enemies. This took place in Amazing Spider-Man #300 (1988) by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane and had the symbiote discover someone who hates Peter Parker as much as he does. While Spider-Man beats him in this fight, this is only the start of the twisted relationship between the two, and one of Marvel's most popular characters made his massive debut.

9 Venom: Lethal Protector

Venom Lethal Protector

Venom became so popular that Marvel Comics decided he shouldn't be a villain. Instead, Venom became an anti-hero whose only true evil nature was that he hates Spider-Man and wants him dead. However, once Venom got away from Peter and New York, he became a true hero. In Venom (1993) by David Michelinie and Mark Bagley, Eddie Brock went to San Francisco, and Venom became the protector of the homeless and defenseless people in the city.

8 Maximum Carnage

maximum-carnage-chat-display

When Venom proved to be very popular, Marvel wanted to keep going with the symbiotes and decided to create one stronger than Venom and Spider-Man put together. This was Carnage, the offspring of Venom that attached itself to sociopathic murderer Cletus Kasady.

In Maximum Carnage, Kasady broke out of prison, freed Shriek, and then brought in Spider-Man's Infinity War doppelganger and started a reign of terror. The story started in Spider-Man Unlimited #1 (1993) and played out through 14 parts, crossing over in all the Spider-Man titles.

7 Venom Vs. Carnage

Venom Fights Carnage On The Cover Of Venom Vs. Carnage

Venom Vs. Carnage is a four-issue miniseries from 2004 by Peter Milligan and Clayton Crain. The series saw Venom and Carnage battling from the opening of the first issue, with the elder symbiote and its offspring trying to kill each other. What made this series stand out was the arrival of Carnage's offspring.

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Police officer Patrick Mulligan ended up with Carnage's offspring and found Venom, Spider-Man, and Black Cat all working to protect him from Carnage, who wanted his offspring dead. This offspring became the symbiote hero known as Toxin.

6 Separation Anxiety

Venom Separation Anxiety

Venom: Separation Anxiety was another Venom miniseries, this one from 1994 by Howard Mackie and Ron Randall. Eddie Brock was arrested after losing in a fight to Scarlet Spider, and his symbiote was removed from his body. The problem is that the government brought on a doctor to study the symbiote and figure out how it works. However, the symbiotes created by the Life Foundation (Scream, Agony, Phage, Riot, and Lasher) arrive, break Eddie out, and takes him for their own purposes.

5 Project Rebirth 2.0

Agent Venom

The original Project Rebirth was Dr. Abraham Erskine's work, and his program created the super-soldier serum that created Captain America. Project Rebirth 2.0 was started in the modern era and saw the government using captured symbiotes to create super soldiers. When the government captured Venom, they bonded him to Flash Thompson, and Agent Venom was born. This storyline played out in Venom Vol. 2 by Rick Remender and Tony Moore.

4 Absolute Carnage

Absolute Carnage Spider-Man Marvel Comics

Maximum Carnage was a massive battle that roared through the spider-titles, but its follow up in 2019, Absolute Carnage by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman, took everything in that battle and ramped up the carnage 100%. This started when a cult that worships Knull resurrected Carnage, and he went out hunting everyone who ever bonded with a symbiote.

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Knull, the god that created the symbiotes, proved his power as he didn't only control Carnage, but also Riot, Agony, Phage, and Lasher, and when Carnage killed Lee Price and went for Eddie Brock, most of the characters in Marvel had to team up to fight the evil symbiotes.

3 Planet Of The Symbiotes

Planet of the Symbiotes

"Planet of the Symbiotes" was an event series from 1995 that saw Eddie Brock order Venom to leave him to figure out what he really wanted to do in his life. However, with this being the second rejection for the symbiote, it screamed out in pain and what answered was more symbiotes from space.

While Knull was still years away from his appearance, this showed the symbiotes' alien race and brought them to Earth to attack and kill humans. It was here that the Venom symbiote explained the history of its race and why they did what they did.

2 New Ways To Die

anti-venom

The storyline "New Ways to Die" had Spider-Man coming face to face with new enemies, the Dark Avengers on one side and Mister Negative on the other side. In Amazing Spider-Man #568 by Dan Slott and John Romita Jr., Max Gargon's Venom showed up, and when the symbiote saw Eddie Brock, it tried to reconnect.

However, Mr. Negative had saved Brock's life with his healing touch, and since the symbiote is invading a person's body, Brock's body rejected it. What resulted was a hybrid known as Anti-Venom, and Brock was back as a brand-new symbiote hero.

1 Venom Beyond

Venom Beyond

The most recent symbiote storyline in Marvel Comics, leading to King in Black, played out in the pages of 2020's Venom by Donny Cates and Luke Ross. This was a five-part series where Eddie Brock and his son Dylan ended up transported to a different Earth.

Eddie died on this Earth, Anne Weying became Venom, and Dylan grew up to become the evil overlord known as Codex. This stands on its own as one of the only Venom storylines where Eddie actually had a happily ever after ending, if only temporarily.

NEXT: Marvel: 10 Things Fans Need To Know About Grendel The Symbiote