For the better part of its history, the symbiote known as Venom has been thought of as merely some psychotic symbiote bent on destruction and the eradication of its nemesis Spider-Man. While Venom has typically been painted as a villain at worst and an anti-hero at best, more recently the symbiote, along with several of its hosts, has been teaming up with some Marvel’s greatest heroes.

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From trips across the vastness of the Milky Way with the Guardians of the Galaxy to teaming up with Spider-Man and Miles Morales against the Grendel symbiote and Knull, it seems like Venom has really turned a new leaf. For now. But what is it that brought the symbiote to this point? Let’s go through his history and find out.

10 Tel-Kar

Venom First Host Tel-Kar

Depending on the source, there can be a couple of different answers as to who played host to the Venom symbiote first. Many people are convinced that it was Spider-Man. Others say that it was Deadpool. But in actuality, the first being to be bound with Venom wasn’t even from Earth.

Tel-Kar was a Kree soldier that went through the wringer as far as training goes. After he completed his training he was bonded to the Venom symbiote and used it in order to disguise himself as a Skrull to infiltrate their ranks.

9 Venompool

After Tel-Kar blew his cover in order to help a ship filled with Kree refugees, he separated himself from the symbiote and sent it out alone in order to deliver information regarding the Skrulls’ bioweapon.

However, the symbiote would remain stranded on an icy planet for some time before finally making its way to Earth. Here is where it would bond with a host that would change the course of its life along with its mental fortitude, Deadpool. Because Deadpool’s psyche is so fractured and damaged, when the Venom symbiote bonded with him, it, unfortunately, took on some of his characteristics.

8 Does Whatever A Spider Can

After separating from Deadpool, the Venom symbiote would make its way to another familiar face in the Marvel landscape, Spider-Man. And much like with Deadpool, the symbiote would grow to take on some of the webslingers characteristics.

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However, unlike with Deadpool, the venom symbiote would take on many of Spider-Man’s physical attributes. The spider symbol on his chest, for example. Beyond the aesthetics, the symbiote would pick up Spider-Man’s ability to shoot webs, which he does completely organically.

7 The Revenge Of Venompool

Venompool

Venom has been taken on by many hosts over his publication history, but perhaps none were as effective as Deadpool.

After making his way back to Deadpool in the What If? Dark Reign #1/2, Venompool had become a hero far greater than any in his universe. However, being aware that attention could still be drawn away from him by other heroes, Venompool decided to kill them. All of them. Heroes, villains, anti-heroes. All killed in order to assure that the people’s attention would remain directed at him. All except the attractive ones. For adoration purposes, of course.

6 Genetic Memory

If it hasn’t been made clear by this point, it’s worth stating that the Venom symbiote is not simply a tool for its wearer to use. It is a living, thinking being with vast stores of knowledge.

Venom is capable of many different things, but one of his most impressive skills has to be his memory. Venom is able to carry within himself perfect genetic memory of the hosts that have bonded with him. Meaning that he has information regarding Spider-Man, Deadpool, Eddie Brock and anyone else that has bonded with him over the years.

5 Mac Gargan

mac gargan venom

During his time as a villain, Venom is most commonly associated with Eddie Brock whose jealous rage and obsession with Spider-Man drove them both a little insane and led to a lot of criminal activity.

However, Eddie Brock isn’t the only villain that Venom has bonded with over the years. Matt Gargan, who fans may recognize as the Scorpion, also spent a while bonded to the symbiote while pursuing a career in crime.

4 Grandpa Venom

Though Venom’s son, Carnage, is perhaps the most famous of the symbiote’s descendants, the family tree in no way ends there.

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Aside from all of Carnage’s brothers and sisters, Venom also has two grandchildren through his son, Carnage. The more popular of the two, and the eldest of Carnage’s spawn is called Toxin. The second spawn of Carnage comes in the form of a symbiote named Scorn. One thing that can be said of the Venom family, they certainly know how to name their children.

3 The Sym-Soldier Program

Originally developed during the Vietnam War in order to fill the void left by Captain America’s disappearance, the Sym-Soldier Program was created by using samples of the primordial symbiote.

Unbeknownst to Nick Fury and the rest of the people responsible for the program, the primordial symbiote could corrupt other symbiotes and send them into a fury, thus necessitating the need to shut the program down. Years later, the program would be resurrected after the Venom symbiote was stripped from Mac Gargan. This new program would bring the symbiote into the hands of Flash Thompson.

2 One Of Us

Symbiote Planet Klyntar

Over his publication history, Venom has been subjected to the minds of some of the Marvel Universe’s most criminally insane. As expected of a creature that bonds with its wearing, these psyches adversely affected the symbiote and cause many negative side effects.

However, after being reintegrated with the Klyntar hivemind during his time with Flash Thompson, Venom was cleansed of its hatred and bloodlust and allowed to fully blossom as a symbiote in his own right. Without the tarnished psyches weighing him down.

1 Randy Schueller

Spider-Man leaps into battle wearing a new symbiote suit in Venomized

It’s hard to believe now that Venom has become such a staple in the Marvel landscape, but the character wasn’t an original creation of anyone who was working for Marvel at the time.

In fact, Venom was actually created by a fan named Randy Schueller who created the idea for the character(an all-black suit that was composed of unstable molecules and enhanced Spider-Man’s powers). He later sold the idea to Jim Shooter, then editor-in-chief of Marvel, for a lowly $220. Not a great choice for Schueller, but definitely a solid investment for Marvel.

NEXT: 5 Reasons Carnage Is Overrated (& 5 He's Underrated)