Venom is one of Spider-Man’s most iconic and popular enemies, but his origin story and indeed his host (the unfortunate person consumed by the alien symbiote) have changed over the years. You’ll remember cinematic takes on Venom from Spider-Man 3 and the two (soon to be three) Venom movies. In those iterations of the character, Venom’s host was Eddie Brock. But that’s seemingly not the case in Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2!
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Venom has had many hosts over the years
Eddie Brock continues to be the name most associated with Venom, but the symbiote has bonded to many people over the years in Marvel’s Spider-Man comics. Mac Gargan, the former Scorpion, became a new Venom while a member of Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers. Flash Thompson has been Agent Venom, and Brock’s love interest Anne Weying has been She-Venom. Even the Guardians of the Galaxy got in on the action and became Venom hosts at one point. That’s a whole lot of Venoms, and this isn’t even all of them, but now a new one has joined the roster.
This new Venom is someone we’ve met before
You may recall that the ending of the first Spider-Man game revealed that Harry Osborn—Norman’s son and Peter’s best friend—wasn’t in Europe like Peter thought, but was instead being treated for a terminal illness. He was floating in a big green tube along with something that looked very much like the Venom symbiote. Spoiler alert: it was the Venom symbiote!
The trailer for Spider-Man 2 seems to indicate that the symbiote has indeed cured Harry, but something went wrong along the way and now he’s turning into the all-powerful monster that is Venom. To make matters worse, Peter Parker is also being slowly corrupted by the black symbiote suit he’s taken to wearing. That stuff is dangerous!
Harry Osborn became Venom once before
This twist for the Venom character is older than you think. The cartoon Ultimate Spider-Man, which aired from 2012 to 2017, also presented Harry as Venom while not featuring Eddie Brock at all. In this version, Harry tried to use his newfound powers to become a superhero and impress his father.
Ultimate Spider-Man was for kids so all the symbiote shenanigans ended happily, but the same can’t be said for Spider-Man 2. It’s rated T and the makers have compared it to The Empire Strikes Back, the granddaddy of all darker sequels. It’s not looking good for any of these characters but poor Harry—who has now died in Peter’s arms multiple times in the comics and various adaptations—is probably the least likely to survive his encounter with the unearthly symbiote. Stay tuned!
(featured image: Insomniac Games)
