Planet of the Symbiotes | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
Schedule | Monthly |
Format | Limited series |
Genre | |
Publication date | June – October 1995 |
No. of issues | 5 |
Main character(s) | Eddie Brock Venom Spider-Man Scarlet Spider Carnage |
Creative team | |
Written by | David Michelinie |
Penciller(s) | Ralph Cabrera (#1) Joe St. Pierre (#2) Kyle Hotz (#3) Darick Robertson (#4) Steve Lightle (#5) |
Inker(s) | Dave Hoover (#1) Greg Adams (#2) Armando Gil (#3) Arne Starr (#4) Steve Lightle (#5) |
Letterer(s) | Bill Oakley |
Colorist(s) | Tom Smith (#1-4) Marianna Lightle (#5) |
Editor(s) | Tom Brevoort |
Collected editions | |
Venom: Planet of the Symbiotes | ISBN 978-1302913656 |
"Planet of the Symbiotes" is a five-issue comic book story arc written by David Michelinie and published by Marvel Comics in 1995. The arc spanned the five "Super Special #1" editions of the Spider-Man titles available at the time: The Amazing Spider-Man , Spider-Man , The Spectacular Spider-Man , Venom , and Web of Spider-Man . The plot continued a narrative first published in the four-part limited series Venom: Separation Anxiety (1994) where doubt is placed in the mind of Eddie Brock about who is in control of the relationship between himself and the sentient Venom symbiote that grants him his powers.
The story centers on the invasion of Earth by an army of symbiotes and the efforts of Venom, Spider-Man, and Scarlet Spider to stop them.
Starting in the one-shot comic The Amazing Spider-Man Super Special #1 (April 1995), [1] Eddie Brock contemplates his relationship with the Venom symbiote after seeing Riot, Phage, Lasher, Agony, and Scream struggle to control themselves against their own symbiotes. [2] While teamed with Spider-Man against a terrorist group, Brock realizes the Venom symbiote is influencing him to kill. Spider-Man attempts to convince Eddie to abandon the Venom symbiote by blaming it for Brock's insanity. Brock forces the Venom symbiote to leave him, to allow him to think about the situation uninfluenced. Angry at being rejected, the Venom symbiote unleashes a powerful, telepathic scream that draws a spaceship of other symbiotes to Earth. [3]
Continuing in the same issue, the symbiotes begin possessing random civilians and committing murders. Brock, believing the Venom symbiote is to blame, teams with Spider-Man and the Scarlet Spider to investigate. They eventually discover the symbiotes are creating a massive machine out of stolen Earth components. The three engage the symbiotes but find themselves overwhelmed. Scarlet Spider is revealed to be wearing a symbiote, which drags all three through the machine. [4]
Following part 2 in the one-shot Spider-Man Super Special #1 (July 1995), [5] the one-shot Venom Super Special #1 (Aug. 1995), [6] finds the three on another planet, a world conquered by the symbiotes, the machine revealed to be a teleporter. The symbiote that had bonded with the Scarlet Spider is revealed to be Venom who again bonds with Brock. Venom conveys the history of the symbiotes as a race of creatures intent on taking over host bodies from other races in order to feel emotion. The Venom symbiote was considered an aberration for wanting to bond with a host instead of dominating them. Venom also reveals the symbiotes intend to conquer Earth next. Spider-Man, the Scarlet Spider and Venom escape through the teleporter to Earth, but are followed by the symbiote invasion force. [7]
The Spectacular Spider-Man Super Special #1 (Sept. 1995) [8] continues the story with a symbiote releasing the serial killer Cletus Kasady from prison, unleashing the bonded symbiote that makes Kasady into the supervillain Carnage. Carnage absorbs the second symbiote and becomes stronger as a result. Spider-Man, Scarlet Spider and Venom launch an assault against the symbiote invaders but are overwhelmed. As they are about to be defeated, Carnage appears, having grown to building-size proportions by consuming symbiotes. [9]
The conclusion in Web of Spider-Man Super Special #1 (Oct. 1995) finds Carnage seeking out Venom to kill him. Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider fight Carnage while Venom attempts to create a more powerful telekinetic scream to subdue the symbiotes. Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider defeat Carnage and Brock fully bonds with his symbiote to create the necessary scream. The scream creates enough pain and despair that the symbiotes commit suicide. Venom decides he is content to be both Brock and the symbiote. [10]
A trade paperback book collecting the story arc was released in August 2018 under the title Venom: Planet of the Symbiotes. [11]
Carnage is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually as an adversary of Spider-Man and the archenemy of his father Venom, in particular the Eddie Brock incarnation of the character, although Carnage and Venom have joined forces when their goals have aligned. The character made its first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #361, and was created by writer David Michelinie and artist Mark Bagley, although the first published artwork of Carnage was penciled by Chris Marrinan. Stan Lee would also have some input in the character's name and attributes, pushing for a character who would be far darker and more vicious than Venom, due to the latter's more scrupulous character development.
Edward Charles Allan "Eddie" Brock is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane, making a cameo appearance in Web of Spider-Man #18, before making his first full appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 as the most well-known host of the Venom symbiote. The character has since appeared in many Marvel Comics publications, including Venom. He has endured as one of Spider-Man's most prominent villains, and was initially regarded as one of his three archenemies, alongside the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. He later evolved into an antihero, slowly distancing himself from his initial goal to ruin Spider-Man's life to instead do good, even occasionally allying with Spider-Man.
David Michelinie is an American comic book writer best known for scripting Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man and Iron Man and the DC Comics feature Superman in Action Comics. Among the characters he created or co-created are Venom, Carnage, Scott Lang / Ant-Man and War Machine.
Toxin is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He has been depicted as a superhero and at times a supervillain. The character is the offspring of Carnage, the third major symbiote in the Marvel Universe, the ninth known to have appeared in the comics outside of the Planet of the Symbiotes storyline, and the first symbiote that Spider-Man considers an ally, despite several temporary alliances with Venom in the past. The Toxin symbiote's various hosts are former NYPD police officer Patrick Mulligan, Eddie Brock, and teenager Bren Waters.
Cletus Cortland Kasady is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer David Michelinie and artist Erik Larsen, the character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #344 as the first and most infamous host of the Carnage symbiote, an offspring of Venom. Originally a deranged serial killer, Kasady bonded with the symbiote while sharing a cell with Venom's human host, Eddie Brock, and broke out of prison using the super-human abilities granted by it. Since then, he went on to menace both Venom and Spider-Man, resulting in various unlikely alliances between the two to defeat him. Kasady and Carnage are a perfect match, as they both have sadistic personalities, and the symbiote only increases Kasady's already existent violent tendencies. After being separated from the redeemed Carnage symbiote in Absolute Carnage, Kasady nonetheless continued calling himself Carnage, bonding with Grendel, Mania and several other symbiotes to become Dark Carnage.
Web of Spider-Man is the name of two different monthly comic book series starring Spider-Man that have been published by Marvel Comics since 1985, the first volume of which ran for 129 issues between 1985 and 1995, and the second of which ran for 12 issues between 2009 and 2010.
Scream is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Scream symbiote has appeared in Spider-Man comics, as one of five symbiote spawns created simultaneously and has had four different types.
She-Venom is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is the ex-wife of Eddie Brock. She is the first character who goes by the She-Venom identity, and she is also colloquially referred to as the Bride of Venom.
The Klyntar, colloquially and more commonly referred to as symbiotes, are a fictional species of extraterrestrial parasitic life forms appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with Spider-Man. The symbiotes, as their alternative name suggest, form a symbiotic bond with their hosts, through which a single entity is created. They are able to alter their hosts' personalities and/or memories, often influencing their darkest desires, along with amplifying their physical and emotional traits and personality and thereby granting them super-human abilities. The symbiotes are also weakened when in range of extreme sounds or sonic frequencies. There are more than 40 known symbiotes in the Marvel Universe.
The Ravencroft Institute is a fictional maximum security prison for the criminally insane appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The place later grew to one of the leading maximum-security facilities in the country specializing in the treatment of superhuman criminals.
"Maximum Carnage" is a 14-part comic book crossover published in Marvel Comics' Spider-Man family of titles in 1993. It featured Spider-Man, Venom, and a host of other superheroes teaming up to face Venom's murderous offspring Carnage and his team of supervillains.
"The Venom Saga" is a story arc from the 1994 animated series Spider-Man that focused on Venom. The description of the name and chosen episodes debuted in home media by Buena Vista Home Entertainment. The first three episodes are the three-part episode entitled "The Alien Costume" from the first season. The last two are the two-part episode entitled "Venom Returns" and "Carnage", which debuted in the third season. These certain episodes are responsible for debuting the symbiotic characters Venom and Carnage outside of comic books. The arc was released on DVD as Spider-Man: The Venom Saga.
Venom is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a sentient alien symbiote with an amorphous, liquid-like form, who survives by bonding with a host, usually human. This dual-life form receives enhanced powers and usually refers to itself as "Venom". The symbiote was originally introduced as a living alien costume in The Amazing Spider-Man #252, with a full first appearance as Venom in The Amazing Spider-Man #300.
Venom is the title of several American comic book series published by Marvel Comics focusing on the various heroic and villainous incarnations of the character Venom, which have usually consisted of a human host and amorphous alien being called a symbiote. The first incarnation of the character was the one created by the third and current human host to the symbiote, Eddie Brock, and—since 2011—its fifth host, Flash Thompson. Beginning with Venom: Lethal Protector, eighteen limited series following Brock's adventures were published monthly between February 1993 and January 1998. A monthly Venom series began publication in 2003, following a new character, Patricia Robertson, and a clone of the original symbiote. The series concluded in 2004 after 18 issues. In 2011 another monthly series, following the adventures of Flash Thompson, was launched. The series resumed with vol. 3, vol. 4, and vol. 5 from 2016 to present.
The Alien Costume Saga is a superhero comic book story arc published by Marvel Comics and centred on the character Spider-Man. It was originally published in the comic book series The Amazing Spider-Man #252–263, The Spectacular Spider-Man #90–100, Marvel Team-Up #141–150 and Web of Spider-Man #1 from May 1984 to April 1985. It features Spider-Man wearing the alien costume he brought home from Battleworld during the Secret Wars limited series and his subsequent discovery that the new costume is alive.
Mania is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It first appeared in Venom #1 and was created by Daniel Way and Francisco Herrera. Belonging to a race of amorphous extraterrestrial parasites known as Symbiotes, its hosts are Patricia Robertson, Andrea "Andi" Benton and Lee Price.
Knull is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with Venom and Carnage. He was later retroactively established as an unseen enemy of Thor and the Silver Surfer, as he was behind Gorr the God Butcher's mission to hunt down and kill various deities, in addition to having come into conflict with the Silver Surfer via a temporal black hole through time. The character is depicted as an evil deity who created the weapon known as All-Black the Necrosword and the alien races known as the Klyntar/Symbiotes and Exolons. The character would go on to play a more important role in the Marvel Universe.
"Absolute Carnage" is a 2019 comic book crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics, by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman.
Venom is a fictional character primarily voiced by Tom Hardy appearing in the Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) franchise, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Introduced in Venom (2018), Venom is depicted as a symbiote who binds with human investigative journalist Eddie Brock after landing on Earth, with the duo subsequently becoming a vigilante jointly known by Venom's name, and later as the Lethal Protector, facing Venom's former team leader, Riot, and later Venom's son, Carnage, in combat. They are the second incarnation of the character in film, after Topher Grace and Tobey Maguire's respective portrayals of Eddie Brock and Venom and a symbiote-enveloped Spider-Man in Spider-Man 3 (2007).