The Jury is a fictional group of armored vigilantes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team was first introduced in Venom: Lethal Protector #2 (March 1993), and were created by David Michelinie and Mark Bagley.
The Jury was originally conceived and financed by General Orwell Taylor, with Sentry (Curtis Elkins), Ramshot (Samuel Caulkin), Screech (Maxwell Taylor), Firearm and Bomblast as the armored vigilantes. After his oldest son Hugh Taylor, a prison guard at the prison for super powered criminals known as The Vault, is killed by Venom in an attempt to escape, Orwell gathers together Hugh's friends: Elkins, a fellow co-worker and friend; Caulkin is an army buddy of Hugh's; Maxwell, Hugh's younger brother; and Firearm and Bomblast, Hugh's co-workers. Orwell provides his five employees with costumes based on the Guardsman armors which were outfitted with sonics and fire, both of which are anathema to Venom and the other symbiotes.[volume&issueneeded]
The team's first mission is an attempt to destroy Venom that ends in failure. Later, they legally rent spots on multiple New York City rooftops and use sensory equipment to scan for Spider-Man. This does not meet with the expected success, as there are multiple superheroes that operate high above the city streets. Spider-Man figures out their plan and manages to ambush one of the Jury's maintenance men. The man stands up to Spider-Man, encouraging the superhero to take him to the police, as the equipment is all legal.[volume&issueneeded]
Unsure what to do about the entire situation, Spider-Man intentionally baits one of the sensors, drawing the entire team out into a fight. Ramshot is unsure about kidnapping Spider-Man and is ordered back to base. Spider-Man is defeated by the remaining members, and is drugged and tried for his part in originally bringing the Venom symbiote to Earth.[volume&issueneeded]
Witnesses are present to testify about Venom's crimes. One is a woman whose child has been traumatized after witnessing Venom's monstrous form (Venom had been trying to protect the girl from what he thought was a dangerous stranger). This trial is part of a plan designed to guilt Spider-Man into helping the team steal a government designed weapon capable of slaying Venom.[volume&issueneeded]
Paranoia
Gavel, the judge for the Jury's trials. Art by John Calimee.
After some time, Orwell seems to lose sight of his original goals and begins making shady deals with the Life Foundation (of which he is a shareholder), thus relegating the Jury to act as bodyguards for the Foundation's clientele in their bunkers. Orwell begins to become paranoid that his team is against him, and ultimately abandons them to die at the hands of Carlton Drake as a Man-Spider. Taylor and Roland Treece are later arrested by federal agents after trying to flee the Life Foundation.[volume&issueneeded]
Eventually, the Jury breaks from Orwell and reinvent themselves. Maxwell gives up his Screech identity and chooses to redesign the Jury and set himself up as the defense lawyer in the Jury's trials of criminals. A mysterious hooded man named Gavel is assigned to be the judge for all their trials, while . Gavel is not an actual member of the Jury, and he only serves to deliver the verdict, always via a transmission from a secret location. A lawyer named Olivia Lentz is recruited to serve as the prosecutor for their trials. Finally, the Jury recruits Jennifer Stewart, a former Guardsman whose husband Ryan was killed during a riot at the Vault. Stewart takes the codename Wysper and Screech's place in the team. At this time, the Jury operates out of a secret location outside of the United States. They also have a base in southern California located in the office of a shell company named Equity Inc., which supposedly makes office furniture. For transport, the Jury uses a flying ship called the Justifier. Their briefing room is called "The Box".[volume&issueneeded]
Shortly after recruiting Wysper, the Jury invades the small country of Boca Del Dios and freeds Tarantula (Luis Alvarez) from a prison guarded by robotic dreadnaughts. The Jury tries Tarantula and after presenting testimony he is convicted. Tarantula tries to escape and is told by Gavel that if he kills Wysper, he would be free to go. Tarantula and Wysper battle, and the latter is unsure she could kill Tarantula until she is informed by Gavel that Tarantula was the one who murdered her husband Ryan during the riot at The Vault. Wysper snaps Tarantula's neck and is officially made a member of the Jury.[volume&issueneeded]
Hybrid
Edwin Cord. Art by Mark Bagley
The Jury later tracks down Scott Washington, aka Hybrid, a former Guardsman who was bonded to a symbiote that is in fact a gestalt of four symbiotes. The Jury fails to kill Hybrid due to the intervention of Hybrid's friends the New Warriors. After a fight that both sides confess got out of hand, all present are convinced that Scott can control the symbiote; he had used pleasant memories of his times with his old Vault colleagues to calm the entity.[volume&issueneeded]
Some time after these events, the Jury lose their funding and hit hard times. They are forced to be hired goons yet again, this time working for Edwin Cord. U.S. Agent is made their leader. The Jury is sent after the Thunderbolts, who have recently been revealed to be the Masters of Evil. The Jury is defeated by the Thunderbolts and their new leader Hawkeye. Weeks later, The Jury is ordered not to go into battle with Graviton and the Thunderbolts by Cord, who has no desire to waste resources in battles in which he has nothing to gain personally. The U.S. Agent and the Jury would sometime later go against Cord's mandate and help the Thunderbolts fight the new Secret Empire.[volume&issueneeded]
Carnage is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually as an adversary of Spider-Man and the archenemy of Venom. 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.
MacDonald "Mac" Gargan is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an adversary of the superhero Spider-Man. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #19 as a private investigator hired by J. Jonah Jameson to learn how Peter Parker took pictures of Spider-Man. In the following issue, Jameson decided to turn Gargan into a deadly adversary for Spider-Man through a barely-tested procedure, which left Gargan with an unremovable scorpion-themed armor and the predatory instincts of the arachnid. Driven insane by his mutation, Gargan instead turned to a life of crime as the Scorpion, and went on to menace both Spider-Man and Jameson, whom he held responsible for his transformation. Since then, having finally removed the armor, Gargan has also served as the third host of the Venom symbiote, and a member of the Dark Avengers as Spider-Man, but eventually returned to his Scorpion alias as it kept him alive due to the strain both the neural-armors and symbiote put on his body.
Edward Charles Allan "Eddie" Brock is a fictional 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 is 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.
Eugene "Flash" Thompson is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15.
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.
Hybrid is a fictional anti-hero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Scott Washington first appeared in The New Warriors #21 by writer Fabian Nicieza and penciller Mark Bagley. The Hybrid symbiote first appeared in Venom: Along Came a Spider #1 by writer Evan Skolnick and penciller Patrick Zircher.
Sentry is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been depicted as a member of The Jury and his rank is commanding officer. His ethnicity is African-American.
Guardsman was the name of a supervillain/superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The name was later applied to a squad of agents who wear suits of power armor while working security at the Vault. The character first appeared in Iron Man #43.
Normie Osborn is a fictional character in Marvel Comics. He is the grandson of Norman Osborn and the eldest son of Harry Osborn.
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.
The Beetle is the name used by multiple fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is also the name of three versions of high tech armor used by seven separate characters.
Venom: Lethal Protector is a six-issue comic book limited series featuring the Eddie Brock Venom, published by Marvel Comics from February 1993 to July 1993. It was written by David Michelinie and illustrated mostly by Mark Bagley, although Ron Lim and series inker Sam de la Rosa pencilled the last three issues.
"New Ways to Die" is a 2008, six-issue Spider-Man story arc written by Dan Slott with art by John Romita, Jr. and published by Marvel Comics. The arc first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #568-#573.
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 Life Foundation is a fictional survivalist group appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Primarily an enemy of Spider-Man and Venom, the organization exists within Marvel's main shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe. Created by writer David Michelinie and artist Todd McFarlane, it first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1, #298.
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.
Absolute Carnage is a 2019 comic book crossover published by Marvel Comics, by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman.
King in Black is a comic book event written by Donny Cates with art by Ryan Stegman, and was published from 2020 to 2021 by Marvel Comics. It is a continuation to 2019's Absolute Carnage, also containing fallout from 2020's Empyre. In the story, Knull and his symbiotes invade Earth, leaving Eddie Brock / Venom, the Avengers, the X-Men, and numerous other superheroes to protect it.
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