Toxin (character)

Last updated
Toxin
TOXIN3.jpg
Toxin in the cover to Toxin #3. Art by Simon Bisley
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance As Patrick Mulligan:
Venom/Carnage #1 (September 2004)
As Toxin:
Venom/Carnage #2 (October 2004)
As Eddie Brock:
Venom #17 (May 2012)
As Bren Waters:
King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes #3 (April 2021)
Created by Peter Milligan (writer)
Clayton Crain (artist)
In-story information
Alter egoVarious hosts
Team affiliationsas Patrick Mulligan: NYPD
as Eddie Brock: Savage Six, FBI, Symbiote Task Force
Notable aliasesSon of Carnage
Abilities Alien symbiote grants:
  • Superhuman strength, speed, agility, stamina, durability, endurance and reflexes
  • Organic "webbing"
  • Regenerative healing factor
  • Ability to cling to most surfaces
  • Limited shapeshifting, including the ability to shape shift his limbs into weapons, and camouflage
  • Immunity to Spider Sense as well as Venom and Carnage tracking him down
  • Fangs and claws appear when he is angry or in danger

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.

Contents

Stephen Graham portrayed Detective Mulligan in the Sony's Spider-Man Universe films Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Venom: The Last Dance .

Fictional character biography

Carnage produced an offspring: a third symbiote. Carnage felt only dislike and hatred towards this new spawn, even before giving "birth" to it, both fearing that it could become much stronger, and being generally disgusted at the thought of giving birth. At the same time, Venom became aware that Carnage was "pregnant" and sought out Carnage to talk about this new symbiote. Carnage had resolved to kill this spawn as soon as it was born. Venom was doing the best to protect the new symbiote, with the intention of raising it to become a new partner. Venom was also concerned that, as the 1,000th symbiote of their line, the new symbiote could potentially become psychotic and violent because of genetic breakdown. [1]

Patrick Mulligan

Patrick Mulligan was one of New York City's finest cops, yet troubled with various personal problems. His stressful job, along with the strain of his new family (his wife Gina was pregnant with their first son Edward) were taking their toll. One night while on duty, he came across the site where Carnage was giving birth to the new symbiote. Carnage, needing a host to hide the symbiote to keep it from Venom, bonded it to Mulligan. Carnage resolved to kill both Mulligan and the symbiote since they were not yet strong enough to manifest a super-powered costume like the Venom and Carnage symbiotes. Venom still hoped to use this new symbiote as a partner, and fought Carnage to a standstill to protect Mulligan and the symbiote, whom he christened Toxin, after himself. [1] At first, Mulligan did not realize what had happened to him. Before long, the Toxin symbiote had matured enough to gain both conscious thought and the strength to form a symbiote costume on Mulligan's body. After Carnage attacked Gina and Edward at their home, Mulligan realized the Toxin symbiote was a danger to both himself and his family. During a subsequent confrontation between Venom, Carnage, and Toxin, Venom realized Mulligan was dedicated to a life of virtue, or as close as he could come under the symbiote's influence. When it became clear that Toxin was easily as strong as either of his predecessors, and was still growing, Venom and Carnage formed a temporary pact to destroy Toxin. [2] Spider-Man stumbled into the final confrontation among the symbiote trio, and helped Toxin. After they fended off Venom and Carnage, Toxin had a conversation with Spider-Man, filling the latter in on what had happened. Spider-Man encouraged him, and Toxin resigned himself to a life of battling his base symbiote urges while trying to harness his power for good. He left his wife and child, and the police force, to try to come to terms with his new life. [3]

In 2005, after Spider-Man joined the New Avengers, Marvel introduced a six-issue Toxin limited series, which followed Toxin's battles with various supervillains escaped from the Raft as a result of events at the beginning of The New Avengers series. The series also portrayed Mulligan's constant battle to keep the Toxin symbiote under control; as the host and symbiote minds had conversations and arguments with each other. Throughout the miniseries, he battled King Cobra, the Wrecker, Piledriver, and Razor Fist. [4] At one point, trying to live with the Toxin symbiote became too much for Mulligan, who attempted suicide by throwing himself in front of a train. The Toxin symbiote intervened at the last moment, saving Mulligan and claiming that Mulligan did not really want to die. When Mulligan pressed the issue, it became clear that, unlike the Venom and Carnage symbiotes, Toxin is not sure it could survive on its own and find a new host. In the limited series, Razor Fist murdered Mulligan's father, but Toxin begins to show signs of a heroic behavior; he tracked Razor Fist down, but rather than slaughtering (as both the Toxin symbiote and Razor Fist himself urge), Toxin controls himself and turns Razor Fist over to the police. Mulligan reconciled with Gina by 'introducing' his estranged wife to the Toxin symbiote as a way of explaining why he walked out on his family. [5] Mulligan and the Toxin symbiote co-operate peacefully with an agreement: Mulligan will be in complete control, if he allows Toxin two hours of "playtime" each night. But in those two hours, Toxin is not allowed to commit any acts of grand theft, arson, or homicide. [6]

Mulligan is killed by Blackheart, resulting in the Toxin symbiote appearing in an underground lab in Las Vegas. [7]

Eddie Brock

Afterwards, the Crime Master's underling Jack O'Lantern blackmails Venom into retrieving the Toxin symbiote. A fight with security personnel results in Jack O'Lantern taking the Toxin symbiote and fleeing. [7] Blackheart is revealed to have bound pieces of the Toxin symbiote to clones of X-23, and also retained a small sample of the Toxin symbiote in a test tube because of needing an "alien's flesh" as an ingredient in a ritual to bring hell to Earth. [8]

Along with Venom, Anti-Venom, Hybrid and his sister Scorn, Toxin is mentioned as being the next option to stop Carnage's rampage in the Midwest after the Avengers are defeated. [9] However, the US military is unable to find Toxin, leaving it up to the hybrid symbiotes and Scorn to stop Carnage. [10]

After killing Hybrid and Scream, Eddie Brock follows Venom into Crime Master's headquarters as part of his plan to destroy all symbiotes. During the ensuing fight between Venom and Crime Master's underlings, Crime Master locks Brock up and forcibly bonds him to the Toxin symbiote, making him the new Toxin. [11] Brock joins the Savage Six to fight Venom, [12] but is severely burned in the fight. [13]

Eddie and the Toxin symbiote eventually track down Venom and discover a group of creatures called the "symbiote slayers" that are determined to destroy the symbiotes. Venom and Toxin have to team up to fight the "slayers". After this, Toxin agrees to leave Venom alone, and Brock as Toxin reclaims his title as the "lethal protector".

Brock and the Toxin symbiote appear once more in the All-New, All-Different Marvel miniseries Carnage, where Brock serves in a task force led by John Jameson, in hopes to entrap Carnage who was hidden in a mine-shaft. Toxin is considered "Plan B" to the force, and Brock's transformation into Toxin is manually controlled through a button. The Toxin symbiote's look has changed into resembling Agent Venom's, in which he sports red body armor. But at the end, Brock loses the suit.

Carnage has taken hold of the book known as the Darkhold, to resurrect Chthon, Eddie Brock ultimately sacrifices the Toxin symbiote in the final issue against Chthon.

Bren Waters

Toxin returns during the King in Black tie-in miniseries Planet of the Symbiotes. Toxin has now bonded with a new host, teenager Bren Waters, the son of the new Guardsman (Ozkar Waters); the two have a brief scuffle. [14]

Powers and abilities

The Toxin symbiote possessed the special abilities of his two symbiote predecessors: he can stick to walls (which originally came from when Spider-Man was a host of the Venom symbiote), can change his identity to that of a completely different person, and also has unlimited webbing. With Patrick Mulligan as the host, Toxin is red from the abdomen up and black from the abdomen down. [15] With Eddie Brock as the host, Toxin resembles a combination of Venom and Carnage but with the entire body red—light on the chest, and dark on the arms and lower body. [16] Toxin can also blend in with his surroundings and become undetectable, an ability he gained from his grandfather Venom, and he can form solid weapons from his limbs, an ability first seen in his father Carnage. Toxin also seems to have some sort of quick-healing ability like his predecessors, as his wounds from his first battle with Razor Fist healed remarkably quickly. Unlike the others, Toxin can track anyone—not just other symbiotes or symbiote host—within the entire city of New York and possibly further, as long as he has something to begin from. [15]

Unlike many of the other symbiotes, Toxin did not try to take over the mind of his human host. Instead, the Toxin symbiote actually thinks and voices its opinions to the human host (as evidenced in Toxin's "Cut to the Chase" storyline). The Toxin symbiote usually speaks when the host is in his "human form", and acts very immature and childlike because of its nascent existence, once refusing to aid Pat in battle until he apologized for an earlier argument. In addition, he seems to have a stronger resistance to sonics and intense heat compared to Carnage, though this does not mean that Toxin is more resistant to violent urges: it can get carried away with violence and fighting crime, even if it is a petty crime. When he is not angry or fighting, Toxin is slim and smooth-lined, although still well muscled, closely resembling Carnage or Spider-Man's symbiote costume. When he becomes upset or aggressive, he grows into his much bigger and stronger form like Venom, with vicious fangs and long curving claws. The Toxin symbiote recently developed a venomous bite after bonding to Eddie.

In other media

Film

Video games

Merchandise

Collected editions

TitleMaterial collectedPublished dateISBN
Toxin: The Devil You KnowToxin #1-6November 2005 978-0785118046
Extreme CarnageExtreme Carnage: Toxin and Extreme Carnage: Alpha, Scream, Phage, Riot, Lasher,Agony, OmegaFebruary 2022 978-1302932077

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carnage (character)</span> Character in the Marvel Universe

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Brock</span> Marvel Comics fictional character

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 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, even occasionally allying with Spider-Man.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flash Thompson</span> Marvel Comics fictional character

Eugene "Flash" Thompson is a 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cletus Kasady</span> Marvel Comics fictional character

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scream (character)</span> Comics character

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symbiote (comics)</span> Fictional race in Marvel Comics

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 by 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hybrid (Scott Washington)</span> Comics character

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.

<i>The Venom Saga</i> Story arc from the 1994 animated series Spider-Man that focused on Venom

"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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venom (character)</span> Marvel Comics character

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Venom</span> Marvel Comics character

Anti-Venom is a fictional antihero appearing in Comic books published by Marvel Comics. It first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #569, and was created by Dan Slott and John Romita Jr. The creature belongs to a race of amorphous extraterrestrial parasites known as the Symbiotes and is regarded as Venom's symbiotic brother. His physical features include white "skin", a black face, and spider symbol across his chest.

<i>Planet of the Symbiotes</i> Marvel Comics story arc

"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.

<i>Venom</i> (comic book) Several comic book series by Marvel Comics

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 Savage Six is the name of two different supervillain groups appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

<i>Venom vs. Carnage</i> Fictional Comic Book Series

Venom vs. Carnage is a comic book limited series written by Peter Milligan with art by Clayton Crain published by Marvel Comics. It has a total of four issues and has been reprinted in trade paperback form under the title Spider-Man: Venom vs. Carnage. It features the first appearance of the Toxin symbiote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mania (character)</span> Comics character

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knull</span> Marvel Comics supervillain

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 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Absolute Carnage</span> Comic book crossover storyline

"Absolute Carnage" is a 2019 comic book crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics, by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King in Black</span> 2020 Marvel Comics event

"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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)</span> Sonys Spider-Man Universe character

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).

"Venom War" is a 2024 American comic book crossover event written by Al Ewing with art by Iban Coello and published by Marvel Comics. The event follows Eddie Brock and his son Dylan who, after seeing glimpses of each other's potential future, engage in a war to determine who will be the one true Venom. Meanwhile, artificial zombified symbiotes known as Zombiotes attack New York.

References

  1. 1 2 Peter Milligan ( w ),Clayton Crain ( a ). Venom vs. Carnage,no. 1 of 4(September 2004).New York, NY:Marvel Comics.
  2. ↑ Venom vs. Carnage #2-3
  3. ↑ Venom vs. Carnage #4
  4. ↑ Toxin #1-3
  5. ↑ Toxin #6
  6. ↑ Toxin #5
  7. 1 2 Venom vol. 2 #11 (December 2011)
  8. ↑ Venom vol. 2 #13 (February 2012)
  9. ↑ Carnage U.S.A. #1 (December 2011)
  10. ↑ Carnage U.S.A. #2 (January 2012)
  11. ↑ Venom vol. 2 #17 (May 2012)
  12. ↑ Venom vol. 2 #18 (May 2012)
  13. ↑ Venom vol. 2 #21 (July 2012)
  14. ↑ King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes #3 (April 2021)
  15. 1 2 Spider-Man: Venom Vs. Carnage. Marvel. 2007.
  16. ↑ Bunn, Cullen (2011). Venom #31. Marvel.
  17. ↑ Venom: Let There Be Carnage - Exclusive Trailer Breakdown with Director Andy Serkis - IGN, 10 May 2021, retrieved 2021-08-05
  18. ↑ D'Alessandro, Amanda N'Duka, Anthony; N'Duka, Amanda; D'Alessandro, Anthony (2019-12-05). "'Venom 2': 'The Irishman' & 'Rocketman' Actor Stephen Graham Boards Sony Sequel". Deadline. Retrieved 2021-08-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. ↑ "trailer breakdown".
  20. ↑ "Spider-Man Toxin Carnage Fleece Throw Blanket".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.