While Spider-Man was on the Beyonder’s Battleworld, he acquired a black costume, which turned out to be an alien being that bonded itself to him. Spider-Man rejected this alien symbiote, which then bonded with an ex-Daily Globe columnist Eddie Brock. He had wrecked his career by identifying the wrong man as a murderer, an error revealed by Spider-Man. As Venom Brock became one of Spider-Man’s deadliest enemies with an intense hatred for the wall crawler.
Brock eventually sold the symbiote to the highest bidder after contracting cancer. Brock was then cured by Martin Li (Mister Negative), who’s powers interacted with the symbiote remnants in his body creating Anti-Venom.
During the Spider Island crisis Brock was persuaded by Reed Richards to use his symbiote as a cure to be distributed to everyone; however he would never be able to become Anti-Venom again. As a result, Brock became powerless.
Not being bonded to a symbiote anymore, Eddie used an obtained arsenal to hunt down Carnage, Venom, Toxin and the other symbiotes. Despite helping to save New York, Eddie was homeless and poor, and his arsenal was the only thing he had. While trying to kill the new Venom, he was knocked unconscious during a battle and was forced by the Crime-Master to become the host of the Toxin Symbiote to serve him in his Savage Six.
When he heard rumors that Venom had returned to villainy, Eddie traveled to New York and volunteered his services. Upon arriving and seeing that his "darling" symbiote had indeed returned to Earth, Eddie tricked Spider-Man into helping separate the suit from its current host, Lee Price. Once the suit was taken away, Eddie freed it from its containment, reclaiming it to become Venom once again.
Current Version:
Venom
Former Versions:
Anti-Venom
Toxin II
