Edward Brock Jr. (Earth 1610)

## Venom

### relatives

Edward Brock (father, deceased); Jamie Brock (mother, deceased); unnamed grandparents

### Base of Operations

Latveria; formerly Mobile; Empire State Building

### Education

College student; extensive bioengineering studies

## History

*I felt-- no, see... I didn't feel anything. It wasn't*me*. It was*him*.*
--****Eddie Brock****

### Origin

Eddie Brock Jr. was Peter Parker's closest childhood friend. However, the genesis of "Venom" had begun years earlier. A genetically engineered protoplasmic "Suit", it was designed by Richard Parker and Edward Brock Senior. Richard intended it to be used for medical purposes in his quest to cure cancer, functioning as a symbiotic suit of bio-armor that not only cured diseases but augmented its wearer's body. Edward Sr. was more interested in the military applications of the suit, and when they ran out of funds persuaded Richard to sign a deal with Bolivar Trask. Trask seized their research, resulting in a drawn-out legal battle that ended with the deaths of both Parker and Brock. Eddie Jr. continued the research, using two samples from a suit he found in his father's cold storage unit that were originally created for Richard Parker's DNA.

When Peter Parker, his childhood friend, reached out to him, Eddie attempted to rekindle their friendship, showing him the sample of the Venom Suit that he had been studying.[1] The following day, Eddie arrived at Midtown High and joined Peter and Gwen Stacy for lunch, but their conversation was interrupted by a phone call from Curtis Connors, Eddie's supervising professor. Eddie invited Peter and Gwen to a reggae concert, but Peter declined.[2] After the concert, Eddie took Gwen back to his dorm room, expecting her to have sex with him despite their age difference. When she stormed out on him in disgust, Eddie turned on the television to see a news report of Spider-Man wearing a black suit, and rushed to the lab to find an injured Peter in the process of stealing the sample.[3] When Eddie demanded to know what was going on, Peter revealed that he was Spider-Man, and explained that the Venom Suit, in its incomplete state, filled its host with murderous rage and ravenous hunger that not even he, with his superpowers and genetic connection to its creator, could control. When Peter expressed his intent to destroy it, Eddie protested, saying the Suit was all he had left of his father, but Peter insisted. Admitting that he couldn't stop Peter, Eddie let him take the sample and left to process what he'd been told.[3]

Soon afterwards Eddie returned to the lab, angry with Peter for destroying the Suit. Revealing the existence of a second sample, Eddie dipped his hand into it and was engulfed by it, causing him extreme pain as it bonded to him.[4] A janitor came across him cocooned in the Suit and he instinctively devoured her, gaining control over it and taking on the appearance of a muscular version of Black-Suit Spider-Man, sans the spider emblems. A pair of security guards investigating the janitor's screams arrived, and Eddie promptly lost control of the Suit and transformed into a semi-amorphous monster with a fanged maw and claws.
Driven by the Venom Suit to consume Spider-Man and become complete, Eddie confronted Peter at his high school, where the two fought; Venom attempting to consume Spider-Man. The fight spilled out onto a nearby street, where Police arrived. Not knowing what Eddie had become, the police opened fire on Eddie, and Eddie accidentally stepped on a powerline where he was electrocuted and he mysteriously dissapeared leaving only a small dead pile of the suit on the ground.[5]

### On The Run

Eddie spent the next several months hoping that someone would put him out of his misery, in-between feeding frenzies to satiate the symbiote's ravenous hunger. Drawn to a fight between Spider-Man and R.H.I.N.O., Eddie realized the symbiote was drawn to Spider-Man, who had been its previous host. Later, he was attacked by Silver Sable and her Wild Pack, escaping by transforming into Venom. Wanting to find out why the symbiote was drawn to Spider-Man, he attacked Peter as Venom at a museum and was beaten into submission by Silver Sable and her Wild Pack and taken into confinement by Bolivar Trask and Adrian Toomes.[6] The two leading researchers made a deal with Brock to remove the symbiote, which Brock accepted. While Brock (as Venom) was being contained in a research chamber and being studied by Trask and his scientists, Beetle suddenly broke into Trask's facility and attempted to retrieve a sample of the symbiote.

However, after the Beetle released Venom and tried to convinced Brock into giving him a sample, Venom attacked the Beetle. The Beetle managed to cut off Venom's tongue and fled. Venom devoured the unconscious scientists and gave chase, cornering the Beetle on one of New York City's streets. Spider-Man arrived and fought Venom, but just before Venom could claim victory the symbiote left Eddie and bonded with Peter, turning him into Venom.[7] Eddie pleaded with the suit to return to him, but Peter/Venom, unable to control his actions, ignored him. Soon, the Ultimates arrived and battled the new Venom, giving Eddie time to escape. Venom was ultimately defeated by Thor and Peter was freed from the suit, which was taken by S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives for study.

Eddie reappeared at Peter's high school and threateningly demanded that he get his suit back. If Parker refused, he'd reveal to the world that Peter was Spider-Man. Later, he showed up at the Parker's house, looking for Peter. Instead, he was confronted by May Parker. Eddie lied to May and said that he is a friend of Peter's. But, after May asks Eddie a few questions, she puts a gun to his head, having seeing through his ruse. Eddie quickly overpowers May and takes her gun and threatens her. Spider-Man quickly subdues him and angrily brings him to a desolate industrial part of New York City.

Spider-Man berates Eddie for wanting the symbiote back, and when Gwen Stacy, who followed the two, arrives he asks her to turn into Carnage and show Eddie how insane he is to want to become a monster again. Gwen complies and transforms into Carnage, but Eddie reaches out to her, black tendrils extending from his hand as the Venom suit starts to reform inside him. Carnage attacks him, and Eddie assimilates part of the Carnage symbiote, fully rejuvenating the Venom suit. Now reborn, Venom attacks Carnage, and when Spider-Man attempts to intervene Venom bashes him aside, enraging Carnage.[9]

After a fierce battle, the Carnage symbiote was absorbed by Venom, which not only freed Gwen but also transformed Eddie into an enormous new Venom with glowing red eyes. Venom told Spider-Man that "we have what we want" and quickly escaped into the sewers as Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrived on the scene. Eddie later appeared in Central Park recalling his previous events to a passerby. When the passerby asked Brock if he fought Spider-Man and was Venom, Brock changed into the symbiote to devour the man. However, the passerby revealed himself to be the Beetle and Venom was easily captured and taken to Latveria.[10]