If Venom were Darth Vader, we’d all be Stormtroopers, or at the very least, we’d have joined the Dark Side by now. So what if Venom has looser morals, possesses questionable courage, and pretty much only stops crime out of self-interest? Don’t act like you haven’t rooted for this antithesis of a hero, because that’s exactly what he is — the quintessential antihero. Being the archenemy of the Marvel franchise’s superstar, Venom is arguably the greatest villain Spider-Man has ever faced.
You might wonder what caliber of bad guy not only warrants becoming an enemy of Spider-Man but also inspires a begrudged bromance between Peter Parker and Eddie Brock. Unaware of this duo’s legendary rivalry? Here’s a quick rundown on the feud that transcends the physical: an animosity between super beings that surpasses their personas and is mirrored amid the men beneath.
Would you believe it all started because of a fan-spurred idea to give Spider-Man a new costume? Should be easy to plot, yet the logistics of how to do so left creators stumped. In the end, the chosen storyline takes place at the home of Reed Richards, well known by most as Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four.
Returning from a battle that’s left his suit shredded, Spider-Man has a brief conversation with the Hulk regarding a device located in Mister Fantastic’s lab that can fix his Spidey duds. Maybe Parker’s brain is in slight disrepair too, as he confuses the containment unit holding Venom’s symbiote for the renowned fabric mender, a mistake Venom would without a doubt find highly offensive.
Spider-Man, none the wiser to the fact that he’s gained an alien hitchhiker, is now suited up in a black-and-white costume that is gloriously hole-free. Upon discovering that his new suit is different in ways that extend past the pigment of the polyester, he does what any sane person would do with the knowledge that they’re harboring an extraterrestrial fugitive: He uses its weakness to sound to extract it.
As the dejected Venom manages to evade capture, he stumbles upon Brock, Parker’s notorious rival at his place of employment, The Daily Bugle. When joined, their combined bitterness bonds Venom to Brock, cementing a permanent loathing of all things related to the tights-wearing, web-spinning photojournalist.
Now with that out of the way, let’s begin a breakdown of the bad guys worthy of experiencing the potential Venom and Spider-Man duo.
Sin-Eater
A focal point of the grudge that established Brock’s hatred for Parker is the unmasking of ex-S.H.I.E.L.D.-agent-turned-psychopath Stan Carter, also known as Sin-Eater. Brock’s big break at The Daily Bugle resulted from bringing the identity of Sin-Eater to light, but unfortunately, all that he managed to do was cast the blame on a delusional individual whose only real crime was living next to Carter, the legitimate Sin-Eater.
With the unveiling of this truth by none other than Spider-Man himself, Brock’s career caves in on itself, and he’s fired from the Bugle for being a fraud. And no one is more shocked than Parker at the revelation that his one-time friend is nothing more than a psychopathic serial killer; but with an alias like Sin-Eater, a name that stemmed from a deeply rooted religious upbringing, it’s unsurprising to find that Carter has a penchant for murder.
Carter’s absent grip on reality possibly derived from having to endure lengthy experiments at the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D., yet he was able to hang on to some semblance of sanity — that is until his partner was killed on duty, becoming the catalyst to the chaos that is Sin-Eater.
The Jury
Led by General Orwell Taylor, The Jury is a group of violent vigilantes that have their sights set on Venom. Venom acquires this lethal league of foes after one of his many failed jailbreaks results in the unwitting death of a prison guard named Hugh, Taylor’s youngest son.
Upon discovering the demise of his son, Taylor, and his eldest son, Max, put together a unit of mercenaries comprised of Ramshot, Sentry, Firearm and Bomblast. This deadly team isn’t just after Venom, though, because at the behest of Taylor, Spider-Man is hunted down as well. In Taylor’s deteriorating mind, the blame for his son’s death lies entirely on Spider-Man, for he was the one that brought the symbiote known as Venom into their lives.
Scorpion
Being forced to wear an unremovable suit of armor that, as his alias Scorpion alludes to, is shaped like a scorpion, is enough to drive anyone crazy. Mac Gargan, the private investigator turned metal-entombed arachnid, was initially hired by Jonah Jameson, who tasked him with discovering the secret behind the amazing photographs of Spider-Man that Parker consistently produces.
This assignment proves fruitless, inflaming the wrath of Jameson, who decides to make Gargan his next test subject. This leads to the entrapment inside of what becomes his character’s permanent costume. With his resentment developing into a longstanding grudge against Spider-Man, it isn’t until Brock’s involvement that Gargan loses the use of his legs, accelerating his crazy train to the brink of lunacy. So, what’s a madman to do? Harness his own symbiote to transform into a legitimate, makeshift scorpion mutant of course.
While the above-mentioned list of enemies would without a doubt make for some great Parker/Brock team action, none of them will ever quite fit the bill of an ultimate rival like these two do for each other. The perpetual tension that exists between them, even when temporary truces are called, is irreplicable. There’s also something about liking the bad guy, maybe even more so than the hero, that supplies a fascinating level of inappropriate interest for some of us. What matters more than the choice of an adversary, it seems, is that Parker and Brock are provided moments to interact, so we can all get our fix of this unlikely, yet nonetheless captivating, pair.
