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Venom & the powerful symbiote hosts in Marvel Comics, ranked

Venom and Carnage
Venom and Carnage. Pic credit: Marvel

The Venom: Let There Be Carnage trailer hit and showed a new symbiote.

Carnage, the spawn of Venom that bonded to serial killer Cletus Kasady, became a killing machine.

For movie fans, it is important to know that the spawn born from other symbiotes are always more powerful than their parents.

In Marvel Comics, Venom was also the first known symbiote, and he has spawned several others, with those symbiotes spawning some of their own.

There have also been several people who have taken on symbiotes that other hosts used before them, with Venom joining with several people on its own.

Here is a look at Venom and the most powerful symbiotes in Marvel Comics, ranked.

Scorpion

Mac Gargan Venom
Mac Gargan Venom. Pic credit: Marvel

Eddie Brock gave up the Venom symbiote, and it went to several hosts trying to find one that it felt comfortable with.

Of those different hosts, only two were good fits, and the lesser of the two was Mac Gargan, the villain fans know as Scorpion.

Mac is best known for his role as Venom as a Dark Avengers member. He was there as one of the most horrific versions of Venom, a stone-cold killer.

However, this version of Venom was not as strong because the symbiote was more than ready to leave Mac for Eddie or Spider-Man when given the chance.

Spider-Man

Spider-Man
Symbiote Spider-Man. Pic credit: Marvel

The first known symbiote that showed up in Marvel Comics was Spider-Man, who picked up the alien on Battleworld during the first Secret Wars storyline.

However, Spider-Man did not know it was an alien and thought it was a costume that reacted to his thoughts. He ended up learning what was happening when the costume took Spider-Man out when he was sleeping to fight crime.

While the symbiote wanted to be a hero, Spider-Man wanted nothing to do with it controlling him and went to The Fantastic Four to help him remove it.

The inner battles never made this version of Venom as powerful as he could have been.

Toxin

Toxin
Toxin. Pic credit: Marvel

Toxin is proof that a symbiote takes on the personality of its host.

The symbiotes gain power when they spawn from more powerful symbiotes, and Toxin was the first to spawn from both Venom and Carnage, which made him more powerful than both the elder symbiotes.

Toxin developed a powerful bond with his first host, a police detective named Patrick Mulligan. His moral identity made Toxin powerful but mostly good.

Scream

Scream
Scream. Pic credit: Marvel

Fans met The Life Foundation in the first Venon movie, where it created Riot, the villainous symbiote that Venom had to defeat.

This foundation came from the comics, and there were several symbiotes created there from Venom. Most of the symbiotes were interchangeable, save one.

Scream was the one symbiote that stood out from the rest. She even killed several of her brethren from The Life Foundation, framing Venom for their deaths.

While she proved to be stronger than the other Life Foundation symbiotes, she was no match for Venom.

Agent Venom

Agent Venom
Agent Venom. Pic credit: Marvel

The second powerful Venom host in Marvel Comics was Flash Thompson, who took on the name Agent Venom.

After Eddie Brock gave up the Venom symbiote, the U.S. Government eventually took control of it. Instead of just burying it away, they weaponized it.

Flash Thompson came back from the war in a wheelchair, but he still wanted to serve. The military gave him the Venom symbiote, and he turned into a militarized Agent Venom.

The Venom symbiote got along great with Flash Thompson, finally getting the chance to be the hero he wanted to be since he was with Peter Parker.

Carnage

Carnage
Carnage. Pic credit: Marvel

With Venom as the only symbiote on Earth for years, when Carnage spawned, there was a new top dog.

As mentioned, symbiotes that spawn from others are immediately more powerful than their “parents.”

Carnage also had one big power boost — the lack of Eddie Brock’s moral compass. Cletus Kasady was a serial killer before he became Carnage and is a moralless sociopath.

Kasady’s immense bloodlust made Carnage a symbiote villain who loved to kill, and he was more powerful than Spider-Man and Venom.

Red Goblin

Red Goblin
Red Goblin. Pic credit: Marvel

Norman Osborn went from being the Green Goblin to turning into Red Goblin, which was Norman with the Carnage symbiote.

He ended up as one of the most powerful symbiote villains in Marvel Comics history. The fact he threw Carnage Bombs at his enemies was just one of the cool things about the new symbiote.

Norman Osborn was so powerful because it mixed the Carnage symbiote with the Goblin formula, and it took all the Spider-Man heroes teaming up to beat him.

Dylan Brock

Dylan Brock
Dylan Brock. Pic credit: Marvel

Dylan Brock is Eddie Brock’s son. He turned out to possess powers that even his father doesn’t possess.

His powers rose in the recent King in Black storyline when the god Knull, who created all symbiotes, tried to conquer the Earth.

Dylan had a specific power, and it trumped anything his dad ever possessed. He could control symbiotes mentally. He was not as powerful as Knull, but he was someone Knull knew was dangerous.

There was also a recent storyline where Eddie went to an alternate Earth where he died and his wife, Anne Weying, lived. In this world, Dylan was an adult and had the power to turn superheroes into his own symbiote army.

Grendel

Grendel
Grendel. Pic credit: Marvel

There is a fun symbiote in the future, with the symbiote controlling a T-Rex from the Savage Land. That was fun, but the actual power of a non-human symbiote was seen in Grendel.

Knull created Grendel billions of years in the past and sent it out to destroy everything.

It showed up on Earth in the 6th Century and ended up battling Thor. He eventually revived decades later and was just as powerful, a giant dragon that Venom had to fight.

Venom

Venom
Venom. Pic credit: Marvel

Venom is the most famous symbiote, the first to appear in Marvel Comics, although Grendel was around for centuries longer.

Venom was always powerful, especially when bonded with Eddie Brock, but he just received a major power boost.

At the end of King in Black, Knull took Venom out of Eddie and controlled the symbiote. Eddie luckily had Captain Universe show up and choose him as a host.

Together, Eddie and Captain Universe beat Knull and killed the symbiote God. After this, Venom found Eddie and re-bonded to him. That is when Eddie learned he was the new god, replacing Knull, and all symbiotes answered to him.

Venom became the most powerful symbiote in existence.

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