Venom is a symbiote, otherwise known as a member of the race of klyntar – inorganic,
amorphous aliens who once peacefully existed as part of a hive mind set on creating an
intergalactic peacekeeping society by bonding with hosts – noble warriors meant to be
the Agents of the Cosmos.
But this corrupted some of their race, sending them out into the universe bent on overtaking
planets and building an empire.
While their race has been known to adapt and evolve over time, there’s a plethora of
weaknesses that have hindered Venom and other symbiotes in the past, and some of them are
pretty entertaining.
So today, we’re counting down our picks for the top 10 Venom weaknesses you need to
know.
Especially before Tom Hardy’s hunky face graces our screens in that symbiote costume.
10 Sound One of the most well-known weaknesses of the
klyntar is sound, specifically sonic based attacks.
No, not that Sonic.
Loud noises can cause harm and distract Venom, and can make the symbiote jump ship from its
host.
We’ve seen it used as a tactic against Venom multiple times in unique forms, like when
Black Cat busted out a sonic sound gun to weaken the character.
Spider-Man has even bombarded both him and Carnage with loud speakers to cause them both
to have their symbiotes unravel from their bodies.
It’s a trick Deadpool has used in the past, too.
9 Tranquilizers While not a traditional weakness, it’s worth
noting that the symbiotes have been susceptible to tranquilizers in the past.
The Flash Thompson Venom, in order to control the symbiote who has bonded to him, must pump
it full of tranquilizers every 24 hours when it’s off of him and kept inside a US government
facility.
While that seemingly didn’t help much in terms of Flash coping with the desire to bond
with the symbiote, the symbiote itself managed to behave for the most part.
8 Heat Fire and extreme heat do not bode well with
Venom, and can cause it an extreme amount of pain.
This is one of the creature’s classic vulnerabilities, and in many cases over the years, fire has
been used to cause the symbiote to flee its host, leaving the host and it powerless.
Now imagine what an explosion can do to the character – combining fire and loud noises,
Venom can be pushed into a pretty debilitating state.
Dude is literally allergic to explosions.
7 Electricity In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, another Venom
weakness was revealed in the form of high voltage electricity.
Aside from introducing us to a massive version of the character, this Venom had a suit that
consumed incompatible hosts from the inside out, which caused it to devour other living
things in order to sustain itself.
Pretty terrifying.
He’s also incredibly durable – he’s hit by lasers, hit by a helicopter, cut up
a bunch, and more, and still remains standing.
But high voltage electricity?
It’ll get the job done.
6 Anti-Venom There have been a few instances in which some
sort of bio-chemical was made in order to fight off Venom.
But perhaps the most potent one was Anti-Venom, who first appeared in the 2008 Spider-Man
story New Ways To Die.
When the symbiote attempts to re-bond with Eddie Brock, his skin becomes caustic to the
symbiote, and a new white version of it forms over his skin, bonding with the white blood
cells that were previously charged with healing energy when his cancer was cured.
It’s immune to fire, heat and sound attacks, and produces antibodies that acts as a healing
ability, and can harm the regular symbiote when it touches it.
5 Poisons The symbiote has some pretty animalistic qualities,
so it makes perfect sense that Venom would have something higher up on the food chain
than it hunting it down.
One of these predators comes in the form of the Poisons, a species of crystalline aliens
that are birthed from the Poison Queen.
They are considered to be nature’s answer to the symbiotes, and they infect them through
direct contact in order to form a one sided union to manipulate them.
The symbiotes aren’t the only race they’ve preyed on, though.
Discovered by Doctor Strange when he was bonded to a venom symbiote from Earth 17952, Poisons
were assimilating klyntar and their hosts in an attempt to become more powerful, so
he rallies Venomized heroes and villains from the Multiverse and bam, there’s the plot
for Venomverse.
4 Xenophages The Xenophage race is one of Venom’s enemies.
A shapeshifting alien race, they prey on symbiotes, and has paralytic saliva that they emit from
their bodies that can paralyze symbiotes, which also apparently enhances their taste
when they consume them.
So, kind of like really deadly ketchup?
The race first appear in Venom the Hunted issue 1 in 1996, and their exoskeletons don’t
have any pain sensors, making them invulnerable to the sensation.
3 Chocolate Like any living being, the symbiote requires
sustenance.
And in some iterations of the Venom character, it craves a chemical in order to prevent itself
from going insane.
The chemical, phenethylamine (fen-e-thil-a-mine), can be found in two places – one being human
brain tissue – yikes – and the second, chocolate.
Yeah, I think it’d rather consume that.
This is why at times we’ve seen both Carnage and Toxin mention devouring brains, and why
Eddie Brock carried around chocolate with him in the 90’s Venom series.
So, how is this a weakness?
Well, without chocolate – or yeah, brains – Venom loses its mind, and can become uncontrollably
cannibalistic.
A crazed opponent is easier to defeat than a skilled, thoughtful one.
Plus, losing one’s mind doesn’t really help much in any case, does it?
2 The Host Venom, and any other symbiote, can only be
as good as its host is.
If they’re bonded with an individual that is destructive towards their nature, they’ll
likely exhibit really abusive behavior, or altogether are pushed out of that host’s
body.
This has happened a few times – once, with Wolverine, in New Avengers 35, when a symbiote
bonded with the character, and was pushed out of his body by his advanced healing factor.
And in Deadpool Secret Secret Wars issue 1, the Venom symbiote went insane when it had
bonded with Deadpool before jumping ship to go bond with Spider-Man.
1 The Feels During the Planet of Symbiotes in Web of Spider-Man
Super Special Vol 1 issue 1, Eddie Brock releases a cry of agony so massive that it causes the
entire symbiote race to commit mass suicide.
This is a massive telekinetic scream that is meant to subdue the symbiotes, but creates
so much pain and despair that they all kill themselves since it’s too much to bear.
Whoa, right?
Now, in a predecessor issue, the one shot The Amazing spider-Man Super Special issue
1 from April 1995, the symbiote is rejected by Eddie Brock and is so distressed by the
rejection that it unleashes a telepathic scream to summon a spaceship of symbiotes to Earth.
We also learn from this story arc that the symbiotes take over host bodies from other
races in order to feel emotion.
. So all in all, turns out the sad feels really affect the symbiotes, and that they too can
die of a broken heart.
Sadness.
There we have it friends!
Which of these Venom weaknesses surprised you the most?
And which of these do you think we’ll get to see more of in the upcoming Venom film?
Let us know all of your thoughts and feels in those comments below!
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