Venom’s Family Tree: The Symbiote Spawn and Their Chaotic Legacy
Venom is a distinctive anti-hero who commonly connected to Eddie Brock, except when they aren’t. Fixing a relationship is never a good reason to have kids, but Venom has seven symbiote offspring.
Venom, the dark anti-hero is known for his monstrous appearance and turbulent relationship with Spider-Man. While Venom is an alien symbiote who is most significantly connected to Eddie Brock, their have been different hosts and a number of distinctive symbiotes.
The story of the birds and the bees is very different on the planet Klyntar (Venom’s home planet). It’s not necessary to have two people who love each other very much. Instead a symbiote can reproduce without any help and sometimes without wanting to.
Venom has spawned several offspring, each with unique abilities and personalities that make them a formidable force in the Marvel comics. These symbiotes, born from Venom’s own alien physiology, form a tangled family tree full of power struggles, complex relationships, and epic battles. At present, Venom has created seven symbiotes. Eight if you consider Widow, the symbiote currently connected to Black Widow (Venom doesn’t seem to recognize Widow at all, it’s a bit sad really).
Carnage: The Infamous Firstborn
Carnage is perhaps the first and the most notorious of Venom's offspring. When Venom rescued Eddie Brock in prison, it left Carnage behind who bonded with serial killer Cletus Kasady. Born in prison and connected to a serial killer through blood is not a great start in life. And Carnage lives up to the name with an unparalleled chaos and bloodlust.
Unlike Venom, Carnage is a straight up villain. Forget the anti-hero thing, Carnage is driven purely by a desire to kill and cause mayhem. Unfortunately for Venom, Carnage is often driven to wipe out it’s creator and is normally stronger than Venom.
If you thought your relationship with your parent was bad, one look at Carnage and Venom will have you hugging your mommy and telling her you love her.
Life Foundation Offspring
The next five kids come as a package deal. If you thought having twins was bad, imaging having five psychopathic symbiote offspring. When Eddie Brock and Venom were captured by the Life Foundation, Venom was forced to reproduce which create five underdeveloped symbiotes: Phage, Riot, Lasher, Agony and Scream. The symbiotes are coloured coded for easy recognition and are each bonded to a different host.
Scream: The Wild Child
Scream is yellow and red and bonded with a woman named Donna Diego who suffers from schizophrenia. She is sometimes unstable and possesses long hair that she uses as a viciously effective weapon.
Leadership is a bit of an issue among the five underdeveloped symbiotes who initially travelled as a pack. After attacking Venom, Scream later seeks his help to draw her away from her violent tendencies.
Phage: The Brutal Berserker
The yellow and black symbiote bonds with Carl Mach to become Phage who has a preference for spikes. Phage is known for his brutish nature and often acts as the muscle of the Life Foundation Five (not their group name). He uses his symbiotic powers to form deadly weapons, preferring close combat and direct confrontation.
Phage can be unpredictable and aggressive, but has a strong desire to prove himself superior to Venom.
Riot: The Ruthless Leader
The blue grey symbiote bonds with Trevor Cole to become the massive Riot. A little more tactical than Phage, Riot takes up a leadership role, sometimes. Most of the time Scream is the more respected leader.
But Riot is strong and ambitious. His proficiency in using blunt force and melee weapons formed from his symbiotic body provides a significant challenge to anyone opposing his leadership role (which they do) and to Venom when they inevitably come to blows.
Lasher: The Silent Hunter
The Green symbiote bonds with Ramón Hernández to become Lasher with multiple tentacles making him look seriously creepy. It’s a strong case of beware the quiet ones, because Lasher stays to the shadows and employs stealth attacks (some of the time).
Agle and able to form tendrils to use in battle, Lasher can be very dangerous, but there are moments of silent understanding with Venom, even if they don’t last very long.
Agony: The Lethal Beauty
The purple symbiote bonds with Leslie Gesneria to become Agony and is very distinct from Venom. Agony’s manipulation of her form and creation of acid-based projectiles separates her from the other symbiotes and Venom.
Agony is ambitious and cunning. She is capable of using brute force, but prefers a different approach that creates some distain for the other symbiotes.
Sleeper: The Intergalactic Superior
Maybe not as bad as having kids that want to wipe you out, having one who not only considers themselves, but is clearly superior to you is hard work. If that isn’t bad enough, Venom had a tough time with the reproduction cycle that produced Sleeper. A process that nearly killed Vemon.
Unlike the five symbiotes used by the Life Foundation, Sleeper manages to escape capture. But has some bonding issues. Initially bonding with a young host and then being captures by the Kree and held hostage.
Sleeper remains distinct. If nothing else, Sleeper is the only offspring who doesn’t have Spider-Man eyes.
Widow: the Unacknowledged Offspring
Black Widow is currently training an eighth offspring who calls herself Widow. Something happened to leave a piece of Venom behind that was picked up by Black Widow.
Widow is distinct from all the other symbiotes. It is a young symbiote that lacks the violence of the other symbiotes and
And the rest – it’s a big family
In addition to the direct offspring of Venom, Eddie Brock had a son named Dylan who has some strange abilities because of Eddie’s connection to Venom.
Some of the Life Foundation symbiotes combined together to form a distinct symbiote called Hybrid. Despite being a trouble symbiote, Hybrid has a combination of some of the other Life Foundation symbiotes.
Carnage has produced some offspring of his own. Toxin, Scorn and Raze offer Carnage and Venom challenges that make this a very dysfunctional family.
Venom's Unruly Legacy
Venom’s family tree is a chaotic mix of power, ambition, and conflicting desires. Each symbiote offspring represents a different aspect of Venom’s nature, whether it’s Carnage’s chaos, Riot’s ambition, or Scream’s search for purpose. Their interactions with Venom reveal not just a series of epic battles, but a deeper exploration of identity, legacy, and the unintended consequences of power. In the ever-evolving Marvel Universe, Venom and his symbiotic offspring continue to captivate and terrify, proving that even in the world of comics, family ties are anything but simple.
For more on Venom, his multiple variations and fight against his creator, check out Venom vs Carnage, for more on Sleeper try Venom: First Host and for an all out symbiote infecting all kinds of heroes (like Rocket Racoon and Doctor Strange) try Venomverse (it’s like the Spider-Verse, but with Venom).
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