After Eddie Brock bonded with Spider-Man’s discarded symbiote, the two life forms became the villain-turned-antihero Venom which granted Brock a number of incredible abilities including one forgotten power that basically makes him Marvel’s Predator. The Predator is a highly advanced alien warrior whose culture values the sport of hunting more than any other in the cosmos, with a number of gadgets that allow the creature to be more than proficient in killing its prey. One feature the Predator has is the ability to perfectly camouflage itself into any and all surroundings, a power shared by Venom.
An example of Venom’s camouflaging ability is shown in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance #5 by Howard Mackie and Adam Kubert. In the issue, Venom teams up with the two recently separated entities Ghost Rider and Johnny Blaze as they battle the evil forces controlled by the demon Lilith. After they take care of a number of demonic soldiers, the team knows that the battle is just beginning at which point Venom uses his camouflage ability to give himself a better chance at sneaking up on their hellish enemies.
While Venom’s team up with Ghost Rider shows a great example of his camouflaging power, that isn’t the first time he used that particular ability. When Venom was a villain of Spider-Man, he would use the ability to take the Wall Crawler by surprise. He doesn’t trigger Spider-Man’s spidey-sense either and becomes nearly invisible to the Web Slinger. This hunting maneuver is something Venom shares with the Predator as the intergalactic creature also uses its ability to seemingly become a part of the landscape around it to eliminate its prey without the victim even being aware that they were about to die.
While the abilities of both Venom and the Predator are incredibly similar, there are some key differences. Firstly, Venom’s camouflaging ability is a natural power of the symbiote while the Predator requires advanced technology to achieve the same outcome. Plus, the Predator can oftentimes give itself away while using its cloaking device, as the alien’s eyes glow and can become visible to its prey. When Venom uses his version of the power, Venom is basically invisible until he wishes to once again be seen.
The two camouflaging abilities of the Predator and Venom are practically the same, but Venom’s is clearly the better version as he requires no tech and has no chance of giving himself away. Beyond the similarities in cloaking, Venom is a lethal hunter just like the Predator, proven true by the many times he bested Spider-Man during the early days of their conflicts. From being an expert hunter to having the forgotten power of near-perfect camouflaging, Venom proves that he is basically Marvel’s version of the Predator.