With the new Venom movie upon us, Sony is hoping that the symbiote antihero gets a better reception this time around. Sony already tried to bring Venom to the big screen back when Sam Raimi was riding high of off his Spider-Man trilogy, but it was the third movie, which saw Topher Grace take on the role of Eddie Brock, that caused the franchise to hit a brick wall and Raimi to leave the franchise that he loved so much.
With that said, Tom Hardy is the new Eddie Brock and the new movie has nothing to do with Spider-Man and everything to do with Venom portraying his Lethal Protector-styled antihero. It also looks like there will be some new symbiotes in the movie besides Venom.
For fans only familiar with the big screen adaptations of comic books, there have been a huge number of characters in the comics that have hosted a symbiote, starting with Spider-Man himself. Since then, there have been villains like Carnage, clones of Venom himself, and even spawns of Venom and an entire alien race. Recently, Marvel explored the fact that the symbiote is from a peaceful alien race and showed the world where they came from and the origin of these creatures -- including the god that they worship. With so many symbiotes in the Marvel Universe, Venom isn't even the most powerful anymore.
Here is a look at Every Symbiote Ranked From Weakest To Strongest.
SPIDER-MAN
The first symbiote to ever appear in Marvel Comics showed up in the original Secret Wars series, in which Spider-Man had his costume shredded and the symbiote formed on him as a new costume.
While Spider-Man thought that he could control it, later he realized that this was not the case.
Though this is the same symbiote that attached itself to Eddie Brock as Venom, it never really displayed how powerful it was while attached to Spider-Man. It wanted to be a hero at the time and its powers were simply a heightened extension of Spider-Man's abilities.
ANNE WEYING
Anne Weying was Eddie Brock's ex-wife in the comic books. She helped Spider-Man when he was out trying to bring in Brock for his crimes as Venom. Anne even showed up during a battle between Spider-Man and Venom and convinced Eddie Brock to stop trying to take out the Web Crawler.
However, Sin Eater shot Anne and the symbiote bonded with her to save her life. She then became She-Venom and sought vengeance against the men who hurt her. She was horrified by her actions, but Eddie told her that a symbiote won't do anything that the host wouldn't do. Later, Anne, still impacted by PTSD, took her own life.
ANGELO FORTUNATO
Eddie Brock didn't want to be Venom anymore and wanted to reform and change his life. Brock made a very questionable decision, though, when he decided to sell the symbiote at an auction to donate the money to charity. It was a nice thought, but a mobster named Don Fortunato bought it and gave it to his son Angelo.
The problem was that Angelo was reckless and immature. He attacked a school where Peter Parker was because he wanted to finally eliminate Peter. The symbiote knew that Angelo was not worthy, though, and when he leaped from a building, the symbiote separated itself, allowing Angelo to fall to his end.
PORK GRIND
Anyone familiar with the always entertaining Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham also knows that there are many other animal versions of Marvel superheroes on Earth-8311. Iron Man is a mouse, Captain America is a cat, and Hulk is a bunny.
There is also a symbiote in this world known as Pork Grind, and just like Spider-Ham, it is a pig.
Pork Grind has the same powers as Eddie Brock's Venom from the mainstream Marvel Universe, but he has the body of a pig.
RIOT
Riot might be the least powerful and memorable of the Life Foundation Symbiotes. The worst thing about Riot is that he looks almost the exact same as Venom. In fact, the only real way to tell them apart is by their personalities.
Riot attached itself to mercenary Trevor Cole, and he was second to only Carnage when it came to bloodlust and aggressiveness. He didn't last long before Spider-Man and Venom took him down. The host perished after the fight, while the symbiote was sent to the Vault.
MANIA
Mania is a symbiote that is an offspring of Venom. However, it has much more rage and anger than Venom ever had. The reason for this is that when Mania attached itself to Andi Benton, the host was cursed with the Hell-Mark -- a supernatural curse that often confused the motivations of the character.
Later, Mania bonded with former Venom, Lee Price. As Price, Mania actually had the ability to infect other people with pieces of itself, enslaving them and allowing him to grow even stronger.
SCORN
Scorn is a symbiote that was created when Carnage's symbiote was returned to Earth after escaping the Raft. It attached itself to Tanis Nieves before she took over the Carnage symbiote. There is little to separate the power of Scorn from other symbiotes except for the fact that the government thought that she could stop Carnage.
While she was able to use tech to separate the Carnage symbiote from its host, she didn't really stand out all that much.
She also needed to use Shriek's powers to do this. The only thing that makes her stand out is the fact she is also part robot.
PHAGE
Phage is a mixture of Venom and Carnage. He has the strength and power of Venom and can create knives from his hands like Carnage. However, while he had attributes from both of them, he was weaker than both of them as well.
Phage attached itself to a mercenary named Carl Mach who took over as the leader of the symbiotes from the Life Foundation, although he was never able to hold the reigns over Scream. At the end of the battle with Spider-Man and Venom, Carl perished while Phage was taken to the Vault.
AGONY
When it comes to the Life Foundation group, Scream is the female symbiote that all of others should aspire to be. On the other end of the spectrum, Agony is the female symbiote that is purple and served as nothing more than just being a female version of Venom.
Agony merged with a security officer named Leslie Gesneria. When it seemed that they all perished at the end of the battle with Spider-Man and Venom, the symbiotes mostly survived. It was Leslie that went to Eddie Brock for help and she was also the first to fall at the hands of Scream.
LASHER
Lasher was the Life Foundation symbiote that attached itself to Ramon Hernandez, a mercenary. Much like all the other symbiotes created in the lab, Lasher had similar powers derived from Venom -- in this case, it was whip-styled tendrils, which fit well with the weapon of choice for Hernandez.
Lasher fell at the hands of Scream, despite trying everything it could to talk her down.
While Hernandez perished, Lasher was taken into captivity in the Vault.
LEE PRICE
Lee Price was a tragic character in the world of Venom. He was a child who was abused by his parents until he finally had enough and took them both out, blaming it on a young mutant and then suppressing the memory. He ended up in the Army Rangers, and when many members of his team perished, he ended up homeless and disabled.
That is when the Venom symbiote found him and took him on. However, Price ignored all of suggestions by the symbiote, took complete control over it, and used it for revenge. He later took on the role of Maniac and remained powerful, as he was still able to completely control the alien within in that case as well.
CONRAD MARCUS
While Eddie Brock was the original Venom in the Marvel Ultimate Universe, he was not the only man to host the symbiote. After Eddie Brock disappeared, another man got a piece of the symbiote. Conrad Marcus stole a sample of the symbiote from Roxxon and then set out to eliminate Spider-Man.
Conrad had the same powers as Eddie Brock's Venom in the Ultimate Universe and was stronger than both Peter Parker and Miles Morales. Marcus was larger than Eddie Brock's version of Venom, but he was singleminded and fell to Miles and his venom blasts quickly.
MAC GARGAN
For many years, Mac Gargan was the Scorpion -- a B-level superhero in the world of Spider-Man comics. Since Scorpion was a long-time member of the Masters of Evil with the Green Goblin, Norman Osborn knew that he could call on him for help.
While helping Osborn, Mac bonded with the Venom symbiote when he was sent to watch Aunt May.
Mac accepted the bonding and the two became a monstrous version of Venom and a force of evil that hated Spider-Man, eventually becoming part of the Dark Avengers.
VENOMSAURAS REX
Very little is known about the Venom from the Old Man Logan storyline except that it is bonded with a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex. Originally, it was seen hunting down Hawkeye as the Madrox Gang (Multiple Man) and was able to create duplicates of himself in order to try to fulfill this task.
When those duplicates were defeated, they chased Hawkeye to the Savage Land and that is where it bonded with a T-Rex. It was extremely overpowered and likely would have eliminated Hawkeye and Logan if not for the powered voice of Black Bolt.
THE POISONS
The Poisons are aliens spawned by the Poison Queen. Their entire power comes into existence when they bond with a symbiote. Venoms from all of the various universes were gathered together in one place to form a unified stand against these aliens.
The problem is that they immediately take over any host as soon as they touch him or her. While they possess limited powers on their own, when they bond with a symbiote, it is permanent and they take on the memories and powers of that symbiote. The downside is that they also take on the weaknesses of the symbiotes and their hosts.
PAYBACK
Payback was a very interesting take on the entire symbiote idea.
Instead of feeding on adrenaline or fear, the Payback symbiote fed on the pleasure of the host, making it much easier for the two to work together after merging.
Payback merged with a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent named Mavis Trent and she worked on a team known as True Believers. Instead of the typical look of a symbiote, Payback has a slick silver skinned form and can fly and generate electricity on top of typical symbiote powers.
RAZE
Raze has a few things going for it. First of all, Raze is a spawn of Carnage, which immediately made it more powerful than most of Venom's children. There is also the fact that Raze joined a host that was a former FBI agent, so it received a lot of classified information and training.
Raze was a powerful weapon and could transfer its essence into weapons, similar to Agent Venom. As one of the most versatile of all Earthly symbiotes, it was extremely smart and dangerous. It was also one of the scariest-looking versions.
SCREAM
In the Venom trailer, there is a female symbiote and that character is rumored to be Donna Diego -- who is the character of Scream in Marvel Comics. She is one of the Life Foundation Symbiotes that was created from pieces of Venom.
Scream ended up more powerful than the rest and started to take out the other spawns of Venom, trying to frame Eddie Brock for the crimes. When she eliminated her siblings, she became even more powerful and ended up as the strongest of them all.
AGENT VENOM
Flash Thompson has one of the most interesting character arcs in all of comics. He was a bully to Peter Parker in high school and fans hated him. He ended up slightly making up for it and then went off to fight in the war, only to come back paralyzed in a wheelchair.
Flash got the chance to walk again when he received the Venom symbiote from the military.
With Venom, Flash could not only walk again but he also became a major weapon for the government. He also could control the symbiote, which, with added military training, made him a very powerful being.
VENOM
While Spider-Man was the first human to possess a symbiote (unless Deadpool is to be believed), Eddie Brock is the one who made it a true force of nature. Brock hated Peter Parker for ruining his career and the symbiote hated Spider-Man for rejecting it.
What resulted was a character that hated Spider-Man but was also an antihero that helped people. The new Venom movie will focus on this character, which is very powerful -- probably more so than Spider-Man, but still not as strong as some of the other symbiotes on this list.