Who is the Superior Venom?

Today friends we will tackle a question debated quite a bit among Spider and Symbiote fans. Who is truly the best version of Venom!

Introduction

The contenders for the crown are Eddie Brock, Mac Gargan and Flash Thompson. I’ve chosen to exclude Angelo Fortunato and Lee Price because their time as Venom was so short. Equally I’ve excluded anyone who’s happened to bond with the Venom symbiote (or derivatives of it) because otherwise this will get way too long.

Let’s begin.

The Case for Eddie Brock

First of all Brock is the original and longest serving version of Venom. It is his iteration that is regarded as ‘iconic’ and every version thereafter depicting any symbiote as a hulking, slobbering monster is directly riffling in Brock’s time as the V-man. And whenever you have seen Venom merchandise or an adaptation of the character odds are it’s the Eddie Brock version of the character or at least borrowing heavily from his version.

For many people these facts alone mean case closed.

But Brock’s claim to the crown goes beyond all that.

Brock’s Venom, above all other Spider-Man villains, lived  for no other purpose than to murder Spider-Man. This singular simple motive combined with his formidable abilities and his knowledge of Spidey’s identity made him particularly terrifying. For proof look no further than first full appearance in ASM #299 which plays as something out of a horror movie.

In fact Spider-Man himself seems to be outright frightened of Venom in a way he is of no other foe. A fact that isn’t unbelievable when you consider he’s grossly overpowered by Venom but unlike similarly stronger opponents (such as the Rhino or the Scorpion) Venom is no fool so he cannot be so easily outsmarted by Spidey. Unfortunately for Spidey the same trick rarely works twice on Brock’s version of Venom.

Brock’s origin and motivations can also arguably be seen as a poignant reversal of Spider-Man’s, lending some weight to viewing him as a dark reflection of the wall-crawler.

Over all Brock as Venom embodies a different kind of threat and foe for Spidey. Someone who can beat Spidey at his own game in almost every way, strike at him on a personal level and desires little except  Spidey’s destruction.

Eventually of course Brock’s Venom would controversially transition into an anti-hero, dispensing at times lethal justice against those he regarded as guilty of threatening innocent lives. This too could be seen as a reflection of Brock as a dark mirror to Spidey as he employs similar powers in a very different way for nevertheless similar goals.

However most of the Spider-Man fanbase didn’t take kindly to this turn for Venom. Nor Venom’s overall flanderization before it, with penultimate appearance prior to being spun-off starkly contrasting his debut.

Additionally it has been a near perennial criticism of the character (rightly or wrongly) that his motivations when push comes to shove simply make no sense and are far too thin and flimsy. Despite the sincere efforts of various writers since then the character has always been hounded by the perceived sins of his debut story. It is a perception not helped by various adaptations that have seen fit to overhaul the character’s origin in some way.

Though perhaps the victim of oversaturation, Brock’s Venom remains a recurring character in Spider-Man lore and his impact upon it should not be underestimated.

The Case for Mac Gargan

Mac Gargan first appeared as the Scorpion way back in Amazing Spider-Man #20. In a sense he was a precursor to Venom given that he was created specifically to defeat Spider-Man and his powers reflected this as they were based upon another, arguably more dangerous, arachnid. Over time though he slipped down to B-list status, at times even being regarded as a bit of a joke.

Because of this it was thematically all too appropriate for Gargan to inherit the mantle of Venom. He already had powers designed to be similar yet superior to Spider-Man’s and he had the necessary hatred and resentment due to life’s treatment of him to feed the symbiote all the negative emotions it needed. And by becoming Venom Gargan shot up in status becoming an A-list villain.

He consequently went on to be the first long term host for the symbiote since Brock and was intended at the time (2005) to be his permanent replacement.

However the character began being undermined in his role as a Spider-Man villain almost immediately. The very next issue following his debut as the new Venom he was soundly trounced by Spider-Man. It didn’t help matters that Spidey managed to defeat Gargan with what seemed like far less effort than his various encounters with the Brock Venom. This very much hurts Gargan’s claim to the crown of the best version of the character as does the fact that he had precious few encounters with Spider-Man after that.

In fact Gargan’s Venom mainly interacted with Spider-Man within group environments. His debut as Venom was as part of the short lived Sinister Twelve and his consequent interactions were as a member of the Thunderbolts and Dark Avengers. This too undermines his standing as a villain given that the previous Venom was more than enough for Spidey to handle all on his own.

Gargan in truth spent most of his time as Venom as part of the Thunderbolts and later the Dark Avengers ongoing series, in both cases being under the leadership of Norman Osborn. This undeniably created a new dynamic for Venom as he operated more as the team’s (and Osborn’s in particular) lethal attack dog. As a way of making Venom a protagonist character it was in truth more creatively viable and acceptable than the transition of the Brock Venom from his more outright villainous debut into his comparatively nicer anti-hero role when it came time to make him a solo protagonist.

Gargan’s Venom within the context of the Thunderbolts and Dark Avengers (particularly in the latter team) could still embody a violent and distinctly villainous ‘evil Spider-Man’ figure without needing to be fundamentally changed as a character or have his edges smoothed out.

That being said as before the group environment undermined Venom’s standing as a powerful and formidable villain unto himself. If nothing else him serving as an attack dog under the leadership of Osborn placed him in a lesser status than the Brock Venom even at his least villainous.

And of course it made him unavailable for Spider-Man stories, which is bad if we consider the characters of both the Scorpion and Venom were designed both separately and as a single entity to serve Spider-Man’s narrative.

When all was said and done with Gargan’s take on Venom Spider-Man readers were left with the question of what point it ultimately served to merge the characters given he simply rarely served the role of a Spidey villain in the first place.

At the same time though readers in general got to experience the ‘joys’ of an overtly villainous Venom appearing almost every month in a fresh and believable new status quo.

The Case for Flash Thompson

Undeniably Flash’s Agent Venom incarnation of the character has been the most successful and popular version since Brock’s original take. Furthermore you will be hard pressed to find any Spider-Man or Venom fans who’d argue with the fact that creatively speaking he’s been the most successful version of Venom to serve as a protagonist character.

Unlike Gargan, Flash’s Venom was for the most part his own man. Though he served stints on the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy most fans think of Agent Venom within the context of his two solo series, especially his first one by Rick Remender.

And unlike Brock’s frequent criticisms, few people regarded Flash as a ‘thin’ character or someone lacking motivation. Flash had after all been off and on been developing as a character since the very first page of Spider-Man’s very first appearance in 1962. In particular his turn as Agent Venom drew upon Flash’s wider history to provide motivation and inner conflict for his character.

His role as Venom stemmed in-universe from his service as a soldier (which dated all the way back to the early days of John Romita Senior’s run on ASM) as well as his then recent loss of his legs during a tour of duty. On a more personal level though being given the chance to be a hero (in particular a hero who’s appearance and abilities resembled Spider-Man’s) was an almost obvious idea for a character that for decades had been Spidey’s biggest fan. And on top of this the darkness and negativity of the Venom symbiote jived with Flash’s own dark history as a bully, a victim of domestic abuse and alcoholism, with the symbiote at times serving as a metaphor for addiction.

These elements combined made for a potent protagonist character and under Remender (less so under consequent writers) they were fascinatingly explored.

Even if they hadn’t been, conceptually speaking Flash simply worked  better as a protagonist character than Eddie Brock ever did and arguably worked better as a protagonist in a team environment than Gargan did.

However there are drawbacks to Agent Venom’s concept even beyond the quality of certain stories and arcs he was used in.

To begin with we have another situation in which a new take on Venom serves to remove one of Spider-Man’s greatest villains from his rogue’s gallery. However unlike Brock’s turn as an anti-hero or Gargan’s recruitment into team books, the core concept for Flash’s Venom doesn’t easily allow him to fill the role of Spidey villain, even in a guest star capacity.

When Gargan was a member of the Thunderbolts or Dark Avengers it didn’t take much imagination to envision a scenario wherein Spidey would be pitted against him because although Gargan was now a protagonist he was still distinctly villainous. Similarly even though he’d transitioned into the role of an anti-hero solo protagonist, Brock’s Venom still wasn’t an out-and-out hero and still held immense enmity towards Spider-Man meaning an encounter between the two could still easily erupt into conflict.

Whether a solo character, an Avenger, a Guardian of the Galaxy or a Space Knight Flash’s Venom was rarely outright villainous. Coupled with his hero worship of Spider-Man it inevitably became difficult to dream up many scenarios for the characters to come into conflict with one another and for Venom to serve a role even remotely like the one he’s traditionally filled within Spider-Man’s mythology.

At the same time Flash serving as Venom meant also denying Spider-Man of one of his absolute best and more recurring supporting cast members. Whilst Spider-Man doesn’t outright need a character like Flash Thompson to regularly appear to make his narrative effective losing good supporting characters or villains like Flash and Venom (especially when they were created for and have very effectively worked as part of his series) creatively impoverishes the character and his stories.

Not to mention Flash’s Agent Venom aggressively goes against much of the fundamental point of Venom precisely because he wasn’t villainous. You could arguably even extend that to the fact that Agent Venom whilst interesting unto himself wasn’t much of a dark reflection on Spider-Man so much as a super symbiote soldier with a somewhat Spider-Man looking appearance and abilities, which rather undermines the impact of Venom’s character.

Conclusion

The truth is any  of the above three contenders could claim the title of the greatest version of Venom.

It all depends upon what criteria you use to judge the characters by.

Are you judging them by who works best as a protagonist?

Or who works best as a solo  protagonist?

Perhaps it’s about who works best as a villain?

Or maybe who works best as a villain for Spider-Man specifically?

Flash was the best overall protagonist version of Venom and was perhaps the deepest character of all three, owing to his decades of development prior to the role.

Gargan had a lot unfulfilled potential as Venom but he was undeniably the best Venom to serve as a protagonist and retain the villainy traditionally associated with the character.

Brock was the least effective protagonist version of Venom, but is ultimately the best villainous take on the character, especially in the capacity of a foe for Spidey himself.

And of course it was his villainous take that made Venom iconic in the first place.

For my money this makes Brock the best Venom but let me know below what you all think.

P.S. My hope for this article is that we forever put to bed debates arguing about Flash compared to Brock as Venom.

One was designed as a solo hero protagonist and the other as an infrequently recurring villain opponent within someone else’s series. It’s like comparing Norman Osborn as the Green Goblin to Phil Urich’s Green Goblin; or Superman and the Joker.

It’s simply all apples and oranges when all is said and done.