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Edward Brock, Jr. (Earth-96283)

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"I like being bad. It makes me happy."
―Venom[src]

Edward "Eddie" Brock, Jr. was a photographer who was hired and tasked by the Daily Bugle with delivering an incriminating photo of Spider-Man. He later bonds with the same alien symbiote that had bonded with Peter Parker.

Biography[]

Spider-Man[]

"Eddie's been on it for weeks, but he can barely get a glimpse of him."
―Robbie Robertson[src]

Robbie Robertson mentions to J. Jonah Jameson that "Eddie" has been trying to photograph Spider-Man for weeks.

Spider-Man 3[]

Edward Brock, Jr. was the new photographer hired by the Daily Bugle a week before he met Spider-Man. He has a crush on the model Gwen Stacy. When Brock and Parker fight over a staff job, J. Jonah Jameson asks for a picture of Spider-Man with his "hand in a cookie jar".

One night, he sees Spider-Man in a black suit on his way to fight Sandman. He says that he loves his new outfit and it's exactly what he needs to screw Parker. When he takes a picture of him, Peter uses his web to throw the camera at a wall, breaking it, and responds with "See you, chump!" then continues his search for Sandman. Eddie then pulls out another camera and edits an old picture of Spider-Man to make him look like a bank robber. When Peter, under the symbiote's influence, sees Eddie's photo has made the front page, he knows that both the picture and the information are fraudulent and arrives at work as everyone is celebrating Brock's promotion. Eddie puts up his "prized photo" and sees Peter in its reflection. After Eddie gloats, Peter says it looks familiar. Brock brushes it off then gets back to work. But Peter insults Eddie and says his picture is fake. Brock insults Peter in turn, calling him a "boy scout", enraging Peter into pushing him up to the wall and shattering the glass, the sound of the latter being loud enough that it attracts everyone's attention. Eddie assures everyone he and Peter are just fooling around, then pleads with Peter not to expose him as he'll lose everything and that there isn't another newspaper in the city that would hire him or will if he is exposed, only for Peter to reply that he should've thought of that earlier. Peter then gives Robbie the fake photo, telling him to show it to their editor and to tell the editor to check his source next time.

Brock's photos are proven to be fake and an enraged Jameson orders Brock to pack his things and leave. Eddie attempts to justify his actions, but Jameson angrily screams at him that he is fired as Brock has destroyed his newspaper's reputation and they have to print out a retraction, which they haven't done in 20 years. After being fired, Eddie is shamed on the retraction's front page, is blacklisted, and possibly becomes a pariah. He goes to a church to pray for Peter's death. Peter happens to be in that same church and removes the symbiote from his own body, and it bonds with Eddie. As Venom, he drags Spider-Man into a trap with Sandman, using Mary Jane as bait; however, Harry Osborn appears in his New Goblin regalia to fight alongside Spider-Man, and the two defeat the Sandman. Brock tries to use Harry's glider to impale Peter, but Harry saves him by getting impaled in the back with the glider. Brock dies attempting to save the symbiote after it was removed a second time. Peter throws one of Osborn's grenades at it, but was unable to save Eddie from jumping in. Eddie and the symbiote get caught in the explosion and both were vaporized by it.

Character traits[]

While he appears to be a perfect counterpart to Peter Parker, well-dressed, super confident, and problem free, Eddie Brock is no saint. He thinks of himself as better than Peter, will do anything such as doctoring to get Jameson's attention and be number one at the Bugle. The biggest downside is that he doesn't consider himself guilty; inside, he is rotten to the core, thinks of himself as a ladies' man, is a glory hound, and mistakenly believes that he has a right to it. He even believed that he might just have the right not to be punished for fake photos to slander Spider-Man, and envied him when he was caught, fired, and his reputation was undermined; when he was completely guilty of committing the crime of forgery and slander, which made his offense petty and unfounded. Eddie is corrupt, immoral, dishonest, and incapable of change. There is nothing heroic about his mentality, as when he told Peter "I like being bad, it makes me happy" after Peter stole his date.

Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

  • Symbiotic suit: Due to the same alien suit that had first bonded with Spider-Man, Eddie Brock possesses the same powers as Peter Parker does. He even has the ability to bypass Spider-Man's spider-sense which can allow him to grab Spider-Man without warning. These powers include:
    • ESP (Spider-Sense): Brock also possesses an extrasensory ability similar to Spider-Man's Spider-Sense. This response is not as complicated as Spider-Man's inherent sense since the alien costume can detect danger from every direction and conduct Brock in plenty of time. It's a lot more efficient than Spider-Man's Spider-Sense because it takes less time to sense the danger, and Brock's reflexes are faster than Spider-Man's, because they are enhanced by the alien costume for instance Venom can dodge a gunshot or a barrage of bullets.
    • Immunity to Spider-Man's Spider-Sense: Due to Spider-Man being a host to the symbiote, Brock was able to bypass Spider-Man's Spider-Sense. As such, Brock was capable of attacking Spider-Man without alerting him, making him a deadly opponent.
    • Superhuman Strength: His strength was great enough to smash a car's roof off by swinging towards it. He was even able to restrain Spider-Man and even overpower him most of the time.
    • Wall-Crawling: Much like Spider-Man, Venom has the ability to cling to virtually any surface. He can rapidly crawl, walk, or run across even slick/wet surfaces.
    • Webbing Generation: Venom can project a powerful, organic web-like substance similar to the webbing Spider-Man has. He typically uses this webbing to swing from building to building or as a means of immobilizing someone. The webbing is incredibly strong.
    • Superhuman Speed: Due to having the same super speed as Spider-Man does, Venom is capable of running at speeds faster than normal humans and moves faster that eye can see.
    • Accelerated Healing Factor: The symbiote can regenerate its own biomass as well as heal its host to a certain degree. When Eddie received injuries on his elbows from Harry's pumpkin bats, it healed up instantly.
    • Superhuman Durability: He was barely fazed from having a large brick being thrown at the back of his neck. He even recovered from taking a brutal hit from Harry's glider and smashing through some thick brick walls and even passing out momentarily.
    • Superhuman Agility: Due to the symbiote copying Spider-Man's agility, Venom possesses superior agility and flexibility that is greater than Spider-Man's.
    • Superhuman Reflexes: Due to having the same reflexes as Spider-Man does, Venom has reflexes that allow him to dodge any attack, even Spider-Man's punches and kicks.
    • Constituent-Matter Manipulation: Venom can manipulate its biological matter to enlarge or stretch his body in order to augment his attacks. He can morph sections of his body, such as his hands or feet, into spikes or a shield.

Weaknesses[]

  • Sonic Vibrations: The Venom Symbiote was weak to intense sound vibrations such as bell chimes and pipes clanging.

Relationships[]

Appearances/Actors[]

Behind the scenes[]

  • Topher Grace had for six months to prepare for his Venom role.
  • Eddie's line - "My Spider-Sense is tingling... if you know what I'm talking about!" - when referring to MJ, was ad-libbed by Topher Grace.
  • While being in the Venom suit, Topher Grace didn't drink any water during his breaks because he couldn't use the bathroom with his suit on. Besides that, they had to put on him some prostheses, cover him with a viscous substance, and the fangs he used hurt his gums. Thanks to this, Topher Grace said that wearing Venom's suit was the worst experience of his life.
  • Topher Grace left That 70's Show to play Venom.
  • Spider-Man 3 director Sam Raimi kept Venom's appearance in the film a secret until he showed unedited version of it at Comic Con.
  • Eddie Brock was mentioned in the first film by Robbie Robertson. He also actually appeared in the novelization of the first film, described as a young man with a "venomous" glare.
  • According to the Spider-Man 3 Two-Disc featurette "Covered in Black" Kirsten Dunst had to fix the webbing make-up on Topher's neck.
  • Venom was not in the original script of Spider-Man 3, with the Vulture playing the role he ended up playing instead.
  • Kevin Feige admitted that it was his idea to include Venom in the film.
  • To keep the look of Venom a surprise, the TV spots and trailers only show the transformation scene and when we see Eddie's face as he says "Hey, Parker", Venom's face was blurred out.

Trivia[]

  • The name Eddie Brock, Jr. was from the Ultimate Spider-Man comics.
  • It is of note that the suit appears slightly different to the comics. Instead of a solid black with a large white spider at the center, here, the suit seems like a distorted mold-replica of Peter's original Spider-Man suit, having a faint, disorganized, webbing pattern on it, and not being as large. Also in the movie, the unmasking process is different in that it unravels instead of opening up at the mouth and going back. Venom also refers to himself as "I" instead of "We", however, Venom in the comics originally referred to himself as "I". Unlike in the comics, Venom is thin and without muscle tone. This design was to better portray Venom as a twisted foil to Spider-Man.
  • Topher Grace is never referred to as "Venom" in the entire movie.
  • Despite the Spider-Sense never verbally explained or mentioned by Spider-Man in the films, Venom says to him "My Spider-Sense is tingling!" to taunt Spider-Man's ineffective Spider-Sense against him. This makes Venom the only character in the film series to ever use that line, which is a phrase used and repeated by Spider-Man in all other media.
  • Topher Grace's performance was received mostly negatively by fans. Most of the complaints were that he wasn't big or tough enough and mostly his small amount of screen time.

Gallery[]

Spider-Man 3[]

See Also[]

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