Characters / Spider-Man (Insomniac): Venom

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Heroes (Peter Parker) | Supporting Cast (Otto Octavius) | Villains (The Sinister Six | Venom | Kraven the Hunter) | Peter's suits | Miles's suits

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The Venom Symbiote

"You want to join us - we know it."

^{Black Suit
Symbiote Suit}

Voiced by: Tony Todd (English) ^{Other Languages}Taiten Kusunoki (Japanese)

Appearances: Spider-Man | Spider-Man: Miles Morales | Spider-Man 2

"We finally have the power to do what we've always wanted... we're going to heal the world."

An alien substance initially bonded to Harry Osborn in an attempt to save his life, later being transferred to Peter Parker. But the mysterious symbiote is more than just a mere life support system or power-up, as it is revealed to be a dreaded monstrosity that appears in New York like a twisted natural disaster.

For its hosts, see Peter Parker and Harry Osborn.

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A-L

• Achilles' Heel:
  • The Venom Symbiote is vulnerable to high-frequency sounds, causing it and its host intense pain and weakening their bond. This weakness is also shared by those Venom mutates into Symbiote mooks.
  • When sufficiently enhanced, electrical attacks, particularly Miles' "evolved" Venom abilities, are able to deal damage.
  • Though Venom himself never encounters Mister Negative, the Symbiotes he creates are vulnerable to his negative energy, due to it twisting the minds of others in a similar way he does via symbiotic bonding. In particular, Li's able to use his abilities to transform the symbiote remnant inside Peter into a positive Anti-Venom suit, something Venom also is weak to.
  • The host itself is a downplayed case, as without one to bond with, the symbiote is pretty helpless without a source of emotions to feed off of and can only immediately attempt to latch onto the nearest host body to regain its strength. Both times Venom and its offspring Scream suffer a defeat comes from Peter and MJ Fighting from the Inside to tear the symbiote matter off them, but a combination of the mental corruption it inflicts on them and the symbiote fighting to stay attached the whole time means they can't actually get it off without outside aid also exploiting the high-frequency vulnerability at the same time to weaken the symbiotes' physical hold on them. Venom is ultimately killed by Peter and Miles tearing off enough of it to reach Harry's physical body buried underneath, allowing Peter to directly apply his Anti-Venom powers to Harry and burn the symbiote in its entirety from the inside-out.
• Adaptational Abomination: In the comics, Venom, for all its power, is just one of many symbiotes, and its use of power tends to be less inventive or complex than its own offspring are capable of. Here, Venom is an Assimilation Plot waiting to happen, transforming its hosts into The Juggernaut, being capable of creating new symbiotes on the spot, generating monstrous abilities such as wings and numerous tendrils, and nearly engulfing all of Manhattan in a matter of hours; and would’ve consumed the entirety of New York in less than a day or so. With the entire world being its endgame. This version of Venom is closer to Knull in power and ability than its comics counterpart, or in the very least Dark Carnage. Though it’s hard to say given how the overall events of the third act only last for a few days. Nonetheless, there’s a strong possibility Venom might’ve grown more powerful had enough time passed.
• Adaptational Badass: Twofold:
  • The Black Suit, while a Clingy Costume that gives an exponential power boost to Peter during his usage of it, did not really expand his power set too far past what Peter could already do as Spider-Man, beyond the Voluntary Shapeshifting the Symbiote provided and Peter never historically used that power for more than a change of clothes. Here, the Black Suit practically makes Peter a One-Man Army that inches on being a full-on Humanoid Abomination with the usage of its shapeshifting powers that he's able to fight through Kraven's extremely well-armed and highly trained troops like they were nothing. Also, while ordinarily in other adaptations, Peter typically has a Heel Realization after realizing how badly the Symbiote is becoming The Corruptor to him and is able to tear it off on his own. Here, the Black Suit has such a hold over Peter that he never is able to pull away from it on his own until Miles nearly beats the life out of Peter in a boss fight to make him recognize how toxic it is.
  • Venom is usually a powerhouse on their own typically, being able to give Spider-Man a run for their money but could be beaten over a protracted fight and with cunning. Venom in this canon is a monstrous juggernaut capable of manhandling both Peter and Miles at once and is no worse for the wear no matter how many times they knock him down. Not to mention, while Venom can reproduce like all Symbiotes, Venom typically couldn't spawn so many Symbiotes so fast that they risk to overrun all of Manhattan in a matter of days, if not hours in a Zombie Apocalypse like fashion. The closest is the infestation in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, or perhaps the attack on New York in Absolute Carnage. By the end of the game, Venom displays such a frightening level of power that they are borderline on the degree of a Physical God like Knull with how freely they can terraform whole sections of Manhattan into Symbiote hives in a matter of seconds and capable of turning into a Draconic Abomination by growing enormous wings that gives them complete freedom of movement and Nigh-Invulnerability to everything save for Anti-Venom's abilities to slowly diminish their nearly limitless strength. He also notably lacks his comic self's aversion to fire, leaving sufficiently loud frequencies, electricity, and the Anti-Venom suit as pretty much the only surefire ways to effectively hurt him.
• Adaptational Late Appearance: In the comics, Peter has a long and complicated history with Venom and its chosen host, Eddie Brock (who has been relegated to The Ghost here), stretching long before Miles was introduced and before he was moved to the mainstream universe. In the games it showed up after Peter started mentoring Miles.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed, as the symbiote is subject to Adaptational Villainy here. However, while it's Not Good with Rejection as always, unlike other versions the symbiote doesn't actively try to ruin Peter's life after he rejects it and tries reconciling with him multiple times - albeit in its own twisted way. Even when Peter firmly rejects it, it mostly blames Miles for turning him against it and making killing him necessary.
• Adaptational Ugliness: Venom has never been a pretty sight in any incarnation, but this version, especially in its One-Winged Angel form, is hideously visceral and monstrous.
• Adaptational Villainy: No doubt one of the vilest iterations of the Venom symbiote seen thus far, rivaling even its incarnations in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows and The Spectacular Spider-Man. This Venom displays none of his comic's sympathetic traits, nor his original far more personal villainous goals and makes it clear that he won't stop until he's 'healed the world' by completely subjugating it into a Hive Mind with him at the top of the food chain. He is also savage and brutal in combat even in comparison to many other depictions of the character, frequently attacking with excessive force and clear sadism. Overall, it is closer in characterization to Knull or even at times Carnage (especially the fourth "Dark" Carnage that is connected to the aforementioned Knull) than his original counterpart.
• Adaptational Wimp: Only in one very specific area. Normally, Venom is able to bypass Peter's Spider-Sense, catching him completely off guard, a trait it shares with its spawn. Though it does display this trait in cutscenes, it's absent in gameplay, likely because a lot of the combat relies on the spider-sense so removing it would severely limit the player. Potentially justified considering Peter wears the Anti-Venom suit.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: In the comics it had little to do with Curt Connors or his transformation into the Lizard. Here, its arrival on Earth has it seizing Connors' arm in an effort to try bonding to him, requiring Osborn and his goons to have Curt's arm removed.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Heavily downplayed. In the comics, the Venom symbiote develops an antagonistic relationship with Peter after he rejects it and its subsequent host, Eddie Brock, corrupts it with his own feelings of hatred toward Spider-Man. While the symbiote does despise Peter after they are separated, it doesn't single-mindedly focus on him and is more focused on fulfilling Harry's wish to "heal the world"; or rather what it considers "healing". However, it's implied that its change in focus is motivated partially by Peter's rejection as it had previously been only interested in making Peter a better Spider-Man, at least according to its own twisted world view.
• Ambiguous Situation: While it's clear that the symbiote brings out its host's darker qualities, exactly how much influence does it really have over them? While its bonded to Harry prior to it transferring to Peter, it didn't noticeably corrupt him and instead cured his illness, and if it was corrupting him, it was a much slower process compared to when it bonds to Peter (note that Harry was bonded to the symbiote for a few years, spent an unspecified amount of time outside the tank, and was in an overall much healthier state of mind until it left him for his best friend). Its corruption of Peter is slow as well in the beginning; while he is far more aggressive after spending a great deal of time bonded to the suit, it's primarily due to the stress of saving Connors and keeping him away from Kraven while also dealing with the villain and his Hunters who continuously escalate the situation, in turn stressing Peter out even more. It's not until it reclaims a piece of the meteorite that Venom really starts to get its claws into Peter.
  • Peter/Venom telling MJ to run before the symbiote attacked her. Was it Peter subconsciously attempting to get her away from him before he lost control of the suit? Or was it Venom wanting her to give him the challenge of chasing her?
  • When Venom is bonded with Harry and in control, it's initially this trope regarding how much of their words are Harry's true inner thoughts, and how much of them are simply the smallest of grievances amplified by Venom. The ambiguity allows Venom to really cut close to the bone and deliver many an Armor-Piercing Question and statement. Ultimately averted during the final boss, however: it turns out that Harry is completely subjugated when Venom is in control and is unaware of what he's doing with him, meaning it's Venom verbally torturing Harry's friends using his memories.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • Of all the enemies and threats throughout the years he's faced in his career as Spider-Man, Venom is the greatest and most deeply personal threat that Peter has ever faced before. The Venom Symbiote corrupts Peter and nearly causes him to kill MJ and Miles while it is bonded to him, and does not take Peter deciding to remove and destroy it well, while its new host, Harry, is Peter's Best Friend. Venom's plan to Take Over the World by infecting its population as part of a Symbiote Hive Mind is explicitly noted to be a warped attempt to fulfill Harry and Peter's shared goal to "heal the world".
  • On Venom's end, he hates Miles with a burning passion for the younger Spider-Man forcing the separation between him and Peter. Their final battle has Venom snarling and shouting that no one would miss Miles if he were to vanish, that Peter would be better off without him, and accusing Miles of being envious of their connection and forcing Peter to abandon him.
• Aliens Are Bastards: The symbiote is an alien who intends to convert everyone on Earth into its Hive Mind and is violently destructive.
• Aliens Speaking English: Despite being an alien of unknown origin, it comes to speak English with ease, although its' sentences tend to be laconic and to-the-point. Being able to rummage through the minds of its hosts probably also helps.
• Always a Bigger Fish: He is the bigger fish in this regard. Once Harry rebonds to the symbiote, Venom's threat easily dwarfs not only Kraven's threat, but the threats of the previous villains from the other games as well - while Otto, Hammerhead, Phin, Kreiger and Kraven are understandably massive threats to both Spider-Man and New York, Venom goes above and beyond them and threatens the entire planet, transforming New York into the beginnings of a symbiote Death World, and is so utterly powerful even the combined efforts of Peter and Miles aren't enough to put Venom down for good.
• The Assimilator:
  • Venom's ultimate goal is to convert every human on Earth into its hive-mind and blanket the entire planet in symbiotes.
  • Venom also adopt several traits from its hosts. While it's more noticeable with Harry, where the symbiote genuinely believes his memories are its own, it also adopts some of Peter's personality as well. It deliberately mimics his costume as Spider-Man, and it tries to talk Miles down when he's within the symbiote Hive Mind much as Peter tries to do with his enemies - although Venom shows no remorse about trying to kill him once Miles rejects it.
• Ax-Crazy: After transforming into the Symbiote Suit, the Venom symbiote is capable of sending Peter into a blind rage, even causing him to attack his own friends.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Venom after being reunited with Harry is ultimately the one to do in Kraven after Miles stops Peter from doing so, with a vicious coup de grâce by eating his head after beating him to submission.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: This is a recurring theme with Venom.
  • Peter wanted to become a better Spider-Man out of guilt over the events of the previous game. Upon bonding with him, Venom obliges - but Venom's idea of a better Spider-Man is to increase his brutality and recklessness at the expense of Peter's compassion. It also firmly believes it is key to accomplishing this, to the point it tries to murder Mary Jane and Miles for trying to remove it and thus holding Peter back in its eyes.
  • Harry wants to make the world a better place, and upon bonding with him Venom decides to make that happen. Unfortunately, Venom's idea of a better world is one where everyone on Earth is infected by symbiotes, and terraforming the planet into something more to Venom's liking.
  • Norman bonded Harry to the symbiote to save his life despite knowing it was dangerous. Upon using Harry's body to transform into Venom, it actually lampshades it, pointing out that Harry is now strong and healthy, just like Norman wanted - just at the cost of his free will.
    Venom: We are healthy. Strong. This is what you wanted. Isn't it?
• Becoming the Mask: While it's eventually revealed Venom has left Harry dormant while the symbiote takes the wheel, Venom seems to believe it is Harry and cites his memories and insecurities as its own.
• Believing Their Own Lies:
  • For as selfish as his motivations truly are, Venom genuinely believes his Assimilation Plot will "heal the world" rather than it simply being a lie to placate its hosts.
  • Rather than a straightforward case of Hyde Plays Jekyll, Venom genuinely believes it is Harry despite keeping him dormant within itself. It's actually genuinely confused that Peter doesn't think it's Harry, and recalls his memories as its own at several points.
• The Berserker: Venom's "fighting style", if one can even call it that, is more akin to a wild animal that just broke out of its cage. Venom throws himself into combat with utterly reckless abandon. He doesn't fight smart, or tactically, or anything - he simply attacks his opponents with everything he's got - smashing his opponents against the floor and wall, biting them, ripping at them, stabbing them with tendrils, and not stopping until his opponent isn't moving anymore. One of his finishers even has him biting down on his helpless victim before tossing them aside like a rabid dog with a chew toy.
• Berserk Button:
  • Threatening to remove him from his host. Venom shows that he absolutely hates the possibility of being removed from Peter - when Connors spoke about calling Osborn to destroy the suit, Venom immediately rips the phone out of Connors' hand and destroys it; Miles attempting to get Peter to take off the suit during their boss fight has Venom aggressively fight back; and everytime Harry gets woken up during the Final Battle, Venom quickly retakes control and hits back even harder.
  • Venom also hates being called a "thing" by Peter.
• Beyond Redemption: Venom is notable for being one of the only foes that Peter doesn't even try to negotiate with, and he's so dangerous Peter wants to destroy the symbiote outright. Whenever anyone tries to appeal to Venom, it's them encouraging Harry to fight the symbiote's influence.
• Big Bad: The main villain of Spider-Man 2. After spending half the game in a Big Bad Ensemble with Kraven as a corruptive influence, Venom assumes the role completely after bonding with Harry and his goal to "heal the world" makes him the greatest threat to New York since the Devil's Breath Crisis.
• Big Bad Ensemble: With Kraven the Hunter for part of the second game. Kraven instigates the conflict for the first half of the story, with the Symbiote being an internal, corruptive influence on Peter. When it bonds to Harry, Venom battles and kills Kraven to become the sole antagonist for the rest of the game.
• Bio-Armor: The symbiote engulfs its host's body and acts as a living suit of armor. When initially bonded to Harry and when bonded to Spider-Man, it even resembles body armor. As the Symbiote Suit it's even more pronounced — with visible veins and looking less like a costume/armor and more like a second skin. Also, it puppeteers Peter's sleeping body for a whole night when being ambushed by Kraven's hunters, often roaring like an animal.
• Blank White Eyes: Venom has large white eyespots that mimic Spider-Man's lenses.
• Blob Monster: Without a host, the symbiote is simply a shapeless blob, albeit a very strong and agile one.
• Blood Knight: Due to being an Emotion Eater, Venom loves fighting and pushes Peter to do as much of it as possible. When he binds to Harry, they proceed to go on a savage rampage through OsCorp, viciously battling and killing anybody who dares to challenge them, and he shows even greater delight in subsequently fighting Kraven.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: As Peter notes in his meeting with Connors discussing the symbiote, it's trying to help him "be a better Spider-Man". On the one hand, it's doing exactly as he describes as it increases his already impressive physical capabilities to the point he's become a walking One-Man Army. On the other hand, Venom has a skewed idea of helping in that its idea of making Peter a "better" Spider-Man is to slowly strip away his moral compass and make him more ruthless and willing to kill his opponents. This also extends to when it returns to Harry as its idea of "healing the world" is to enact an Assimilation Plot where humanity is bonded to symbiotes at the cost of individual free will.
• Body Horror: As par the course for Venom, his transformations end up becoming more viseral over time - it eventually abandons the armor-like platting Peter's black suit has and instead allows its tentacled, veiny appearance that's usually seen as Peter's Super Mode. And when it rebounds to Harry, it abandons any pretense of being a simple costume and instead transforms itself into a humanoid, oily creature, eventually becoming more monstrous as it falls deeper and deeper into its Villainous Breakdown and eventually goes full One-Winged Angel, complete with a pair of draconic wings to get around.
• Brown Note: Loud noises hurt the symboite, causing it to reflexively lash out with its tentacles to try and make the noise stop. This weakness can be exploited in the boss battles with Venom, as using car alarms, ringing bells, and other sufficiently loud noise can stum Venom long enough for Spider-Man to close the gap and deal some damage.
• The Cameo: Appears in the second Stinger inside the healing tank with Harry and reaches out to touch Norman's hand against the glass. Appears again in Miles Morales, when he's finally about to be set free.
• Cast as a Mask: Much like with his role on The Flash, Tony Todd's booming voice hides the identity of the symbiote's host, Harry Osborn. In a twist on the trope, the different voices aren't meant to disguise the identity, but to drive home that the symbiote is its own entity; after Harry and Peter initially use their own voices while bonded to the symbiote, it eventually starts talking to Peter in its own voice, and upon reuniting with Harry and fully manifesting as Venom, the symbiote uses its own voice almost exclusively, only using other voices for the sake of manipulation.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Gender-inverted (for a given value of "gender"; the symbiote is genderless, but Venom presents as male). As in most other media, Venom takes a quick liking to Peter and tries to convince him to join back up with it throughout the game's third act. In fact, the symbiote actually seems to prefer Peter over Harry while bonded to the latter in the first half of the game; when Peter sees Harry in action at the amusement park, the symbiote reaches for him. Unsurprisingly, Venom doesn't take Peter's rejection very well, though unlike the comic where it resolves to make his life hell for "abandoning" it, it lays most of the blame on Miles for separating it from Peter in the first place.
• Clothes Make the Maniac: The symbiote increases its host's aggression and gradually takes over their mind. By the time Miles forces Peter to remove it, the symbiote has started giving him commands and is able to take over his body at will. And when it possesses Harry, it leaves him dormant while the symbiote calls the shots.
• Cold Ham: Rarely raises his voice above a growling whisper.
• Combat Pragmatist: Venom eschews Spidey's stylish martial arts in favor of simply using his incredible strength to savagely mauling and beating to death anybody who enters his general radius. Fighting gracefully is not much of a concern when you're as tall as an elephant and about as strong.
• Combat Tentacles: The symbiote can generate a mass of tentacles to use in combat.
• Composite Character:
  • When bonded to Spider-Man as the Black Suit, the symbiote has the white eyes and spider-emblem of the classic black suit, but the armor-like, plated texture of the black parts is a (less heavily armored) take on the militaristic look of Agent Venom. Which makes sense because before it bonds with Peter, the symbiote manifests as a take on the Agent Venom armor when bonded with Harry.
  • With Adaptational Villainy in mind and the sheer scope of Adaptational Badass the Venom symbiote undergoes here, the Insomniac Venom takes influence from Knull and Dark Carnage as, they have absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever and are a borderline unstoppable monster that threatens not just Manhattan but all of humanity by just existing. In a more traditional sense, this version of Venom borrows from its 616 and 1610 Earth incarnations, the films in design, the Ultimate Spider-Man (2012) incarnation in host, and Marvel's Spider-Man in motivation. Threatening New York with an epidemic of symbiote spawn, meanwhile, is lifted from Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.
• Contractual Boss Immunity: When faced as the Final Boss of Spider-Man 2, it's immune to being webbed up like most other enemies can be. You'll have to rely on dodging and using its sound-based weakness in order to create an opening.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To both Otto Octavius and Phin Mason. All three of them are Evil Former Friends to Peter and Miles respectively, being perfectly cordial with them at the beginning of their games only to perform a Face–Heel Turn, and ultimately turn against them once it's clear that the Spider-Men are actively trying to stop their plans. Where Venom actually differs, however, is that Otto and Phin turn fully against Peter and Miles even after learning their true identities and go as far as to try and kill them for getting in the way of their plans; Venom, on the other hand, actually wants Peter to help him create a symbiote paradise, and shows him no proper malice even after the rejection, and acts as a Friendly Enemy throughout the game.
• Control Freak: Venom genuinely believes terraforming the planet is what's best for humanity, because it will have total control and it believes that this is a good thing. Its status as this is most notable in its relationship with Peter. While Venom cares about him in its own twisted way, the symbiote repeatedly ignores and disrespects Peter's autonomy, and Peter notes it would have made him a brainwashed slave much like it did to Harry. Even when Peter makes it clear that he'll never join it, Venom never thinks he refused it of his own free will and blames Miles for turning Peter against it.
  Venom: We know what's best for you! For everyone!
• The Corrupter: On two levels:
  • The symbiote makes whoever's bonded to it more aggressive, which only becomes clear as the symbiote "awakens" more and more as Peter continues wearing it. When Peter is bonded to the symbiote, his usual jokester behavior is gone, and he's instead aloof and very aggressive (even Harry never succumbed to this in his initial stint with the symbiote). During the Symbiote Surge, all of Peter's attacks are finishers that focus on sheer brutal force, knocking out the opponent in one swift, impactful strike.
  • Arguably more terrifying is the way Venom can twist noble intentions to justify keeping him, making it feel like Venom's goals are perfectly aligned with theirs (typically via the pure power needed to accomplish it). Peter refuses to remove the symbiote because he believes it makes him a better Spider-Man, despite ostracizing him from his friends and the people of New York. And when Harry is rebonded after Peter removes it, the symbiote twists and warps his honest wish to make the world a better place, and corrupts him into believing the only way to 'heal the world' is by transforming it into a symbiote Death World (granted, symbiotes do prevent sickness, but this ignores everything else). Peter speculates he would've been transformed into Venom too if Miles hadn't separated him from the symbiote.
• The Corruption: While the Black Suit already made Peter more aggressive and threatening, the Symbiote Suit makes him act openly hostile towards everyone around him, regardless of whether they're friend or foe, and eventually causes him to attack MJ and Miles.
  Peter: [while fighting Kraven] I'll tear you limb from limb.
• Dark Is Evil: The symbiote is covered in black skin and it is undeniably dangerous, both in how it can brainwash its hosts and its apocalyptic potential.
• Dead Person Impersonation: It speaks to Harry in his mother's voice in order to manipulate him into going along with its plans.
• Decomposite Character: While Eddie Brock does exist in this universe, he's so far The Ghost and has no connection to the symbiote, which becomes Peter's second Arch-Enemy and the main villain of Spider-Man 2 after killing Kraven.
• Deconstruction: Of Venom himself. He was meant to make his character scary again, after all the anti-heroic and idealized traits he'd acquired over the years. Contrasting with the vast majority of the previous iterations, this Venom manages to be much more crude, raw and villainous. Instead of being an exceptionally ruthless Anti-Hero, he is a Knight Templar whose moral compass is centered only around itself.
• Determinator: No matter the circumstance, Venom absolutely refuses to quit. When Miles fights Peter to convince him to take off the suit, Venom fights back just as hard to keep Peter as the host, and Peter finally throwing the suit away has the symbiote immediately begin crawling back to rebond. And in the final battle, nothing that the heroes do can slow down Venom enough to stop - even Peter's Anti-Venom powers briefly waking Harry back up has the symbiote put Harry back under in seconds and rejoining the fight. It's to the point that Peter is forced to avert his Thou Shalt Not Kill rules because that's the only way to stop Venom, with Peter not even bothering to try and talk the symbiote down or think of ways to imprison it because he knows that it wouldn't be enough.
• Disproportionate Retribution: When Mary Jane shocks Peter to wake him up while being pursued by the Hunters, the symbiote immediately tries to murder her in retaliation. Likewise, when Miles stops Peter from killing Kraven, the symbiote attacks him as well.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: A lot of his dialogue is creepily evocative of an emotionally abusive and manipulative romantic partner/stalker or at least, a toxic friend. This is totally unsurprising, given the same is true for his comic self.
• Don't Make Me Destroy You: He doesn't want to kill Peter and is clearly pained when he makes it clear he'll never join Venom. He instead tries to murder MJ and Miles in an attempt to force Peter to be with him, though Harry notes it will eventually murder Peter if he keeps rejecting it.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Was first teased at the end of Spider-Man, with Miles Morales reminding the audience that it exists and it's about to be set loose...
• Eldritch Abomination: Venom can shapeshift and create new appendages such as tentacles and wings, he is invulnerable to almost all weaponry, and he can effortlessly create more symbiotes and spreads massive tentacles across New York City to better assimilate its population. However, Venom isn't a god-like being like most Eldritch Abominations and can only affect the minds of the people he infects, though he's still levels beyond the cast in terms of raw power.
• Emergency Transformation: Harry's condition is so bad that the symbiote is acting as nothing more than a life support system, warding off his death while Norman seeks a cure. Norman was so desperate to save Harry that attaching an alien life form to his son was considered a viable option, though seeing what the symbiote ultimately turns Harry into horrifies Norman.
• Emotion Eater: Much like in the comics, arguably to a greater degree. Venom is empowered by and amplifies the emotions of his hosts, and will play to said hosts' worst qualities in order to do so. Also, while less explicit than in the comics, Venom is very much attracted to negative emotion, even finding the strength to break free of containment when it senses Harry's anger at Peter for wanting to destroy the symbiote rather than let it cure his illness.
• Enemy Within: The symbiote is empowered by the negative emotions of its hosts, and twists the host's personality to keep the bond. Both times that Peter and Harry try and reject it, the symbiote refuses to let go, forcing them back down so that it can continue its rampage, and thus requiring outside forces to take advantage of the symbiote's weaknesses to allow the host to break free.
• Entitled to Have You: The symbiote becomes utterly possessive of Peter the moment it bonds to him, and twists Peter's mind to believe that he cannot be the perfect Spider-Man without assistance from the symbiote.
  Peter: You said it chose me, doc ... it makes me a better Spider-Man.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • The symbiote's inhuman strength is first shown when Harry breaks a strength-based carnival game by accident during a trip to Coney Island.
  • The first mission that really features the symbiote being used to help fight crime is set inside a steel foundry, establishing that this version is not weak to heat or fire like in the source material, but is still susceptible to very loud noise.
  • The dark influence of the black suit is first shown right after Peter obtains it, as the following fight activates symbiote surge for the entire encounter; instead of Peter's usual acrobatics and playful taunts, the fight instead consists of Peter giving the mooks a brutal Curb-Stomp Battle while he insults both them and their boss.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • A twisted example. He seems to genuinely love Peter, albeit in the obsessive and possessive way a stalker "loves" their victim. Any attempt to separate them or refusal on Peter's part to, at the very least, stand by Venom's side enrages him more than anything else. This is especially shown by the symbiote's relationships to both Peter and Harry; with Peter, the symbiote fully embraces him as its host and goes along happily with Peter's need to become a better Spider-Man, and refuses to leave Peter until it's completely rejected; whereas with Harry, the symbiote only goes back to him once Peter's fully rid himself of its influence, and simply manipulates Harry into going along with its plan to transform Earth into a Death World of symbiotes.
  • Subverted with Peter and Harry's loved ones. Venom acknowledges its hosts' affection for these people, and believes on some level these relationships are its own - especially in the latter's case. However, Venom shows no real care for them and tries to murder them on several occasions.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: As a creature of negative emotion, even when Venom believes that he's doing good, he either doesn't realize or doesn't care that he's doing unthinkable harm in the course of it, nor does he understand why people don't accept his "gift".
• Evil Costume Switch: While Peter is still heroic when the symbiote is bonded to him, he noticeably acts far more aggressive.
• Evil Counterpart: To Miles oddly enough. The symbiote comes to care about Peter as much as Harry does as evident in its efforts to make him a "better Spider-Man". That said, Venom is very much a Toxic Friend Influence in that whereas Miles helps inspire Peter to do better as a mentor and "the OG", Venom slowly turns Peter into a Terror Hero and chips away at his moral compass, making him ruthless and driving him away from his friends.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: When bonded with Peter, Venom's toxic influence warps the Wall-Crawler's trademark quips into outright cruel verbal abuse and bullying.
• Evil Is Angular: Compared to the Black Suit, the symbiote's eyes and spider emblem become more jagged in design to help showcase just how much influence it now has on him; and as Venom they become even more jagged and angular.
• Evil Is Bigger: As shown in concept art, the official statue, and Story Trailer, this could easily be the tallest and largest Venom to date aside from the Web of Shadows final boss. The trailers depict them absolutely towering over both Spider-Men and handling them both like ragdolls. He looks to be even taller than Rhino, making him easily the tallest character in all three games. In the game itself, the ground shakes when the monster walks, and it's shown fighting like the Hulk at times against Kraven's forces.
• Evil Is Visceral: Every form of the symbiote has a slimy, organic texture, but the more openly evil it becomes, the uglier and more visceral it gets; after securing a stronger hold on Peter, the symbiote develops a muscle-like texture and more jagged details, and once it bonds to Harry and fully becomes Venom, it becomes a hulking, slimy monster with a gaping maw full of jagged teeth. Venom's One-Winged Angel form takes this even further, with a chaotic texture that resembles muscle dyed black and huge wings lined with blood-red membrane.
• Evil Makes You Monstrous: Played with in that Venom becomes more monstrous the more control he has over his hosts. When first bonded to Harry and Peter, he takes on the form of Bio-Armor. As his control over Peter grows, the Black Suit mutates into the Symbiote Suit, becoming more visceral and slimy. And when he reunites with a disgruntled Harry, he turns into a hulking, fanged brute.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Venom's voice is delivered in this fashion in a way that only Tony Todd can deliver, an absolutely demonic voice that sounds like he crawled right from the bowels of Hell itself. It's a sign of how much of a grip the symbiote has on Peter when he begins speaking with a voice far deeper and guttural than his own.
  Peter: MJ ... run.
• The Evils of Free Will: Implied. Venom's plan will result in all humanity losing their free will, yet Venom clearly doesn't see a problem with it and it's implied the symbiote is such a paternalistic Control Freak it views itself as the sole arbiter of what's best for everyone.
• Eviler than Thou: Kraven is the main threat for the first half of the game and is a deeply challenging foe, even nearly killing Peter. Venom proves himself to be the bigger threat by beating Kraven to a pulp and brutally killing him. Notably, Kraven actually invoked this trope; his entire goal was to be killed by a stronger opponent in battle, and he's overjoyed to be Venom's "first hunt".
• Face–Heel Turn: Downplayed. The symbiote starts off as on Peter's side, but it's firmly a Nominal Hero and tries to murder both Mary Jane and Miles. It isn't until Peter separates from it that Venom actively attempts its Assimilation Plot.
• Fallen Hero: A Nominal Hero variety, of course, but Venom was content with helping Peter become a better—albeit more brutal and aggressive—Spider-Man until Miles forced its separation. From that point onward, Venom goes all in on his plan to convert Earth into a symbiote homeworld.
• Fatal Flaw: Obsession. Particularly, his obsession with Peter. Despite bonding with Harry, Venom is hellbent on having Peter back on his side. The heroes even exploit this flaw in the final battle by having Peter lure Venom away from the hive so Mary Jane can steal the meteorite, knowing Venom wouldn't resist the chance to convert Peter to his side. By the time Venom realizes he's been tricked, it's too late and MJ and Miles are already on their way to destroy the meteorite with a Particle Accelerator.
• Faux Affably Evil: When reconnected to Harry, Venom takes on his host's natural goodness and twists it into this trope, acting perfectly friendly to Peter as he threatens Mary Jane right in front of him.
  Harry: Pete! You look tense. Coffee?
• Fighting Your Friend: Invokes this twice thanks to its influence on his hosts - first, it has Peter attack Miles and try to kill the young man, and next, it uses Harry to fight Peter on the very same spot they became best friends, and refuses to relent until Peter is forced to kill Harry along with the symbiote.
• Fighting from the Inside: In the final battle, Harry barely manages to resist the symbiote's control long enough to help Spider-Man kill it.
• Final Boss: The final opponent Peter and Miles face in the game, and definitely their hardest and fiercest battle yet.
• Foe Romantic Subtext: Though present in many incarnations of the symbiote, this interpretation disturbingly ratchets the subtext up so much that it's close to just being "text". All of Venom's interactions with Peter after he removes it are reminiscent of an obsessive ex-partner, with it constantly trying to woo Peter back into bonding with it again and violently lashing out at Peter's loved ones, who it blames for "separating" the two of them while also showing clear envy towards how close they are to its former host.
• Foreshadowing: Early on, it's apparent that the symbiote actually favors Peter (or is at least interested in) more than Harry. When Peter first discovers Harry's "exosuit", it reaches out for him, though Harry waves this off as him not quite understanding how it works beyond curing his illness. In a later interaction after Harry's first outing as a superhero, the symbiote latches on to Peter when the two exchange a fistbump and develops a white spider symbol, though this is interpreted as Harry wanting to be more like Peter after discovering his best friend is Spider-Man. Once the symbiote latches on to Peter, it's quickly made apparent that it will not let go of its new host.
• Free-Fall Fight: Battles both Spider-Men high above the New York skyline in his attempt to escape with the meteorite.
• Friendly Enemy: He genuinely views Peter as a friend, albeit in a deeply possessive and unhealthy manner. In particular, he wants to kill Mary Jane and Miles because he views them as holding Peter back - and because Venom feels Peter doesn't need them now that he has him.
  Peter: Give me back my friend!
  Venom: We ARE your friend!
• Gaslighting: While bonded with Peter, the symbiote coerces Peter into believing that he simply can't be a better Spider-Man without the assistance of the suit, making him think that any attempt of outside forces trying to convince him to take off the suit are threats, and that people who are unnerved by Spider-Man's new brutality against his enemies are simply 'ungrateful'.
• Grand Theft Me: While it's ambiguous at what point the symbiote took full control of Harry, by the Final Battle Venom is the one calling the shots and Harry - when he's briefly freed - is unaware of what's going on at first, and warns Peter that the symbiote is going to kill him and his loved ones.
• Green-Eyed Monster: He's very jealous of Peter and Miles' friendship, and by implication his relationship with Mary Jane, mainly because he feels he should be the only person in Peter's life. He has a particular enmity for Miles for removing the symbiote from Peter and accuses him of destroying their relationship out of envy.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: Can pick up enemies and slam them against other people and the floor. He also does this to a poor security guard by repeatedly slamming him against a security console.
• Healing Factor: Venom can regenerate from damage and grow back entire limbs. It's able to heal Peter after he's fatally stabbed and single-handedly keeps Harry's disease in remission. When Kraven slices off part of its tongue during their fight, it regrows it within seconds.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Venom is ultimately defeated thanks to the counteracting powers of the Anti-Venom suit allowing Peter to directly burn symbiote matter on touch. The suit was formed in part thanks to the residual original symbiote matter left within Peter's bloodstream from their bonding, meaning Venom is destroyed thanks to a piece of himself getting changed from a toxic force to a positive one.
• Hostile Terraforming: This take on Venom is effectively a living terraforming unit. Once bonded to a host, he seeks to spread symbiote matter and spawn as far as possible in order to both bond every human possible with a symbiote and slowly alter Earth's environment to suit them better.
• Humanoid Abomination: While possessing a host, Venom takes on a humanoid shape despite his vast array of Lovecraftian Superpowers. Once he stops pretending to be a mere costume, he transforms into a hulking, clawed monstrosity that can create hives of symbiotes at will.
• HULK MASH!-Up: Venom's massive size, bestial design and more violent fighting style take a few cues from the not-so-jolly green giant. In the original 616 or Ultimate comics, Venom is clearly a suit Eddie or Peter is wearing even in its more monstrous form. This one looks like a monster complete with clawed feet, more organic skin, and a habit of smashing things in blind rage in a manner similar to the Hulk. This is most obvious when it escapes from Oscorp. The original Venom often used stealth as much as brute force to fight, either cloaking himself or surprising Peter. This one smashes through an entire platoon of Oscorp grunts, at one point smashing one into a console in the same pose Hulk threw Loki in The Avengers.
• Hyde Plays Jekyll: An interesting case. Due to their bond, Venom can access and review all of Harry's memories when attempting to convince Peter to join their Assimilation Plot, its dialogue at times sounding like a blend of the two's overall motives and shared wish to work alongside Peter. However, the Final Battle eventually reveals that Harry has been dormant and unconscious within Venom, expressing shock and confusion when the Spider-Men's duel efforts eventually weaken the symbiote enough to tear his head free. Despite this, Venom's words imply that at times it seems to sincerely believe that it has always been Harry and is voicing his actual opinions. It's implied this is due to the increasing bond between them, as Connors warns the duo are now too melded for the symbiote to be physically removed from Harry, and as this fusion increases over time, their psyches too start to become indistinguishable from each other.
• Hypocrite:
  • While fighting Kraven, Venom accusingly shouts that the hunter hurt their (the symbiote and Harry’s) friends. This after Venom has tried to kill multiple of said "friends" himself.
  • During the final battle with Peter, Venom berates him for seemingly abandoning him and Harry during the game's midway point for selfish reasons, ignoring the fact that Venom itself was the one who abandoned Harry for Peter simply because he found him to be a more interesting host.
• I Am Legion: Venom speaks for himself and his host in this way when he talks to other people.
• I Reject Your Reality: He is adamant that both Miles and Mary Jane are toxic influences on Peter and absolutely refuses to believe they're anything more than a toxic influence. He's completely blind to the fact that he is the biggest toxic influence, snarling at Miles whenever he brings up how bad the symbiote was for Peter that he made Peter better, and that no one would miss Miles if he were to disappear.
• Identity Breakdown: While the symbiote has a consistent personality, it has trouble distinguishing itself from its hosts. Once it fully bonds with Harry, Venom genuinely seems to believe they're the same person and cites his memories as its own.
• Immune to Fire: As is noted by Harry, it seems to be completely fireproof, with its elemental weakness instead being the Ultimate version's electricity connection infused with Martin Li's purifying light.
• Implacable Man: Once he truly gets going, it is downright impossible to stop him, with him quickly getting up from protracted beatdowns from both Spider-Men. In order to defeat him during the final battle, Peter had to concentrate all of his Anti-Venom powers into destroying the symbiote completely, which would have also killed Harry had it not been for Miles' electrical powers giving him the ability to defibrillate him.
• Irony: One of Venom's weaknesses is Miles' electrical blasts...which also happen to be called Venom.
• It's All About Me: Honestly, whether on Peter or Harry, Venom cannot help but boast about how he personally makes his hosts better in every way. Visiting May's grave with the suit has Peter quickly derail his declaration to help everyone by making it clear that he's doing it with 'this suit', and the fight with Miles has Peter quickly snap to the assumption that Miles merely wants the symbiote to himself, making it clear that the symbiote finds itself so self-important Miles cannot possibly want Peter back to normal for any other reason. And upon rebonding with Harry, he claims to be "healing the world" for Peter, but in reality is just doing it for self satisfaction and to Take Over the World. Miles even lampshades this during the Final Boss battle, yet Venom still thinks he's holding Peter back.
• It Can Think: While his behavior while bonded with Harry and Peter early on can be mistaken for animalistic drive, it becomes more and more apparent as the game progresses that Venom is fully self-aware and as much a person as any human and very intelligent besides. He's willing to hide the full extent of his intelligence when it benefits him, but otherwise people not recognizing his personhood is a justified Berserk Button for him.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: Venom despises being called "a thing" and demands to be addressed as a person.
• It's Personal: The symbiote develops a burning hatred of Kraven and Miles, and an even worse one for Peter himself after he rejects Harry and Venom's repeated offers to rule together. Notably, he attempts to (and in Kraven's case, succeeds) bite the heads off the former two in a fight, despite apparently not needing to eat human brains in this incarnation, indicating that it's a move he reserves solely for enemies he despises and wants to die in pain and terror.
  • In Kraven's case, the symbiote gets pissed at him when he impales Peter right in front of it/Harry, resulting in the duo going into an Unstoppable Rage and actually beating Kraven unconscious, which his boss fights showcase is no easy feat. Afterwards, it amplifies Peter's lingering animosity for the near-death experience in hunting Kraven down, even speaking in its own voice for the first time to state its intent to have Kraven be killed to rid them both of his presence for good. Notably, despite the symbiote suffering Identity Breakdown and taking on traits of its hosts, including Peter and Harry's anger towards Kraven, the symbiote indicates it too holds a personal contempt towards the Hunter and it exacerbates into lethal murder in a fight with him.
  • For Miles, the symbiote gets annoyed at his interference on unleashing a killing blow on Kraven, as well as repeatedly "distracting" Peter from it, and quickly turns Peter into attacking his student. When Miles successfully frees Peter from the symbiote's influence, this transforms into an all-consuming hatred of the younger spider for separating them, making a point to target Miles after Peter states to Venom's face he will never re-join the symbiote, blaming him for turning Peter against them and spewing a venomous tirade during his Boss Banter, about how Miles "never should have existed".
    Venom: Pete's better off without you! WE ALL ARE!
• Jerkass Has a Point: Perhaps the one aspect in which his anger is actually a little justified is how he calls out Peter and company for continuing to talk about him like he's just a mindless suit and not a person, even as he makes abundantly clear that he is fully sentient and sapient.
• The Juggernaut: He's a massively strong behemoth who proves immune to most weaponry and bounces back unharmed from almost any damage. When the symbiote's strength is fully unleashed during Venom's rampage through Oscorp, it's a trail of devastation just slightly below the Hulk's own handiwork. Kraven, himself an example towards the heroes up to this point, gets solidly curb-stomped in a protracted beatdown as Venom tanks and overwhelms any and all attacks he hits him with. By the time of the Final Battle, even after a 4-stage back-to-back fight against both Miles and Peter, each of whom has a unique ability that does extra damage against symbiote matter, Venom is still going strong, the only effect the fighting had being weakening its hold over Harry just enough to reawaken him, but Harry is too weak to resist the symbiote's influence from within. It's left very clear Venom simply can't be beaten in a physical fight, and will shortly resume his assault on the heroes when they're running out of steam, leaving Peter with no other way to stop the symbiote for good but to use the Anti-Venom suit's powers to burn it out of Harry's body, even at the cost of killing him too.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Venom starts off as a Sociopathic Hero. The symbiote is gradually corrupting Peter, has no regard for civilian casualties or collateral damage, and nearly kills MJ and Miles, but it at least genuinely wants to help Peter be a better Spider-Man and protect New York. It isn't until he rejects it that Venom decides to infect all humanity with symbiotes.
• Kick the Dog: Harry's relationship with MJ is shown to be close throughout the game, but the moment he becomes Venom, he shows no hesitation in taking her hostage at Peter's house to draw him in, and then transforms her into Scream while throwing her at Peter without care.
• Kill It with Fire: Averted. This version of Venom notably lacks his comic self's aversion to fire, leaving sufficiently loud frequencies, electrical attacks (specifically, Miles' Evolved Venom), and the Anti-Venom suit as pretty much the only surefire ways to effectively hurt him.
• Knight Templar: Venom genuinely believes that taking away humanity's free will and transforming everyone into symbiote hosts is going to save the world, and that Peter will approve of this, no matter how many innocent people Venom hurts in the process. It's called out at multiple points that the symbiote's idea of good is entirely self-serving, even though it is certain it's doing the right thing, as it would make the Earth a suitable habitat only for its' species and satisfy its need for control.
• Knight of Cerebus: The very moment Harry finally completes his transformation into Venom, everything that transpires shifts to a level of darkness not even seen in the first game. Every scene with Venom is filled with nothing but dread and horror, with Venom transforming innocent New Yorkers into symbiote hosts and making it clear that he won't stop until everyone has been 'cured' by him. Also, the game starts veering into a shocking level of Bloodier and Gorier territory that was unheard of in the series at this point the moment Venom kills Kraven bordering almost Genre Shift territory that sells the stakes of what kind of threat Venom brings to the table.
• Lack of Empathy: Venom clearly understands emotion just fine, playing to both Harry and Peter's best and worst instincts to get them to go along with what Venom thinks is best, but its cruel, possessive, and self-serving nature mean that even when it believes its doing something good, any good intentions are twisted into something unrecognizably horrific. Also, as its needless brutality shows, the lives and rights of others mean absolutely nothing to Venom, who revels in violence, slaughter, and pain.
• Large and in Charge: Venom is a hulking behemoth after bonding with Harry, and it commands an entire army of symbiotes.
• Lecherous Licking: Venom has a penchant for licking his prey, though it's not out of perversion, but rather borne out of Venom's unique eating habits. He does this with Kraven during their fight, only for the hunter to slice his tongue off with his knife, though Venom quickly regenerates it.
• Lightning Bruiser: As the poor guards at OsCorp and both Spider-Men can attest to, Venom is deceptively fast and agile despite his large size and hits like a truck. He gets even faster when he goes One-Winged Angel, growing a pair of wings that let him fly at great speeds.
• Lovecraftian Superpower: Venom makes extensive use of shapeshifting to get ahead in a fight, creating tentacles and wings from his own body to serve his needs.

M-Y

• Make Way for the New Villains: Once its rebonded to Harry, one of Venom's first notable deeds is to brutally murder Kraven, usurping the Hunter as the game's Big Bad.
• Maniac Tongue: Venom is a violently dangerous alien entity with a very long tongue and is quite fond of licking his potential prey.
• Manipulative Bastard: The symbiote manipulates Harry into going along with his plan by causing Harry to hear the voice of his mother, showing him the promise of a better world while twisting Harry's dream into an utter nightmare of a world. He also plays on Peter's worst qualities to push him into being a more aggressive Spider-Man and, more importantly, relying on Venom more and more so he won't "leave" the symbiote.
• Meaningful Echo: Harry's goal with the Emily-May Foundation is to fulfill his mother's dream of "healing the world". Venom echoes this sentiment, albeit with much darker intentions for Earth.
  "We're going to heal the world."
• Mook Maker: The newborn symbiotes Venom spawns can attach themselves to random civilians and turn them into his minions.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: A staple for Venom, given his movie counterpart provides the trope image. This version of Venom has teeth that are retractable, which looks as disturbing as it sounds.
• More than Mind Control: One of the Symbiote's scariest traits is twisting their hosts’ desires into their worst possible extreme by persuasion rather than actually forcing them to. It can also suppress certain thoughts if they would prove troublesome to its goals, which happens to Peter several times: when he's unconcerned about learning his suit is an alien entity, when he decides he needs to keep the symbiote to be a better Spider-Man when he was previously dead-set on giving it back to Harry, and again after waking up on a park bench in Manhattan rather than his home in Astoria, dismissing the MJ street attack as a dream before carrying on as normal. The symbiote is also starts giving him commands when in combat, and making him attack his friends.
  Symbiote: [while Peter is fighting Kraven] Kill.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: He intends to murder Mary Jane and Miles because he feels they're holding Peter back, and because he believes Peter doesn't need them now that he has the symbiote.
• Mythology Gag: The armored look the symbiote sports while initially bonded to Harry is reminiscent of Flash Thompson's Agent Venom appearance from the comics.
• Never My Fault: He blames Kraven for being separated from Peter when he brought the whole situation on himself. He later blames Miles for being jealous of his and Peter's connection and forcing the separation, blind to the belief that the symbiote was a toxic influence.
• Not Good with Rejection: Oh boy does it not take Peter removing it well. Prior to that, the symbiote was content to just help Peter become a better Spider-Man, even if its methods of doing so were damaging and possessive. After Peter rejects it, it decides to kick off its Assimilation Plot and gets incredibly violent with Peter when he makes it clear he has no desire to bond back with it.
• Not Quite Dead:
  • The Symbiote bonded to Harry and Peter was destroyed by the end of the main plot. However, Peter Parker still has some of it in his bloodstream as the Anti-Venom symbiote...
  • Cletus Kasady also manages to get hold of a sample of the symbiote from Oscorp and escape with it at the end of his storyline.
• Not So Stoic: Keeps up an air of menace and eerie calmness throughout the game, but when Peter flat out makes it clear that rebonding to him is not an option, Venom actually falters and looks hurt by the rejection. It becomes increasingly violent towards him after this, though it still cares about him in its own twisted way - which it shows by trying to murder MJ and Miles to have him all to itself.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: What the symbiote's rhetoric ultimately is, regardless of the good intentions of its hosts that it parrots. All that Venom cares for is spreading its offspring and influence across the world and terraforming it into a Death World that no living life form could survive in without being integrated with other symbiotes. While Venom genuinely believes this will heal the world and make Peter happy, Miles rightfully points out the symbiote is motivated by personal gain and it’s selfish need for control more than anything else.
• Obliviously Evil: While a portion of what they are saying is paying lip service to make their host agreeable with what they want, it is clear Venom doesn't exactly function on a realm of morality understandable to us and legitimately doesn't see anything wrong with what it is doing as it becomes more of The Corruptor as time goes along, which arguably makes it far worse than if it was being intentionally evil in its efforts to turn all of humanity into essentially zombified Symbiotes hosts with no free will by end.
• Obviously Evil: Its appearance is heavily colored black with white eyelids and logo, and when bonded with its hosts, it brings out their WORST traits and mask them as "doing something good".
• Off with His Head!: How he kills Kraven, with enough snacks in his head in a single bite. Kraven doesn't mind.
• One-Winged Angel: Upon realizing that Peter tricked him into following him so that Miles and MJ could take back the meteorite and destroy it, Venom grows a large pair of demonic wings to get to them faster, and his Final Boss battle with Miles has him quickly bring them out to throw more attacks at Miles.
• Outside-Context Problem: Peter is used to battling crime lords, regular thugs, superpowered maniacs, and technologically advanced supervillains, but he makes it clear that he's never encountered anything like the suit before once he learns of its true origins.
  Peter: I'm wearing ... an alien?!
• Parrying Bullets: When playable, Venom can block bullets & rockets with its tendrils and can fire them back at whoever tried to shoot him.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: One of Venom's first notable acts after bonding to Harry is to savagely beat down and brutally murder Kraven.
• Pet the Dog: A twisted example. While battling Miles during the climax, he genuinely tries to reassure him he won't let Peter down by failing to defeat Venom - especially since in Venom's eyes, Peter wants him to improve the world. When Miles ends up in the symbiote hivemind, Venom also briefly lets go of his murderous hatred for him and really tries to convince him to join him.
  Miles: I'm not gonna let Pete down, Harry.
  Venom: He'll understand… This is his dream too!
• Power Gives You Wings: When Venom realizes Peter lured him way from the meteorite, he grows a large pair of demonic wings to chase after Miles and MJ. He makes liberal use of these wings during the fight with Miles, staying out of reach of his attacks while pelting him with symbiote projectiles.
• The Power of Hate: Negative emotions empower the symbiote, which is why it chooses to twist and amplify the worst hidden characteristics of its hosts. Just Harry being angry at Peter for wanting to destroy it within its proximity gave it enough power to escape its containment pod.
• Psychopathic Manchild: In an interview, Tony Todd described Venom as an "overgrown kid" overflowing with joy. Venom is also very emotionally immature, with his relationship with Peter being filled with childish jealousy.
  Tony Todd: Venom, even though he may do things to people that they don’t like, he’s filled with joy. He’s happy. He’s like an overgrown kid in kindergarten that drinks too many orange juices and graham crackers for lunchtime. Then the teacher can’t put them down because he’s faster.
• Psychological Projection: A recurring theme with Venom is the symbiote projecting its own feelings and desires on other people.
  • He genuinely believes that Peter and he want the same thing, and that his Assimilation Plot will make the world a better place. Miles calls him out, pointing out that Venom is doing it for his own selfish reasons and that he's only improving the world for himself.
  • He accuses Miles of having convinced Peter to remove the symbiote out of jealousy. Of course, Venom's hatred of Miles is driven by the fact he's angry and jealous that Peter chose his loved ones over Venom. He also sees Miles as a bad influence on Peter, something that describes Venom to a tee.
• Puppeteer Parasite: Unlike his comic counterpart which refused to do this unless heavily corrupted or brainwashed, Venom has no issue directly assuming control of his hosts once they start to reject their bond.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Upon transforming into a One-Winged Angel, Venom grows red wings alongside its mostly black body.
• Royal "We":
  • As is traditional for the character, Venom uses "we" and "us" when referring to itself, seemingly emphasizing how he and Harry have a shared mindset. However, with Harry trying to fight the symbiote from within once he realizes what it's doing, it's clear that Venom isn't really as bonded to Harry as he wants to be.
  • Interestingly, when bonded with Peter, Venom actually averts this trope at first, referring to itself in the first person while battling Miles. It's not until he re-bonds with Harry that he starts playing the trope straight.
• Sad Battle Music: "Midtown Madness", the theme that plays for the first two phases of his battle, is a noticeably somber piece. It fits the context of the fight as Peter, forced to fight his best friend, tearfully pleads for him to resist the symbiote's influence and come back to the light.
• Sadist: Very much so. Venom derives great joy from brutalizing his enemies and is all to happy to share that feeling with his hosts so as to revel in it together.
• Satanic Archetype: Much like the 2018 movie version. Venom is a mysterious entity that fell from the sky who exists solely to corrupt everything around it. The beast manipulates and whispers lies to its preferred hosts, converting more people into twisted fallen monsters just like itself. Its final form bears a pair of huge draconic wings and it wishes to turn the entire planet into a Death World where it rules.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: Even when the Venom isn't formed around Peter/Harry, he still gives them black-colored everyday clothes for them to wear. In particular, Harry wears a dapper black sweater over a collared shirt, while Peter wears a simple black shirt and jeans (though Venom does give hiim a tuxedo to wear when he has to infiltrate Kraven's hideout as a waiter).
• Slasher Smile: Well, he's Venom. That's his default expression.
• Slow Transformation: It's implied that it had to gain strength over time before it would be strong enough to take control and enact its Assimilation Plot. He spends a third of the story attached to Harry with no ill-effects, passively granting him Super-Strength, tentacles and a new suit. When he transfers onto Peter, it gives Peter far more impressive physical capabilities than Harry ever displays (no doubt bolstered by Peter's natural physical abilities), but it also causes Peter to act more aggressively, eventually devolving into a feral state. By the time it returns to Harry, it turns into the hulking Venom we all recognize, actively manipulating Harry and plotting for world domination.
• Sociopathic Hero: At first, the symbiote is willing to aid the heroes and genuinely wants to help Peter be a better Spider-Man, but it still corrupts Peter and tries to kill MJ and Miles. It isn't until Peter removes it that the symbiote starts its Assimilation Plot.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Miles' first connecting to the symbiote Hive Mind has Venom softly whispering to the victim about how they have finally embraced who they are, as though seducing them into embracing the symbiote's hold. Of course, this is only really in the symbiote's Hive Mind, whereas Venom isn't always so restrained.
• Split Personality Take Over: After bonding with Harry again, Venom completely takes over for the most part and leaves Harry mostly dormant. While Venom does have access to Harry's memories and views them as personal experiences, the symbiote is clearly the one calling the shots. When Harry is briefly freed, he's unaware of what Venom has done while possessing him and is utterly horrified once he realizes it.
• Split-Personality Merge: Downplayed. After taking over Harry, Venom recalls his memories as its own and views them as things it experienced personally, but the symbiote is clearly the one in control.
• Suddenly Voiced: While originally bonded to Harry, the symbiote's personality is seemingly dormant, but after bonding to Peter, it starts slowly exerting more and more influence on him until it's speaking to him in a horrific voice and even using that voice while controlling his body. Once it bonds to Harry, the symbiote speaks in its own voice at nearly all times, showing the overwhelming hold Venom has on its final host.
• Superhero Movie Villains Die: Venom typically is a mainstay Arch-Enemy who stays in Spider-Man's canon either to menace him or eventually pull a Heel–Face Turn and becomes a Anti-Hero that helps as the Lethal Protector, but here, due to Venom being a full-fledged villain who wants to convert humanity into more symbiotes while claiming that the forced assimilation into the Symbiote's hive mind of everyone will be better — Peter ends up being forced to obliterate Venom in its entirety with his Anti-Venom powers to stop the destruction of New York and potentially all of humanity. Then again, a fragment of it did escape with Cletus Kasady...
• Super Mode: When it's bonded to Spider-Man as the Black Suit, its Symbiote Surge ability causes it to temporarily transform into the Symbiote Suit and greatly augments Spider-Man's powers, letting him perform brutal takedowns.
• Superpowered Evil Side: The Symbiote Suit shows up when Spider-Man throws down with Kraven's hunters after obtaining the Black Suit for the first time, fighting much more viciously than usual—especially when it takes over Peter while he's asleep, roaring and snarling at Kraven's hunters as it brutally mauls them. As the symbiote's hold on Peter increases, this becomes its default appearance and it corrupts him into being vengeful and violent towards friend and foe alike. After bonding to Harry, it gaslights him into embracing its influence and corrupts his dream of wanting to heal the world to suit its own purposes.
• Targeted to Hurt the Hero: He infects Mary Jane with a symbiote and transforms her into Scream to spite Peter for rejecting the symbiote, and in a twisted attempt to show him he's better off bonded to a symbiote.
  Venom: Show him what he's missing.
• That Man Is Dead: Upon one too many of Peter's pleas for Harry to come back to his senses, Venom coldly refutes:
  Venom: We are not Harry. We... are... Venom.
• They Just Dont Get It: Venom is incapable of comprehending why Peter won't rebond with it. Never once it consider he might not want to be reduced to the symbiote's brainwashed slave.
• They Were Holding You Back: While bonded to Peter, it influences him into pushing away his friends, then drives him to attempt to murder MJ and Miles when they try to separate the two of them, all under the justification of them holding Peter back from becoming a better Spider-Man.
  Miles: You're not doing this for Pete! You're doing this for yourself!
  Venom: You're holding Pete back!
• Tongue Trauma: Kraven slices off his tongue during their fight, though Venom quickly regenerates it.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Granted, it's ambiguous as to how deep the symbiote's corruption is at the start, but while its bonded to Harry early on in the game, it doesn't make Harry aggressive and instead helps cure him of his disease while also giving him super-strength and durability on par with the Spider-Men, implying that the symbiote is actually at its nicest at this point. When it hops on over to Peter, however, the symbiote starts digging its claws into him, making him more aggressive and ruthless by playing on his fears and doubts that he isn't doing enough as Spider-Man. When it returns to Harry, Venom cures him of his illness once again, but it also brainwashes and dominates his mind so as to make him more compliant, showing that the symbiote isn't nearly as helpful as it was at the start of the game.
• Too Powerful to Live: The symbiote is by far the most powerful enemy either Spider-Men have faced up until this point, with ambitions to conquer the entire planet and subjugate all of humanity under its thrall, very quickly and easily doing so to most of New York City, showing that its threat is real. This is the only villain that Peter outright kills, because it's proven uncontainable by even supposedly unbreakable vessels, and Nigh-Invulnerable. The fact it's an alien blob and not a human does make this easier for him though.
• To Serve Man: Downplayed. While Venom does kill Kraven by biting off and swallowing his head, and does bite into his enemies on occasion, he doesn't actually eat too many people, mainly using his teeth as another means of attack as befitting his feral, animalistic nature, and reserving the head-biting tactic for enemies the symbiote has a real bone to pick with, aiming to make them die in terror.
• Toxic Friend Influence:
  • His relationship with Peter intentionally is this in a nutshell. Venom isolates Peter from his loved ones, encourages his worst impulses, and controls him through through manipulation and gaslighting. His response to Peter rejecting him is to attack him and beat him to a pulp. Venom is also supportive of Peter's goals, but twists them to serve itself, and its' genuine friendship for him is filtered through the symbiote's extreme possessiveness and poor temper.
  • He encourages Peter and Harry's worst impulses, manipulates them, and gradually brainwashes them to make them just as ruthless as he is. Ironically, Venom sees Miles as this for turning Peter against him.
• Unknown Rival: A downplayed example with Miles Morales. Due to Miles' involvement in separating him from Peter, Venom acts particularly nasty and hateful towards the younger Spider-Man, claiming he was jealous of their connection to Peter, and frequently expresses a much more explicit desire to destroy him compared to the other characters he encounters. By contrast, while Miles is set on stopping Venom due to the threat he poses to New York and the rest of the world, he's mostly baffled as to why Venom seems to despise him so much.
• Unrequited Love Lasts Forever: His never stops feeling a deep affection and longing for Peter, even after being rejected. He perceives Peter's friends and family as having "made" Peter turn on him.
• Unskilled, but Strong: While bonded with Peter, Venom simply accentuates his natural fighting style. Once bonded to the comparatively untrained Harry and given more direct control, he switches to simply attacking like a savage animal with no real style. He doesn't need grace when he can pulverize almost anything with his bare hands, as he demonstrates by simply out-brutalising Kraven's immense endurance in their final fight, hitting him way harder than even Peter did and making the battle noticeably easier as a result.
• Unstoppable Rage: Upon being rebonded to Harry, Venom goes on an unstoppable rampage through OsCorp, tearing apart the entire security team and ignoring Norman's pleas to stop, and then engages Kraven's hunters outside and tearing them down before finally confronting Kraven. It's only after brutally murdering the old hunter that Harry snaps out of it, horrified by his mauling of Kraven, and the symbiote has to resort to manipulating him with a Dead Person Impersonation of his mother to keep him calm.
• Villain Killer: While bonded to Peter, the symbiote has no compunction about killing his enemies and makes Peter increasingly willing to use potentially lethal force. It culminates in Venom trying to make him murder Kraven, which Miles barely stops him from doing. Upon rebounding with Harry, Venom finishes the job.
• Villain Protagonist: An odd example of a character who is both this and the main antagonist during the second half of the story (or should we say deuteragonist villain?), with Kraven being the antagonist for most of the first half. After all, the game's plot revolves around both him and Peter. Not to mention that he manages to be the only playable villain in the story.
• Villain Takes an Interest: The symbiote is clearly very interested in Peter from the moment it finds out he's Spider-Man, repeatedly trying to bond with him even while attached to Harry, and once it has him in its clutches, the symbiote spends much of the game trying to push Peter into the role it wants for him.
• Villainous Breakdown: The moment Peter makes it clear that he won't be healing the world with Harry, Venom loses whatever desire it had to have Peter at his side, and battles both Peter and Miles with monstrous ferocity, ranting at Miles for ruining his connection to Peter and bellowing at him that he gave him a chance.
  Venom: We know what's best for you! For everyone! We gave you everything you ever wanted, and you threw us away!
• Voice of the Legion: When wearing the symbiote, Peter's voice becomes distorted by Power Echoes as he succumbs to its control.
• Volumetric Mouth: Whenever he roars, he shows that he can open his mouth unnervingly wide, almost like a snake unhooking its jaw, giving us a good look at all the sharp teeth and disturbing mouth literally lined with drool.
• Walking Wasteland: Once Venom rebonds with Harry, he starts spreading the symbiote with an alarming speed, and upon obtaining the meteorite near the end of the story the symbiote hive matter starts covering the entire city in a matter of minutes with symbiotes everywhere; the whole thing looks and feels like an apocalyptic hellscape. During the final boss fight, one of Venom's moves covers the arena floor with symbiote mass. Spreading his influence is so easy that for a regular person, his mere presence is dangerous.
• We Can Rule Together: Venom doesn't want to kill Peter, out of a genuine emotional attachment to him, and wants Peter to rejoin him so that they can "heal the world" together. He seems to extend this to some extent to Miles, as seen when Miles first connected to the Hive Mind - it's filled with nothing but Venom's 'nurturing' voice telling him to give in to the symbiotes.
  Venom: We are healed. Finally free. We can give that gift to everyone. But we need you with us, Pete. Heal the world ... together.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Due to bonding perfectly with Harry, Venom is implied to inherit some of Harry's desire for Norman's approval and to be seen by his dad as something more than a sickly child. When they go to retrieve the meteorite, Venom is visibly upset and angered with Norman's unhappiness about his bonding with Harry; he feels like he made Harry into everything Norman wanted in a son and yet Norman still doesn't appreciate it.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: While the heroes are for the most part unwilling to kill in cold blood, they're perfectly willing to destroy the symbiote without a shred of guilt and Peter in particular often refers to it as a "thing". Venom calls this out and loses it whenever he isn't addressed as a fellow person. It's admittedly justified, as Venom is so obscenely dangerous there's no other way to deal with him.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: His only proposed solutions to any and all problems are either extreme violence or fulfilling his instinctional drive to terraform Earth for the symbiotes, and he will influence his hosts into either options and little else.
• Window Love: When Norman, on the verge of an emotional breakdown, places his hand to the glass of Harry's healing tank, the symbiote covering Harry reaches out to the glass to seemingly return the gesture. Norman seems completely unaware.
• With Friends Like These...: Venom refers to Miles and Mary Jane as its friends, yet it has no compunction about trying to kill them.
• Worthy Opponent: After spending most of the game searching, Kraven finally finds his ultimate prey in Venom, seeing the symbiote's monstrous power as the glorious death he craves, a death he thanks Venom for when the monster finishes him. The feeling isn't mutual; Venom dismisses Kraven as "just a little man" and doesn't give him a moment's thought after ending his life.
• Yandere: As per the course, the symbiote has a creepy fixation on Peter, attempting to bond with him even before Harry gave him the symbiote, and once it actually gets on him, Peter's unable to give it back. It then begins to twist Peter's mind and corrupt him, and once Miles separates the two, Venom acts like a spurred and jealous ex-lover when battling the younger Spider-Man at the end.
  Venom: You took him away from us!
  Miles: 'Took him away'? What the hell are you talking about?!
  Venom: In the forest ... we remember what you did! You were jealous. That's why you pushed us apart!
• You're Just Jealous: Venom frequently accuses anyone who wants to separate him from his hosts of being jealous, and both Harry and Peter firmly believe so while bonded to it. It's implied to be the symbiote projecting his own jealousy that Peter has people in his life besides Venom.

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"We. Are. Venom."