Venom
(Eddie Brock)
Context
In 1984, Marvel Comics had a huge event, the Secret Wars – which likely saved the company. During these events, Spider-Man acquired a striking new black costume on an alien planet.
A subplot later emerged, revealing that it wasn’t quite a costume… but a living, sapient creature called a symbiote .
This storyline created a new kind of foes for Spider-Man – alien symbiotes. The original, black symbiote merged with another man and became Venom, a sort of inverted Spider-Man.
Venom became a major Spider-Man character, a terrifying enemy, and one of the big breakout 1990s characters for Marvel.
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History
Edward Brock is the son of businessman Carl Brock. Eddie’s mother died giving birth to him, a fact, which made his father a very bitter man. During most of his upbringing Eddie tried hard to gain the appreciation of his father. He tried to get this through high grades during his education and when this didn’t work he became an elite athlete.
Even this didn’t affect his father so Eddie decided to become an investigative reporter and thus after graduating began working at the Daily Globe, the rival of Daily Bugle.
After a time Brock was known as an outstanding reporter, uncovering obscure information where no one else could. As his reputation grew, Brock found it harder and harder to live up to it. Eventually he began fabricating small details, and then entire stories.
At the height of his career, still not appreciated by his father, he gained an exclusive story with the infamous serial killer Sin-Eater.
His source had been a fake and this was discovered by Peter Parker aka Spider-man, working for the Daily Bugle. The Bugle exposed the story, effectively embarrassing the Globe and ending Brock’s career as a newspaper reporter. This eventually led to Brock’s divorce with his wife Ann Weying.
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Some days earlier, a device of Doctor Doom’s had penetrated the Baxter Building, home of the Fantastic Four. The device released from captivity the alien costume that Spider-man had discovered in the first ’secret war‘. Spider-man had since abandoned the symbiote, as it was draining his vitality.
He had asked the Fantastic Four to keep it safe, as it was still after Spider-man and wished to rejoin with him.
Symbiote at large
The costume escaped and while hunting for Spider-man, found Brock in the church he was praying in and ready to commit suicide. It sensed Brock’s hatred of Parker, and bonded with him, hoping to gain vengeance on the man who had spurned it.
This gave Brock superhuman powers, with which the pair hunted down Spider-man (now knowing Parker’s dual identity) and nearly killed him. Since then the 2 of them have met several times and finally came to a truce according to which both promised to leave each other alone.
No longer having a true purpose Brock moved to his hometown of San Francisco. He now acts as it’s vigilante and protector of the innocent. In San Fran he has fought ordinary street thugs, evil corporations, the mercenary Mace, the Jury, Carnage and the new Sin-Eater.
He has also actually teamed up with Spider-man against 5 new symbiotes and with Morbius the living Vampire against some demons. All the while he’s trying to be accepted by the city’s homeless community and he seems to have found new purpose in his life.
Description
Edward Brock is a very big and muscular man. He has short-cut blond hair and blue eyes. He usually wears some relaxed clothing as jeans and a T-shirt, clothes which actually are his symbiote in disguise.
Eddie is a very intelligent and knowledgeable man, a fact which his opponents often tend to forget. Usually keeping quite a low profile he acts immediately when confronted with the police force or criminals.
In that instance he insta-changes costume and becomes the Venom. Venom is even bigger than Brock and has a very grim appearance. His body is solid black except big white spider motifs on the chest and his back. Venom also has a intimidating head with a big grin of rows of knife-sharp teeth.
Personality
As Venom, Eddie is grim, brutal and does not hesitate to kill an opponent. The symbiote tends to set the wearer of it into a frenzied, raging psychological mindset.
Venom is an effective and lethal fighting force capable of sensing danger, climbing walls, hyper-acrobatics, possessing super-strenght and super-endurance as well as complex maneuvring as forming appendages and ’netting‘ from his costume.
Eddie is smart, strong-willed, tough and if he sets his mind to it, deducing. Unfortunately he is also a tad psychotic. His former hatred of Spider-man is passing and Spider-man is now mostly something from his past which he tries to forget. His ex-wife is still very dear to him and he does anything he can to protect her if she is in any way threatened.
His new-found true purpose of protecting the innocent and weak is now very important to him and he will not evade from this purpose killing for it if necessary.
DC Universe History
Spider-man is very important in Venom’s origin and thus Venom’s appearance in the DC Universe should be connected to Spider-man also. Venom could be placed in San Francisco which doesn’t have too much superhuman activity as it’s vigilante.
Eddie Brock could of course have worked for a rival of the Daily Planet and should so far have run into some of DC’s costumed vigilantes as the Batman and perhaps Green Arrow.
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Venom
| Dex: 10/05 | Str: 10/06 | Bod: 09/06 | Motivation: Psychopath |
| Int: 06 | Wil: 06 | Min: 04 | Occupation: Ex-reporter, vigilante |
| Inf: 07 | Aur: 04 | Spi: 05 | Resources {or Wealth}: 004 |
| Init: 025/020 | HP: 070 |
Powers:
Chameleon: 04, Claws: 05, Cling: 09, Danger Sense: 04, Shade: 05, Invisibility: 06, Snare: 11, Jumping: 03, Omni-arm: 07, Regeneration: 06
Bonuses and Limitations:
- Danger sense power can dampen Spider-Man’s Danger sense power by its APs.
- Cling power is usable with Snare power.
- Invisibility is only usable while standing still.
- Snare power has a Serious Power Burnout.
Misc.:
All powers are derived from the symbiote Eddie is carrying and losing the symbiote all powers and the Serious Rage and Strange Appearance drawbacks are lost and his physical attributes becomes the second numbers. Losing the symbiote also attacks the wearer mentally with his own mental stats in Killing combat.
Skills:
Acrobatics: 07, Artist (writer): 03, Charisma (intimidation, interrogation): 06, Detective: 04, Thief (stealth): 05
Advantages:
Area knowledge (San Francisco), Insta-change, Lightning reflexes.
Connections:
Street (Low).
Drawbacks:
MIH (Spider-Man), Dependent(Ann Weying), Mistrust, Public identity, Serious Rage (as Venom only), Strange Appearance (as Venom only), Attack and loss vulnerability (Sound -2 CS OV/RV, affects all powers and physical attributes, range 0 APs), Attack and loss vulnerability (Fire -1 CS OV/RV, affects all physical attributes and powers, range 0 AP).
Design Notes
Write-up master Sébastien Andrivet sent a ’grand mannered protest‘ as to Eddie Brock’s normal STR.;) If you consider that most humans should not have a 06 STR, feel free to give Venom a 05 STR.
Helper(s): Paul “Z” Ewande, Sébastien Andrivet, Roy Cowan.
Source of Character: Spider-man comics (Marvel Universe).