Venom (Flash Thompson) Appreciation

[AgentVenom]

venom1.jpg

With Agent Venom officially joining the Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend for Free Comic Book Day, I wanted to have a place for people to come geek out about him with me.

Ok, maybe I just wanted to have a place to geek out about Venom, but everyone else is welcome, too!

[side note, this is the first thread I've ever created. Please be patient with me.]

[AgentVenom]

For anyone who needs to catch up, here’s a little background on Agent Venom… [warning spoilers follow]

Eugene “Flash” Thompson was a high school tormentor of Peter Parker, but a huge fan of Spider-man. Over time, Flash and Peter become friends and, eventually, Flash enlists in the Army before losing both his legs below the knee in Iraq while saving his Commanding Officer.

In time, the Venom symbiote came into the possession of the US government’s Department of Homeland Security. Under the auspices of DHS, Project Rebirth 2.0 used the chemically-subdued Venom symbiote to create a super-soldier and, after an initial failure, Flash is recruited to the program. To avoid permanent bonding, Agent Venom is allowed to engage with the symbiote for no more than 48 hrs at a time and is limited to 20 missions before a new host will be recruited. Due to events in the Spider-Island event, Captain America comes to learn of Project Rebirth 2.0, decides the Venom symbiote is too dangerous, and shuts down Project Rebirth 2.0 but not before Flash, who is being blackmailed by The Crime Master goes AWOL with the symbiote. Causing Captain America to send Red Hulk after Flash, who is headed to Las Vegas.

While in Las Vegas, Agent Venom gets drawn into the events of the Circle of Four story arc with Red Hulk, X-23, and Ghost Rider. Flash acquits himself heroically enough in the Circle of Four arc that Captain America offers Agent Venom a place on the Secret Avengers team. It is with the Secret Avengers that Venom helps to end the threat from The Descendants, the major story arc closing out that book.

When not on mission for the Secret Avengers, Flash was dealing with The Crime Master’s extortion, which culminates in the Savage Six story arc. At the end of the Savage Six arc, Flash admits to the Avengers that he got out of hand with The Crime Master and asks for their help in maintaining his control over the symbiote.

Flash returns to New York for the Monsters of Evil story arc where he becomes possessed by a reluctant demon and learns he bears a Hellmark from his interaction with Mephisto in the Circle of Four arc.

Following the conclusion of Monsters of Evil, Flash is sent on assignment to hunt down Carnage, who has recently escaped from prison. Reluctantly, Agent Venom and Scarlet Spider (Kaine) must team-up and track Carnage through the Microverse in the Minimum Carnage cross-over event. It is in the Microverse that Agent Venom meets a former member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Bug.

Agent Venom then tussles with the U-Foes in Philadelphia, but apparently likes the city enough that he decides to move their permanently, taking a job as a PE teacher in a Philly high school. It is here that he first meets his neighbor and student Andrea “Andi” Benton. Flash also must face-off against Toxin (Eddie Brock), who has come to town looking to kill Venom. However, when the two call an uneasy truce to fight the Symbiote Slayers and Eddie Brock leaves town, promising that the moment Flash can no longer control Venom, Eddie will be there to kill them both (what Brock doesn’t know is that he’ll have to stand in line behind everyone else who has already made the same promise).

As Venom works to clean up the streets of Philly, he stumbles onto the meth-cooking operation of Lord Ogre (at least, what Flash believes to be just a meth operation). It is about this time that Andi figures out Flash is secretly Venom. Lord Ogre puts a hit on Venom and, unfortunately, Jack o’ Lantern, Agent Venom’s main nemesis – who knows Flash is Venom – answers the calling. Jack strikes at Venom through Flash’s neighbors, killing Andi’s fathers before attempting to kill Andi with a poison gas. To protect Andi from the gas, Flash attempts to wrap a piece of his symbiote around her. However, Venom had absorbed its clone in an earlier story arc and took this opportunity to shed the absorbed clone and Hellmark onto Andi. Hence, Mania is born.

As Flash tries to figure out how his symbiote spawned another, how Andi and Mania are bonding so quickly, and how to keep Andi from losing herself to the bloodlust of Mania, the pair discover Crossbones is hunting Hellmarks in preparation for the The Descent. At the end of the Mania story arc, Flash commits himself to taking of Andi and helping her to control her symbiote-enabled powers. This, sadly, is where the Venom solo series ends.

However, while on assignment in Somalia, Agent Venom meets Red Hulk again who recruits Flash to the new Thunderbolts team, along with Deadpool, Elektra, and Punisher. Ross establishes a one-for-me, one-for-you policy in setting missions and the Thunderbolts set off for Kata Jaya and Madripoor to depose a despot Ross had put installed earlier in this intelligence career. The next mission, set by Punisher, takes the Thunderbolts to New York just in time to tie-in with the Infinity event and the detonation of the Terrigen Bomb.

Ross then sets the team the task of banishing the mysterious woman, Mercy, to Hell in order to keep the world safe from her. To do so, Venom notes the team will need mystical help and suggests he and Red Hulk recruit Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze). In a snafu with the spell meant to banish Mercy, the team find themselves banished to Hell instead (possibly due to the Hellmark Red Hulk still bears from the Circle of Four story). The Thunderbolts strike a deal with currently deposed Mephisto to return him to power in exchange for collecting Mercy and returning them to Earth. With this mission complete, Deadpool gives up his turn to set the mission (which hints at compelling Ryan Reynolds to make Deadpool film) at the request of Flash.

Flash tells the Thunderbolts that he intends to allow the symbiote to take full control, and asks them to kill it. At the end, the Thunderbolts separate Flash from the Venom, but Flash again accepts the symbiote before telling Ross he is leaving the Thunderbolts. Ross surmises Flash wanted the certitude of knowing that the Thunderbolts had the capacity to end Venom if Flash was ever unable to regain control of his symbiote.

Which, brings us to the present, with Venom set to join the Guardians of the Galaxy. We have gotten a peek into the future: in Guardians of the Galaxy #14 (the 100th issue celebration), we see Drax taking Venom on a shopping trip to get some more space-worthy weapons. We also learn that other species now a lot more about the symbiotes than Earthers do.

I cannot wait to see how Agent Venom fits in with the Guardians!

[cc008]

I know I'm in the minority and I don't even care. Agent Venom is my favorite Venom.

[sifighter]

I kind of like him. It's truly a weird combo that Flash, the guy who beat up Peter in High School, and the symbiote that tried to manipulate Peter and then came back and tried to kill him, came together to become a secret agent/Super hero. Remender and Bunn both did a great job on him.

I can't wait to see how he got into space and what he does as a future member of the GOTG, although it's weird to have a spiderman character out in the far reaches of Space.

[AgentVenom]

Since the symbiotes came from space originally, it makes sense to me that Venom would join the Guardians. Also, it's not the first we will have seen a symbiote in space - there was at least one in the War of Kings story line, if memory serves. This could be a really fun way to learn more about the Symbiote Homeworld.

[MindofShadow]

Agent Venom was one of the comics that got me back into comics hardcore. I loved Remender's issues and Bunn was above average as well.

Flash is one of the characters I follow around no matter what team he is on now. GoG should be interesting.

What do you guys think of his run with Ross's Thunderbolts?

[cc008]

What do you guys think of his run with Ross's Thunderbolts?

I liked him on the team. He kind of provided that morality that none of the other characters had. The sanest of the bunch, really. Some people will say because of that, he didn't fit. I thought his relationship with Deadpool was great and could have turned into a hysterical bromance if the writers wanted it to.

[Kieran_Frost]

I loved Remender's Agent Venom... no-one else has come close to being as good with him (sadly).

What do you guys think of his run with Ross's Thunderbolts?

He was okay; my favourite of the team BUT not given much to do. I DIDN'T like he killed to easily, and I felt he was a little too "un-complicated" in his emotions over the missions. Oh well...

[UltimateTy]

I know I'm in the minority and I don't even care. Agent Venom is my favorite Venom.

Same here. He's in my top 10 favorite Marvel characters.

I'm waiting for the next ongoing Marvel

[CartooN]

I know I'm in the minority and I don't even care. Agent Venom is my favorite Venom.

He is by far the best IMO. Eddie was cool and an interesting character but over the years he's been passed from writer to writer, becoming more and more convoluted. There are morally grey/psychotic characters and then there's "we don't know what we're doing with this guy anymore", saddly Eddie has become the latter.

Mac for me was all wrong for the symbiote. In past hosts, they've been characters that are pushed to their limits, trying to be good despite what's happening to them, then venom comes along and blows all that apart. Mac had none of this walking the moral line, trying to keep control stuff going on. He was bad... then he was badder, how dull.

But Flash is back to form, without all the mess and confusion that's been left with Eddie. He's already struggling with his life and family, trying to do the right thing. Just when he thinks he's got it together, venom appears in his life and changes it all. The emotional, character driven stories are always the best ones in marvel and Flash's run as agent venom has always had that.

[cc008]

Same here. He's in my top 10 favorite Marvel characters.

I'm waiting for the next ongoing Marvel

Me too. I'd for sure pick up the solo. Not sure how I feel about Guardians.

[sifighter]

I know I'm in the minority and I don't even care. Agent Venom is my favorite Venom.

I honestly believe that Flash Thompson becoming Agent Venom was the best thing possible for both of these characters. It turned the character of Venom back into a hero/anti-hero, while also moved Flash into more then just a background supporting cast member for Spider-man. So yeah, I agree with this statement, who knew that a character made to bully Spider-man would be a member of the Guardians of the galaxy, The Thunderbolts, and the Avengers.

[Daredevil is Legend]

He's cool. I like him

[Nix Uotan]

Agent Venom is the best take on the character. I like Eddie Brock Venom but there was some... limitations. Flash as Venom though has more potential especially with him being military.

[Jameszahra]

Like his look in gotg, I flipped through the pages, no shoulder pads. Heaps nicer.