#Since I have two puppets based on kaiju

[phoenix-manga]

Yuu No. 83 Birthday Vignette

"A party? For me...? Oh, how nice of you. Oh, but make sure Shin and Ghidorah don't fight over the cake, okay?" - Yuu No. 83

NRC School Newspaper A Birthday Interview with Yuu No. 83

Grimm: First off, henchman. I, the Great Grimm, would like to wish you a happy birthday!

Yuu No. 83: Thanks, Grimm.

Grimm: Now, onto the questions! Firstly, I would like to know how you found something like Shin and Ghidorah, and why do they look so weird?

Yuu No. 83: Ah... They're a special kind of organism. Something ancient, yet new. Like an endangered species, yeah? Doesn't this world have all sorts of magical beasts?

Grimm: Is that so? Sounds fishy...

Yuu No. 83: *nervous chuckle* I'm sure you're much more iconic than any magical best, Grimm.

Grimm: Fufu~! Yeah, I am! Not even a dragon can be more popular than the Great Grimm!

Yuu No. 83: But Shin beats you in being the cutest *smirk*

Grimm: Wha-! Hey! I'm much cuter than that chihuahua thing anyday! You just have a bad eye for cuteness...

===

Grimm: Next, what is up with your name, Yuu? And why is your last name 83? It sounds very weird to have a number for a last name...

Yuu No. 83: Oh, you probably didn't know...

But "Yuu" is the nickname everyone in NRC decided to give me because they couldn't remember my number ID.

Grimm: How hard could it be to remember 83?

Yuu No. 83: It's actually 083-116...

Grimm: Funya!? That's it?! No real name or anything!?

Yuu No. 83: Let's just say... I grew up somewhere militaristic. There were a lot of "kids" in that facility- I mean, "boarding house".

They couldn't give all of us names so they used numbers to be more orderly... But I do agree that it seems out of place.

Grimm: How many were you all living in that place?

Yuu No. 83: Umm... about a thousand.

Grimm: Aren't you cramped in there?!

Yuu No. 83: It was a really big "boarding house", okay? So, can we drop the subject and move onto the next question... please.

===

Grimm: What's your favorite food?

Yuu No. 83: Noodles! I love the broth, the toppings and I love the variety. I am a huge fan of beef noodles!

It's so good to eat on a cold day or when you get sick.

Grimm: Noodles aren't that full of meat though, if it were me, I would want a big juicy steak!

Wait... now that I think about it what do Shin and Ghidorah eat?

Yuu No. 83: Well... Shin eats mostly anything, sweets, meat, and fruits. But he likes raw meat the most. It's quite hard to stock up, especially when I'm not that good at hunting...

And I don't want to impose on Rook even if he was offering to help.

As for Ghidorah... he eats minerals. He doesn't eat anything else other than that. I tried but they all end up being thrown away... or at me. *scowls at Ghidorah*

Grimm: I can understand, rocks taste good too if you pick the right ones!

Yuu No. 83: ...

===

Grimm: By the way... what's with that pink little box that you always carry in your pocket?

Yuu No. 83: It's my taser.

Grimm: What's it for?

Yuu No. 83: It's for self defense. Just a press of the button and... ZAP! They get stunned long enough for me to counterattack or run away. Useful, isn't it?

Grimm: You must be paranoid or something... Do you really need something that severe?

Yuu No. 83: This thing is the only thing keeping us away from being squeezed by Floyd.

Grimm: Good point...

===

Grimm: Look at all the gifts! Which ones do you like best, Yuu?

Yuu No. 83: Professor Crewel gave me these custom harnesses to carry Shin and Ghidorah around. It doesn't lessen the weight, but at least I have both my hands unoccupied!

Though, Shin is the only one I bring around campus. Ghidorah is too heavy to carry on my side. I have to hold him in the front.

His weight makes my back sore...

Grimm: He is bigger than Shin.

Yuu No. 83: Then Vil gave me this ring that was modeld after his crown. I don't wear much jewelry, but I like the simple yet elegant design of the ring.

Grimm: I bet it's worth a lot of madols!

Yuu No. 83: It probably is... And I feel so scared to acidentally scratch it.

Grimm: What's this one?

Yuu No. 83: Oh, that's the last of my favorites. Deuce actually took me to a place where we can spin gacha machines.

I spent a good chunk of my savings to get a bunch of cute and tiny figurines, hehe!

Grimm: You seem oddly fixated on those things. You don't even use them for anything.

Yuu No. 83: Hey, it's just a hoard, okay? I don't judge you for stuffing mountains of tuna cans under the bed.

Grimm: Urk! Anyway... happy birthday once again, Yuu. This concludes the interview from yours truly, the Great Grimm!

[mx-julien]

glacier hcs with meta based on canon s11 bc this season had so many ideas stuffed into it i have to expand (at the end an AU idea wrestled its way in so uh whoops?)

first of all, y'all, Zane's put in mortal danger twice in this season and the first time he's a smug bastard about it and the second time he goes full death metal so the vibes are aspirational, honestly

Cole doing a paper puppet show in the Never-Realm for the kiddies so they'd know about Zane's sacrifice and then defending it when Nya (understandably) asked if it was too mature; obviously the dialogue Cole says is edited and paraphrased from the actual moment, but let's look at what he edits, why don't we?

gives all the ninja heroic dialogue "Put down the staff and surrender, Aspheera. Your days of evil are over." for Zane and "What did you do to my friend?" for Nya

completely skips over everyone else having a reaction as if after he realized what was going on, nothing else happened until they found out what Aspheera had really done, which we know isn't true and says a lot about his perception of the event (Zane's gone, Nya says something, he realizes what happens, then he's numb until they find out they can get him back)

meta-wise, this is a recap of the season for viewers who haven't seen earlier episodes. there are four other ninja that could've done this, however, with Jay being the likeliest out of all of them since he's usually billed as being funnier than Cole; Kai also being a contender because he usually likes telling their stories to other people. so what other reason would overpower those two? probably that, out of the five of them, Cole's the one who's closest to Zane and thus acts a bit seemingly ooc now that he's gone.

Cole constantly keeping himself busy/making himself useful after Zane's gone by holding onto the traveller's tea, building the village new weapons, with the paper puppet show, finding more traveller's tea, and making friends with Krag

this is, of course, a way to grieve and process tragedy, but let's look at the meta, too, why don't we?

overwhelmingly, he likes being with other people during missions and will immediately be paired with another character if he's alone for too long [ref: we're ignoring episode 1 of rebooted b/c the only reason Cole's not with the others is that Bad Love Triangle that we will continue to ignore in this house; befriending Karlof in the tournament so he's not alone in the prison; taking care of a baby when Zane runs off in SoG; making friends with Krag in s11 when Zane's not there; befriending the Geckles and Munce in the work camps (yes i know that's a later season but this is the reference section so sue me)]

whenever Zane's gone, they immediately have to pair him with someone else. this has happened in two different seasons: in SoG they put him with baby Wu and in rebooted they pitted him against Jay

Pix is doing perfectly fine during this season, save for the one nightmare scene, she's perfectly able to adjust [ref: The Absolute Worst, The Kaiju Protocol]. i mean, she's practically fine without their relationship whereas Mr. Brookstone (or Hence, whatever you hc) is going through the five stages of grief right here except he hasn't yet got past the denial one. although they absolutely didn't mean for it to be, it's very much the trope of the lover who's lost after their partner dies.

Zane's poster for march of the oni says that he'll "leave his love behind" and literally nothing happens to Pix but Cole practically dies? was that a weird merch issue or was that intentional? we'll probably never know but it is great meta (that a ton of other people pointed out and it's not even s11 but i just want to mention because come on)

since they play the same video game [ref: Wasted True Potential] and clearly it at least somewhat matters to Zane (otherwise why would Jay bust into his room and wake him up, yes he's dramatic but if Zane was that indifferent he probably wouldn't've done it) so please do imagine the two of them curled up on a couch together and shoving and pushing each other to throw the other off his game. absolutely think about how Zane had the most recent high score and the smug look that bastard probably gave Cole when he scored it. just. glacier competing at video games. a real dose of I Can't Believe It's Not An AU!

another s11 take: Baby Wu and why he should've stayed a baby

i'm definitely writing more on that Pro Gamer Ninjago AU and you can't stop me

[virovac]

Kaiju stats rewrite: Viras

Evil Space Alien Fusion

Notable Diet: Carnivorous

Height: 80 meters

Weight: 36,000 metric tons

Film Appearances: Destroy all Planets

Powers:

Arms - Viras is equipped with six powerful suction-cup covered arms which can wrap around and bind his foes. Each tentacle is also tipped with a toothless gaping mouth which he can grab small prey

Strength: whether due to some gravity manipulation power or raw muscle, Viras can support his weight and stand tall with only two or three tentacle and throw a foe 2/3rds his weight a good distance 

Swimming: Viras has been known to retreat to the water to avoid flames, and is capable of propelling themselves with their tentacles. AQUATIC KAIJU do not gain their AQUATIC Cover Bonuses against Viras, and must take the "Underwater" cover bonus instead. Viras may themselves also take the  Water-based  cover bonus if it is preferential to the normal cover bonus

Head projections - The strange spiky crown on Viras’ head can close, forming a sharp, deadly spear point. They are also somewhat prehensile and can wrap around objects or wedge in crevices to make it harder to move Viras while Viras attacks with his tentacles

Leaping - Viras is able to leap great distances, out-maneuvering and confusing his foes. Viras gains a BONUS of +10 to his DPN.

Corpse possession: Viras's race have the ability to enter and puppet the corpses of life forms close in size. How long this process takes is unknown.

Telepathy: Viras's species is capable of telepathic communication

Weaknesses: Viras has displayed a vulnerability to extreme COLD. If Viras is fighting a kaiju with a COLD or ICE-BASED ATTACK, roll the d100 after each successful HIT he receives. If the result is 1-20, Viras is dealt an EXTRA WOUND [for which there is no defense roll]

Personal Primal Number: - 68 - Impale - The devious cunning of Viras enables him to maneuver his foe into a position where the alien can impale him with his spear-point head. This deals ONE WOUND and will continue to deal ANOTHER each successive round with no Defense Roll possible. The only way the enemy kaiju can escape from Viras is to defeat him before being killed. After impaling his foe, Viras may NOT make make any Defense Rolls, nor may they make attack rolls against the foe they are impaling. However, Viras may attack other tagets than his impalement victim at half his OPN.

Special Rules: 

Alien Mind Control - BEFORE THE BATTLE BEGINS, roll a d100. On a roll of 1-20, a star ship from Viras’ home world has accompanied him. The ship may attempt to seize control of the enemy kaiju’s mind by attacking with a Power Number of 40 which may be dodged with a successful Defense Roll. If the ship seizes control of the enemy’s mind, the kaiju can make NO Attack or Defense Rolls on its next turn. Viras’ enemy can try to destroy the alien ship by making a Focus Roll between Viras and the star ship. The ship is destroyed if it suffers ONE HIT. It is too slow-moving in Earth's atmosphere to make a Defense Roll.

Disguise- If the foe Viras defeated in their IMMEDIATELY PREVIOUS match was not explicitly destroyed in a way that doesn't leave a body, Viras may use the corpse to DISGUISE themselves as their past opponent if that past foe would not be targeted by a Pre-battle attack due to their alignment or classification. Viras's telepathy will prevent friendly fire even with this disguise.

---

After rewriting Vira's stats, I now consider them the creepiest Showa era Gamera kaiju.

Can you believe the old version didn’t give Viras the ability to swim?

Viras never eats people in the film but since all sources state those are mouth and say. Since this isn’t an offensive power I don’t feel wrong adding it so he can chow down on dinosaurs in the Cretaceous battlefield.

[tyrantisterror]

A.T.O.M. Stop Motion Puppets: Metringar and Tyloton

The color schemes of these two came out really nice, and it’s fun to see Metringar in particular since it’s based on a design I made for the Loch Ness  Monster when I was ten - which makes Metringar one of the oldest kaiju in ATOM, in a way.

Just five more retrosaurs to go and I’ll have a model of every kaiju in the upcoming first volume of A.T.O.M.!

[dweemeister]

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964, Japan)

Godzilla’s introduction in 1954 enthralled and horrified Japanese moviegoers. That classic kaiju film, so filled with action and fantastical interest, introduced the Japanese to a monster also bearing the burdens of being a victim to something possible only in the nuclear age. Godzilla’s body is filled with keloid scars, meant to evoke the images of those who survived (if only for a time) the atomic blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Created in humanity’s pursuit of a civilization-destroying weapon, Godzilla is often interpreted as nature seeking payback against humanity. Despite Godzilla’s seeming desire for natural vengeance, Japanese audiences could empathize with Godzilla, recognizing the allegory that they had been living since 1945.

In the first four films in the Godzilla franchise and the Shôwa era of Godzilla (named after the concurrent Japanese Imperial era of Hirohito’s reign), Godzilla is an antagonist – wreaking havoc upon humanity, even when fighting other kaiju foes such as Anguirus (1955′s Godzilla Raids Again), King Kong (1962′s King Kong vs. Godzilla), and Mothra (1964′s Mothra vs. Godzilla). For Ishirô Honda’s Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla begins a rehabilitation of his image that will take three subsequent films to complete. When faced with an extraterrestrial threat to the planet, Godzilla will set aside his affray with Rodan (after both are persuaded by Mothra) to defeat King Ghidorah – who makes his cinematic debut with this film.

Princess Selina Salno (Akiko Wakabayashi) of Selgina is en route for an official visit to Japan in the midst of a winter heatwave. Just as her plane is destroyed by an assassin’s bomb, an enormous meteor impacts into the Japanese countryside near Kurobe Dam in Toyama Prefecture – considering that this same dam was destroyed by Mothra in 1961′s Mothra, all credit to the construction workers for their work in fixing the dam that quickly. Soon after, Princess Selina announces herself in the middle of a Tokyo crowd, news of her death greatly exaggerated. Claiming to be from Venus, she warns the public that Rodan – presumed dead at the end of his film debut in 1956 – will rise from Mt. Aso and that Godzilla, who has just battled Mothra in the previous movie, will destroy a ship. Away from the ears of the public, the gaze of assassins, and known only by bodyguard Detective Shindo (Yosuke Natsuki) and psychiatrist Dr. Tsukamoto (Takashi Shimura in his final Godzilla film appearance), she reveals a third prophecy. The final prophecy is prefaced by the fact that Selina’s Venusian civilization was destroyed by a three-headed dragon named King Ghidorah. She prophesies that he will attempt to destroy the Earth. Ghidorah, hailing from beyond our solar system, is the creature that emerges from the impacted meteor.

The evolving Godzilla franchise from Toho Company would soon face budget constraints and the artistic decision to make Toho’s most prized kaiju more family-friendly. Japan’s demographics in the late 1950s and early ‘60s skewed far younger than today – a time where the nation is now shrinking because of its rapidly aging population and low fertility rates. These considerations impact Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster narratively and aesthetically. Beginning with this film, Godzilla’s rampaging presence is a side effect to his ultimate defense of Japan, not an attempt to annihilate the Japanese. Nuclear allegories though mentionable to children, are likely to be beyond a child’s appreciation (in the neutral sense of the term). Thus, discussions of Godzilla’s origins and the morality of conflict against kaiju all but disappear in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. 

In earlier Godzilla films, the combat between monsters or between Godzilla and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (JSDF; which does not bother getting in the way of Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, and Ghidorah in this monstrous rumble) was portrayed as a battle between or against a titan. One can feel the weight of these enormous, lumbering (“lumbering” does not usually apply to flying beings, so Mothra should be excluded) kaiju trudging against the urban battlefields scorched by electric and nuclear fire. With Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Honda and kaiju actors Haruo Nakajima (Godzilla), Masanori Shinohara (Rodan), and Shoichi Hirose (King Ghidorah) approach violence as if it was professional wrestling – not the Greco-Roman or freestyle wrestling associated with the Olympics. There is even a ludicrous moment where Godzilla and Rodan are batting an enormous boulder between each other with the former’s fists and tail and the latter’s wings. All that is missing in this scene are a net and a chair umpire announcing the score. A new Godzilla suit was commissioned for this film, giving Nakajima the ability to more fully personalize his character through gestures and an off-camera technician to control the direction of Godzilla’s eyes in the sockets.

These results are jarring, contributing to the perceptions of the franchise’s campiness in later Shôwa era-Godzilla films. In the West until only recently, these Godzilla films were only available in dubbed versions – readers who are anime fans know how poor some of those English dubs of Japanese media can be. These films, at least in North America, were also extensively re-edited to emphasize the increasingly cartoonish battles between and against the kaiju. With thanks to Janus Films and the Criterion Collection, the original, unedited, subtitled versions of Shôwa era-Toho Company kaiju films are easily accessible for the first time. This review is based on the original unedited and subtitled version of Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. Beware the dubbed version of this film, which runs eighty minutes (as opposed to the original’s ninety-two minutes). But even with the restoration of all of the scenes with those supposedly boring grown-ups talking about tiresome things, the tonal dissonance between the human- and kaiju-centric scenes combined with the combat choreography is bewildering.

Debuting in Japan as San daikaijû: Chikyû saidai no kessen (translated literally as: “Three giant monsters: Earth’s greatest battle”), this is a film underselling – at least, in its title – the genius of the antagonist. Special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya (a co-creator of Godzilla) visualizes a serpentine dragon with, you guessed it, three heads. But to complicate things, Ghidorah also has two tails and wings – seven appendages in total. To keep all seven in motion as Ghidorah flies across screen, Honda and Tsuburaya utilized several wires (somehow, almost none of them are ever on-screen) and a handful of puppeteers to keep Ghidorah in realistic animation, even when he – screeching at Godzilla and Rodan – has his feet planted on the ground. Unlike Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla and Masanori Shinohara as Rodan, Shoichi Hirose cannot use his arms as Ghidorah. So where his fellow kaiju actor counterparts could keep their balance by maneuvering their arms, Hirose is left with no option other than to position his feet correctly and hope for the best. Future iterations of Ghidorah would look even more impressive than this first attempt. With this striking introduction into the Godzilla series (with a lower-string-heavy motif by longtime Godzilla composer Akira Ifukube... starting at 0:49 in the provided link), Ghidorah’s emergence begins the greatest rivalry in kaiju cinema.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, for unknown reasons, was never released theatrically in many European countries. That makes it, outside of Japan and North America, one of the lesser-known films in the Toho Studios’ kaiju canon. The film is also, in addition to Mothra vs. Godzilla, the inauguration of – dare we say it – one of the earliest cinematic universes (and certainly one of the most sprawling). How the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is acclaimed for being so narratively innovative escapes me, especially given the financial and logistical realities of studio filmmaking in 1950s/1960s Japan and the 2010s in the United States. Even when fighting against the ill-informed wishes of producers and executives, the directorial vision is almost always apparent in these Godzilla films, including Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. The same cannot be written for numerous other cinematic universes and their respective films.

In the halls of Toho throughout the 1960s and into the ‘70s, one of Godzilla’s creators was becoming unsettled by the requests of the company’s executives. As the director who brought Godzilla to being, Ishirô Honda insisted that Godzilla be seen as a figure warning against the folly of nuclear war. The increasing demands to make Godzilla a character engage in human-like behaviors and have identifiable human emotions fit perfectly with what some social critics saw as the infantilization of Japanese audiences because of the arrival of popular Japanese television. Honda – who essentially created the kaiju film, the monster film, and the disaster film – is an underappreciated figure in cinema whose legacy is undergoing a rapid reevaluation because of the fact that the Shôwa era kaiju films (in their original unedited and subtitled forms) are being made widely available outside Japan for the first time.

Nevertheless, after Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, the pendulum would swing exactly the way Honda never wanted to witness. Honda would not live to see it, but I think he would have appreciated the fact that the pendulum has swung back.

My rating: 6.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

[aion-rsa]

When Spider-Man Becomes Venom

https://ift.tt/39Uw3LD

If being Venom was like being in the Beatles, then Peter Parker would be Pete Best. His stretch of time in the late-80s wearing his living, black costume is a staple of his history. Before it turned Eddie Brock into a box office giant, the symbiote made for a badass variant look for Spider-Man that still holds up to this day. It’s the ultimate story of how we can lose ourselves to power, even if a loved one beat you over the head with lessons about responsibility.

Over the years, Spider-Man did rejoin with the symbiote a few times, usually in the name of heroism. In Venomized, a Venom symbiote from another reality bonded to him for a little while. At the end of Dan Slott’s lengthy Amazing Spider-Man run, Eddie Brock let Spidey borrow the symbiote so he could fight the Red Goblin (Norman Osborn as Carnage). These days, Parker and his former tights at least have an understanding.

This April, the team of Chip Zdarsky and Pasqual Ferry will be doing a four-issue take on Marvel’s What If? by giving us Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow. The idea? Spider-Man not only never gets rid of his hungry ooze pants, but he embraces his hungry ooze pants!

Yes, we see Peter Parker intentionally bond with what would have been known as the Venom symbiote and keep on keeping on with the crime-fighting. What happens when such a pure-hearted hero goes all-in on wearing clothes that constantly tell him to bite people’s faces off? Guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Then again, Peter holding onto the symbiote is an idea that’s been visited time and time again. Not only has it popped up in issues of What If?, but also in other forms of Marvel media.

WHAT IF THE ALIEN COSTUME HAD POSSESSED SPIDER-MAN?

In the fourth issue of What If?’s second volume, Danny Fingeroth and Mark Bagley jumped onto the then-recent introduction of Venom by doing an issue about what would have happened had Peter Parker taken too long to figure out what the deal was with his black costume. He couldn’t get in touch with the Fantastic Four, so he instead met up with Dr. Connors, which was a fruitless venture. By the time Reed Richards was able to investigate, the symbiote was already bonded to Spider-Man and wouldn’t be removed so easily.

Puppeting Parker’s body, the symbiote escaped captivity and hid in the city for several days. Spider-Man eventually came across a rampaging Hulk, which convinced the symbiote to leave Spider-Man for this upgrade of a host. Abandoned, Peter Parker appeared as an old man due to how much the creature sucked him dry. Using his final hours to design a sonic gun that could destroy the symbiote, Peter’s body finally gave out.

The symbiote eventually left Hulk for Thor. Interestingly enough, Banner was left cured of being the Hulk while the symbiote claimed what happened to Parker was a mistake. Whether it was telling the truth or not, it still took over Thor’s body and tried to hide out in Mount Rushmore. Luckily, Reed Richards had Black Bolt’s epic voice on speed dial and that took care of that.

Well, except for Black Cat getting the kill shot thanks to that aforementioned sonic gun.

SECRET WARS: 25 YEARS LATER

The final issue of the second volume of What If? took a look back at the original Secret Wars event and wondered what would happen had the heroes and villains been stuck on Battleworld for a generation. This Jay Faerber/Gregg Schigiel collaboration had Galactus and the Beyonder kill each other, meaning that all the survivors were stranded. Much had happened in those 25 years, but for the most part, the heroes and villains put their differences aside. Sure, there was something in there about Dr. Doom shacking up with the Enchantress, only for her to leave him for Thor and Doom killing her because of it, but otherwise you had the Wrecking Crew chilling out with Hawkeye and She-Hulk like old friends.

The stars of the one-shot were the offsprings, like the daughter of Captain America and Rogue or the son of Human Torch and Wasp. Spider-Man only had a couple moments, but they were incredibly interesting. He seemed colder to everyone and there was a curious debate over whether anyone had seen him eat anything.

During the climactic battle, Klaw blasted Spider-Man with some sonics. The symbiote pulled away to reveal nothing underneath but Peter Parker’s skeleton. This turned out to be far from a surprise to the heroes as Human Torch saved him and moved on without a second thought.

THE ANIMATED SERIES FINALE

Straying away from the Venom symbiote, there was a time in the comics where Ben Reilly – back when he took over being Spider-Man – was the host to the Carnage symbiote for a few hours. Nothing really happened with it, but he looked rad as hell and it made for a cool cover image.

The 90s Spider-Man cartoon ended the series by doing its own prototype version of Into the Spider-Verse. The final two-parter took place in “I Really, Really Hate Clones” and “Farewell, Spider-Man.”

In an alternate reality, a version of the Clone Saga storyline happened, only in this one, Peter was more of an asshole to Ben Reilly instead of treating him like a brother. When Peter found out that he was possibly the clone, he got extra pissed about it right around the time when the Carnage symbiote was nearby. He became Spider-Carnage and created a plan to destroy the multiverse.

A team of Spider-Men from different realities came together to stop him. After visiting a world where Spider-Man wore armor and was successful and happy in every way, the cartoon’s main Spider-Man realized that Uncle Ben was probably alive in that universe. That Uncle Ben confronted Spider-Carnage and got through to him. Although the man within wasn’t strong enough to expel the symbiote, he was able to sabotage his own multiverse-destroying plans via sacrificing his own life, all the while begging for forgiveness for all the horrors he committed.

WHAT IF? THE OTHER

Peter David and Khoi Pham did a one-shot where the Venom symbiote returned to Peter at the absolute worst time. The Other was as storyline where Spider-Man seemingly died, but survived in a cocooned form. After getting in touch with his inner spider, he was reborn with more primal abilities that unfortunately didn’t last too long. This alternate version had Spider-Man refuse the rebirth. Everyone already mourned him and he didn’t want to have that happen all over again. He remained in his cocoon, choosing to let nature take its course over time.

Read more

Comics

We Are Venom: The Many Characters Who Wore the Symbiote

By Gavin Jasper

Comics

Venom: Riot and the Life Foundation Symbiotes Explained

By Gavin Jasper

At that time, Mac Gargan was Venom’s host and the symbiote could sense Spider-Man’s situation. Knowing Peter was ripe for the picking, the symbiote left Gargan and consumed the husk of Peter Parker. With the symbiote in full control, he was neither Spider-Man nor Venom. He was Poison.

Poison confronted Mary Jane and Aunt May, but realized they wanted nothing to do with him. Poison instead left and spawned a new symbiote child in order to bond with and reanimate the corpse of Gwen Stacy.

Yeah, lot of laughs going on in that story. Sheesh.

WHAT IF? AGE OF APOCALYPSE

Age of Apocalypse was already a bizarre alternate universe. Rick Remender and Dave Wilkins made it even more batshit insane by having Legion accidentally kill both Xavier and Magneto. In this reality, Nate Summers joined with a superhero resistance team to take out Apocalypse and there’s all sorts of crazy stuff going on.

At one point, the team came across a nest of Peter Parker clones engulfed in a giant black web of symbiote. A horrified Captain America (wielding Mjolnir) had them destroy all the brainless Spider-Man clones before moving on to the next big challenge.

WEB OF SHADOWS

Back in 2008, Activision decided to go all in on the whole symbiote thing by making a Spider-Man video game based entirely around a symbiote invasion and symbiote-possessed versions of different heroes and villains. A fight with Venom led to Spider-Man getting some of the goop onto himself, allowing him the option to become Symbiote Spider-Man. Venom’s symbiote started expanding and latching onto hundreds of other New Yorkers, overwhelming the city with chaos.

After teaming up with and/or fighting lots of Marvel characters, Spider-Man took on a kaiju version of Venom and convinced Eddie Brock to fights its influence. Depending on factors, Venom would either die from heroic sacrifice or Spider-Man’s hands.

There are various endings based both on how much time you’ve used the symbiote and how much of an overall dick you’ve been. Too much of the black costume could at best cause Mary Jane to break up with you. At worst, it could cause you to conquer New York as leader of the symbiotes.

VENOMVERSE

Since Marvel did the Spider-Verse comic event, Cullen Bunn and Iban Coello did a natural knockoff of sorts called Venomverse. While it had no real connection to the Spider-Man story, the gist was similar: various Venom hosts from the multiverse had to team up to face a threat that was hunting them down.

The mainstream Venom was the only Eddie Brock host involved as the rest of the crew included the likes of Mary Jane, Captain America, Dr. Strange, Rocket Raccoon, Deadpool, Gwenpool, and so on. There was also a Spider-Man in there and while they didn’t go too far into his background, he was the only one who seemed to recognize Eddie and harbored unexplained resentment.

The threat came in the form of Poisons. These tiny, white creatures on their own didn’t seem to be much of a threat, but when one would make physical contact with a symbiote and its host, it would engulf them and completely take over. The Poison, the symbiote, and the host would turn into some kind of white, armored creature permanently.

Spider-Man was one of those to fall victim to the Poisons. This led to a rather cathartic fight to the death between Venom and Poison Spider-Man that Venom won.

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Now, you might be saying, “Didn’t you JUST talk about a story where Spider-Man was a symbiote monster called Poison already? Isn’t this confusing?” Yes. Yes it is. So confusing that when they released a Marvel Legends figure for Poison Spider-Man from Venomverse, the profile information on the back of the box described the story from What If? The Other instead. Whoops!

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