Venom in the MC2

With the Venom movie in cinemas, I figured it would be the perfect time to shine a little light on the symbiotic Spider-Man foe within the MC2.

The symbiotic half of the villainous Venom makes their MC2 debut in Spider-Girl #5 wherein we learn it has been held in a S.H.I.E.L.D. Maximum Security Facility in Mount Athena, New York for over a decade. We also learn that Spider-Man was involved in the symbiote being separated from it's 'true' host Eddie Brock, who later died leaving it alone and hungry for revenge.

When the symbiote learns of the existence of Spider-Girl, it breaks out the plexisteel container and seeks out another of it's former hosts to re-bond and control: Peter Parker.

After being defeated by Spider-Girl with the help of Phil Urich's sonic abilities, the symbiote is returned to it's confinement at Mount Athena. It would not be seen again in the MC2 until Spider-Girl #82 when Fury, the Goblin Queen crashes  Normie Osborn and Brenda Drago's engagement party and bonds the symbiote to Normie as a 'wedding gift'.

Despite the Fantastic Five's efforts, Spider-Girl is the last one standing against Venom and Fury until the vigilante Darkdevil intervenes, only to end up with a hole through the chest for his troubles.

 
The story continues in Spider-Girl #83 where Spider-Girl seeks the aid of the Avengers to track down Venom. When Mayday becomes frustrated with the Avengers approach, she dons her old black suit and recruits her 'Uncle' Phil Urich aka the heroic Green Goblin to pursue Fury while she confronts Venom.

The story concludes in Spider-Girl #84 where May leads Venom to a large bakery. Wise to Spider-Girl's plan, the symbiote is only stopped when Normie resists the alien's influence. Just as May is seemingly absorbed by the symbiote, Normie and May's combined willpower overpower the creature.

Despite May's assertions they should hand the symbiote over to the Avengers or Fantastic Five, Normie convinces her to let him keep the creature in the belief he can now control it.

Over the next several issues, Normie and the symbiote are seen working on something in secret, suggesting Normie may be slipping back into his former villainous ways. I think the page convey the story far better than I could.

Eventually things become clear in Spider-Girl #93 when a crime is interrupted by a figure riding a Goblin Glider...

However, Normie's choices aren't without a downside, as now Normie and his fiancé Brenda (who was working off her debt to society by working for the FBI's Agent Weadon) will now be in legal trouble again.

Obviously, creating several new super-weapons for the Green Goblin and harbouring a fugitive alien symbiote leads to Normie being confronted by the Avengers in Spider-Girl #94 on Tony Stark's orders. Things go awry when Tony's 'bodyguard' (actually a cyborg James Rhodes, see here) goes haywire after being hit by a hex from the Scarlet Witch.

 Proving to be instrumental in ending Rhodes rampage, Normie declares he is turning himself over to his fiancé Brenda, who is herself a government agent (Spider-Girl #95).

In Spider-Girl #96 Normie meets with Agent Weadon and his team to offer his services and negation terms. We learn that Normie plans to trade his services in exchange for a full pardon for Brenda (Spider-Girl #97). Despite projecting confidence and demonstrating control over the symbiote to Weadon and his fiancé, Normie privately confides in his personal assistant (Kristy Watson) that he is relying on her to keep him in check and-should he lose control- contact Spider-Girl to destroy him.

Later while sparring with Kaine, Normie and the symbiote are alerted to the threat posed to Spider-Girl by the Brotherhood of Scriers and their agent, the original Hobgoblin. Soon after, Spider-Girl and Normie discover several allies brutally beaten; including fiancé Brenda Drago (Spider-Girl #98).

After frantically rushing Brenda and the others to the hospital, Normie heads out to help bring down the Hobgoblin (Spider-Girl #99).

The various threads of the ongoing plots in the series come together when Mayday is stabbed by a Scrier's poisoned blade and on the verge of death. Normie aids Kaine in driving off (and apparently killing some of) the Scriers before using the symbiote to heal May's wounds and absorb all the venom (Spider-Girl #100).

Still too weak to carry on alone and losing an internal struggle against her own demons, May is given new hope by Normie who offers the symbiote to her. Normie tells May he has banished the  'Venom' persona that corrupted the symbiote, returning it to it's original state. The symbiotic other will only feed off the emotions of it's host, whether for good or evil (Spider-Girl #100).

Strengthened by bonding with the symbiote, May heads off the find the Hobgoblin. As a parting gift, the symbiote 'cleansed' Normie, removing his scars and hateful tattoos (Spider-Girl #100).

 

May finds the Hobgoblin battling her father and intervenes to save him, only for the symbiote to be driven off by the Hobgoblin's sonic device. Instead of fleeing, the symbiote continues attacking the Hobgoblin in an attempt to save May and Peter. The symbiote dies in an act of self-sacrificial redemption, with May revealing the symbiote learned these values from Normie. We learn soon after that Normie felt his symbiotic 'other' die (Spider-Girl #100).

The symbiotes death spurs Mayday on to defeat the Hobgoblin in a one on one fight. Despite the symbiotes death, she would appear one last time in Amazing Spider-Girl #29. We learn that before his death Eddie Brock was hired by Norman Osborn. Osborn used cell samples from the symbiote to transform a cloned infant May into a hybrid which possessing both the alien's abilities and spider-powers. Norman planned to use the hybrid clone in an elaborate plan against Spider-Man. After Norman's unexpected death, this hybrid would lay dormant for years until awakened and eventually taking the name April Parker aka Mayhem. But that's a story for another time...

The Venom symbiote made a large impact on the MC2 Universe and had, in my opinion one of the best character arcs in the Spider-Girl series coupled and interwoven with Normie's own arc of redemption. Who'd have thought a black blobby creature from outer space could move you to tears?

Until I stop delving deep into gooey MC2 lore, I remain

frogoat

Hardy/Thompson Family Tree *Redux*

Now's as good a time as any to put out a new-ish family tree. This time we'll be revisiting and expanding on my previous entry to cover the Hardy's and Thompson's extended family. Both Felicia Hardy and Flash Thompson play significant roles in the Spider-Man mythos so it would be a disservice not to cover them with a bit more detail, even in this MC2-centric series.

First we have Eugene Thompson, better known as Flash who first appeared way back in Amazing Fantasy #15. Flash's initial role in early Spider-Man stories was that of an antagonist to Peter Parker and Number One Fan to Pete's alter ego Spider-Man. Over the years, Thompson's character would grow in depth, becoming a good friend to Peter. We'd learn much more about who he was and why he behaved the way he did.

We'd learn about Flash's family life for the first time in a backup story from Amazing Spider-Man #372. It's here that Flash tells Peter that his father was an intelligent and studious man who was always disappointed in his son and didn't care for his athletic talents. According to Flash, his father died of a heart attack years prior.

The issue with this backup lies in the subsequent stories that feature Flash's family. In the Untold Tales of Spider-Man #19, we see a young Peter Parker meet Sergeant Thompson who kindly takes Peter to socialize with his son Flash.

 So, Mr Thompson seems to be not only different from how Flash described him, but very much alive. Over in Spectacular Spider-Man #248-250 and Spectacular Spider-Man #-1 we learn that Flash's father, Harrison Thompson was an alcoholic who abused his children -Flash and Jesse- while his wife, Rosie Thompson struggled to keep up the pretence the family was supportive and happy in an attempt to prevent Harrison doing further harm to himself and his children. Spectacular Spider-Man #-1  shows Harrison in a somewhat more well-rounded if not sympathetic light, with his alcoholism clearly causing self-loathing after his violent outbursts.  We also learn that Flash would act out as a result of both his father's violence and self-pity and his mother's inability to address the family's problem.

Lining up with this story, we get another appearance of Sergeant Harrison in Untold Tales of Spider-Man #24, this time demonstrating his drinking habits, which coupled with Spectacular Spider-Man #-1 also integrated the police sergeant aspect into Harrison's story, combined the two separate series' depictions into one.

Through these far more extensive appearances in two separate series, both separated in-continuity by around a decade, it seems obvious the backup story from Amazing Spider-Man #372 was either cast aside or unknown to both subsequent writers to cover the Thompson family. Either way, the initial information Flash recalls about his father appears to be a continuity error. Or perhaps Flash was lying?

Let's move on to the far more straightforward Hardy family. Felicia Hardy, also known as the Black Cat first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #194. In the same issue, we meet Walter Hardy, a former cat burglar who has been in jail for several years following his capture. Learning that her father was now terminally ill, Felicia conceived a plan to break her father out of prison so that he could be with his family before he died.

Despite interference from Spider-Man, Felicia (as the Black Cat) succeeded in delivering Walter to his family home. Having never wanted his daughter to follow in his footsteps, Walter is distressed when Felicia reveals her criminal identity to her father. We learn that Felicia's mother Lydia Hardy had concealed Walter's criminal activities and subsequent imprisonment, telling Felicia her father had died in a plane crash instead (Amazing Spider-Man #195).

Before Walter can tell Felicia his wishes, she leaves so that her mother Lydia can be with him. Due to Spider-Man's arrival and interference, Felicia does not see her father before he dies.

Beyond this, the only other member of the Hardy family I can find is a Lou or Louise Hardy, apparently Felicia's niece, though I can not find any appearances for this character. Just a mention in Black Cat's handbook entry. Anyone with more information, please feel free to let me know.

Now for the MC2 part of this entry. We meet Felicity Hardy in Spider-Girl #37 and we soon discover she has not only stolen May's Spider-Girl costume and figured out her secret identity, she dons her own costume and quickly adopts the Scarlet Spider identity in an attempt to become her...'partner.'

Despite a throwaway reference much earlier (which actually foreshadowed his later behaviour) we don't meet Eugene 'Gene' Thompson Jr until Amazing Spider-Girl #1. When we do finally meet him, he's already in a relationship with Mayday. Throughout the Amazing Spider-Girl series we discover Gene has a problem with May running for student council. I'm probably going to go in-depth on Gene at some point so I'll save that discussion for later.

Finally, Diana is Felicia's current partner, who first appears in Spider-Girl #47. We don't have a known last name for Diana but we learn that she met Felicia six years prior in the role of a contract operative in Felicia's detective agency. It's unclear if the two are married- at the time of publication it would not have been possible for real world same-sex couples to wed- as this is both a fictional universe and an alternate reality all bets are off. Regardless, I've chosen to include her on the family tree.

There are several interesting dynamics the combined Hardy/Thompson family presents, both implemented and untapped, that I feel it deserves more coverage than this post can do justice. I may touch on some in the future. For now, I just hope I've improved over the original family tree post.

Until I find more time to dedicate to this blog, I remain

frogoat