Toxin (Symbiote) (Earth-616)

Birth[]

Born from Carnage as the 1000th symbiote in its lineage, "Toxin" was feared to be the strongest and most dangerous of their race by both Carnage and Venom besides Knull. Shortly after being born, the symbiote united with police officer Pat Mulligan.^[3]

When Carnage came after Mulligan, Toxin manifested itself and protected Patrick by fighting its father. The symbiote and its host later stopped a robbery that was happening, there Mulligan almost lost control of the symbiote but was able to stop its urges, the two also met Spider-Man.^[8] Toxin was attacked by both Venom and Carnage, who wanted it dead after seeing that the symbiote had potential to be a hero unlike them. Fortunately, Toxin was able to defeat both evil symbiotes with the help of Spider-Man and Black Cat.^[9]

Life with Mulligan[]

Mulligan and Toxin attempted to be heroes by capturing villains that escaped from the Raft while the young symbiote learned how to be good from Mulligan. The symbiote and its host were tasked by Spider-Man to track down Razor-Fist, with the pair trying to defeat the villain while having various disagreements. Even after Razor-Fist murdered Mulligan's dad, Patrick was strong enough to not kill the villain despite Toxin's urges. After successfully defeating Razor-Fist, Mulligan introduced Toxin to his wife Gina.^[10]

New Toxin[]

Years later, the symbiote was removed from Mulligan by Blackheart, who beat Pat Mulligan to death in a gutter,^[11] and contained in a secret lab in a casino in Las Vegas. With the help of Venom, Jack O'Lantern took it to his boss, Crime-Master. Crime-Master found the perfect host in Eddie Brock, whom he forced to become Toxin's host.

After bonding with Eddie, Toxin took over its host and worked with the Savage Six, attacking its grandfather symbiote, Venom. Toxin tells Venom that after Venom is gone, only it will remain for an event it called the Spawning. The meaning of this is unknown, as of now. Venom managed to incapacitate Toxin, but chose not to kill it or its host. Later, Toxin attacked Venom and was separated from Eddie. Venom set the Toxin symbiote on fire, but it managed to recover its host and dragged him into the flames to die alongside it.

Chthon[]

Both the symbiote and Eddie survived their attempted immolation and recovered from their injuries. Eddie and the Toxin symbiote worked out a truce to hunt down and kill Venom, after which they would try to kill each other,^[12] and began hunting down and killing numerous criminals and gang members. Toxin eventually tracked Venom down to Philadelphia and tried to kill him, but Flash's speech to Eddie caused him to call off his vendetta and accept his bond with Toxin, using it to return to his Lethal Protector lifestyle. Following Eddie's arrest by the FBI, the Toxin symbiote was suppressed using symbiote inhibitor drugs,^[13] and is only capable of taking action if injected with the antidote.

In order to empower her to fight Carnage and Chthon, Eddie Brock gave the Toxin symbiote to Jubulile van Scotter, who combined it with her own symbiote and the Raze symbiote. The amalgamated symbiote dispersed into wisps of golden light after being used to slay Chthon, seemingly marking the death of all three.^[6]

King in Black[]

Barely surviving, the Toxin symbiote was left severely weakened - to the point that not even Knull deemed it worth the effort to restore it during his invasion of Earth. Somehow escaping the Chthonic Island, the Toxin symbiote eventually bonded to a teenaged boy named Bren Waters. On one of their first outings, Toxin picked a fight with a Brood/human hybrid created by Alchemax's unethical experiments, and was attacked by a Guardsman. Escaping, Toxin returned to Bren's home - bickering with its host - until Bren's father returned home from work and was revealed to be the Guardsman who'd fought Toxin earlier.^[7]

Extreme Carnage[]

After Knull was defeated, Toxin along with Bren and his father watched Senator Peter Krane on TV talking about the threat that the symbiotes posed and how they needed to support the Friends of Humanity, with Toxin realizing that there was something wrong with Krane as every time he talked the symbiote felt a drumbeat in his head.^[14] Weeks later, Toxin was with Bren watching TV and complaining about the programs when they saw on the news that the Alchemax Tower in Manhattan was being attacked, worrying about Bren's dad, the two transformed and headed over there.^[15]

On their way to the building Toxin's mind got pulled away from Bren's by Carnage who reached out to him through the Symbiote Hive-Mind with hopes that he would succumb to his corruption like the Life Foundation symbiotes. Reunited with his deranged father, Toxin fought back in the Void in order to protect himself and Bren, enveloping Carnage with his body and taking control over the Void. Toxin then felt a presence in the Void and reached to Bren, who was devastated after seeing that his father got hurt in an attack at the Alchemax Building, saying that they would get payback.^[14] The symbiote's presence was later felt by Andi Benton through the Void, when she called to him, Toxin showed up in front of Andi and Flash Thompson.^[16] Meeting Agent Anti-Venom and Silence, Toxin decided to team up with them to stop Carnage and all of them went to Washington, D.C. for a final confrontation.^[14]

After realizing that Carnage was inside Peter's son, Arthur Krane, Toxin and the others went to the stadium where Peter Krane's rally was being held, but they arrived too late to protect the Senator as he was already killed by Carnage. As the battle between the heroes and Carnage's Hive started, Toxin battled its relative Lasher, explaining that unlike the rest of the hive, Toxin wouldn't slaughter innocent people just because Carnage told it to. The heroes defeated and captured most of the Life Foundation symbiotes except for Agony, who escaped along with Carnage that was now merged with another symbiote. Toxin and Bren then decided to stay with Andi and Flash in case Carnage returned, especially because after the battle people became more fearful of symbiotes more than ever.^[17]

Iterations and Offshoots[]

• Alchemax's Offshoot - A strain of the Toxin symbiote was held by Alchemax, though it was later stolen by Corwin Jones who merged it with other strains from Scream, Agony, Lasher, Phage and Riot symbiotes to form the Madness symbiote.^[18]
• Symbiotech's Offshoot - Another strain harvested from the previous one bonded to a braindead human cyborg by the Life Foundation to create an obedient supersoldier.^[19] The host was later killed by Spider-Man, leaving the symbiote strain to be secured by Alchemax.^[20]

When newly spawned, Toxin was fairly naive and curious, pestering its host with difficult questions.^[21] For his part, Mulligan was afraid Toxin would turn out as monstrous as Carnage had, concerns that were not unwarranted, as Toxin expressed a morbid sense of humor and a tendency towards excessive use of violence. Mulligan eventually took it upon himself to mentor the young symbiote and teach it to suppress its predatory instincts, but was often stern towards it.^[22] While Toxin tried to tempt Mulligan into giving into his darker urges and childishly lashed out at Pat by crippling his combat abilities when he was in danger in order to force him to admit that he needed it,^[23] it cared about its host enough to save him when he attempted suicide and lecture him about trying to kill himself,^[21] though Patrick theorized it only intervened because it didn't know if it would be able to find another host. Despite their constant bickering, Mulligan's mentorship left a strong impression on the young symbiote that lasted long after his death.^[24]

However, following Mulligan's death at Blackheart's hands, and its capture and bonding to clones of X-23, and its capture by Crime Master, Toxin's trauma caused it to be consumed by bloodlust and rage, and when it bonded to Eddie Brock, fed on his own hatred of Venom and became as monstrous and violent as his father, Carnage, failing Mulligan's hopes for it. As a member of the Savage Six, Toxin/Brock were determined to kill Agent Venom, even menacing innocents like Betty Brant, and even attacked their teammate Megatak for their chance to kill Venom. Toxin was willing to take Eddie with it when they were both caught in a fire. However, surviving the fire, Toxin's mind was cleared, but with Brock in control this time, still wanting to kill Venom. Toxin showed submissiveness to Brock's lead, never arguing nor questioning its host's methods, up until its apparent death.

After returning and bonding to Bren Waters, Toxin developed an opinionated personality and wry sense of humor, frequently teasing or bickering with its host. When in control, Toxin often threatened to eat his opponents.^[7] Despite their bickering, Toxin cares a great deal for Bren and considers him his friend.^[14] Toxin even hurried Bren to the Alchemax Building so he could rescue his father despite his distaste for him.^[15] During his showdown with Carnage, Toxin not only rejected his father's deal but also decided to later team up with other heroes in order to defeat him.^[14]

Toxin possesses the powers of its parent, but to a greater extent. In addition, it seems to have a much stronger resistance to sonic waves and intense heat than Carnage. When bonded to Patrick Mulligan, it had a slim and streamlined appearance closely resembling Spider-Man, complete with a red and dark blue or black coloration. When upset or aggressive, it becomes much larger and he gets even stronger, growing vicious fangs and long, curving claws. When bonded to Eddie Brock, Toxin initially appeared all-red and massive,^[25] but after recovering from being burnt, it became red and black.^[26] Following Eddie being recruited by the FBI, the Toxin symbiote has taken on the appearance of black and red body armor, apparently in emulation of Agent Venom.^[24] After bonding to Bren Waters, it took on a mixture of Patrick and Eddie's forms.^[7]

• Superhuman Strength: He possesses vast superhuman strength, and at the time of its birth it was stronger than Carnage and Venom combined were. Depending on how angry or upset he gets, he can grow to a much larger size, with large claws and vicious fangs. His strength extends to his legs allowing him to leap heights and distances impossible for a normal human.
• Superhuman Speed: He can move or run at speeds greater than any normal human being.
• Superhuman Stamina: He can exert himself at peak capacity for at least 48 hours until fatigue impairs him.
• Superhuman Agility: His agility is superior to any normal human being.
• Superhuman Reflexes: His reflexes are far superior to those of any normal human being.
• Superhuman Durability: He is much more resistant to injury than Spider-Man, Venom and Carnage combined but still has the traditional symbiote weaknesses, although to a much smaller degree. The tissue the symbiote is composed of renders Brock's body much harder and far more resistant to physical injury than the body of an ordinary human. Brock can withstand high caliber bullets, great impact forces, powerful energy blasts, and falls from great heights without sustaining physical injury. He is durable enough that he can withstand multiple barrages of high caliber weapons such as machine guns from close range completely unperturbed, can withstand blows from superhuman beings such as Wrecker, Spider-Man, Carnage, etc. unharmed. He also possesses an extreme resistance to pain, and seems to feel it only to a certain extent.
• Genetic Memory: The symbiote possesses some limited psychic ability, making it capable of obtaining information from its hosts and even other people and symbiotes simply by touch. It can, however, be forced to forget information if the symbiote is inflicted with heavy trauma.
• Offspring Detection: The symbiote is capable of psychically detecting its offspring, however, with effort, this ability can be blocked.
• Spider-Sense: Brock is also granted an extrasensory ability similar to Spider-Man’s spider-sense. This response is not as complicated as Spider-Man’s inherent sense since the alien costume can detect danger from every direction and conduct Brock in plenty of time. It's a lot more efficient than Spider-Man’s spider-sense because it is more specific as to where the danger is.
• Immunity to Spider-Man's Spider-Sense: Due to Spider-Man being a host to the Toxin symbiote's predecessor, Toxin is able to bypass Spider-Man's spider-sense. As such, he is capable of attacking Spider-Man without alerting him, making him a very deadly opponent.
• Constituent-Matter Generation: Toxin can also use the same substance comprising the symbiote in the form of constituent black matter, and he can generate tentacle-like appendages from various parts of his body, which he often uses either in combat situations or to restrain someone.
• Shape Alteration: Toxin can manipulate his matter to enlarge or stretch his body in order to augment his attacks. He can morph sections of his body, such as his hands or feet, into spikes, blades, axes or a shield. Toxin also has the ability to manifest wings in order to fly.^[14]
  • Stretching and deforming: Although it's widely known that the symbiote can stretch and reform itself, recently it was able to perform this ability whilst bonded with a human host.
• Regeneration: He is capable of healing injuries in the host at an exceptionally fast rate. The symbiote is even capable of healing injuries and illness that current human medical care cannot such as cancer.
• Camouflage: The symbiote is capable of mimicking the appearance of any form of clothing, camouflaging with its surroundings, and even mimicking other people.
• Wallcrawling: Much like Spider-Man, Toxin has the ability to cling to virtually any surface. He can rapidly crawl, walk, or run across even slick/wet surfaces.
• Organic Webbing: Toxin can project an unlimited, powerful, organic web-like substance similar to the webbing Spider-Man has (which takes on a shape of thick red and blue tendrils like the chains of Ghost Rider). He typically uses this webbing to swing from building to building or as a means of immobilizing someone. The webbing is incredibly strong.
• Poisonous Fangs: An ability developed by Brock when he bonded with the symbiote. Toxin's fangs not only intimidate foes but deliver a powerful, toxic bite.
• Tracking: Toxin can track anyone, not just other symbiotes, as long as he has something to pick up a scent.

• Fire
• High-pitched sound
• Symbiote inhibitor drugs

• In Rick Remender and Cullen Bunn's plans for their prospective "War of the Symbiotes" arc in Venom Vol. 3, the Toxin symbiote was intended to "go into heat" and begin spawning countless spores that would result in a worldwide plague of symbiotes -- the "Spawning" event alluded to in Venom Vol. 2 -- and Eddie Brock would eventually sacrifice himself to stop the Toxin symbiote.^[27]
• According to the Maker's theory regarding symbiotes spawning, the Toxin symbiote was spawned in response to the threat posed by the Avengers disassembling.^[28]