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After Brock, numerous other hosts for Venom followed some of the most notable are the villain Mac Gargan, who was the main incarnation of Venom from 2005 to 2009, and Flash Thompson, who became the superhero Agent Venom from 2011 to 2016, before Venom returned to Brock in 2017. Since his debut however, Venom has evolved into an antiheroic figure, slowly distancing himself from his initial goal to ruin Spider-Man's life to try and do good instead, even putting aside his differences with and helping Spider-Man at times. Venom has endured as one of Spider-Man's most prominent villains, and was initially regarded as one of his three archenemies, alongside the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. The symbiote went on to merge with other hosts, beginning with Eddie Brock, its second and best-known host, with whom it first became Venom.
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The Venom symbiote's first human host was Spider-Man himself, who eventually discovered its true nefarious nature and separated himself from the creature in The Amazing Spider-Man #258 (November 1984) -with a brief rejoining five months later in Web of Spider-Man #1. The symbiote was originally introduced as a living alien costume in The Amazing Spider-Man #252 (May 1984), with a full first appearance as Venom in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (May 1988). This dual-life form receives enhanced powers and usually refers to itself as "Venom".
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The character is a sentient alien symbiote with an amorphous, liquid-like form, who survives by bonding with a host, usually human. Venom is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
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