How did Spider-Man’s black suit create Venom? Marvel’s villain explained

Spider-Man’s black suit has an origin that starts in a mysterious galaxy and ends with an alien invader. The end result is Venom, one of Marvel’s most terrifying villains.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is introducing Venom to a modern audience but in a brand new fashion. The new Venom is heavily implied to be an Oscorp experiment, potentially removing its alien origins in favor of a more grounded approach. 

Venom, though, has traditionally been an extraterrestrial threat. The alien suit itself originated from the deadly Battleworld in the comics, while other interpretations, such as the 2018 film, establish the character is an alien. 

Venom’s origin has ties to the massive Marvel marketing event Secret Wars, as well as more than a couple of Spider-Man anniversaries. While it’s easier than ever to learn the origins of Venom, the 30 years since Secret Wars means plenty of stories skip over the details. 

Spider-Man finds the alien costume during Secret Wars

Spider-Man was among the heroes whisked off to Battleworld to fight in the Beyonder’s Secret Wars. During that time, many of the heroes sustained damage to their costumes, including Spidey’s costume being in tatters. 

Hulk discovers a machine that can make clothing with a thought. Spidey picks the wrong machine by accident and thinks into it, receiving a mysterious black ball.

The ball forms a new black costume with a white spider logo. Spider-Man doesn’t understand why it has a new design but just writes it off as his subconscious being inspired by the then-current Spider-Woman’s costume.

Spider-Man learns the black suit is alive

Fans actually saw the black costume for the first time in The Amazing Spider-Man #251, about eight months before its debut in Secret Wars #8. Returning from Battleworld, Spidey wears the alien costume for about a year before its odd behavior finally proves to be too much 

Spidey asks Reed Richards to look into the suit, who discovers it’s an alien lifeform trying to bond with him. With help from Human Torch and a sonic blaster, Spidey removes the suit, and the Fantastic Four keeps the suit to study. 

Spider-Man would go back to his traditional red-and-blue suit for a few issues, but the black suit was just too popular to get rid of. He would get a new, hand-sewn version of the black suit, which he would continue to wear for the rest of the ‘80s. 

The black suit bonds with Eddie Brock

The alien costume would escape the Fantastic Four and try to bond with Spider-Man again. It would seemingly die trying to save him despite his rejection. In reality, the suit survived and found itself bonding with Eddie Brock. 

Brock was a disgraced reporter who had identified the wrong man as the murderer Sin-Eater. He blamed Spider-Man, as his capture of the real Sin-Eater is what exposed Eddie. The suit and Eddie fueled each other’s hatred, and the two became Venom. 

Venom and Spider-Man first clash in Amazing Spider-Man #300, in a knock-down, drag-out fight that Spidey barely wins. Afterward, Spider-Man discarded his black suit for his traditional red-and-blue suit, as Mary Jane was too creeped out by the black suit’s similarities to Venom. 

That’s all we have for now about Spider-Man’s black costume and how it became Venom! While waiting for the game to come out, take a look at some of our other handy Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 guides and content:

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