The Venom Comic Book Moment That Went Too Far

Venom is one of Spider-Man's most fearsome enemies. The product of alien life or an experiment gone wrong, depending on the storyline, what appears to be an unshapen lump of goo is, in reality, a powerful symbiote that becomes a formfitting suit. When worn, it grants the wearer powers beyond their imagination — even Spidey gets a boost— but it also corrupts them, making them more violent and willing to give in to Venom's demands. (Sometimes, even more cruelly, it makes them dance badly.)

Over the years, Venom has terrorized Mary Jane, created an even worse version of itself in the form of Carnage, and has eaten more people than we care to count. But the comic book moment that pushed things too far happened while Peter Parker wore the Venom suit for a brief time, and it pushed him into doing something so terrible that he swore never to wear it again.

The "Ultimate Spider-Man" series, written by Brian Michael Bendis, is regarded as the seminal Spider-Man story of its time and contains one of the most celebrated Venom stories in the Spider-Man canon. In Vol. 6 of the series, "Venom," Peter Parker discovers that his father had been a scientist. He tracks down Eddie Brock, whose father had worked alongside Peter's, and Eddie shows Peter the Venom symbiote in a university lab. Eddie says their fathers had been working on a cure for cancer but died before it could be finished. Later, under the cover of night, Spider-Man breaks into the lab and steals a sample of the goo. Before he can seal the sample for safekeeping, it activates and spreads across him.

Now under the influence of Venom, Spider-Man's powers are enhanced but his judgment is increasingly skewed. At first, he saves a woman from her kidnappers and stops The Shocker. But when he goes after a criminal who has just killed a man while robbing a laundromat, he recognizes the perpetrator as none other than the man who murdered his Uncle Ben. Venom finally comes out, teeth and all, hungry for revenge. "I want to hear you scream!" he says, and tears into the man.

"I should never have come near it," Peter thinks as he desperately tries to remove the suit. Eventually, he manages to get out of it by throwing himself onto live electrical lines. While Peter manages to flee before he kills the man, it's a disturbing scene, and it demonstrates how dangerous Venom can be.