Hailing from the planet Klyntar, the symbiotes are a race of beings that attach themselves to sentient hosts, feeding off on their life force and giving them a host of abilities in return. The anti-hero Venom belongs to this race. He is the one that made the symbiotes so popular but God forbid if you are of the opinion that he is the only one of his kind, then you’re wrong because there are a ton of symbiotes and many of them are as equally, or even more powerful. Presenting – 18 of the most powerful Symbiotes of the Marvel Universe – Ranked
18. Riot
Believe it or not, the symbiote villain that is the main antagonist in the Venom movie is actually the least powerful of the lot. Created artificially as a weapon of the Life Foundation, Riot is identical to Venom in all but colour. Riot is also prone to rage and violence just like Carnage is. In the comics, Riot was easily defeated by Venom and Spider-Man.
17. Mania
Mania is an offspring of the Venom symbiote. Mania has a peculiar ability to enslave its host with incredible bloodlust that clouds the hosts’ judgment. When Mania first came into being, it possessed Andi Benton when she was cursed with the supernatural Hell-Mark seal. It is this reason that Mania possesses mind control abilities.
16. Scorn
The Scorm symbiote is actually the son/daughter of Carnage which would make the former the grandchild of Venom. Scorn came into being after Carnage escaped the Raft and came to Earth. Scorn is half-machine and half-human which is what makes it so special. Scorn was used to tackle Carnage and even used her tech physiology to separate Carnage from its host.
15. Phage
Phage was the leader of the five-team symbiote task force created as Living Bioweapons for the Life Foundation. Phage was created as a combination of Venom and Carnage. It has the former’s strength and speed and the latter’s ability to make weapons out of its suit. It was still weaker compared to the two and was easily dispatched and dealt with.
14. Agony
Serving as nothing more than a side character, Agony had a lot of potential but none of the flair that the other symbiotes possessed. Agony bonded with a lowly security officer named Leslie Gesneria and was the first to fall at the hands of Scream in the same storyline.
13. Lasher
Lasher has a rather useful ability. The symbiote can give its host the power to create gigantic tendrils that could act as something that Lasher can use to grab on to or use them simply as weapons like a thousand set of whiplashes all working in tandem. Lasher was killed by Scream and the symbiote found its way back to the Vault of the Life Foundation.
12. The Poisons
The Poisons are an extra-terrestrial race that is the sworn enemy of the symbiote species of Klyntar. The Poisons are born out of the womb of the Poison Queen and their favourite prey is a symbiote. A Poison can easily possess any host of their choosing and literally eat them up from the inside out as the vessel they use goes on to do their bidding. The Poisons unlock their truest abilities when they permanently force-merge with a symbiote species.
11. Payback
Payback’s real name is Mavis Trent, a symbiote with the power to give its host the power to generate and manipulate electricity. It also gave its host a suit that was bluish in colour. Payback soon joined Shield and was a vital part of their covert operations team. Payback works on a simple principle – while the other symbiotes work by feeding on the hosts’ adrenaline, Payback feeds on a host’s pleasure hormones. So the happier its host is, the stronger the symbiote is.
10. Raze
Raze is an offspring of Carnage and looks like a scene straight out of hell, to be honest. Raze is one of the most powerful off-springs of Venom. The host of Raze was a former FBI enforcer and hence, Raze knows several forms of martial arts and is adept at tactics and strategy formulation.
9. Scream
Scream is the strongest spawn of Venom after Carnage. That is a statement that almost no one will argue with. Scream was created along with four other symbiotes by the Life Foundation. But she went rogue and decided to kill her four teammates. Every time she killed a teammate, she became more powerful. Eventually, Scream ended up being the most powerful of them all.
8. Venom
Eddie Brock was the second person to own the Venom symbiote after Spider-Man, but he certainly was the very first subject that actually helped the symbiote launch to new levels of stardom. Venom is the world’s first true anti-hero. His power levels are off the chart but there are still a number of contenders that could beat him.
7. Mayhem
In an alternate universe called Earth-982, Spider-Man has retired from super-heroics after losing his right leg in an accident and now lives the life of a family man with Mary Jane as his wife and May Parker as their daughter. May Parker inherits the spider powers of Peter Parker and is soon cloned by Norman Osborn, who uses that clone as the vessel to make that reality’s first human symbiote creature.
6. Venom 2099
In the 2099 universe, Venom has evolved into a separate entity altogether. Venom 2099 has the power to shoot corrosive acid saliva and has vast levels of strength that are superior to the mainstream Marvel Universe’ Venom. Kron Stone, the half-brother of Spider-Man 2099, is the host to the Venom 2099 symbiote.
5. Hybrid
Hybrid is not actually one symbiote. After Scream eliminated the rest of the four life Foundation symbiotes, they merged together to form the entity known as Hybrid. Hybrid possesses all of the powers of its parent symbiotes. The only weakness Hybrid has is that there are several consciousnesses of the other symbiotes within it, which sometimes makes the host lose focus when they argue amongst themselves.
4. Carnage
Carnage was everything that Venom failed to be – sociopathic and dangerous to everyone around him. Carnage was born out of the need to create a proper adversary for Spider-Man after Venom decided to do the right thing and become the good guy (kind of). Carnage’s first host was a serial killer with multiple counts of murder charges, which is the reason its host always turn insane after some time. Cletus Kasady’s nature has permanently imprinted on the Carnage Symbiote.
3. Toxin
Toxin is actually the strongest on this list. Due to him being the exact 1000th offspring of the symbiote line, Toxin was a more evolved version of the symbiote race. After being attached with Pat Mulligan and discovering the concept of right and wrong, Toxin gained a conscience and has since remained conflicted. This is the reason why he is not in the number one spot. Toxin also has a venomous bite and a healing factor greater than that of Wolverine’s.
2. Zzxz
Its names might sound extreme but its power level is even more. Zzxz is a unique member of the symbiote race. While its other members feed on the adrenaline of the host, Zzxz feeds on the brain matter of its host. This host literally eats your mind. It is also practically immortal and cannot be destroyed. This makes it one of the strongest symbiotes to ever exist.
1. Knull
Knull is not a symbiote. He is THE symbiote. Knull is a God. He was the very first of his kind and is one of the oldest beings in the universe. Knull predated even the Celestials in terms of age. When the Celestials decided to band together and end Knull’s tyranny, the latter showed his true power when he decapitated a Celestial right on its tracks. Knull is the one that created the symbiote race as his agents of chaos and destruction to wipe the universe off of civilizations. He may have lost control of his own creations but he still remains their God.
The Venom movie has already been released. The official film synopsis for the movie reads:
Journalist Eddie Brock is trying to take down Carlton Drake, the notorious and brilliant founder of the Life Foundation. While investigating one of Drake’s experiments, Eddie’s body merges with the alien Venom — leaving him with superhuman strength and power. Twisted, dark and fueled by rage, Venom tries to control the new and dangerous abilities that Eddie finds so intoxicating.
