Early Life
Eugene "Flash" Thompson was a former classmate of Peter Parker. Flash grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. He lived only a few blocks from Peter's house. He lived with his fatherHarrison Thompson, a police officer in the New York Police Department, his mother Rosie Thompson and his little sisterJesse. Flash was physically abused by his alcoholic father, leading to Flash's own violent, bullying nature[1].
Midtown High School
Like Peter Parker, he went to Midtown High School, where he bullied him daily[2]. The bullying continued for a long time even after Peter gained his Spider powers who never used them against Flash, even when tempted to do so[3]. The only exception was a boxing match between the two in the school gym, where Peter evaded Flash's punches with his reflexes and knocked him out with a single punch[4]. After this, Flash stopped his physical abuse, although he continues to taunt Peter[5].
Flash's wide circle of friends included Sean "Tiny" McKeever,Jason Ionello, Seymour O'Reilly, Charlie and numerous female admirers such as Sally Avril and Liz Allan, who was Flash's steady girlfriend for some time[6]. Flash was Midtown High's star quarterback, where his speed on the football field earned him the lifelong nickname "Flash". This gained him popularity and respect, but he still remained jealous of Peter's book smarts[7]. Ironically, Flash became an ardent supporter of Spider-Man, despite popular opinion against him[8]. He even formed a Spider-Man Fan Club while still in high school and invited everyone except Peter Parker to join[9] and scared away Daily Buglestaffers when they tried to interview people about their reasons for hating Spider-Man[10].
Flash once tried to play a trick on Peter by dressing in a Spider-Man costume and attempting to frighten him. Before Flash could surprise Peter, he was abducted by Doctor Doom, who mistakenly believed he was the real Spider-Man. Peter was forced to save his own worst rival[11].
Flash dressed up as Spider-Man again to redeem his hero who was seen as a coward after having run from a confrontation with the Green Goblin. Flash confronted three car thieves, hoping to draw out the real Spider-Man, but was beaten up by the three thugs[12].
When Flash's girlfriend Liz Allen became attracted to Parker and started snubbing Flash, calling him a "muscle-bound goop", this only made him hate Parker all the more[13]. He threatened Parker not to hang around Liz too much[14], but when Parker got into trouble with the school principal, Mr. Davis, over their fight, Flash took responsibility for the incident[15]. He still continued to pursue Liz, even though she made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with him[16].
Empire State University
Flash graduated from high school and enrolled at Empire State University on an athletic scholarship, becoming once more a classmate to Peter Parker[17]. Even though at first he continued his rivalry with Peter, turning his new classmates Harry Osbornand Gwen Stacy against him[18][19], eventually, they became close friends, also because Gwen befriended Peter and made the two bury the hatchet[20][21]
United States Army
By the time Flash left college to join the army, he and Peter parted as friends. During his tour of duty, Flash was stationed in Southeast Asia, where he stumbled across a hidden temple whose residents - notably the beautiful Sha Shan nursed a wounded Flash back to health; however, after American forces mistakenly shelled the temple despite Flash's efforts to protect it, Flash left the army to return to America, where temple survivors who mistakenly blamed him for the tragedy made attempts on his life. With the aid of Spider-Man, Flash lived to convince the temple survivors of his innocence, and was briefly reunited with Sha Shan[22].
Flash returned to civilian life and college and was amongst the many friends who paid their respects to Peter at Gwen Stacy's funeral[23]. He was injured in a car crash when a new Vulturekidnapped his and Peter's friend Mary Jane Watson. He befriended Liz Allen once more and they went on a cruise together with Peter and Mary Jane. However, the cruise ship was kidnapped by theTarantula[24]. They were rescued by Spider-Man, which caused Flash to become suspicious of Parker's double life[25].
When Harry Osborn became the Green Goblin and found out about his secret identity, he blew up Peter's apartment and kidnapped Flash, Mary Jane and Peter's Aunt May before being defeated by Spider-Man[26]. His apartment in ruins, Flash took Peter in [27]and helped him move when Peter had found a new apartment[28]. When Harry Osborn was released, apparently cured from the insanity that had caused him to become the Green Goblin, Flash took him in as his new roommate[29].
Later, Sha Shan returned to the United States as Sister Sun, the reluctant bride of cult leader Brother Power, himself a pawn of the evil Man-Beast. Sha Shan ultimately turned on Korba, and the Man-Beast was thwarted through the combined efforts of Spider-Man,Razorback and Flash. Korba having died in the battle, Sha Shan became Flash's lover and lived with him for some time[30].
At one point he was framed as being the Hobgoblin. After a failed marriage with Sha-Shan, Flash briefly datedFelicia Hardy, aka Black Cat, not knowing that she was dating him in order to make Spider-Man (who at the time was married with Mary Jane Watson) jealous but when she started to show real feelings to him, he broke off the relationship once he found out about Felicia's life as the Black Cat.
Flash after the Iraq war
He was in a comatose state for a time. When he came out he had forgotten much of what had happened between him and Peter after High School. He was given the position as Coach by the new Principal Roger Harrington at Midtown High School where Peter was working as a teacher. Due to his memory loss, he was confused over how to think about Peter, but after an attack by Mysterio, he realized that he and Peter were on good terms and they became friends again. He was dating Miss Arrow until her death.
Flash returned to the battlefield in the war in Iraq, and lost his legs after saving his partner from enemy forces.[1]. He returned to the United States and started dating Betty Brant.
The New Venom
Flash tests his new abilities.
Flash became the new Venom when he was enlisted as a part of Project Rebirth 2.0.[31]Flash was bonded with the symbiote, recently acquired by the U.S. government after Mac Gargan's arrest after the Siege of Asgard. While bonded, Flash was able to reproduce his legs and had powers comparable to Spider-Man.
Thompson was sent to the Eastern European country Nrosvekistan to recoverDr. Ekmecic, a specialist in developing weapons made from Antartic Vibranium. During his mission, he encountered the new Jack O'Lantern, who was also trying to recover Dr. Ekmecic for his boss, the new Crime-Master. Neither was able to take Ekmecic alive but the encounter made Venom and Jack O'Lantern long-time enemies.[32]
He was later sent to the Savage Land to destroy Crime-Master's Antartic Vibranium shipment. After a confrontation with Kraven the Hunter, Flash was separated from the symbiote,[33] which lead Crime-Master to learn Venom's identity. However, the symbiote returned to Flash much to his surprise, assuring him that it won't abandon him and reminding him that they still have a mission to complete. Eventually, Venom took control of the helicopter containing the vibranium shipment, but he was forced to deliver it to Crime-Master when he used his knowledge of Venom's identity to hold Betty Brant, his long-time girlfriend, hostage. In return, Crime-Master told Venom where Betty was being kept, but Spider-Man, who was also trying to save Betty, mistook him for the enemy and the old foes fought.[34]After their brief battle, they continued their search for Betty together, but as soon as Venom arrived at the warehouse where Betty was being kept, it blew up. Spidey left the destruction with Betty. Returning to Project Rebirth headquarters, he lied to his superior about Crime-Master discovering his identity to a moment when he lost control of the symbiote so that they wouldn't take it away from him.[35]
Back home, Flash learned that his father had cirrhosis of the liver and did not have much time to live.[36]
Anti-Venom vs. Venom.
All of Manhattan later succumbed to a virus that gave New Yorkers spider-powers. Project Rebirth dispatched Venom to stop Spider-King from breaching the quarantine and infecting others. After defeating him and bringing Spider-King to headquarters, Venom was sent to infiltrate their enemies' headquarters. There, he learned that Anti-Venom was capable of curing infected New Yorkers and took him to Horizon Labs to synthesize a cure. Later on, Flash was able to visit his father in the hospital right before he passed away.[37]
Back in action, Venom tried to kill the Queen, the one responsible for the spider-power infestation, with help from Steve Rogers.[38] Venom stabbed the Queen with Rogers' shield, but she mutated to a giant spider. Other heroes came to battle the Queen, but it was Kaine who struck the killing blow while Spider-Man distributed the cure around the city with the help of Doctor Octopus' octobots.[39] In the aftermath of the infestation, Venom battled the Hijacker, who exploited the confusion to commit a series of bank robberies while murdering several innocent civilians; Thompson killed the villain in a rage.[40]
Venom vs. Jack O' Lantern.
Rogue Venom
Jack O'Lantern showed up at Flash's father's funeral and was taken to Crime-Master's headquarters. Now that he knows who Flash is he forced him to go on a mission for him in Las Vegas, threatening to kill Betty and his family if he didn't comply. To make matters worse, Captain America shut down Project Rebirth and tried to confiscate the symbiote from Flash. He evaded him and left to complete his mission, with Jack O'Lantern tagging along. Meanwhile, Captain America sent Red Hulk to bring Venom in.[41]
Jack gave Flash instructions to enter a casino called The Devil's Den, where the Venom symbiote would do the rest. Totally controlled by his instincts, Venom broke into a secret lab in the casino, where the Toxin symbiote is contained. Venom tried to kill it, but Jack O'Lantern put it in a container and flew away with it.[42]
Venom, Red Hulk, X-23 and Ghost Rider.
Flash broke up with Betty so that she could be safe and started drinking again. Eventually, Red Hulk tracked Flash all the way to Las Vegas so that he could take the symbiote and bring him in for court-martial.[43]
In the midst of their fight, Blackheart created a portal that brought Hell to Earth, but Johnny Blaze stopped it from spreading past Las Vegas. Venom and Red Hulk fought alongside X-23 and the new Ghost Rider to defeat Blackheart.[44]Along the way they fought their Antitheses, polar opposites of themselves created with a magic mirror, and died while trying to defeat them.[45]
Their dark pasts brought them to Hell, where Mephisto offered to return them to Earth if they agreed to help him at a later date.[46] The four agreed and challenged Blackheart again.[47] But this time, Venom and Ghost Rider surrendered their powers to Red Hulk, giving him the power to defeat Blackheart.[48]
Shortly after, Captain America and the Secret Avengers arrived to bring Venom in, but his heroic deeds convinced Cap to give him a chance and he welcomed him onto the team. Daimonmeanwhile notices that Flash, Red Hulk, and X-23 are marked with invisible pentagrams on their chests, indicating their pact with Mephisto.[49]
With the Secret Avengers
Still, Rogers wanted Thompson to be storing at the Lighthouse Station and use the symbiote in short periods of time, joining the Secret Avengers along with the original Human Torch.[50] But Hawkeye's skepticism didn't allow Venom to take part in the team's new mission.[51] Venom participated in the mission regardless and played a pivotal role in a later mission, eventually earning Hawkeye's trust. Over time, a secret relationship developed between him and fellow teammate Valkyrie.
His tenure with the Secret Avengers brought him into conflict with the homicidalCarnage when he tried to take over the town of Doverton, Colorado.
Defeated by the Savage Six
When Crime-Master was gathering other four villains to form a team called the Savage Six, Venom sneaked in to Crime-Master's HQ and tries to kill him. Eddie Brock interfered trying to kill Thompson, which ruined Flash's plan.[52] Before escaping from the five villains, Master stated that he will kill Flash's loved ones. Eddie Brock was knocked out during battle and was forced by Crime-Master to become the new Toxin and complete the Savage Six.[53]
Flash started searching for Betty, and found her talking with Jack O'Lantern, he protected her from him, Megatak and Toxin. Knowing that there could be any way for her to trust him, Venom revealed his identity to Betty. The Savage Six then attacked Flash and Betty at the home of her parents. Flash then engaged in his last fight with the Savage Six, resulting in the deaths of Death Adder and Toxin, who Venom attempted to save. He then witnessed Crime Master reveal his identity to Betty and Venom as Betty's brother and became shocked when Betty shot and killed him. Later fought Jack O' Lantern and brought him to the Raft.
After facing Daimon Hellstrom and his Monsters of Evil, Flash followed the escaped serial killer Carnage to a NASA research center, where the villain used a inter-dimensional transport called Prometheus Pit with the help of beings from the Microverse to be transported there. The Scarlet Spider, who also was following Carnage's steps, joined Venom in the search for Kasady, and they were transported to the Micro-verse by the Prometheus Pit.[60]
Venom and Scarlet Spider vs. Carnage
Both are separated once they passed through the Pit, Venom was found by the Enigma Force, who needed Venom's help to oppose Marquis Radu, the leader of Carnage's allies, and get Carnage out of the Microverse, because his symbiote (as well as Venom's) was corrupting the environment. They were attacked and subdued by Marquis Radu's forces.[63]
Venom was brought to Marquis Radu's base along Carnage, in order to replicate their symbiotes and create an army which could make him control the Microverse. But Carnage managed to take control over the symbiote army and used it to escape to the regular universe, where he was finally defeated by the combined efforts of Venom and Scarlet Spider, and a special weapon given to them by the Enigma Force. After being stung by the Scarlet Spider, Cletus cured his wounds, but was left in a catatonic state, meaning that the symbiote was now in full control of his body, although it put in custody once more and sedated.
Philadelphia
After facing the U-Foes, Flash bid farewell to New York and moved to Philadelphia, unbeknownst to him that Eddie Brock had survived the flames and was tracking him down.
Flash received a job as an assistant gym coach to West Philadelphia High School and also became "the Spider-Man of Philly". When trying to capture a victim of one of Vector's experiments with alien-machine hybrids, Venom was confronted by Toxin, who killed the hybrid. Using a sedative he was saving for his own symbiote, Flash managed to incapacitate Brock, who left the scene vowing a new encounter soon. Toxin tracked down Flash to the high school, wanting to confront him, but the creature Toxin killed managed to spawn and infect new people, people who were now looking for both Toxin and Venom, their new natural enemies. In order to save innocent lives, Flash convinced Brock to temporarily team-up and defeat the monsters, who were ultimately killed. Realizing he was doing good with Venom, Brock offered Flash a deal, he would let him live as long as he had control over the symbiote.
Mania
In order to save Andi Benton, one of his students, from being killed by Jack O'Lantern, Flash gave her a portion of the symbiote, which mysteriously bonded with Andi faster than it could have bonded to any other host and turned her into Mania. Andi proceeded to brutally attack Jack O'Lantern, but after removing his mask, Venom realized it was actually an impostor brainwashed by the real Jack O'Lantern into replacing him while he was in prison. After a furious battle in which numerous super villains looking for Venom stepped in, Mania started suffocating the fake Jack with the symbiote, but Venom convinced her not to cross that line.
Andi moved with her aunt to Jenkintown although she remained in touch with Flash, who let her have the symbiote, which mysteriously bonded to Andi faster than it could've bonded to any other host. After facing the D.O.A. once more when they, allied with Crossbones, tried to get the Venom symbiote's hell-mark it acquired during the fight against Blackheart in Las Vegas, Flash discovered the symbiote that was attached to Mania was the symbiote's clone that was spit back out by the original symbiote. Flash promised he would help Andi remove the hell-mark at any cost.
Superior Venom
Venom returned temporarily to New York City in order to investigate the sighting of Crime-Master's henchmen. He had an encounter with Spider-Man, at the time Otto Octavius in Peter Parker's body, but managed to escape from him and his Spiderlings.[76] As Flash, he sought "Peter"'s help in giving him a place to stay. Octavius later convinced Flash to allow him to perform a procedure that would give him robotic leg implants, though during the procedure he forcefully removed the symbiote from Flash and transferred to himself, becoming Venom. Flash observed as the symbiote, in pain, communicated that its "old" host "tasted" wrong. He attempted to recall the symbiote back to his body, but was thwarted even with Cardiac's assistance.[77]
Flash recovers the symbiote
Sajani Jaffrey of Parker Industries found that the drugs they used to support the symbiote and keep Flash in control has made his body reliant on the symbiote to survive and he will die without it, inspiring him to get back into action and find Spider-Man.When the Avengers decided to confront Spider-Man after he started showing a more violent behavior, Flash, clad in an Iron Man Armor, helped them defeat Spider-Man. Flash also convinced the symbiote to return to him, thus becoming Venom once more. Back at the Avengers Tower, Black Widow asked Flash if he could access the symbiote's memories when it was temporarily bonded with Spider Man, but when he tried, Flash told the Avengers that he was not getting a conclusive result. After being recommended by Captain America to stay far away from Spider Man, Flash left to settle matters in Philadelphia, satisfied that the Avengers were on the case. He also gained honorary membership on the team.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Seeking to maintain a connection with the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Avengers placed Flash on said team as their new envoy.[80]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Black Symbiotic Costume: The symbiote grants Flash the following powers:
- Superhuman Strength
- Superhuman Stamina
- Superhuman Durability
- Superhuman Speed, Agility, and Reflexes
- Accelerated Healing Factor
- Wall-Crawling
- ESP (Spider-Sense)
- Immunity to Spider-Man's Spider-Sense
- Camouflage Capabilities
- Constituent-Matter Generation
- Constituent-Matter Manipulation
Abilities
Skilled Marksman: Flash has been trained in sharpshooting and marksmanship from the U.S. Army.
Skilled Combatant:Due to formal training as a boxer and a soldier, Flash is an exceptional combatant and easily combines his abilities with the use of symbiote powers.
Weaknesses
- Sonic and Heat: The Venom symbiote, like all others of its kind, is extremely vulnerable to heat and sonic based attacks. They can cause the symbiote physical pain and discomfort, where as "more powerful" attacks might be completely ineffective.
- Alcoholism: Flash had been known to have a drinking problem.
- Symbiote dependency: Because of sustained bonding with the symbiote and the effects of the drugs he uses to keep it in control, Flash's biology was modified to the point he depends on the symbiote to live. If Flash doesn't possesses the symbiote for a prolonged period of time, he could die.
- Missing limbs: He lost his legs from the knees down in the Iraq war and was confined to a wheelchair afterwards. While wearing the Venom Symbiote, Flash was able to regenerate his legs. This is no longer a problem as Flash now possesses robotic prosthesis.
Formerly:
- Permanent bonding: Flash could not remain bonded to the Venom Symbiote for more than 48 hours without permanent bonding with the Symbiote. The US Government had installed a fail-safe protocol through the use of a kill switch should Flash lose control. Flash later removed the fail safe protocol and permanently bonded with the symbiote.
Paraphernalia
Equipment
None; formerly:
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