Info on the symbiote

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ASHREEN AND LOUISA



Now I will talk about that nasty black goo that nearly corrupted Peter Parker for a while, and cost Eddie Brock his humanity...
A symbiote, in Marvel Comics' fictional universe, is a living alien organism that bonds with another living organism (usually a human, although it may bond with non human animals) in order to survive. Since it has no classifying name, it is referred to as a symbiote because of its symbiotic relationships. Often symbiotes are called "living costume" because of the way the amorphous creatures envelop their hosts.

Reproduction

Symbiotes have no gender, and as such have the ability to asexually spawn another symbiote. It is normal for a symbiote to hate its newborn spawn, possibly out of fear of competition and thus a threat to the previous symbiote's existence. Venom, for example, tries to kill and destroy its offspring, Carnage, and Carnage himself tries to kill his 'son' Toxin by leaving it for dead without a human host. Eventually both Venom and Carnage try to kill Toxin because of his vast strength making him easily as strong as his father and grand-father combined, just as Carnage was stronger than Spider-Man and Venom combined.


Personality

While most symbiotes seen in the Marvel Universe have been shown to be capable of great feats of violence, deception and various criminal acts against humanity, it is notable that their hosts were generally unstable before bonding. In a strange twist of nature versus nurture it seems that a symbiote's personality may be based on an amalgamation of the memories and thoughts that have been collected from the various hosts and stored within its' genetic memory. This explains how a creature like the Venom symbiote who once valued life to some degree has mutated into a being who could take the lives of many even without a host to guide its actions.


Powers and abilities
Symbiotes empower the natural abilities of a host to the point where they far exceed that of normal members of the hosts species. These abilities include the following:
- Superhuman strength
- Superior speed and agility
- Limited invulnerability
- Genetic memory, recalling information from previous hosts
- Enhanced healing ability.
- Can expand to any size as long as they have something to grow on such as a host or an object.

The symbiote also reacts to the thoughts and will of the host. The following are functions that have been demonstrated from various hosts' wills (but are not limited to):

• The ability to form fangs or simple bladed weapons out of their limbs
  
• The ability to form additional appendages: limbs, wings and tendrils out of their body


• The ability to shape-shift, from mimicking clothing up to and including complete change of appearance and stature (not featured in film though).


• The ability to blend with its surroundings (seen when Spider-Man follows Sandman in subway).


• The ability to stick to walls (adapted from Spider-Man).


• The ability to produce webbing from its own mass (adapted from Spider-Man).
  
• The ability to bypass the Spider-Sense (because the original symbiote was attached to Peter first, it took his genetic information and spider-powers. This means that the symbiote attacking Peter would essentially be Peter attacking himself, which wouldn't set off his Spider-Sense).

Characteristics in film

The symbiote in the film is less like a liquid than in other incarnations. It moves as if composed of many small strands or tendrills (with more of a "crawling" motion than a liquid which oozes). Initially, the symbiote arrives on earth via meteorite, and clings onto Peter's moped at the very start of the film. Later it bonds with Peter as he sleeps in his costume, sensing his thirst for revenge upon learning that the Sandman was his uncle's actual killer. After testing out the power of the symbiote-laced suit around the city, Peter is able to remove the mask the same way he does in the previous two films. He then brings a sample of the "crawling" symbiote to Dr. Connors, though it is not shown how he obtains it. Peter then puts on the black suit and defeats Sandman. After yelling at his landlord over payment of rent, Peter decides to discard the suit temporarily. He later puts the suit back on to get even with Harry Osborn, who had forced Mary Jane to break up with him so Harry can get his revenge.
All other times the symbiote is shown until Peter tries to remove it, it appears simply as the benign costume, and never mimics Peter's street clothing, for example, as it does in other media. When he ultimately does remove it, it does not leave his original costume behind. It is believed that the symbiote may have merged permanently with the qualities of the suit.
Unlike in the comics, the black symbiote costume worn by Peter is essentially a black version of his normal costume with the same fabric texture, web patterns and logos, but with an altered spider-symbol on his chest and back. When it bonds with Eddie Brock Jr., it retains the fabric texture and web pattern, but gains the larger wrap-around spider logo which are on both Parker's black costume and Venom in the comic book. However, in the film, the logo is a lighter grey than the costume, and not white like the comics. As in the comics, the costume gains eyes and a mouth when he bonds with Brock, and far more commonly appears as the living symbiote (such as retracting to reveal Brock's face).