At Norman Osborn's request, the villainous Doctor Octopus distilled the most aggressive aspects of Spider-man's DNA. Osborne had hoped to use this viscous living armor to equip a host of soldiers with Spider-Man's arachnid abilities. But the monstrous organic symbiote proved unstable and escaped, bonding to multiple host on a relentless path of destruction. Usually its human host are completely overwhelmed by the symbiote destructive person... leaving only Venom!