(Marvel Knights Spider-Man#7 (fb) ) - Vincente Fortunato won
the auction, paying $100 million for the symbiote.
VENOM
Real Name: Angelo Fortunato
Identity/Class: Human bonded to alien symbiote
Occupation: Unrevealed
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Eddie Brock, Vincente Fortunato
Enemies: Otis Kincaid (impersonated Spider-Man), Seymour O'Reilly, Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
Known Relatives: Vincente Fortunato (father), unidentified mother (deceased), Giacomo Fortunato (Jimmy-6, brother), Mary Fortunato (sister-in-law), Anna (sister), James Fortunato (nephew), unidentified nephews and nieces
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: New York City
First Appearance: Marvel Knights Spider-Man#6 (November, 2004)
Powers/Abilities: As Venom, Angelo Fortunato possessed superhuman strength and durability, sharp claws and teeth, and the ability to shoot webs from his wrists, turn invisible and negate Spider-Man's spider-sense. Angelo did not seem to share Brock's vulnerability to fire, as he survived a large gas explosion unscathed.
Height: 5'9" (Angelo)
Weight: 119 lbs. (Angelo)
History: (Marvel Knights Spider-Man#7 (fb) ) - Angelo Fortunato was picked on and bullied all through childhood, by both his peers and his father, crime boss Vincente Fortunato, for his physical and mental weakness.
(Marvel Knights Spider-Man#6 ) - The 18-year-old Angelo Fortunato and his father attended the Tinkerer's auction of Eddie Brock's Venom symbiote at the Ditko Theater. The don briefly chatted with the Shocker about buying the suit to compensate for Angelo's weakness.
(Marvel Knights Spider-Man#7 (fb) ) - Vincente Fortunato won
the auction, paying $100 million for the symbiote.
(Marvel Knights Spider-Man#7) - Angelo and Vincente met with Brock at the Our Lady of the Saints church. Brock told them that he planned to give Fortunato's money to charity, and then asked Angelo if he was prepared for the burden of the symbiote. Angelo described his miserable life, and accepted the alien other. Bonding with the alien, he sped to Midtown High's high school reunion, hoping to make his name as a supervillain by killing Spider Man (who the alien had informed him was secretly Peter Parker). He burst into the school, where he found a group of former big-shots harassing Parker. Snapping the neck of Seymour O'Reilly, one of the bullies, he moved in to kill Parker...
(Marvel Knights Spider-Man#8) - Parker changed into his Spider-Man suit as he tackled Venom into the school gym, forcing the evacuation of the reunion. As their battle took them outside, Spider-Man shoved Venom into the path of a tanker truck. The resulting collision and explosion failed to faze Venom, who scampered off with Spider-Man in hot pursuit. Turning invisible, he found Spider-Man on a rooftop. Sneaking up behind him, he punched right through his chest, killing him - only to discover that he had killed an imposter who had hoped to cash in on the Daily Bugle's Spider-Man bounty. Enraged, Spider-Man mercilessly pummeled him. As the symbiote ordered him to stand and fight, Venom fled - only to have the disappointed symbiote abandon him in midair. With Spider-Man's web-shooters damaged (ironically, by Angelo himself), the wall-crawler was helpless to prevent Angelo from falling to his death.
Vincente Fortunato arrived at the scene within the hour, accompanied by his Mob cronies. Although the purchase of the symbiote had cost him the last of his empire, he was finally proud of his son.
Comments: Created by Mark Millar, Terry Dodson, & Rachel Dodson.
Poor Angelo here was presented as something of a study in contrasts with Peter Parker - both suffered verbal and physical abuse at the hands of their peers and were given superhuman powers at a young age, but Parker eventually used his powers to help others, whereas Angelo just started killing people right off the bat.
Angelo was also mentioned in Mighty Avengers#8, on a list of former symbiote hosts.
Profile by Minor Irritant.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Angelo Fortunato, alias Venom, was host to the same symbiote as, but should not
be confused with:
...but he has no known connection to:
images: (without ads)
Marvel Knights Spider-Man#8, p11, pan1 (main image)
Marvel Knights Spider-Man#7, p12, pan4 (Angelo Fortunato)
Appearances:
Marvel Knights Spider-Man#6-7 (November-December, 2004) - Mark Millar (writer), Terry
Dodson (pencils), Rachel Dodson (inks), Axel Alonso (editor)
Marvel Knights Spider-Man#8 (January, 2005) - Mark Millar (writer), Frank Cho
(artist), Axel Alonso (editor)
Last updated: 10/06/08
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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