What was originally a novel crossover event, the first Secret Wars unintentionally kicked off 40 years of stories of alien organisms, governmental conspiracies, and elder gods when the first of Marvel’s many symbiotes, Venom, was initially introduced as an alien Spider-Suit. Today, the Marvel Multiverse is caught in a brutal civil war between father and son over control of the symbiote hivemind. As the fledgling Venom War begins, symbiotes, old and new, are gathering to play their part in picking the rightful King in Black.
To help keep this list concise, only symbiotes from Earth-616 will be counted. Eddie Brock’s temporal offshoots will also be included, as they act as independent unique characters with or without Eddie’s body inside. Certain symbiotes, while brimming with potential, have had to be lowered on the list because, unfortunately, potential doesn’t always equal power. Additionally, Knull will be excluded because, despite being the creator of the symbiotes, he is not a symbiote himself.
The Lethal Protector is only one of dozens of known symbiotes that span the Multiverse. Born as an experiment of the elder god Knull, the Klyntar have spread far across space and time, growing with each new host and transcending their original purpose as Knull’s tools of conquest. Between methods of familial spawning, experimental replication, and temporal fracturing, it’s become difficult to keep track of every new symbiote that crops up in the comics. To best organize the ever-growing list of the symbiotic alien species, here is every named symbiote in Marvel-616 ranked weakest to strongest.
40 Muzzle
Muzzle Hacket is the product of an experimental process designed to create a human-symbiote hybrid. While little is known about the young vigilante, Muzzle does involuntarily display some of the classic physical characteristics that bonded Klyntar are known for. However, Muzzle’s understanding of his own potential is severely limited; he, nor his family, knew what a symbiote was before Spider-Man had mentioned the likeness in passing. While he could be a fun character, Muzzle is seemingly held back by his human physiology, depriving him of the amorphous body-swapping abilities most other symbiotes are capable of.
39 Void Knight
Void Knight is one of Knull’s first prototypes. Displaced in time and thrown back into the infant days of the Seventh Cosmos, the Silver Surfer crossed paths with Knull before the first true symbiote had ever been created. Void Knight was designed to assimilate the Surfer into Knull’s early hive, but, while successful at dominating the cosmic entity, was nearly instantly vaporized by Ego the Living Planet. Capturing a cosmic Herald is certainly a powerful feat; while Void Knight had the potential to be one of Knull’s greatest weapons, his quick destruction took away that chance before it ever began.
38 Finnegan
Finnegan is one of the seven temporal offshoots of Eddie Brock, gathered by Meridius outside of space and time. This version of the King in Black is both mentally and physically beaten down by the trauma of Eddie’s life in both his past and his future. Unlike his fellow time-displaced selves, Finnegan feels trapped in his symbiote form and is only focused on the terror he knows he will become next. While he may be a King in Black, this version of Eddie refuses to fight and wants nothing more than to die so as to save his son from himself.
37 Krobaa
While Krobaa has never been named a member of the Klyntar, it does possess all the same characteristics of the species. Capable of symbiotically bonding with host organisms and feeding off of and into its host’s emotions, Krobaa also possesses one heightened symbiote ability. Like many symbiotes, Krobaa is a talented empath that is directly affected by the mental nature of its hosts. However, after arriving on Earth, the alien’s mind was so overwhelmed with humanity’s propensity toward fear and anger that it took its own life to avoid spreading humankind’s madness to the rest of the universe.
36 Sliver
One of Marvel’s newest symbiotes, Sliver is the supposed spawn of either Venom or Toxin. Shortly after its spawning, Sliver bonded with Black Widow and the two currently operate under the alias “Widow.” While bonded with Natasha, Sliver has already undergone intense training, growing its tactical skills under the tutelage of its new host and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s strongest agents. The juvenile has a lot of potential, especially if it continues its bond and training with Natasha Romanoff, however, it is far too young to stand against most of its more developed brethren.
35 Dreadface
Another symbiotic alien species not technically referred to as a Klyntar, Dreadface claims to be from an empire that travels the stars seeking out strong warriors to bond with to aid in the species’s plans of domination. Like the standard symbiote, Dreadface is capable of amplifying its host’s natural strengths and possesses a noticeable weakness to fire. Comparatively, Dreadface has no additional unique traits that would allow it to stand apart from other members of its species, however it did show an aptitude for rapid bonding with multiple hosts within a short period of time.
34 Mister E
Mister E is another of Knull’s early experiments. Despite its overwhelming ambitious arrogance, Mister E’s powers are about standard for the Klyntar, albeit at a much weaker level. However, the proto-symbiote seems to have a stronger connection to the Void that the original symbiotes were forged from, as it has the ability to shed its physical form and merge into shadows. Mister E can also produce drone-like offshoots that can forcibly “bond” with multiple lifeforms, giving it control over every infected person. Mister E’s ego eventually became its downfall, leading to its death at the hands of Black Knight.
33 Raze
Raze was one of Carnage’s spawns who, unfortunately, lived an incredibly short life. In order to enact a ritual that would summon Chthon, Raze was created to singularly help fulfill Carnage’s goals. Outside the immoral tenacity and terrifying visage that is to be expected of a Carnage-spawn, Raze was never shown to possess any unique traits or abilities. Raze was seemingly destroyed at the end of Carnage’s plot to bond with Chthon, when another member of the Anti-Symbiote Task Force, an agency Raze’s host was originally assigned to, absorbed Raze and used its power to help stop Chthon’s return.
32 Rascal
An offshoot of Bedlam, one of Eddie Brock’s temporally displaced selves, Rascal was left in the care of Kang in the far future. After being sent back to the modern day, Rascal was fused with a sample of the Carnage symbiote before its connection to the Symbiote Hive-Mind was destroyed by Dylan Brock. Now bonded to Normie Osborn, Rascal is a young, emotional, creature that Normie describes as puppy-like. Because of its young age and disconnect from the Hive-Mind’s wealth of experience, Rascal is still far too inexperienced to be considered powerful, despite its obvious potential.
31 Riot
Riot is one of the five symbiotes forcibly spawned from Venom by the Life Foundation and is arguably the weakest of the group. Unlike its siblings, Riot does not possess any unique abilities or powers that separate it from the average symbiote. While Riot is a hulking beast who definitely prefers to smash around with blunt weaponry, that’s about all he is capable of. Considering his siblings’ individual mutated properties, Riot unfortunately falls short by comparison.
30 Lasher
Lasher is one of the Life Foundation symbiote siblings with an extraordinarily interesting talent that is unfortunately dampened by an overall weak physique. This symbiote possesses the same standard brand of symbiotic abilities although, unlike naturally spawned children, it isn’t considered any stronger than its parent. Despite his general lackluster powers, Lasher does have one unique ability that allows him to remotely control animal corpses. While the skill is impressive, other symbiotes have shown to be able to replicate similar abilities but on a much larger scale.
29 Scream
Another Life Foundation symbiote, Scream has become the most independent of her laboratory siblings. Like the others, Scream has a unique ability that, surprisingly, isn’t related to screaming. This symbiote is capable of “trichokinesis,” which allows her to manipulate her hair in battle, similar to the Inhuman Medusa. However, Scream’s “hair” is no more different than any other part of her malleable body and her preference to use her hair is more of a stylistic choice. Despite her primary deceptive ability, Scream can also form wings and fly, a skill that is infrequently seen in other members of her species.
28 ZZZXX
Zzzxx is a mutant symbiote captured and studied by the Shi’ar Empire, who considers the alien one of the Empire’s most dangerous criminals. Unlike most of its kind, Zzzxx fully consumes its hosts’ brains rather than feeding off of their adrenaline. Unfortunately, the consequences of this biological necessity, nor any other deviations of the symbiote’s powers, have been seen in the comics. While the concept of a symbiote possessing the X-Gene is an amazingly interesting one, Zzzxx falls flat for its lack of applied uniqueness.
27 Wilde
Wilde is the temporal offshoot of Eddie Brock who succeeds his time as Bedlam. After the murderous rage of Bedlam passes and Eddie becomes nihilistic about his ordained fate, Wilde is the cold and cynical remains of Eddie’s will. Despite being a King in Black, Wilde seems to have no interest in fighting; he knows he can but doesn’t care to. This version of Eddie has given up resisting his fate and coldly jokes his way through existence until he reaches the next stage in his evolution.
26 Phage
One more of the Life Foundation symbiotes, Phage prefers to manifest his biological weapons as bladed weapons, a tactic he shares with his brother Carnage. While Phage isn’t shown to possess any naturally unique powers like its siblings developed, it did momentarily pick up a few governmental augmentations that set it apart. Not many symbiotes can incorporate non-living matter into their control, however, Phage, when bonded with Lieutenant Rico Axelson, amplified the soldier’s visual awareness, allowing him to accurately shoot a target standing miles away.
25 Agony
The final member of the Life Foundation’s spawns, Agony has the most specialized skills of the rest of her artificially spawned siblings. Agony’s metabolism can break down the neurotransmitter chemicals that symbiotes need to survive and transform them into acid that she can spit at her targets. Likewise, she can also absorb foreign chemicals that can be used for her acid attacks. It’s been described that Agony’s acid can burn through most matter, but the true extent of her powers has yet to be defined.
24 Mania
Mania, rather than being an official symbiote spawn, is actually a clone of Venom created from tissue collected from his tongue. Mania was originally designed by the Ararat Corporation to be used to exterminate all life on Earth. When Mania was first spawned, it had no interest in bonding with a host, instead killing its potential hosts simply for the joy of doing so. Despite her violent disposition, Mania does not possess any skills that would differentiate her from the standard symbiote.
23 Tyrannosaurus
In the heat of the Vietnam War, the U.S. Government took samples from the Symbiote Dragon Grendel. These samples were forcibly spawned into new symbiotes that were then bonded to soldiers. Of these symbiotes, Tyrannosaurus stands out as the most powerful and in-control of the group. When Knull arrived on Earth, Tyrannosaurus is one of the few symbiotes that were able to resist the elder god’s influence. In addition to his combat skills and mental fortitude, Tyrannosaurus has the rare ability to take on the form of a human without the need for a host.
22 Flexo the Rubber Man
Well before symbiotes ever existed, Flexo was first introduced in 1940 as a robot infused with a rubber-like metal. It was later retconned that Flexo was indeed a symbiote that was formed to look like a friendly robot. Due to Flexo’s robotic form, it does not require a host and is capable of many feats that a host body would limit. On top of being hyper elastic, the goofy-looking symbiote can also form its arms into Gatling guns and can spin its body at high speeds to attack enemies.
21 Silence
Silence is a fusion of samples of the Scream symbiote and the Anti-Venom Serum. Silence possesses all the natural powers that Scream possessed as well as the unique cleansing abilities that the Anti-Venom serum is known for. Her primary skill, which separates her power from the rest of her kind, is that she can forcibly disconnect a symbiote from the Hive-Mind. During the war against Knull, this ability saved Phage from Carnage’s influence.
