Every Animated Version of Venom, Ranked

Despite the hundreds of characters introduced into the Marvel pantheon over the past 30+ years, there is one that has towered over them all and remains a fan favorite: Venom. What was once just an alien symbiote suit worn by Spider-Man has become not only a character in his own right, but one of the most popular from the publisher of all time. Venom’s success as a character has not only given way to solo titles starring him, with hundreds of issues starring just him as the lead, but a tangled web of supporting characters and lore that has only gotten deeper and darker.

The popularity of Venom has naturally resulted in the character making the leap from the pages of comics toward other media. In addition to video games where players can control the anti-hero, he’s been the focus of three feature films (making a combined $1.8 billion globally), and, of course, starred in a lot of different Marvel cartoons. What we have here are the best examples of Venom’s animated appearances, proper TV shows that include the character. Though some put their own spin on him in fun ways, only a few manage to really do the character proper justice.

8) Venom in Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel

This version of Venom may have the aesthetic appeal that fans are looking for when hoping their favorite character, but his actual place in the special makes this a functionally uninteresting take on Venom. Though voiced by the incomparable Danny Trejo, Venom doesn’t get a lot to do in this special. Besides teaming up with villains he would never really cross paths with, like Red Skull and MODOK, this Venom largely stands around and sometimes hisses at the heroes. That said, he does get to steal hot dogs from Stan Lee during a big song about all the villains, which could move this up or down the list depending on your own feelings.

7) Venom in Marvel Super Hero Adventures

Venom only has one proper appearance in this preschool animated series, and even though it is a memorable one for the laughs it brings, it’s hard for any real Venom fan to find this as anything but “charming.” In the episode, Venom shows up in a hotdog cart before hopping from host to host to be as mischievous as he possibly can. It’s cute, but not a version of Venom that is fully articulated like in other shows. Look, this series is for small kids and might be their first exposure to most of these characters, so a goopy, gross Venom that eats brains isn’t going to be found.

6) Venom in Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers

This version of Venom leaves as quickly as he arrives, appearing in just two episodes in the series, but he’s at least visually interesting in that time. What keeps this version of Venom so low is that the character has almost none of the personality that fans expect to see out of him; no sly obsession with Spider-Man, no anti-hero antics where he tries to eat a villain’s brains. He does possess both Spider-Man and The Hulk in his two appearances, but he’s quickly dispatched and never heard from again.

5) Venom in Spectacular Spider-Man

Like the previous Venom, this one doesn’t have enough time on screen to become a bigger character with layers; however, the short-lived series does deliver a unique twist on Venom’s obsession with Spider-Man. After the hero removes the symbiote from his body, it bonds with Eddie Brock after learning that he ALSO hates Spider-Man and Peter Parker. Venom then shares all of Peter’s secrets with Eddie after bonding with him, and the pair set out to ruin Peter’s life.

This version of the character gets docked some points for looking a little too plain, too smooth. It’s in keeping with the visual style of the series overall, but it does a disservice to Venom aesthetically. In the end, the series was also cancelled prematurely, meaning that despite a good first story arc, there wasn’t an opportunity to deliver anything else with the character.

4) Venom in Spider-Man Unlimited

Another short-lived animated series, Spider-Man Unlimited took on a distinct cyberpunk feel, but most importantly for this list, it put Venom at the forefront. The very first episode of the series begins with Spider-Man already having his powers and some of his rogues gallery already established, including Venom and Carnage. The two symbiote villains travel to the alternate Counter Earth via a spaceship, and Spider-Man soon follows to try and stop them.

What separates this Venom from others is that he is, to put it mildly, disgusting. The tendrils from his symbiote take on an almost lava lamp-like texture, dripping off him toward victims like sentient goop. It’s unlike any other version of Venom in animation, and it doesn’t end there. He also naturally has sharp teeth and horrifying eyes, but also distinct bony features that give him a silhouette that exudes power and fear. At one point, Venom even combines with Carnage to become a two-headed symbiote beast. It’s a unique take on the character, one still obsessed with defeating Spider-Man, but again, one that only had so much material actually released.

3) Venom in Ultimate Spider-Man

This version of Venom is noteworthy for a few reasons, one of which is that he existed in that realm of 2012 animated Marvel shows that were all interconnected, so he had the chance to appear in not only Ultimate Spider-Man but also Avengers Assemble and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.

But the biggest selling point is that this Venom has the most appearances out of any other animated version of the character, showing up across four seasons of the main series. Another key element that sets this Venom apart from others is that the series took major liberties with the character’s origins, making him the product of an experiment by Doc Ock who created him from Spider-Man’s DNA. He would appear throughout the series as both a foil to Spider-Man and an ally to Norman Osborn, so not exactly what fans are hoping for but a distinctly unique take on Venom.

This Venom also has the advantage of having multiple hosts over the course of his appearances, bonding not only to Spider-Man but also Harry Osborn, Scorpion, Nova, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and even Flash Thompson as Agent Venom. Ironically, at no point does this Venom ever bond with Eddie Brock.

2) Venom in Marvel’s Spider-Man (2015)

Weaving in the huge Venom lore created in the 2010s by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman, including All-Black, other symbiotes, Grendel the symbiote dragon, and even their home planet of Klyntar, the Venom found in Marvel’s Spider-Man goes deep. Not only does he pop up countless times through the series (and even fights Thanos in the adjacent Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon), but he becomes the central threat for several arcs of the series, including its very last episode.

This Venom takes a variety of forms, appearing as the muscular version we all know but also using his symbiote abilities to alter his shape and create disgusting tendrils. One scene in particular has him create a giant mouth on his chest, shooting out a wispy tendril to try and capture Spider-Man to consume him. It’s a great and underrated version of Venom on the whole, but, unfortunately for it, not the best.

1) Venom in Spider-Man: The Animated Series

Without a doubt the most iconic version of Venom in the arena of animation. The one seen in Spider-Man: The Animated Series is both the first and still the very best. Even though he has way fewer appearances in the series than you perhaps remember, this is classic Venom as fans have known him. This is Venom at his most primal, with a deep-seated hatred for Spider-Man that drives him to be an absolute menace to the wall-crawler. He’s not only an equal to Spider-Man physically, but perhaps a mental superior. It’s not only a compelling villain for a kid’s cartoon, but he also just looks so damn good.

The Venom found in Spider-Man: The Animated Series also has the coldest piece of dialogue ever written for the character, “You know nothing about us, but we know everything about you. You’ll see us everywhere, even in your nightmares.”

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