Venom (character) in the context of "Marvel Comics"

Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) in the Silver Age of Comic Books. Considered one of the most popular and commercially successful superheroes, he has been featured in comic books, television shows, films, video games, novels, and plays.

Spider-Man is the secret identity of Peter Benjamin Parker, who was raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in Queens, New York City, after the death of his parents. Lee, Ditko, and later writers had the character deal with the struggles of adolescence and young adulthood. Readers identified with his self-doubt and loneliness. Unlike previous teen heroes, Spider-Man was not a sidekick nor did he have a mentor. He would be given many supporting characters, such as his Daily Bugle boss J. Jonah Jameson; friends like Harry Osborn and Flash Thompson; romantic interests like Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, and the Black Cat; and enemies such as Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin, and Venom. In his origin story, Peter gets his superhuman spider-powers and abilities after he was bitten by a radioactive spider. These powers include superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes and durability; clinging to surfaces and ceilings; and detecting danger with his precognitive "spider-sense". He sews a spider-web patterned spandex costume that fully covers his body and builds wrist-mounted "web-shooter" devices that shoot artificial spider-webs of his own design, which he uses for both fighting and "web swinging" across the city. Peter initially used his powers for personal gain, but after his Uncle Ben was killed by a burglar that he could have stopped but did not, he learned that "with great power comes great responsibility", and began to use his powers to fight crime as Spider-Man.

Eugene "Flash" Thompson is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962).

Flash Thompson is a star high school football player, who mercilessly bullies his high school classmate Peter Parker, but greatly admires Spider-Man, an irony in which the superhero takes some gratification. In time, they become close friends in college after Flash matures and he later discovers Peter is Spider-Man. After graduation, he joins the United States Army, but becomes haunted by his combat experiences, leading to alcoholism. After losing both of his legs in the Iraq War, Flash Thompson turns into the superhero Agent Venom after being bound to the Venom symbiote, which he controls via drugs, as the protagonist of Venom and Venom: Space Knight and a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. After nearly being killed by Red Goblin, Flash recovers using the Anti-Venom symbiote, assuming his current alias of Agent Anti-Venom.

Mary Jane Watson is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, making her first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #25 (June 1965), and subsequently designed by John Romita Sr. in #42 (November 1966). Since then, she has gone on to become Spider-Man's main love interest and later his wife (as Mary Jane Watson-Parker). Mary Jane Watson has also served as a supporting character to Iron Man and Venom.

Although she made a brief first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #25 with a plant obscuring her face, as part of a then-long-running recurring gag about Aunt May attempting to set Peter up with her friend's "nice girl" niece, Mary Jane's first official face reveal was a cameo appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #42. Designed and drawn by John Romita Sr., her entrance is regarded as one of the most iconic introductions in comic history, owing to its build-up, her hyper-vibrant red hair and beauty, and her introductory line, "Face it, Tiger… you just hit the jackpot!". Since then, 'Tiger' has been her most recognizable nickname for Peter, spanning comics and media adaptations.

Doctor Octopus (Dr. Otto Octavius), also known as Doc Ock for short, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #3 (July 1963). He is a highly intelligent, myopic, and stocky mad scientist who sports four strong and durable appendages resembling an octopus's tentacles, which extend from his body and can be used for various purposes. After his mechanical harness became permanently fused to his body during a laboratory accident, he turned to a life of crime, and came into conflict with the superhero Spider-Man. He has endured as one of Spider-Man's most prominent villains, and is regarded as one of his three archenemies, alongside the Green Goblin and Venom. He is the founder and leader of the Sinister Six, the first supervillain team to oppose Spider-Man.

While usually portrayed as a supervillain, Doctor Octopus has also been occasionally depicted as a conflicted antihero and ally of Spider-Man. Following Spider-Man's death in the 2012 storyline "Dying Wish", which saw a dying Octavius swapping bodies with the hero and letting him die in his original body, Octavius was motivated to prove he could be a better Spider-Man. As such, he adopted the Superior Spider-Man alias, introduced in Avenging Spider-Man #15.1 following a cameo in Daredevil vol. 3 #21 (both December 2012), as the fourth predominant main continuity Spider-Man. The Superior Spider-Man possesses all of the original Spider-Man's abilities, memories, and equipment, along with additional gadgets created by Octavius, though he often struggles to live up to his predecessor's legacy and seeks to turn his life around after being a villain for years.