Recap / Spider Man The Animated Series S 01 E 09 The Alien Costume Part 3

The symbiote and Eddie Brock have bonded and turned into a new villain called Venom, who has the intention to get revenge on Spider-Man.

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This episode provides examples of:

• Achilles' Heel: Spider-Man uses the roar of the rocket to force the symbiote off of Brock.
• And Your Little Dog, Too!: Venom specifically threatens Aunt May and Mary Jane to get at Spider-Man. When Eddie shows up at Peter's house to charm Aunt May, that's when Peter decides enough is enough.
• Artistic License – Physics: Venom shoots a web onto Spider-Man's chest and swings in an arc around him. Problem is, after Spider-Man tears off the web, Venom somehow continues to circle through the air until he lands on an antennae.
• Batman Gambit: Spider-Man goads Venom into chasing after him—leading him to the launch site where he can send the symbiote into space.
• Berserk Button:
  • Venom threatening Aunt May is what pushes Spider-Man to start fighting back.
  • Spider-Man goads Venom by plastering the new apartment with newspaper articles about Brock being fired.
    Spider-Man: [popping up by the window] Like the way I decorated your new place?
• Continuity Nod: In the opening of the episode, Brock reflects on the past humiliation he suffered from previous episodes.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • When Venom fights Spidey the second time, he attacks with a broken fan blade, which ends up embedded in the side of the building they are on. Later, Venom snares Spider-Man in his webs and hangs him over the side of the skyscraper. Spider-Man is not strong enough to break out, but he grabs the embedded blade and cuts himself free.
  • When bringing John to the office, Jonah talks about how a new probe is being named after him and due to be launched the following night. It ends up being key to Spider-Man's Batman Gambit to be rid of Venom.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Repeatedly. Venom clobbers Spider-Man every time they fight. Spidey only survives the battles because Venom wants to psychologically torture him for a while before moving in for the kill.
• Dramatic Unmask: Venom does this to Spider-Man during their second fight.
• Drives Like Crazy: That very memorable shot of Venom at the wheel of a tractor-trailer.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Recalling how the symbiote affected his own mental state, Spider-Man muses it'll be even worse for "a pumped-up lunatic like Brock." Coming across paperwork from Atlas Equipment Rental, he recalls how Brock likes to lift weights and realizes this gives him a way to get the address to Brock's new apartment.
• Evil Is Petty: Venom wants to destroy every aspect of Peter Parker's life because he blames him for every problem Brock has suffered.
• Heroic BSoD: John is on the road to recovering physically from the crash, but he admits he's still struggling with nightmares of "the black, alien ooze" attacking him.
• I Am Legion: As ever, Venom constantly uses "we."
• I Know Your True Name: Thanks to the symbiote, Eddie knows that Spidey is Peter, and proceeds to exploit this.
• Meaningful Name: "From now on, we're poison to you, Spider-Man. That's why we call ourselves Venom."
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Venom even invokes it during his first battle with Spider-Man.
  "You know nothing about us, but we know everything about you. You'll see us everywhere, even in your nightmares!"
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Venom interrupting Rhino and Shocker.
  "Back off! He belongs to us!"
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: After Spider-Man manages to incapacitate Rhino, he reminds him of how their previous encounter went.
  Spider-Man: [to Rhino] Is your learning curve a flatline or what?
  Shocker: [appearing] His might be. Mine isn't. [opens fire]
• Put on a Bus: After being separated from the symbiote, Eddie Brock is left unconscious by Spider-Man at the launchpad to arrested by the MPs and is not seen again until season three.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: For both the symbiote and Eddie Brock. Eddie thinks Spider-Man ruined his life, and the symbiote hates Spidey for rejecting it. Together as Venom, they seek vengeance against the wall-crawler and his loved ones.
  "Revenge is a human trait we enjoy. We'll have our revenge against you and the ones close to you, like your poor Aunt May and Mary Jane Watson. We know all about them, too."
• Secret Identity: Peter keeps his personal life and superhero life separate in order to protect his loved ones from harm. Now that Brock knows, thanks to the symbiote bonding with him to become Venom, he now wants to make Peter suffer with both.
• Self-Serving Memory: In the first scene, Eddie recalls his past encounters with Spider-Man and how he supposedly ruined his life. He omits a key part of their encounter in "Night of the Lizard" (Spider-Man trying to protect Curt's secret) and instead remembers it as the web-head simply harassing him for his own amusement.
• So Proud of You: Jonah brings John to the office, beaming with pride while talking about him getting a new mission once out of recovery and how a new probe is being named in his honor.
• Taking You with Me: This is not Spider-Man's plan, but he's prepared to go this far if he has to.
  "Hope this launch doesn't fry my molecules, but if I'm gonna go, at least I'll take him with me!"
• A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Venom wages a campaign of psychological warfare against Spider-Man in-between beating him up, stalking Mary Jane, trying to publicly unmask him, and going so far as to show up at Peter's house to charm his Aunt May. Spidey ultimately defeats Venom by using his own tactics against him, exploiting Brock's anger and bitterness at being fired from the Daily Bugle to lure him to a shuttle launch, with the roar of the rocket forcing the symbiote off Eddie and leaving him powerless.
  Spider-Man: He'll never stop torturing me! I've got to fight... and I know just the way to do it.
• That Man Is Dead:
  Spider-Man: Listen to me, Brock!
  Venom: Stop calling us that! We are Venom now!
• Time Abyss: Venom claims that the symbiote has seen "thousands of worlds, millions of civilizations", and has existed since the dawn of time. It is unclear if this is just a Badass Boast, literally true, or a result of the symbiote knowing the pasts of its many hosts throughout its life.
• The Villain Knows Where You Live: What finally provokes Peter into making a stand and fighting back against Venom is when Eddie shows up at his house to charm Aunt May.
• Villainous Rescue: Venom's debut scene involves him rescuing Spider-Man from Rhino and Shocker, since he wants the wallcrawler all to himself.
• Villain Team-Up: Rhino and Shocker team-up to take on Spider-Man. They nearly get him, too, but that's when Venom intervenes.
• Voice of the Legion: Venom's signature double-barreled voice.
• Wham Line: Venom reveals that Brock is capable of learning the "secrets of the universe” thanks to the symbiote. However, that's not all he knows:
  Eddie (to Spider-Man): ...Or do you mind if we just call you... Peter Parker?