She-Venom

She-Venom (also known as The Bride of Venom) is the name of two fictional characters in Marvel comics. The first She-Venom, Ann Weying, was the ex-wife of Eddie Brock. The second was Communications Specialist Patricia Robertson, the host of the Venom-clone.

Fictional character biography

She-Venom (Ann Weying)

Ann Weying first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #375. She was Eddie Brock's ex-wife, a successful lawyer. In Ann Weying's first appearance, she is a brunette with glasses. In later appearances she loses the glasses and goes blonde. Weying assisted Spider-Man by sharing some of Eddie's history with him. Later, she followed Spider-Man to the amusement park where Venom had Peter's (fake) parents. She confronted her insane ex-husband, and managed to convince Eddie to give up his vendetta. Later, Sin-Eater shot Ann, who became She-Venom when the symbiote temporarily bonded with her to save her life.^[1]

She-Venom then lashed out against the men who had hurt her with such violence that Eddie became afraid for her (and of her) and compelled the symbiote back to him. Ann retched upon seeing the pile of bodies she had left behind. She claimed that the symbiote made her kill them, but Eddie told her that the symbiote wouldn't force its host to do something they did not want to.^[2] Later the police incarcerated Ann on a false charge (unrelated to Ann's rampage above) in order to trap Venom. Ann used her one phone call to warn Eddie and make him promise not to come. He promised that Eddie Brock wouldn't come to save her and instead sent his Other (the symbiote) through the phone lines to her.^[3] After it bonded with her she was able to break herself out of prison, heading to the amusement park where she and Spider-Man had confronted Venom, only to intercept a raid on a gang of drug dealers.^[4] During the fight, Eddie was badly injured by a flamethrower, prompting Anne to release the symbiote to heal him, but left him in disgust at his dependence on the symbiote.^[5]

Ann Weying committed suicide after spotting Spider-Man webslinging in an older black costume at a time when his regular red and blue suit had been stolen. Ann, still reeling from the experience of bonding with the symbiote months earlier and unable to deal with the return of Eddie Brock into her life—coupled with Brock's transformation into Venom directly in front of her as he ran off to kill Spider-Man—sent her over the edge, and she leapt from her high rise apartment to her death.^[6] Her death is later confirmed when her tombstone is shown.^[7]

She-Venom (Patricia Robertson)

Another She-Venom can be found in the form of Patricia Robertson in the 2003 Venom series.

Patricia Robertson was a communications specialist for the U.S. Army stationed at a radar installation in Canada near the Arctic Circle. She had joined the army in order to "prove herself" but got more than she bargained for. During a routine supply run to an outpost owned by the Ararat Corporation, she stumbled upon a grisly scene: everyone at the installation was dead except for one lone scientist locked in the freezer. She brought the survivor back to base for medical attention, then people began dying there as well. It was revealed that the Ararat Corporation was run by an alien colony of miniature spider robots that infiltrated the American government. These creatures were partially led by an entity named Bob.

These creatures had cloned Venom in order to fulfill their objective: extermination of the human race. The clone would burn out its hosts' life, unlike the real Venom (traits which seem to be a throwback to the invading symbiotes seen in Planet of the Symbiotes). Bob had the clone released and it caused the slaughter of the outpost.

The Venom clone hitched a ride on the survivor back to base, despite the best efforts of Robertson and her new ally. The mysterious Suit was made of the same robots as Bob, which was revealed to have been unwittingly brought to Earth by Reed Richards and made into a special agent by Nick Fury. It is unclear if the Suit's loyalties lie with Nick Fury or Bob, if either. Meanwhile, the genetically altered symbiote killed all of Patricia's friends and coworkers. While Robertson was unconscious, the Suit cybernetically altered her, shaving her head, attaching a metal pipe to it, and placing a control collar on her so that in case the symbiote clone bonded with her she could control it. Meanwhile, Ararat Co. and the spider-robots nuked Voici, Canada leaving the symbiote with few options. After the Suit sabotaged the symbiote's favored host, Wolverine, it was forced to jump to the last surviving potential host, Robertson.

One of Bob's agents, disguised as the Suit, told Robertson that she had to kill the real Venom or the symbiotes would destroy all of humanity. Attempting to get to Venom, she freed him from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. Their first fight was broken up by the real Suit, and the electrocuted Venom retreated. The Suit chided Robertson for coming to New York due to there being many people in the city and all of the population could be in danger if the symbiote clone jumped hosts.

Meanwhile, Bob remotely deactivated Patricia's control collar so that nothing restrained the symbiote but Patricia's willpower. Robertson continued trying to kill Venom, beating up Spider-Man when he got in the way. She was captured by the Fantastic Four, who used her as bait to lure Venom into a trap. Unfortunately, Spider-Man's interference and the strength and craftiness of Venom caused the trap to fail. Fighting again, Venom absorbed Robertson’s symbiote clone, as Bob hoped, and increased in size and decided to carry out the Ararat Corporation's goals. Patricia's fate is uncertain, and the clone was later regurgitated by the symbiote onto Flash Thompson's neighbor Andi Benton, creating Mania.

Other versions

Marvel 1602

During the Secret Wars storyline taking place in King James' England (which is based off the Marvel 1602 reality), Anne Weying is a "village beauty" who is brainwashed by a printer's apprentice named Edwin Brocc into loving him with powers and potions supplied by the Enchantress. Anne is freed after Brocc is slain by Angela.^[8]

In other media

Film

• The viral marketing for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 includes Daily Bugle articles that make reference to Anne Weying being the defense attorney appointed to Curt Connors.^[9][10]

Novels

• Ann Weying and Robbie Robertson are both abducted by terrorists in the 1998 novel Spider-Man: Venom's Wrath.^[11]

Footnotes

External links

• Ann Weying at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Synopsis and Reviews of the Venom 2003 Series at Spiderfan.org