Is Riot Venom‘s son?

While the violent, destructive Riot may share some similarities with Marvel‘s infamous anti-hero Venom, he is actually one of Venom‘s sinister "offspring" – not his son. Their rivalry has resulted in spectacular battles over the years across comic pages and cinema screens. As a passionate gaming fan myself, allow me to explore their complex, dark relationship in more depth.

Venom‘s Origins: When Symbiote Met Human

Venom has slugged it out with Spiderman for decades ever since he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 in 1988. But where did this alien symbiote come from in the first place before bonding with disgraced reporter Eddie Brock? In 1984‘s Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars storyline, Spiderman damaged his iconic red-and-blue suit. An alien symbiote from Battleworld then attached itself to Peter Parker while he slept, creating the black alien costume persona that fans would come to know and love as Venom.

This symbiote grafted onto both Peter Parker’s mind and body. It wanted to permanently bond with Spiderman, who initially enjoyed enhanced abilities like unlimited webbing and camouflage powers. But Parker soon noticed the symbiote was also impacting his personality and making him more violent in battles. He rightly rejected the alien, not realizing it would soon seek revenge by partnering with another…

Key Venom Abilities and Attributes

Spurned by Spiderman, the symbiote amplified Eddie Brock’s hatred after he lost his career and reputation. Their fusion created the dark “lethal protector” anti-hero known as Venom – possessing all of Spiderman’s powers plus the symbiote’s ravenous evil. Venom proved so popular among fans that he headlined his own series and even played an uneasy hero at times. But could such a violent, parasitic alien truly be redeemed?

The Birth of the Symbiote "Offspring"

In many ways, Venom’s progeny reflect the dual nature of his complex character. While Venom will defend the innocent with lethal fervor, his innate aggression often cannot be contained. This aspect manifests vividly in his offspring Carnage – a murderous symbiote paired with psychopath Cletus Kassady in Amazing Spiderman #344 (1991). Carnage delights in chaos and slaughter, feeling no empathy whatsoever. He is by far the most evil and deadly of all Venom’s twisted offspring.

As for the origins of Riot and his fellow symbiote siblings, that dark tale begins with the subversive Life Foundation as seen in Venom: Lethal Protector #4 (1993). This greedy corporate organization sought to replicate Venom’s powers to create guardian symbiotes for rich clients disaster shelters. They captured and forcibly extracted potent alien “seeds” from Venom which were cultured and bonded to create five new symbiote offspring.

This perverse experiment birthed Scream, Lasher, Agony, Phage and crucially – Riot. Let’s analyze this fearsome creature in more depth to see what makes him such an ominous adversary.

Riot‘s Destructive Power Unleashed

Out of all these opportunistic offspring, the aptly named Riot proved the strongest, most vicious and dangerous. He was paired with a sociopathic former soldier named Trevor Cole by Life Foundation scientists. Cole’s military background and lust for violence proved a dangerously effective match for Riot’s formidable, deadly talents.

Riot‘s Key Abilities

In many ways, Riot seemed an even deadlier evolution of Venom with his sadistic partnership with psychopath Cole. He murdered innocent people and fought both Spiderman and Venom with ruthless fury. Like his “father”, Riot displays enhanced versions of typical symbiote powers like shapeshifting, weaponizing his limbs and superhuman strength. But he uses these gifts solely for domination and carnage.

"Riot delights only in spreading mayhem, panic and pain” (Eddie Brock, Venom #4)

In their climactic battle, Venom exploited Riot’s one key weakness – sonic weaponry using church bells to cripple him. With Riot reeling, Venom finished him off himself to prevent further bloodshed. This murderous offspring forced Venom to unleash his own monstrous side – proving Riot to be perhaps his darkest mirror.

Riot Returns in Sony‘s Venom (2018)

Director Ruben Fleischer’s smash hit Venom film brought back Riot in a villainous role hunting aliens hiding on Earth. Here he is portrayed as another Klyntar symbiote intent on bringing more of his species to Earth by force. He fuses with power hungry billionaire Carlton Drake, founder of the Life Foundation and shared his comic book counterpart’s arrogance and ambition.

Their master plan? Bring hordes of alien symbiotes through space probes to overrun Earth. As in his original origin, this Riot has no familial link to movie Venom’s symbiote. They simply share the same planet of origin, and Riot attempts a violent takeover of Earth that Venom refuses. Their explosive battles across San Francisco prove Riot‘s superior strength and even Venom doubts his chances against this terrifying foe without his weaknesses to sonic and fire attacks. Ultimately Venom successfully stops the spacecraft carrying Riot and his alien swarm back to Earth in a huge conflagration.

While not biologically linked in Sony’s continuity, their rivalry echoes their comic book clashes. Both versions of Riot live up to being a destructive, amoral offspring of Venom’s own darkness.