The symbiotes, an alien race called the Klyntars,
have always been one of the more fascinating extraterrestrials in the Marvel universe. A parasitic creature that requires bonding
to a host, the symbiotes have always packed quite the punch, and have proven themselves
to be a force one should not take likely. What originated as a plot point to introduce
a new black and white costume for Spider-Man soon turned into a sentient alien that would
slink it’s disturbing gross self into the hearts of many a reader. So today, we’re taking a look at which of
these symbiotes is the baddest of the bunch with our list of the top 10 strongest symbiotes. Note that we won’t be counting the hosts,
only focusing on the alien creatures themselves. With that in mind, let’s jump in! 10 Venom
While Venom may be the most iconic symbiote, and the first to make an appearance in the
Marvel universe, he’s actually the weakest of the symbiotes. This is because he’s the first of the blood
line; the off spring of a symbiote is stronger than its parent, and since Venom was the first
on Earth, all of the off spring symbiotes born from him are exponentially more powerful
than he is; each generation of symbiote is intimately more powerful than its predecessor. That being said, it does come down to a matter
of how you use it. Eddie Brock has always had a proficient amount
of control over the Venom symbiote, and the other hosts that have worn Venom in the past,
from Flash Thompson to Mac Gargan to Peter Parker himself, have all exhibited differences
in the symbiotes functionality that are unique. Venom first hit the scene in The amazing Spider-Man
issue 252 back in 1984, first appearing as an alien costume that bonded with Peter Parker
during Secret Wars. It wasn’t until The Amazing Spider-Man issue
300 four years later than Venom would take shape as Venom and not just a parasitic symbiote;
it bonded with Eddie Brock, who at the time wanted revenge against Peter Parker for ruining
his journalism career. 9 Mania/Maniac
The Mania symbiote first appeared in Venom volume 1 issue 1 in 2003; it was cloned from
a piece of Venom that was obtained by the Ararat Corporation, with the goal of using
it to exterminate all life on Earth. Mania was a bit of a weirdo; it refused to
bond with hosts, and instead, would brutally murder them, just for the fun of it. At one point, it bonded with a prison inmate
named Eric Moody, and then jumped ship to an elderly mental patient named Alfonse Poina;
Moody managed to fight off Mania, only for it to bond with Alfonse and then mock Moody
about getting raped in prison after seeing his memories of the event. It then raped and murdered Moody. So yeah, not the kindest symbiote on the block,
clearly. It would later become Maniac, bonding with
Lee Price, who had previously bonded with Venom. Price renamed Mania as Maniac after Price
had ambushed the original host and badly injured her with a sonic cannon and flamethrowers,
taking the symbiote for himself. Apparently, Price is permanently bonded with
Mania, using his immense will power to remain bonded to the symbiote at all times. 8 Scream
In 1993, a Venom story arc came out called Lethal Protector. It followed the story of the sinister Life
Foundation and its leader, a scientist named Carlton Drake, who had discovered a way to
create symbiote soldiers by extracting something called seeds from the Klyntar alien race,
and growing them into fully formed symbiotes. The Life foundation aimed to use these symbiotes
as guardians; they’re whole schtick was that they were preparing for something called
MAD, aka mutually assured destruction, and they had a whole roster of wealthy clients
who were paying for the Life foundation to ensure they would have comfortable lives if
the world went to s***. Once Drake had kidnapped Eddie Brock and managed
to forcibly extract these five seeds from Venom, he was able to bond the offspring with
members of the foundation’s security force, one of which was named Donna Diego, who became
the yellow and red Scream. She eventually was defeated by Eddie Brock
and killed, but her siblings would outlive her and cause Brock a whole lot of trouble
down the line. 7 Riot
Riot has been getting a lot more attention these days, thanks to his upcoming cinematic
debut in the Sony Venom film, starring Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock. Riot is one of Scream’s siblings; bonding
with Trevor Cole, a particularly aggressive and unhinged mercenary working as part of
the Life foundation’s security team, Riot is known for being the largest symbiote of
the five, and often using very aggressive and violent tactics in combat. He often created large bludgeoning weapons
from his arms, along the lines of hammers and maces, and tends to be considered the
strongest out of the group, although his exact strength level was never elaborated on. After he and his siblings were defeated by
Eddie Brock, they were all shipped off to the Vault; a prison for superhuman criminals
that had a wing specifically for extraterrestrial threats. There he was experimented on, and then in
the Planet of the Symbiotes story arc in 1995, Venom, in an attempt to subdue an invasion
of symbiotes, lets out a powerful telekinetic scream that causes them so much pain that
they all commit suicide, which then affects Riot and his siblings, which leads us to our
next number- 6 Hybrid
Riot and his siblings broke out of their confinement at the vault after Venom’s psychic shriek. They then merged into a super hybrid symbiote
known aptly as Hybrid, who would then briefly bond with a character named Scott Washington,
a guard at the Vault. Scott realized through bonding with Hybrid
that Hybrid wasn’t actually a threat after all; instead, the experiments they had undergone
were causing it a lot of pain, and the symbiotes were actually the ones preventing Scott, who
had a lot of anger issues, from being violent. Unfortunately for Hybrid and it’s desires
to be a good intentioned vigilante, Eddie Brock was on a mission to hunt down symbiotes,
and ended up killing Scott Washington. Hybrid would then be found by the US Army,
be separated and put to use as part of the Mercury Team in order to fight Carnage. Needless to say, being the combination of
Riot and the other symbiotes was significantly stronger than just a singular symbiote. Side note, the sibling symbiotes, Phage, Agony
and Lasher, didn’t make this list because of how similar they were to Scream and Riot
in terms of abilities and power. Although Lasher was trained to bond with a
dog named War Dog which appeared in Carnage vs Deadpool, and that’s pretty darn swell. Symbiote dog! Speaking of Carnage, though-
5 Carnage Carnage has also never been one to hold back. But that’s also what makes him a bit vulnerable;
he’s a loose cannon at time. Carnage first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man
issue 360 back in 1992. Carnage was created with the intention of
being a much darker version of Venom, a total psychopath who had no sense of morality. His host Cletus Kasady was modeled after DC’s
Joker, and the character is often depicted as Venom’s archenemy. So how did he come to be? He’s Venom’s offspring. When Venom reattached to Eddie Brock in prison,
Venom left it’s offspring inside the cell; Klyntar have no emotional attachment to their
offspring, and didn’t bother informing Eddie about it, thinking it was of no importance. That symbiote offspring bonded with Kasady,
and Carnage was born, with their bond being even stronger than Brock’s with Venom. Carnage broke out of prison and starting murdering
left right and center, leaving the word Carnage at the scene of the crime each time, written
in blood. 4 Scorn
Scorn is the hybrid prosthesis created from Carnage that combines both technology and
the symbiote. In Carnage Vol 1 issue 4, Carnage is taken
back to Earth after breaking out of the Raft prison by an American Industrialist by the
name of Michael Hall who then locks up Cletus Kasady and uses the symbiote to create new
suits of armour. Carnage breaks out of its containment, bonds
with a psychiatrist named Tanis Nieves. But then things get a little weird. Carnage leaves his own offspring within Nieves’
prosthetic arm. Nieves is horrified by this, cuts off her
arm, but later would rebond with it, becoming Scorn. Scorn is essentially a techno-hybrid; a machine
symbiote, it is able to fuse itself with different kind of technology and mechanical weapons. 3 Anti-Venom
Ant-Venom first debuted in the 2008 story arc New Ways to Die in The Amazing Spider-Man
569. At the time, Eddie Brock was not bonded with
Venom. He had cancer, and got a job at a soup kitchen. His boss, a man named Martin Li, aka Mister
Negative, who has a healing touch. This cured Brock of his cancer, and when Venom
tries to re bond with him, his skin becomes caustic to Venom, causing him to be enveloped
in a new white symbiote created from the remnants of the venom symbiote, which merged with his
white blood cells that were charged thanks to Mister Negative. Anti-Venom’s got a slew of standout abilities. When Brock was the host, he was immune to
fire, heat and sound based attacks. Anti-Venom also has a very nifty healing ability;
he produces antibodies that can cure things like diseases, radioactivity, parasites and
drugs. Whenever he’s around Spider-Man, he cancels
out Spidey’s powers. That being said, Anti-Venom comes with a unique
weakness, too. Concentrations of Norman Osborn’s super
venom via Freak’s DNA make it incredibly vulnerable, and if touched by Mister Negative,
his healing abilities can become void. Brock would later sacrifice the symbiote to
cure people from the Spider-Island virus. 2 Toxin
Toxin, being Carnage’s offspring, has long been considered the strongest of the symbiotes. Carnage was disguised by his offspring and
hated it, especially since he would be stronger than him. This makes his grandfather Venom. Carnage tried to kill Toxin, whereas Venom
tried to protect it, with the intention of raising it to become his partner, but was
also concerned that since it was the 1000th symbiote of their line, that it may go insane
due to a genetic breakdown. Toxin can also do some pretty cool stuff. He has inherited the abilities of his lineage,
like sticking to walls and the ability to shift his identity, he can blend into his
surroundings to become practically invisible and undetectable, unlimited webbing, and he
can form solid weapons from his limbs. But, in addition to that, he has a much more
accelerated healing ability compared to his predecessors, exceptional tracking abilities,
and prefers to not take over the host’s mind, listening to its opinions instead. He has a stronger resistance to heat and sonic
based attacks compared to Carnage, and has a venomous bite. 1 Knull
Knull is not only the newest symbiote to debut in the Marvel universe on this list, but also
the most powerful, all thanks to who it bonded to. He’s the god of symbiotes. So, before we get into this number any further,
heads up, this does contain spoilers for the recent Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman Venom
run. So you’ve been warned. Alright. So in this Venom run, we’re getting a bit
of a retelling about the history of the Klyntar. The first issue revealed that something called
the God of the Symbiotes had awoken, and it kind of looked like a giant dragon when it
first appeared. Essentially, his back story is that Knull
was a god who retailiated against the Celestials when they created the universe, and created
a living sword from his shadow, then used a Celestial’s severed head to forge his
syumbiote sword in its cosmic energies, along with creating a symbiotic suit of armour from
the eldritch darkness he commanded. Essentially, he had manifested the first symbiote
out of his SHADOW so he could kill a Celestial. Knull’s rage of abilities are pretty vast. He has something called Unbrakinesis, which
gives him the ability to create, control, and manipulate a fount of eldritch darkness,
which is a manifestation of the primordial void that existed before the universe, also
known as the living abyss. Yeah, intense. He can dominate symbiotes, being the devine
progenitor of the symbiotes and the nexus of their hive mind. Meaning he can take control of Venom and essentially
revert him to more primitive and aggressive behavior. He’s immortal, has lived for at least 13.7
billion years, is self-sustaining, has a regenerative healing factor, and all the strength and durability
you can image. His one weakness though is divine electricity;
he’s vulnerable to it, so individualos like Thor can mess him up real good, temporarily
destabilizing him. There we have it friends! Which of these symbiotes is your favourite? And which ones would you like to see get adapted
up on the big screen? If you dug this video, please show us some
love, and hit that like button. Make sure you subscribe to top 10 nerd for
more videos on Venom, symbiotes and Marvel in general, and make sure to take a look at
the nifty little playlist we currently have up on your screen for even more! In the meantime, I’ve been your host Kelly
Paoli. Thanks for watching everyone! Catch you all in the next video!