Our top picks from Spider-Man’s Black Suit Saga! Back in 1985, Spider-Man returned from the Beyonder’s SECRET WARS with a hitchhiker in tow. This souped-up “costume” was actually a bonded alien symbiote, a life-form that would nearly topple Spidey’s life, and give rise to Venom!
What happened BEFORE Peter Parker discovered the black suit’s sinister secret? Comics legends Peter David and Greg Land spill all! Set during the original Black Suit Saga, this modern tale pitted the Wall-Crawler against that most mystifying of menaces—Mysterio!
The creative team from SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN returned for their next installment from the Alien Costume Saga! When Hobgoblin gained the power of the Sorcerer Supreme, Spidey, Doctor Strange, and Black Widow were all in to restore balance to Earth’s mystical forces.
The issue that established the suit’s abilities. In the safety of Peter’s apartment, the costume transformed into an ordinary civilian outfit. It even spat out Peter’s camera almost as soon as he thought of it. That really should have tipped him off that the threads were sentient, but Spider-Man had bigger webs to spin.
It took a little convincing for Spidey to assure Black Cat that he was still her boyfriend under the new suit! Once he did, the two pushed the costume to its outer limits in a heated battle against Blob.
After another hard day of being a hero, Peter clocked out for sleep. But as soon as he dozed off, the symbiote crept towards him in a genuinely unsettling way. It wasn’t until AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #258 that readers realized that the suit was taking Spidey’s body out for joy rides at night!
A visit to Mister Fantastic confirmed Spidey’s worst nightmare: The costume was alive and it wasn’t coming off. The Fantastic Four had to take quick action to keep the symbiote from bonding permanently. Peter left the symbiote as a prisoner in Reed Richards’ care, but no container could hold the symbiote for long...
This series opener kicked off the second Black Suit era by reuniting Spidey with the symbiote against his will. From the first page, the symbiote waited inside Peter’s closet until it had the perfect opportunity to reclaim its favorite host…
In this now-classic issue, the inheritor of the symbiote became disgraced journalist Eddie Brock, a one-track-minded antihero who blamed Spider-Man for his career going up in flames. Venom was unleashed, and the rest is history.