Flash "Agent Venom" Thompson

^{This article uses material from the “Eugene Thompson” article on the Marvel Database at FANDOM is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.}

Eugene Thompson, also known as Flash Thompson and Agent Venom, is a character from the Marvel comics and animations.

Flash was a bully at Peter's high school, and thus "Puny Parker" often was the target of his abuse. However, once he became Spider-Man, Peter began standing up to Flash. Ironically, Flash was always a big fan of the wall-crawler. After college, the two went their separate ways, with Flash joining the army. His time there mellowed him out considerably. So much so, that by the time he saw Peter again, the two realized they had more in common than they thought, and soon even became friends. They even ended up teaching at their old high school together. Peter taught science, while Flash taught gym.

Flash enlists in the army during the Iraq War and is grievously wounded in action, losing his legs while saving his comrades. Lauded as a hero for his sacrifice, he is given an offer by the military: he can "rent" the Venom symbiote, which was subdued by drugs, for 48-hour periods (never long enough for the symbiote to establish control) for use in important missions, regaining the use of his legs in the process. Thompson agrees and subsequently becomes the new Venom, marking the character's transition to fully-fledged hero.

In the XP4 fics, Flash debuted in XP4 Heroes Coalition - Kick-Off!.

In the AWA fics, Flash is a student at the AWA Academy.

Appearance[]

Flash has a messy brown hair and green eyes.

His Agent Venom attire consists of a black full head mask with white eye marks. He wears a tight muscle shirt with a white spider design all over the attire, black shoulder armor and gauntlets, black pants with silver utility belts and black armored boots.

Personality[]

As a result of chronic abuse by his violent, alcoholic father, Flash Thompson became a bully during his high-school years, picking on students weaker than himself — namely Peter Parker — in order to vent his anger and frustration. Nevertheless desiring his father's approval above all else, Flash pushed himself to excel in sports, embodying the stereotype of a dumb jock.

Inspired by Spider-Man's selfless heroism, Flash eventually straightened himself out and joined the military in order to prove himself a hero, but was ashamed and haunted by his past as a bully. Remaining hot-tempered and lapsing into alcoholism, Flash despaired at the parallels he saw between himself and his father. Upon becoming Agent Venom, Flash's aspirations to be a superhero clashed with both his military superiors' orders — eventually leading to him going AWOL to protect his family; and with the predatory urges of the symbiote, which was kept suppressed by a suppressant chemical but would resurface if Flash became too angry.

After joining the Secret Avengers and the Thunderbolts, Flash came to realize just how heavy the burden of being a hero was when his new rogues galley and the feral symbiote attacked his family; eventually leaving to Philadelphia to protect them and try to leave his past behind. Upon the Venom symbiote being cleansed, Flash's relationship with it began anew and he came to consider it his comrade and partner, to the point that even when it was re-corrupted he endeavoured to save it from itself.

Flash blamed himself for the death of Andrea Benton's father, and despite having never wanted children out of fear he'd turn out like his own dad he became a surrogate father and mentor to her.

Thompson sank into a deep depression when he was separated from Venom. Not only was he worried sick about his friend and partner, he also missed being a superhero. He was eventually brought out of his depression by his determination to reunite with his former symbiote. Flash initially rejected the notion of the symbiote having returned to Eddie Brock, but learned to respect Brock and accept him as the symbiote's host after he showed his heroic side while fighting Maniac.

XP4 Fanfics[]

Flash is a member of the Heroes Coalitions and is part of the Full Force Guerilla. He also attends the Vanguard Academy as a student.

XP4 Heroes Coalition - Kick-Off![]

In Chapter 12, Flash, alongside his team, the Full Force Guerilla, are seen in an empty city where they're tasked to stop Dr. Dolan Danger and his army from taking it over. After defeating Dolan's army with the doctor fleeing, Flash and the others regrouped, discussing of cleaning the city.

XP4 Heroes Coalition - Mission Chronicles[]

In Chapter 8, Flash, alongside the rest of the Full Force Guerrilla, just finished their mission in a rain forest somewhere in an unnamed planet and are on their way back to their ship when they found themselves surrounded by a large mercenary group called the Vultures. The leader, Mace Wyndu, introduced himself while revealing to be Kazeyoshi Imai's former boss before demanding them information about the Ara-ka Cube but they managed to escape. On their ship, everyone had a conversation on their recent experience with Kazeyoshi sharing what kind of a person Mace is.

Abilities[]

Normal[]

Peak Human Strength: Flash has been shown to be quite strong even for a normal human, like punching a dent on lockers.
Peak Human Acrobatics: Despite his large built, Flash is shown to be very nimble and agile, as shown from his performance in a P.E. fitness course setup by Taskmaster. His performance made Taskmaster initially believe Flash was Spider-Man.
Hand-to-Hand Combat: He was a capable fighter, relying on effective brawling skills from his years of sports. After training in S.H.I.E.L.D., his combat abilities increased drastically, able to take on multiple enemies at once.
Iron Willpower: Looking to Spider-Man's nature as a role-model, Flash has also emulated the wall-crawler's strength of will, refusing to accept defeat or give in to torture.

Venom Symbiote[]

When being taken in by a more advanced Venom Symbiote, Flash was able to retain complete control over his actions, to which he could fully use the Symbiote's powers as he sees fit. As revealed by Dr. Connors, this was because Flash's personal DNA proved so ideal to it, the Symbiote bonded to his genetics on a cellular level. This makes it nearly impossible for the Symbiote to be removed from Flash, greatly reducing his vulnerability to electricity and sonic vibrations.

Shape Shifting: The Symbiote's gives Agent Venom a virtually malleable anatomy which allows it to create countless tendrils for transport or modifying weaponry and technologies, which can be used to further aid him in battle.
Superhuman Durability: He is also far more resilient to physical damage than Spider-Man himself, able take the brute force of Rhino or Hulk and recover quickly after.
Superhuman Strength: Combining the Symbiote's own strength with that of the replicated Spider-Man's and Flash's, Agent Venom is much stronger than Spider-Man, able to effortlessly rip heavy and solid structures bolted in from their surface.
Regenerative Healing Factor: Agent Venom has a greatly accelerated healing speed, able to heal broken bones and damaged flesh instantaneously. He can also heal infections to an extent that modern medical technologies cannot. The Venom Symbiote can also instantly regenerate its own bio-mass, effectively making Agent Venom's bodysuit form indestructible.
Technology Morphing: Agent Venom can morph and enhance vehicles and other forms of machinery and technology using the Symbiote.
Assimilation: Agent Venom is able to absorb and retain the abilities of others that it has merged with. In addition, unlike the previous Venom Symbiote's could only merge with living creatures and morph it into its own likeness, this one is able to assimilate technology into its mass, where it can then use it as the original owner would and even enhance its usage.
- Missile Launchers: Agent Venom stole the Beetle's shoulder-mounted missile launchers.
- Bio-Armor: Agent Venom stole some pieces of the Beetle Armor to give himself extra protection.
- Spider Powers: With the original Venom Symbiote having merged with Spider-Man for a period, it was able to replicate and integrate all of Spider-Man's powers.
  - Superhuman Agility: He is far more agile than a normal human being, able to swiftly and effortlessly dodge a barrage of projectiles unscathed, all while launching a counter-attack without reducing his accuracy.
  - Spider-Sense: Like Spider-Man, Agent Venom has a natural radar to incoming danger, allowing him to instinctively react and avoid it even if caught off guard.
  - Wall-Crawling: Like Spider-Man, he can stick to nearly all surfaces without using his hands or feet, allowing him to scale any terrain without any tools.
  - Organic Webbing: Unlike Spider-Man, Agent Venom is able to generate webbing natural from his wrists, preventing him from ever running out of the substance.

Trivia[]

In The Symbiote Saga: Part 3 when Agent Venom loses control of the symbiote, he resembles the Mac Gargan version.
This is Flash Thompson's fifth animated appearance after Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Spider-Man (1994), Spider-Man: The New Animated Series and The Spectacular Spider-Man.
This is Agent Venom's animated debut.
His eyes as Agent Venom are different to his comic book counterpart while in some promotional material he has the same eyes as his classic counterpart, until in Double Agent Venom.
Technically, this is Scarlet Spider's fourth appearance after Fantastic Four (1994), X-Men (1992) and Spider-Man (1994).
As of Season 4, Flash was temporarily the second Scarlet Spider, whereas Ben is the first Scarlet Spider before him.