Toxin

Toxin
Much like his "father and grandfather" Venom, Carnage produced offspring: a third symbiote. Carnage felt only dislike and hatred towards his new spawn, even before he "gave birth" to it, both fearing that it could become much stronger than himself, and being generally disgusted at the thought of giving birth (due to Carnage's host, Cletus Kasady, being male). At the same time, Carnage's rival and "father" Venom became aware that Carnage was "pregnant" and sought out Carnage to talk about this new symbiote. Carnage had resolved to kill his spawn as soon as it was born. Venom was doing his best to protect the new symbiote, with the intention of raising it to become his new partner. Venom was also concerned that, as the 1,000th symbiote of their line, the new symbiote could potentially become psychotic and violent because of genetic breakdown.[1]

After the birth of his "son", Carnage felt too weak to kill his newborn (due in no small part to his attempt to repress the birth after burying himself). Since he could not kill his newborn, he implanted it into Patrick Mulligan and fled, intending to kill him later and destroy the new symbiote when he was up to strength.[2]

Prior to being implanted with the alien symbiote, Patrick Mulligan was one of New York City's finest cops, yet he was also troubled with various personal problems. His stressful job, along with the strain of his new family (his wife, Gina, was pregnant with their first son, Edward) were taking their toll on him. One night, while on duty, he came across the site where Carnage was giving birth to the new symbiote. Carnage, needing a host to hide the symbiote to keep it from Venom, bonded it to Patrick. Carnage resolved to kill both Pat and the symbiote currently hiding in his body since Toxin wasn't yet strong enough to manifest into a super-powered costume like the Venom and Carnage symbiotes. Venom was still hopeful that he'd be able to use this new symbiote as a partner and fought Carnage to a standstill to protect Pat and the symbiote whom he christened Toxin, after himself.[volume & issue needed]

At first, Patrick didn't realize quite what had happened to him, but before long, the Toxin symbiote had matured enough to gain both conscious thought, and the strength to form a symbiote costume on Pat's body. After Carnage attacked Gina and Edward at his home, he realized the symbiote was a danger to both himself and his family. During a future confrontation between Venom, Carnage, and Toxin, Venom realized Patrick was dedicated to a life of virtue, or as close as he could come bearing the symbiote in him. Venom and Carnage formed a temporary pact to destroy Toxin, as it was clear by now that he was easily as strong as either of his predecessors, and was still growing.[volume & issue needed]

Spider-Man stumbled into the final confrontation between the symbiote trio, and helped Toxin. After they fended off Venom and Carnage, Toxin had a conversation with Spider-Man, filling him in on what had happened to him. Spider-Man gave him a kind of superhero heart-to-heart, and Toxin resigned himself to a life of battling his base symbiote urges to indulge in violence and destruction, while trying to harness his power for good. He walked out on his wife and child, and left the police force to try to come to terms with his new life and Symbiote.[volume & issue needed] In 2005, after Spider-Man joined the New Avengers, Marvel started a six-issue Toxin limited series, which charts Toxin's battles with various supervillains who had escaped from the Raft as a result of the events beginning The New Avengersseries, as well as his constant battle to keep the Toxin symbiote under control, as unlike Venom and Carnage, the host and symbiote minds stayed separate in Toxin, and they even had conversations and arguments with each other; unlike his "grandfather" Venom, Toxin does not refer to himself as "we". Throughout the course of the miniseries, he battled King Cobra, the Wrecker, Piledriver, and Razor Fist.[volume & issue needed]

At one point, trying to live with Toxin becomes too much for Pat, and he attempts to commit suicide by throwing himself in front of a train. Toxin interferes at the last moment, saving Pat and claiming that deep down, Pat didn't really want to die. When Pat presses the issue, however, it becomes clear that, unlike the Venom and Carnage symbiotes, Toxin is not sure it could survive on its own and find a new host. Both Venom and Carnage have left their original hosts, Peter Parker, Eddie Brock, and Cletus Kasady, to bond with others. It was in this limited series that Razor Fist murders Patrick Mulligan's father, but Pat/Toxin begins to show true signs of a hero; he tracks Razor Fist down, but instead of slaughtering him as both the symbiote and Razor Fist himself urge, he controls himself and turns Razor Fist over to the police.[volume & issue needed]

At the end of the limited series, Pat reconciles with his estranged wife Gina by 'introducing' her to the Toxin symbiote as a way of explaining why he walked out on his family.[3]

Pat and Toxin co-operate peacefully on a deal that is honored by them both. Pat will be in complete control of the symbiote, if he allows Toxin two hours of "playtime" each night. However, in those two hours, Toxin is not allowed to commit any acts of grand theft, arson, rape, or homicide