Venom Fact — November 2, 2026

Today's Fact

One Venom was apparently not enough paperwork for anyone, so the spare copy got its own host, its own name, and a curse nobody ordered.

VENOM HAS A CLONE — AND THE SYMBIOTE DUMPED ITS DEMONIC HELL-MARK INTO THE COPY AND HANDED IT TO A TEENAGER!

The Featured Fact

The Venom symbiote has a twin it rarely advertises. In Venom Vol. 1 #1 (2003), the Ararat Corporation grew a clone of the symbiote from a piece of its tongue for an extermination plot; the clone was later reabsorbed by the original, which carried the copy inside itself, forgotten, for years.

The spare resurfaced through Flash Thompson. Serving as Agent Venom and working as a Philadelphia gym teacher, Flash tried to shield his student Andi Benton from Jack O'Lantern's poison gas by throwing a piece of his symbiote over her. What peeled away was the clone, and it bonded with Andi permanently instead of returning.

Worse, the transfer came with luggage. The Venom symbiote had been branded with Mephisto's Hell-Mark, and it used the handover to purge the curse into the clone, as revealed in Venom Vol. 2 #38 (2013). Andi took the name Mania and fought beside Flash, never knowing her powers had arrived pre-loaded with a demonic claim.

Why It's Obscure

Symbiote family trees are usually about children. This branch is about a photocopy that woke up holding a contract with Hell.

2003

Grown from a tongue — Venom Vol. 1 #1 (2003) introduces the Ararat Corporation's clone, engineered from a severed piece of the original symbiote.

Philadelphia

The accidental handover — Flash Thompson meant to lend Andi Benton a shield for a few seconds; the symbiote used the moment to offload both its clone and its curse.

#38

Mania named — Venom Vol. 2 #38 (2013) is Andi's first appearance under the Mania name, as the clone's true nature begins surfacing.

The theft

Copy, stolen twice — years later the ex-soldier Lee Price ripped the Mania symbiote from Andi and renamed himself Maniac, proving the clone could be passed around like its parent.

Gallery

Comic art of the clone, its host, and the Venom who passed it on.

Andi Benton as Mania in the black and white symbiote suit — **Mania herself** Andi Benton in the clone's black-and-white suit, spider emblem stretched into the clone's own jagged signature — the Hell-Mark's unwilling heir.

Mania symbiote comic art — **The clone in full** Mania in full symbiote display: outwardly Venom's silhouette, inwardly a copy carrying a curse the original wanted rid of.

Agent Venom Flash Thompson in armour with rifle — **The courier** Flash Thompson as Agent Venom, the host whose protective instinct delivered the clone — and its demonic baggage — to his own student.

Sources

Every fact on this page was checked against at least two independent sources before publication.

Bullpen Bulletins

Mania (Symbiote) — Marvel Database Full history of the clone: grown by Ararat from Venom's tongue, reabsorbed, then passed to Andi Benton along with the Hell-Mark when Flash tried to protect her.
Mania (Character) — Wikipedia Publication and host history confirming the symbiote's 2003 debut, Andi Benton's bonding after the poison-gas attack, and the Hell-Mark transfer arranged by the Venom symbiote.
Mania Profile — Marvel Appendix Independent profile recording Andi's first appearance in Venom Vol. 2 #31, her debut as Mania in #38, and the clone and Devil's Mark mechanics.