7 Times Comics Made Terrible Heroes Great

2. Venom Becomes A Guardian Of The Galaxy

Although it's fair to say that Venom is noted more for their time as a Spider-Man villain than they are as a hero, the symbiote has spent a long amount of time as an anti-hero of sorts - a point the new Venom movie has been so desperately trying to make.

1993's Lethal Protector - a key influence on the new movie - was the first story arc to showcase Venom as an anti-hero, but it wasn't particularly brilliant, as was evidenced by the character's return to villainy in the ensuing years. It wasn't until the end of the 2000s when the symbiote took on new life as a superhero, with Eddie Brock departing the costume, and war veteran and former high school bully Flash Thompson taking the reigns instead.

This Venom series, spearheaded by writer Rick Remender, made strides in redefining how readers perceive the character. Brian Bendis then took the baton left by Remender for his Guardians of the Galaxy comic, which expanded upon the mythology of the symbiotes, retconned their origin, and transformed Venom into a believable hero with a fascinating backstory.

More recently, Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman have been making further alterations to Venom's history by tying it directly into that of Thor and the Celestials.