Mania (character)

Mania (also known as Venom and Maniac) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It first appeared in Venom #1 and was created by Daniel Way and Francisco Herrera. Belonging to a race of amorphous extraterrestrial parasites known as Symbiotes, its hosts are Patricia Robertson, Andrea "Andi" Benton and Lee Price.

The Mania symbiote first appeared in the 2003 Venom limited series by Daniel Way and Francisco Herrera as "Venom" with the first major host Patricia Robertson. It was not referred to as Mania until the 2011 relaunch began by Rick Remender and Cullen Bunn, with Bunn christening the character as Mania. The second most significant host Andrea Benton was created by Bunn as well, while the third major host Lee Price was created by Mike Costa.

The Mania symbiote was cloned from a piece of the original Venom symbiote's tongue that was obtained by the Ararat Corporation, intended to facilitate Bob's goal of exterminating all life on Earth. Engineered in the Ararat Corporation's Mesa Verde Laboratory in New Mexico, the symbiote clone initially refused to bond to any of the test subjects offered as hosts, instead opting to brutally kill them—not to devour them, but out of sadistic enjoyment. But when presented with a choice between two prospective hosts — the elderly mental patient Alfonse Poina and the prison inmate Eric Moody, sentenced for killing six men — the symbiote attacked both. When Moody managed to fight it off, the symbiote bonded to Poina, mocking Moody over having been raped in prison — memories it gleaned from being in contact with him - before implicitly raping and killing him.

Following it deliberately killing its host by draining him of his vital fluids, the symbiote (now known as Venom) was deemed ready by Bob and sent to an Ararat Corporation laboratory in the Canadian Arctic, where after nineteen months Bob released it from containment and it slaughtered all but one of the scientists. Shortly afterwards, Patricia Robertson, a lieutenant in the US Army stationed at the nearby Christmastown radar station, arrived at the laboratory on an errand and the Venom symbiote lured her inside by impersonating someone calling for help. While Robertson investigated the carnage, the Venom symbiote bonded to Ivan, one of her sled dogs, and was brought back to the Christmastown base. The Venom symbiote detached itself from the dog and bonded to Harold Saunders, transferring to Colonel Michael Malone that evening and burying Saunders' corpse in the snow, where it was dug up and partially eaten by Ivan the following day. The Venom symbiote impersonated Malone until it had gotten the Ararat survivor, Perry, alone and then attacked him. When Robertson and Daniel Jackson responded to Perry's screams, the Venom symbiote attacked them and was about to transfer to Robertson when it was attacked by a strange man in a black suit, wielding a cell-phone capable of shooting lightning. Jackson's intervention to protect his CO enabled the Venom symbiote to escape, pursued by the Suit. Having drained Malone to death, the Venom symbiote set a trap for the Suit and ambushed him, tearing him to pieces and revealing him to be an artificial construct assembled by spider-like extraterrestrial machines.

Finding Jackson and Robertson bound together in a storage closet, the Venom symbiote took over Jackson, telling Robertson it had already killed the other members of the team. When asked by Robertson if it was going to kill her too, the Venom symbiote said that because it liked her it was going to give her a sporting chance first, breaking her bonds. Tripping Patricia before she could escape, the Venom symbiote attacked, gloating over her terror. Before it could kill her, Jerome Delacroix intervened and held it at gunpoint, but the Venom symbiote caught him off guard by revealing its host's face and knocked him out. To torture Robertson, the Venom symbiote told her it was going to consume Delacroix from the inside out before returning for her, and left to transfer to its new host. Retrieving and cocooning the corpses of its former hosts and leaving them on display, the Venom symbiote attacked Robertson once she found them, but she accidentally shot it in the chest with her grenade launcher. Separated from Delacroix's drained body, the Venom symbiote took over Perry after he and Robertson were knocked out by the reconstituted Suit blowing up the facility's vehicles, impersonating him in an attempt to trick Robertson into helping it escape. When the Suit confronted them, the Venom symbiote urged Robertson to kill him, but Suit revealed its deception. Having drained Perry to death, the Venom symbiote prevented the Suit from killing Robertson and tore him apart again, then rebonded to Ivan and escaped into the wilderness.

Headed for the nearest settlement, Voici in the Northwest Territories, the Venom symbiote transferred to a crow when the sled-dog died, jumping to a man named Orrie and from him to another man named Clem, using his skidoo to travel the rest of the way to Voici. Having drained Clem, the Venom symbiote stopped at a diner owned by a woman named Nan, impersonating its host and telling an older man named Yooper that it intended to kill and eat everyone. Taking over Nan, the Venom symbiote pretended to flee the diner and was attacked by Vic and Frankie, agents sent by the Ararat Corporation to become its hosts. When Wolverine intervened, the Venom symbiote unveiled itself and attacked, seeing him as the ideal host due to his healing factor and adamantium claws. The Venom symbiote's fight with Wolverine was interrupted by the Suit, who seemingly killed Logan, but the Venom symbiote mockingly informed the Suit it would just bond with Wolverine once he healed. Their confrontation was interrupted by Vic, who offered herself to the Venom symbiote, but the Suit told the Venom symbiote that Vic had been outfitted by a cybernetic collar that connected to her brain and would allow her to control it. When Yooper exited the diner, the Venom symbiote selected him as its next host and latched onto a bullet fired by Vic, bonding to the old man and preparing to resume the fight. Vic retreated and reunited with Frankie — who had captured Robertson — in their ship, dropping an atomic bomb on Voici to kill any other potential hosts.

The Venom symbiote survived the nuke by taking over a swarm of cockroaches, killing Frankie. The Venom symbiote then ambushed Wolverine and took over him, slicing the Suit to pieces and attacking Robertson, who the Suit had outfitted with Vic's cybernetic collar. Despite being bonded to the ideal host, the Venom symbiote prepared to jump to Robertson, but was interrupted by the arrival of a second Vic and Frankie. Crashing their ship, the Venom symbiote abducted and killed Frankie 2.0, leaving Vic 2.0 to stumble across Vic 1.0's corpse and have an existential crisis, seemingly killing herself. The Venom symbiote returned to attack Robertson, who used a phone the Suit constructed to detonate his original phone, which had been implanted in Wolverine's chest. Separated from its host, the Venom symbiote bonded to Robertson, informing her of its purpose.

Robertson, as She-Venom, traveled to New York to kill Eddie Brock after learning of the cloned Venom symbiote's purpose. Their first battle ended inconclusively due to the intervention of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Spider-Man. Robertson's control collar was deactivated by Bob, enabling the cloned Venom symbiote to begin taking over her, but before she completely lost control it was repaired by the Suit and Vic 2.0, who had taken up Frankie's identity and turned against the Ararat Corporation. Frankie revealed that the cloned Venom symbiote had been engineered to merge with and induce reproductive hormones into the original Venom symbiote in order to give birth to a horde of symbiotes that would exterminate all life on Earth. Robertson was taken to the Fantastic Four, who intended to use her to lure Brock into a trap and let the Suit kill him. She was taken to a secure location by Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch, but Bob attacked and incapacitated them. Impersonating the Suit again, he tricked Robertson into going after Brock and deactivated the control collar once she was within range. The cloned Venom symbiote immediately abandoned her and was absorbed into the original Venom symbiote, making Brock even more powerful than ever and setting the stage for the endgame of Bob's plan.