Venom is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with Spider-Man. The character is a sentient alien Symbiote with an amorphous, liquid-like form, who requires a host, usually human, to bond with for its survival. After bonding with a human host, the Symbiote bestows its enhanced powers upon the host. When the Venom Symbiote bonds with a human, that new dual-life form usually refers to itself as "Venom".