TOXIN

 

TOXIN

Real Name: Patrick Mulligan

First Appearance: Venom Vs. Carnage (Vol. 1) #1, July 2004

Powers: Ex-police officer Patrick "Pat" Mulligan was originally a baseline human with no superhuman powers. He became Toxin after bonding with an alien Symbiote. The Symbiotes are a bloodthirsty but otherwise emotionless race composed of viscous protoplasm. They graft onto the adrenal and nervous system of other beings, using them as hosts. Symbiotes reproduce asexually by budding once per generation. In Toxin's case, his Symbiote was the spawn of serial killer Cletus Kasady's symbiote: Carnage.

Toxin presumably inherited somewhere between equal to double his father's power, giving him Class 20-40 superhuman strength, plus superhuman speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, and leaping ability. His Symbiote can protect him from bullets and various other forms of physical impact or injury, and augments his healing powers as well. The Symbiote is capable of mimicking any set of regular clothing, and can mold itself over Mulligan's features to make him look like an entirely different person. Pat prefers to model himself after Spider-Man more than his "father" or "grandfather".

When Pat is most in control, his costumed face is blank like Spider-Man's mask; the trademark Symbiote fangs and tongue begin to show through when Toxin begins to exert himself. Toxin is capable of wall-crawling and superhuman physical power in or out of costume, but only if the Symbiote is willing, otherwise Pat is just a normal man. Typically, Toxin bulks up when transforming into his Symbiote form, with arms slightly longer than a normal person, razor sharp talons grown from his fingers, and squirming tentacles around his mid-section. His height fluctuates depending on his mood and the amount of influence Pat is allowing his Symbiote, often shifting between six and nine feet tall at a given moment. He can also expel his costume's substance like a web-line for swinging through to city, or to ensnare and trap his opponents. Furthermore, Toxin has specially enhanced senses that his predecessors have not demonstrated; he has superhumanly acute hearing, and needs nothing more than a sample of skin or blood to track someone down by their personal scent.