Name

Current Alias

Origins[]

The symbiote once known as Clinter came to Earth alongside a symbiote calledCrimson to facilitate the resurgence of their god and creatorKnull. After a falling-out, Clinter seemingly perished alongside his host and was presumed deceased by Crimson.^[1][2]

At some point, Clinter bonded to a Japanese boy namedKintaro, and by the year 977 they became members of the Minamoto Samurai Corps. As Crimson amassed an army by infecting animals with offshoots, Kintaro and Clinter consumed them to gain those unique abilities. When a farming village was beset by an "oni" bear controlled by an offshoot of Crimson, Kintaro and Clinter were dispatched to stop it.^[3]

Annoyed by Kintaro having taken so long to find its next meal, Clinter declared that it was time to eat as it engulfed Kintaro and transformed him into Kid Venom. Roaring, the symbiote-possessed bear lunged but Kid Venom dodged it, assuring the terrified villagers that he was not like the otheroni. Bracing himself with spikes extending from his back, Kid Venom launched the symbiote-controlled bear skyward and then leapt after it. As he prepared to transform into a form suitable for aerial combat, the symbiote-controlled bear fired a volley of offshoots towards the villagers below. Reacting quickly, Kintaro ordered Clinter to stop them and his symbiote shot out a flurry of tendrils that snared and consumed the offshoots just before they could hit their targets. As Clinter devoured the offshoots, it sneered that the bear's symbiote was nothing more than a punk and that it and Kintaro would rip it off the bear in short order, transforming into Falcon Mode.^[4]

Unique among symbiotes, Clinter was unable to feed off its hosts' adrenaline and thus had to consume other symbiotes for sustenance. In the process, however, it was able to assimilate any unique powers those symbiotes may have attained from their hosts. Activating Falcon Mode, Kid Venom's arms changed into avian wings and his feet into talons. Grabbing the symbiote-controlled bear with his talons, Kintaro told Clinter to hurry up and eat it. Clinter stabbed tendrils into the symbiote-controlled bear and began sucking the symbiote off, and in retaliation it fired a barrage of tendrils into Kintaro's chest that burst out his back. As Kid Venom coughed up blood, Clinter finished ripping the red and black symbiote away from the bear and eating it.^[5]

Death of the Venomverse[]

Kintaro and his symbiote were recruited byAgent Venom fromEarth-1051 to help stopCarnage's multiversal massacre of Venom variants. They were summoned toEarth-64926 byVirus in a last-ditch attempt to stop Carnage after it killedKnull and absorbedhis power. All of them failed, and most of the Venoms were killed. Kintaro was one of the few survivors and was returned to his universe.^[6]

Kid Venom[]

On May 5th, 977, Kintaro lay dazed amidst the roots of a tree, asking Clinter why the oni they were fighting would not die no matter how much of it they ate; noting that its memories are blank. As Kintaro picked himself up, Clinter protested that it could not eat any more and Kintaro retorted that they would just keep fighting until it worked up an appetite again. Roaring, a symbiotetsuchigumo prepared to attack only to be decapitated byUsui Sadamitsu using a scythe of magical energy. Landing, Sadamitsu berated Kintaro for wasting his time fighting a small-fry, only to be caught off-guard when Kintaro points out that thetsuchigumo was still alive. As it began manifesting humanoid offshoots, Kintaro explained that he was having trouble defeating it due to not being able to reach its host's memories, and theorized that it didn't even have a host in the first place.^[7]

Later at his mansion, Minamoto no Yorimitsu bestowed Kintaro with the surname Sakata and the new forename Kintoki. As the ground began to shake, Yorimitsu wondered if it was an earthquake, but Kintoki sensed danger and told Yorimitsu to run. A massive horde oftsuchigumo arrived with Ibara standing on one's neck. Yorimitsu ordered Kintoki to get the mysterious pouch to Seimei and find out how the barrier around Kyoto was breached, snapping Sadamitsu out of his terror-induced fugue state and ordering him to protect Kintoki at all costs.^[7]

Kintoki fought against the horde of offshoot oni alongsideUsui Sadamitsu. As he used his flaming magic scythe to slash through a group of offshoots, Kintoki was abruptly impaled through the heart by a red-and-black spike. Sporting four spider-like legs made of symbiote biomass, Ibara grinned maniacally and called Clinter a traitor tothe homeland. Speaking through Kintoki, Clinter laughed and scoffed that Ibara was born on Earth. Enraged, Ibara started to transform, blood-red symbiote biomass and fangs forming around his face as he snarled that he would kill Clinter in the name of the Vacant Oni. As Sadamitsu shouted a challenge to Ibara, the oni prince sneeed at him; Sadamitsu asking if Kintoki could fly yet. Kintoki replied that he needed to heal to do so and also needed to feed to heal, telling Sadamitsu to throw him at one of thetsuchigumo. Manifesting more spider-like legs, Ibara blocked their path but was shot through the head byUrabe no Suetake, who set his head ablaze. After Clinter consumed one of thetsuchigumo,a mysterious infant was discovered at its core.^[1]

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