Warning: contains spoilers for Venom #35!Over the years, Venom has chosen a number of human hosts, latching onto extreme personalities who have used their resultant powers for good and evil. However, fans never knew how Venom had such an easy time finding hosts who were willing to become supervillains (or superheroes) at the drop of a hat. Now, it turns out Venom’s selection process is far more precise than anyone knew.

The surprising method that Venom uses to choose its hosts is shown in Venom #35 by Al Ewing and CAFU. In this issue, Venom has abandoned Dylan Brock for fear of it being a negative influence on his life. Venom now stalks the streets of New York, trying to find somewhere to rest before it finally dies alone. Along the way, Venom is tempted to take on a new host, just for survival.

This is where readers see the secret technique that Venom has used for ages to pick its hosts. Venom is capable of sensing certain negative emotions. After seeing a man having a tense argument on the phone, Venom very nearly takes him over, knowing that with all of his anger, he’d welcome the transformation. The power isn’t telepathic, but rather based on scent, with Venom sensing the “phenylamine, adrenaline, dopamine, serotonin” balance of those it considers bonding with.

Venom’s Hosts Have Been Chosen Due To One Specific Trait

Venom #35 by Al Ewing, CAFU, Frank D’Armata, and Clayton Cowles

Venom has had tons of hosts over the years, and while they’ve all been radically different, they all have one thing in common – rage. When Venom first bonded with Spider-Man, it was because Venom was given to Spider-Man during the Secret Wars event. Venom couldn’t bond with Peter naturally due to an absence of the aforementioned chemicals, which is why Venom slowly began pushing Peter to act on his worst urges – to let go and give in to the anger he’d been holding back. Venom came close to unleashing Spider-Man’s buried rage, but thankfully the hero rejected it. Since then, Venom has targeted hosts whose anger is closer to the surface, ensuring it won’t be rejected again.

Venom’s Hosts Have a History of Anger

Venom Senses Chemical Signs of Rage When Looking for a Host

This has been true for nearly all of Venom’s hosts. Dylan Brock, the latest host, naturally had a ton of anger over being abandoned by Eddie Brock. Flash Thompson had anger over the fact he lost his legs, and Mac Gargan was enraged by the experiments that merged his body with the Scorpion armor. But the biggest example of how Venom truly uses anger to select his hosts is from Eddie Brock. When the two met, Eddie Brock’s life had been ruined, and he had intense amounts of anger towards Spider-Man. It was that extreme anger that first attracted the Venom symbiote to him, and it’s what’s made Eddie Brock such a perfect host for decades. What once appeared to be a chance meeting between the symbiote and Brock was anything but – Venom deliberately chose him because of his immense rage.

What’s so cool about this is that while symbiotes definitely feed on negative emotions, it makes sense that each wants a different balance. Carnage has never been a wrathful character, but rather a calculating sadist who takes joy in killing. Meanwhile, the symbiote Sleeper chooses hosts who won’t even know it’s there until the time is right. This new revelation about symbiote senses explains why symbiotes keep finding ideal hosts in Marvel lore, and explains Venom‘s history of choosing such different (but uniformly angry) hosts.

Venom #35 is on sale now from Marvel Comics!