Venom

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Venom
Planetary Compendium
Class	U
Radius	8,529 km
Albedo	.52
Gravity	1.43
Escape Velocity	14.84 km/s
Equilibrium Temperature	188
Atmosphere	N243 + CO236 + CH412
Hydrographics	0%
Biomass	0 Quads
Political Information
Establishment(s)	Andross's Palace Anglar Palace
Inhabitant(s)	Andross's Empire Star Wolf Team Anglar Emperor Anglar army
Appearance(s)
Main Game(s)
Super Smash Bros. Game(s)
Comic(s)	Star Fox Comic Lylat Wars Comic

“General Pepper's Flight Log, pg 106
Fox, we have very little information about the mysterious planet of Venom. Andross has undoubtedly built a base of maze-like tunnels going deep into the planet. Because his base is hewn from solid rock, there is no way for us to learn anything about it from orbit. At this point, you'll be up against the most elite of enemy forces. The Star Wolf team is sure to show up, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were flying the most advanced ships in Andross's arsenal. This will be your last battle before you go up against Andross himself, so be prepared to fight hard!”

—

Venom is the first planet of the Lylat System and is often seen to be the largest planet in the Star Fox series. It is usually shown to be about half an orbit away from Corneria, meaning that of all of the regions of interest in the Lylat system, it is the furthest away from Corneria. Due to its close proximity to Lylat, Venom is mostly an uninhabitable world, generally regarded as a place of death and destruction. Following his refusal to stop his dangerous research, Andross was charged with the highest treason and sentenced to be permanently banished to the planet's surface. However, he would later construct himself a palace deep within the planet's crust, raise an army from the planet's inhabitants, and declare war on Corneria and the entire Lylat System.

In most game appearances, Venom plays a major role in the plot and frequently serves as the focal point and final Missions in the 1993 game, "Star Fox 64", "Zero" and in "Command", all four of Venom's Missions lead to four of the game's possible endings. In "Star Fox 2", Venom was liberated from Andross's rule after his previous defeat, but is subjected to being reclaimed by his second attempt to conquer the Lylat System. Venom's appearances in the Nintendo Power Comics and the Lylat Wars Comic repeats the game roles of Andross's base of operations and the final Mission.

Overview

“Planetary Compendium
Venom is a harsh frontier world on the periphery of the Lylat system. The atmosphere is almost unbreathable, and the rocky surface is broken by rough cliffs and chasms. Because of its distance from Corneria, it has never been fully explored.”

—

A harsh place with only decaying remnants of civilization, Venom is a cruel planet with conditions intolerable to most life. The atmosphere is highly un-breathable, as there is barely any oxygen whatsoever and it is covered with a very thick smog that keeps much of the light from both Lylat and Solar from reaching Venom's surface. Overall, Venom is a world of perpetual darkness. The surface is barren, broken by rough cliffs and chasms. A vast acidic ocean kills off any straggling attempts of life to flourish. Andross was exiled to this planet for the deadly crimes he committed near Corneria's population. However, he did survive and even managed to make parts of the planet habitable, allowing himself and his formed army to live in isolation on the planet. It has since become his adopted homeworld and base of operations.

• In "Star Fox", Venom was a grey and black planet, yet the surface was yellow with thick clouds and thunderstorms.
• In "Star Fox 64", it appears shrouded in green gas from space (though it has a mahogany surface). The 3DS remake has conditions that resemble the original SNES designs.
• In "Command", Venom has a highly acidic sea, from which the Anglar Empire emerged from. But with the effects of the Anglar Device unleashed onto the planet, the hostile wasteland nature of Venom was eradicated and transformed the place into a warm climates paradise.
• In Super Smash Bros. Melee and Ultimate, Venom is crimson, brown, rocky and contains volcanic activity.
• In "Zero", Venom is a very small dwarf planet or asteroid that has been converted into a giant teleportation device.
• In "Star Fox 2", Venom is shown to be green and grassy and there are trees and mountains in the background. A giant mushroom can even be seen growing in the immediate area and large flowers can be seen shooting energy waves on higher difficulties. This may indicate that the planet has been terraformed since its last appearance.

History

“Lylat Datalink; Evidence of a lost tribe?, pg 110
It is not known whether or not Golemech is something Andross created or something he discovered in the ancient ruins that dot the surface of Venom. Few archeologists surveys were sent to Venom before Andross took it over as his base, but Corneria University scientists believe that the legendary Lost Tribe of Cornerus did, indeed, inhabit Venom in the distant past. They also think it possible that Golemech is a remnant of the Lost Tribe's technology. Ancient texts state that the tribe eventually struck out into space to find a new home, but what became of them, no one knows.”

—

Before the Lylat Wars, this planet was largely unexplored, most likely due to fears that explorers may have had about it. Yet the Cornerian University did indicate that a legendary lost space tribe of Cornerus once inhabited that planet and struck out to find a new home but they were never found, leaving their technology behind. 

On Corneria, Dr. Andross was tried for high treason and exiled to Venom as punishment under direct order of General Pepper for performing dangerous experiments that threatened Corneria's safety, and subsequently, Venom became his homeworld and new base of operations. When Andross was exiled to this world, it was considered to be a parallel to a death sentence; few suspected that he would survive to wreak havoc upon the Lylat system. Without interference from General Pepper and the Cornerian Military unable to keep close watch on him, Andross was able to get back on schedule and dug a maze of deep tunnels into Venom's interior to build himself what he was denied on Corneria, a palace.

Five years after his arrival on Venom, the original Star Fox team were sent to Venom by General Pepper to investigate reports of strange bio-engineering activity. Reaching the planet's surface, James McCloud and Peppy Hare were then ambushed by unexpected enemy fighters and captured by Andross after they were surprisingly betrayed by their disloyal teammate Pigma Dengar. While Peppy was barely able to escape from Venom and return home to Corneria, James's fate was unclear but widely presumed and implied to have been executed at Andross's hands. A few years later, Andross started the Lylat Wars by launching a massive invasion from Venom, which he had transformed from its barren, uninhabitable landscape into a military stronghold swarming with mechanical minions. His forces nearly succeeded in their conquest of the Lylat system, having just reached Corneria. However, the Star Fox team thwarted his every attempt at interplanetary domination, and by the end of the war, they were leading the counter-charge right back into Venom itself, which would lead to his eventual defeat.

After the Lylat Wars, Venom was mostly left alone, as it was a largely uninhabitable world and of little apparent value. Some remnants of the Androssian Army may still exist on Venom in some form, but the reason why has yet to be seen.

The Anglars came from the acid seas of Venom. When exactly they were born and how they got there, is another mystery entirely, though one could theorize that the Anglars were an experiment by Andross. Since the Venom Sea corroded any ships, it was thought that nothing could survive there. After an examination, ROB 64 discovered that the Anglar ships were mostly manufactured out of aluminum, with trace amounts of chrome, which kept the ship from being dissolved and allowed them to survive in the caustic sea. Events that unfolded on Titania included the discovery of a terraforming device, left behind by Andross. Having no choice but to trust the superior scientific mind of Andross, the device was launched into Venom's atmosphere, to surprisingly successful results of transforming the toxic, desolate wasteland into a mild climated paradise. The planet's true fate, however, remains uncertain.

In the Comics

Star Fox Comic

Venom appears in the Nintendo Power Comics based on the SNES continuity, as Andross's base of operations after his banishment. Later on in exile, Andross made the discovery that Venom hosted life-forms of humanoid lizards. These lizards were lacking in sophistication until he made yet another discovery of the instructions on building a telekinetic amplifier, which was used by Andross to grant the lizards intelligence and brainwash them into his followers.

Lylat Wars Comic

Venom appears in the Lylat Wars Comic, filling the same role as it does in the games. Unlike the games, Venom is completely destroyed at the end by Andross's meltdown.

The planet first appears when Pigma and Andrew's Wolfen starfighters are highly damaged by their dogfight with Star Fox, and crash-land on Venom. They face Andross, blaming each other for their failures in fear. Andross warns them not to fail at stopping the Star Fox team again under the threat of vapourisation.

The Star Fox Team eventually make it to Venom, approaching from the Bolse satellite and arriving on the plains. Upon the plains of Venom, Peppy and Slippy are badly damaged by overwhelming odds and are forced to pull out, leaving Fox and Falco to continue the fight. Falco eventually leads the Venomians away from Fox to let him reach Andross's Palace. Breaking though the defenses of the Golemech, Fox comes face to face with Andross at last, discovering what the Ape's years of experiments have turned him into. Andross then tortures and mocks Pigma for his failures and treasons before Fox. Despite the swine's constant breaking of trust and treacherous ways, Fox pleads for Pigma's freedom (which fails as Andross burns Pigma with his flames) before entering the final battle. After their struggles, Andross's hide beaks apart, revealing a robotic Andross beneath, which then triggers explosions and forces the entire planet to be completely blown apart due the self destruction ignited by the robotic Andross. Fox returns to his team as they make their way back to Corneria.

Trivia

• Venom has a circumference of 33,000 miles. For comparison, Earth's circumference is just under 25,000 miles, so Venom is a larger world than Earth is.
• In Starlink: Battle for Atlas, the description of the Star Wolf Team mentions that Leon is from Venom.
• The word "venom" comes from the Latin term venesnus, which is used for poison, which can cause death, which may make the planet's name more fitting.
  • Ironically, the Latin term came from a pre-Latin root that means "love".

Names in Other Languages

Language	Name
Japanese	(ベノム, Benomu)

References

• NINTENDO POWER Star Fox 64: Official Nintendo Player's Guide. Redmond, WA, Nintendo of America. 1997.
• Star Fox 64.com
• Krystal Archive
• "1993" Instruction Booklet