Carnage is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually as an adversary of Spider-Man and the archenemy of his father Venom, in particular the Eddie Brock incarnation of the character, although Carnage and Venom have joined forces when their goals have aligned. The character made its first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #361 (April 1992),[2] and was created by writer David Michelinie and artist Mark Bagley, although the first published artwork of Carnage was penciled by Chris Marrinan. Stan Lee would also have some input in the character's name and attributes, pushing for a character who would be far darker and more vicious than Venom, due to the latter's more scrupulous character development.
Carnage belongs to a race of amorphous parasitic extraterrestrial organisms known as Symbiotes, which form a symbiotic bond with their hosts and give them super-human abilities. Originating as an offspring of Venom, Carnage is much more powerful than its parent symbiote because of the symbiotes' biology, and is in many ways a darker version of him. Like Venom, Carnage has had multiple hosts over the years, but its most infamous one remains its first – killer Cletus Kasady, whose sadistic personality perfectly matches that of the symbiote. Other notable hosts include Ben Reilly, Karl Malus, and Norman Osborn, as well as Gwen Stacy in the alternate Ultimate Marvel continuity. The Carnage symbiote gave birth to its first significant offspring, Toxin, in 2004.
Since its original introduction in comics, the character has been adapted into other forms of media, such as television series and video games. Woody Harrelson voiced Carnage in its first live-action appearance in the film Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), set in Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU), as well as portraying Cletus Kasady, reprising his cameo role from Venom (2018). In 2009, the Cletus Kasady version of Carnage was ranked as IGN's 90th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.[3]
The Carnage symbiote was derived by writer David Michelinie while Mark Bagley designed the character. The symbiote was perceived to be a darker version of Venom, and was created due to the writers not wanting a replacement for Eddie Brock as Venom. Carnage was in part only created due to Venom's immense popularity with fans. The character was originally meant to be named "Chaos",[4] until a different company came out with a character with the same name. Then "Ravage" was considered before Michelinie discovered Ravage 2099 was soon to be released. Finally, assistant editor Eric Fein suggested "Carnage". Stan Lee would also have some input for the human host, having come up with the name "Cletus Kasady", with the idea of Carnage's host being a remorseless psychopath whose bond with his Symbiote was far more complete than Eddie Brock and Venom Symbiote's, and therefore would refer to himself as "I" instead of Venom's "we", signifying his Symbiote had little agency of its own and acted more as a weapon and extension of Kasady's will, maximizing his ability to murder people in creative and gruesome ways.[5]
When Eddie Brock's Venom symbiote soon returned to be bonded again, allowing Venom to escape prison, the symbiote left its offspring in the cell; due to its alien mindset, the symbiote felt no emotional attachment to its offspring, regarding it as insignificant, and thus never communicated its existence to Brock via their telepathic link. The new symbiote then bonded with Cletus Kasady through a cut on his hand, transforming him into Carnage.[6][7] The bond between the Carnage symbiote and Kasady was not as strong as the bond between Brock and the Venom symbiote. However, Cletus Kasady was also a serial killer and thought of as insane. As a result, Carnage is far more violent, powerful, and deadly than Venom.[8] Kasady and the symbiote would then be a main antagonist in "Maximum Carnage" and Kasady would continually be the most recurring character to use the Carnage symbiote in many publications.[9][10]
The Carnage symbiote briefly managed to escape Kasady by traveling through the plumbing in his cell. It briefly used John Jameson as its host, but eventually transferred itself to Spider-Man— Ben Reilly at the time— when Ben bonded with it to prevent it from hurting any innocent people, creating Spider-Carnage. Ben's willpower held out against the symbiote's murderous desires long enough for him to return it to Ravencroft. Reilly subsequently attempted to destroy the symbiote by subjecting himself to a potentially lethal blast of microwaves, but it escaped back to Kasady after the microwaves forced it to separate from Reilly.[11]
After Kasady was lobotomized, he was broken out of prison by the Wizard and Klaw, who intended to recruit him into the Frightful Four and turn him into their version of Venom. After a failed attempt to control Kasady, Wizard transferred the Symbiote to Dr. Karl Malus. Dr. Malus was enraged and under the influence of the Symbiote tried to kill his teammates, but he was subdued by Klaw and controlled by Wizard, who renamed him "Superior Carnage" and equipped him with weapons.[12]
The trio are confronted by the Superior Spider-Man and during their battle the Wizard loses his control over Carnage and he is fatally injured once Spider-Man accidentally drops him due to the shock of finding out the Wizard read his mind and knows about Otto Octavius. Carnage, now free, goes on a rampage and starts to kill anyone in front of him. Klaw tries to stop him, but due to his weapon being damaged, he fails and realizes that the only way is for the Wizard to take back control. Both Carnage and Klaw make their way outside. Carnage fights the Superior Spider-Man and admits that although he liked using weapons, for him ripping and slashing the bodies is better. Klaw tries to get the Wizard to control Carnage again but is killed by Carnage and the explosion separates the Symbiote from its host, only to bond with the injured Wizard.[12]
Following the events of Secret Empire, the Carnage symbiote was stolen from an old S.H.I.E.L.D. storehouse by the then-powerless Norman Osborn.[13] He initially found himself overwhelmed by the symbiote's desire for mindless slaughter when he allowed it to merge with him,[14] but he has been able to 'persuade' the symbiote to let him take control of Carnage's powers to show it something other than 'boring' mindless slaughter.[15] Using this combination of powers during the "Go Down Swinging" storyline, Norman is easily able to tear through Human Torch, Clash, Silk, Miles Morales, and Agent Anti-Venom, with the combination of the symbiote and the Goblin serum rendering Carnage immune to its traditional weaknesses, eventually transferring part of the symbiote to his grandson Normie enough to turn him into a miniature version of Red Goblin.[16] The Carnage symbiote is seemingly destroyed by Spider-Man when he hits it with an exploding gas tank, however, because the symbiote was attached to Norman when Peter destroyed it, he wonders what sort of effect that might have had on his old foe's mind. Later as Spider-Man visits Norman in Ravencroft, it's revealed that Norman's mind appears to have been completely fried and now believes that Spider-Man is Norman Osborn and he is Cletus Kasady. It's not clear whether or not he's faking it or if he had lost his mind. Meanwhile, Harry manages to remove the Carnage symbiote from Normie. Not all of it has gone.[17]
Following the defeat of Cletus Kasady, the Carnage and Grendel symbiotes were absorbed by Eddie Brock, who is later given an offer to join the Avengers. However, in the middle of his big day, Carnage can overcome Venom and take over. Eddie leaves before things get out of hand, leaving the Avengers with strange reactions. Eddie returns home and tries to quiet the Carnage in a way he has done before with Venom, heavy medication. Eddie passes out and has a vision of Knull. This causes Eddie to take off and head towards the island where he long ago had thought he had killed Spider-Man and where he remained until the emergence of Carnage. However, Carnage catches on to Eddie's thoughts and causes the plane to crash land. Separated from the Carnage symbiote, Eddie is ready to face it off.[18] After a narrow escape that cost him his left hand,[19] Eddie was eventually rescued by the Avengers, who promptly nuked the island to finally eradicate the symbiotes still on it.[20] Meanwhile, to find his father, Dylan discovers a unique ability he has to track and control symbiotes, which he uses to find Eddie, and learns a terrible truth: Eddie never left the island at all. Instead, he has been bonded against his will to Carnage.[21] Using the Venom symbiote and taking the form of a Tyrannosaurus rex, Dylan tries to separate his father from Carnage but only allows the Carnage symbiote to take Dylan to his father's mindscape. There, Dylan is able to finally free himself and Eddie from Carnage's control. However, the symbiote survives the ordeal, and is also able to leave the island by bonding with a shark.[22]
Following the confrontation with the new King in Black, a piece of the symbiote survived and chooses a fish for a host and then attacks a shark. It eventually moves up the food chain and arrives on a fishing boat and begins again a killing spree. Inspired by what Eddie had done, Carnage formulated a new plan to make a comeback using the power Knull had bequeathed to create a rival Hive with itself as its nexus. Carnage slowly made its way back to New York – restoring itself by devouring everyone it came across en route. Once back in Manhattan, Carnage bonded to Senator Arthur Krane who was running a campaign to get Earth rid of aliens, both the good and bad type, and is working with Alchemax and the Friends of Humanity. Carnage also began to infect many of the symbiotes left behind on Earth with its will, including Phage, Lasher, Riot, and Agony. However, Carnage's failed attempt to corrupt the Anti-Venom symbiote alerted Flash Thompson and Iron Man.[23]
There have been other, shorter-term hosts for the symbiote.
Though bonded to Kasady's bloodstream the symbiote found a way to abandon its host by travelling through the Ravencroft Institute's water pipes overwhelming Ravencroft's chief, John Jameson. Carnage used him to commit further murders before eventually bonding with Spider-Man (who was Ben Reilly at the time).[11]
During a subsequent rampage, the Carnage symbiote briefly attempted to take control of the Silver Surfer, who was visiting Earth at the time to welcome the Fantastic Four after their return to life following the battle with Onslaught. As it turned out, Galactus had consumed a planet that many Symbiotes lived on, and the species had made it a race memory so that each future Symbiote could remember it, as well as the Surfer who had been Galactus's herald at the time. Upon seeing the Silver Surfer, the Carnage Symbiote abandoned Kasady and bonded with the Silver Surfer, becoming the Carnage Cosmic. Spider-Man and the Surfer managed to return the Symbiote to Kasady, who was dying from stomach cancer, and then the Silver Surfer proceeded to seal both host and Symbiote in an unbreakable prison in an attempt to force them both to reflect on their sins for eternity.[24]
After Carnage was ripped in half by the Sentry outside the Earth atmosphere[25] it is later discovered that, although the host was presumably killed, the symbiote survived by becoming dormant and returned to Earth, where it was discovered by Michael Hall, a competitor of Tony Stark. He brought Shriek and her doctor, Tanis Nieves, so he could use Shriek to keep the symbiote alive to use the properties of the symbiote, to create prosthetic limbs and exo-suits which respond in the same ways as a symbiote. One such person, Dr. Tanis Nieves, is outfitted with one of these prosthetic arms after she is caught in an attack by the Doppelganger, who tried to rescue Shriek.[10] When near the symbiote, her arm goes wild and forces her to kill several scientists before the symbiote forcefully bonds to her, becoming the new Carnage.[10] After the symbiote uses Tanis to break into a Hall Corporation facility, it is revealed that Kasady is alive (although both of his legs have been severed), his body preserved by the symbiote and repaired by Hall's prosthetics.[10] Kasady reclaims the symbiote and becomes Carnage once more, attempting to avenge his captivity while Spider-Man and Iron Man struggle to stop him. It is then revealed that Carnage is once again pregnant, and the suit's spawn briefly bonds to Tanis, but she removes it from herself and the symbiote bonds to Shriek before being torn from her. Scared of Shriek's malice, the symbiote arm then rebounds to Tanis, creating a new hero, Scorn, who defeats Shriek and forces her to use her sonic shriek to weaken Carnage, but she escapes.[10]
Ultimately, Spider-Man brings out Kasady's body to successfully draw the symbiote into it, which immediately devours Dr. Malus and then prepares to finish off the Wizard. However, Klaw's ephemeral spirit focuses his sound manipulation powers one last time for a split second to create a powerful sonic blast that disables Carnage, allowing the symbiote to be recaptured. In the epilogue it is shown that the symbiote has managed to repair the Wizard's and Kasady's brain damage.[12]
After the symbiote had died in captivity, a sample of the symbiote was examined by Dr. Carla Unger, until the sample entered her body. When she went home, the symbiote formed around her and then she with the symbiote killed her abusive husband. After that, the symbiote consumed her and went to other hosts to get back to Kasady. When the symbiote arrived at an injured Kasady, a scientist, who wanted the symbiote for himself tried to kill Kasady, but the symbiote rebonded to Cletus.[26]
Carnage bonded to a great white shark to escape from the Isla de Huesos, and prowled the ocean for several months as the "red king of darkness". Eventually it stumbled upon a boat full of whalers and seizing the opportunity, Carnage caught one of the whalers and bonds to him, climbed aboard and prepared to slaughter the crew, intent on taking its place as the Red Right Hand of the King in Black. At that exact moment however, Knull is killed by Eddie Brock, causing the symbiote dome encasing the Earth to shatter into countless symbiotes. Through the symbiote hive mind, Eddie, now the new god of the symbiotes, calls out to Carnage, who snarls for her nemesis to get out of his head. As symbiotes rain from the sky onto the ship and into the ocean, they bond to the crew of the ship and state that they are Venom, leaving Carnage shocked and incredulous. Manifesting an arm-blade, Carnage snarls that she'll kill them all but is unceremoniously booted overboard. Interjecting, the Venom symbiote states that Knull is dead and that Eddie is the new King in Black, making Carnage now one of his subjects. As Carnage sinks back into the ocean, Eddie says she is not welcome in his reformed Hive and sentences her to execution. Countless symbiote-controlled sharks began swarming Carnage and devouring her in a feeding frenzy until the symbiote completely disappeared in the darkness of the ocean.[27]
As Eddie Brock explained,[28] the Carnage symbiote was born with abilities even more singular than those of its progenitor due to the fact that it gestated in an environment alien to it: Earth. Carnage endows Cletus Kasady with physical strength greater than that of Spider-Man and the Venom symbiote combined[28] and shape-shifting abilities, allows it to project a web-like substance from any part of his body including the formation of weapons, and enables it to plant thoughts into a person's head using a symbiote tendril.[29] Much like Spider-Man, Carnage has the ability to cling to virtually any surface, and has a version of Spider-Man's spider-sense, as the symbiote can relay information to him from any angle and grants Kasady the ability to "see" in any direction, warning him of incoming threats.[30][31] As a result, Carnage can rapidly crawl, walk, or run across even slick surfaces. Carnage has abilities similar to those of Spider-Man as a direct result of Venom bonding to Peter Parker who transferred some of Spider-Man's power into the symbiote.
Kasady is able to regenerate damaged body tissues much faster and more extensively than that of an ordinary human. This has been shown as powerful enough to allow him to regenerate from losing any part of body, from head to feet.[32][33] However, after being torn in half by the Sentry, he was fitted with artificial legs, but this occurred while he was separated from the symbiote.[10] Kasady is also immune to the effects of all Earthly diseases and infections as long as he remains bonded with the symbiote. Like Venom, Carnage is vulnerable to sound (to a much smaller degree than Venom) and heat (to a much larger degree than Venom),[34] and is undetectable to Spider-Man's spider-sense. Unlike Venom, Carnage can launch parts of itself at enemies in the form of solid weapons such as darts, spears, knives, axes, etc., although they disintegrate into dust within ten seconds of leaving Carnage's body.[30] Carnage also has the unique ability to warp its appendages into different arms, legs, and even wings. This is shown on several occasions when Carnage mutates fingers and arms into what look like large swords.
Kasady has full control over the size, shape, color (usually red and black), texture, and hardness of the symbiote (and any part thereof). Like Venom, he can make the symbiote look like normal clothing (which he has done on rare occasion), or act as "camouflage" to an extent. With the symbiote bonded to his bloodstream, he can "regenerate" his costume from scratch simply by bleeding. The symbiote has the peculiar ability to block its parent Venom's ability to sense and track it.[34] The symbiote is also able to rapidly adapt to new environments: when Kasady was taken into space by the Sentry,[35] the symbiote was able to save his life by growing small sacks around his mouth that converted carbon dioxide into oxygen, allowing Kasady to stay alive long enough to be recovered.[10]
In some interpretations, the Carnage symbiote is vampiric, feeding on and thus endangering its victims by only a mere touch.[35] The symbiote has also shown the ability to call parts of itself back to the main symbiote, reintegrating them. It can also send irresistible commands to parts of itself that are in technology; these were used to break the bones of the Iron Rangers when they challenged Carnage while wearing symbiote-enhanced technological exo-suits. Using these last two abilities, Carnage absorbed the five Iron Rangers, grew to an enormous size, and became blue.[10]
Finally, Carnage's powers have always been abnormally enhanced from the maniacal will and insane worldview that Kasady has had from the age of 8 years old.[36] Kasady sees chaos and random, undirected violence as reality, and considers order and virtue to be illusions.[37] He takes an almost artistic pride in his mayhem,[24] likes to leave a trail for others to follow (usually leaving the phrase "Carnage Rules" written in his blood), and is recklessly willing to take on the most dangerous and powerful opponents and victims.[37] On rare occasions, however, he has deliberately spared individuals to serve as witnesses for others: for instance, Joe Robertson's wife Martha during Savage Rebirth.[38] Kasady is essentially taking revenge on the whole world for the torments, both real and imagined, of his childhood.[36][39]
When the Carnage symbiote was joined with Norman Osborn, the resulting combination was immune to traditional symbiote weaknesses of sound and fire, although Anti-Venom's touch was still dangerous.
Carnage was used in DC and Marvel's Amalgam Comics, where he was amalgamated with Bizarro into Bizarnage, an adversary of Spider-Boy who appeared in his only issue.[43][44]
During the King in Black storyline, Mary Jane Watson is attacked by Knull's symbiotes and is forcibly bonded with them turning her into Carnage who gains its power from Mary Jane's secret hatred and envy for Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman.
The Earth-15 psychotic Peter Parker and Carnage combine to become the "Spider", and becomes a member of Weapon X in Exiles.[45] He is killed when Firestar explodes from her powers.[46]
On Earth-311, Canice Cassidy believed that he was bonded to a demon and formed the universe's version of Sinister Six called Sinister Sextet with Electro, Hobgoblin, Karnov (Earth-411's version of Kraven the Hunter), Magus (Earth-311's version of Mysterio), and Serpent (who is similar to Lizard) as its members. The dimension-hopping Web-Warriors who aid dimensions (who lost its Spider-Man) defeated Sinister Sextet, and as they round up their captives, they notice that Electro escaped, unbeknownst to the group, followed them to the Great Web.[47]
In the unified Marvel 2099 reality of Earth-2099, Carnage 2099 appears as a modified version of the Venom symbiote. Former Alchemax executive Michael Erick was attacked by some thugs for being a Black Card user. The modified Venom symbiote saved him from the thugs where it then killed Michael and took control of the body as Carange.[48]
During the Secret Wars, when Elsa Bloodstone along with a child was in a world of zombified characters, they run into a zombie Carnage. He was killed when Elsa threw Carnage's head to a zombie Sauron.[49]
In the MC2 future timeline, Carnage, also known as Specimen 297, bonds with Spider-Girl's friend Moose Mansfied, who wants to use the symbiote to cure his father from cancer.[50] He also infects Spider-Girl's little brother, turning him into a miniature version of himself. Spider-Girl uses the sonic blasters of the villain Reverb to destroy all traces of the symbiote.
In a later timeline, samples of the symbiote are used to create Biopreds, living weapons that the government uses to try to stop Mayhem, Spider-Girl's part-symbiote clone, who, after killing the real Spider-Girl, became a murderous vigilante, eventually killing the hero American Dream. The Biopreds run wild, however, decimating the world and its defenders. Mayhem, seeing the error of her ways, goes back in time and sacrifices herself to stop her past self from killing Spider-Girl, ensuring the events that led to the Biopreds' creation never occurred.[51]
In Venomverse, when Venom and Eddie Brock from Prime Earth were recruited into a war between lethal protectors from across the multiverse and the symbiote-eating Poisons, the Venoms from the multiverse were on the ropes until Eddie had the bright idea to recruit the psychopath Carnage to their side. They summoned a Carnage that hailed from a world where he had succeeded in killing Venom, and while he was volatile at first, engaging in battle with the Resistance, when he realized he had the opportunity to fight "a buncha messed-up super-heroes" he decided to join the Venoms.[54] For some reason, Carnage was immune to the Poisons, and he helped tip the scales in their favor as one last-ditch suicide run and was left for dead alongside Poison Deadpool, and was seemingly killed when the Hive's ship was destroyed after the heroes were sent back to their respective dimensions.[55]
The Ultimate Marvel version of Carnage is a self-regenerating vampiric organism. This version is created by scientist Ben Reilly from DNA samples of both Spider-Man (Peter Parker) and the Lizard, and combined with samples from Richard Parker's symbiotic suit research, and nicknamed "Little Ben" Reilly after the scientist. When first introduced, the organism was a blob of instinct, with no intelligence or self-awareness, with its only aim to feed on the DNA of others, including Gwen Stacy, to stabilize itself. After feeding on multiple people, Carnage turns into a damaged form of Richard. Carnage and Peter battle to which Peter throws Carnage into a fire factor steel chimney, killing the beast. But before its death, the organism splintered into a replica of Gwen's form.[56][57]
In Ultimate Spider-Man #98, Gwen Stacy appears to have no memory of her "death" and believes she was in a hospital, from which she has escaped. In issue #100, after a raft of revelations, the stress of the situation enrages Gwen. She transforms into Carnage before leaping out the window.[volume & issue needed] In the next issue, Richard Parker claims Gwen should not have met Peter at all, and was merely an experiment in stem cell research. This Gwen/Carnage fights with the Fantastic Four, Nick Fury, and the Spider-Slayers drones, until she is knocked unconscious by a beam of light, and taken into custody. In issue No. 113, the Green Goblin causes a massive prison break from the Triskelion. An inmate appearing to be Gwen walks out amidst the chaos, disappearing in the shadows. It was then revealed that Gwen's mind had survived within the Ultimate Carnage after he "drained" her "essence" from her body, and following government experimentation, Gwen's mind had become the dominant one within Carnage, reforming her body.[dead link][58]
During the "War of the Symbiotes" storyline, Gwen/Carnage's backstory in the Triskelion is revealed. It is shown Gwen has been taking some form of therapy. However, when the Goblin broke out of the Triskelion, Gwen escaped and went to Peter's old house in a confused and terrified state, with Carnage's face on her body. During an exchange between Peter and Gwen, Eddie Brock attempts to attack Aunt May and retake the Venom symbiote. In a rage, Spider-Man engages Eddie on a nearby rooftop. During the fight, Gwen is shown to be able to use her symbiote to fight off Eddie, but the Venom symbiote reconstitutes itself upon contact with Carnage and absorbs the "Little Ben" symbiote, seemingly killing it, and rendering Gwen an ordinary girl once again.
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The Cletus Kasady incarnation of Carnage appears in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, voiced by Woody Harrelson.[66] This version of the symbiote was created when Cletus Kasady bit Eddie Brock's hand and absorbed part of the Venom symbiote. After saving Kasady, Carnage allies with him to kill Brock and Venom. Due to their bond being incomplete however, Carnage and Kasady are defeated, with the former being eaten by Venom.
