Carnage (character)


Carnage is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually as an adversary of Spider-Man and the archenemy of Carnage's 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 full appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #361, 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 and Mary Jane Watson in the alternate Ultimate Marvel and Spider-Gwen continuities. 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, set in Sony's Spider-Man Universe, as well as portraying Cletus Kasady, reprising his cameo role from Venom. In 2009, the Cletus Kasady version of Carnage was ranked as IGNs 90th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.

Conception and creation

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", 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". Marvel co-founder and chairman 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.

Hosts

Cletus Kasady

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. 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. Kasady and the symbiote would then be the main antagonist in "Maximum Carnage" and Kasady would continually be the most recurring character to use the Carnage symbiote in many publications.

Spider-Carnage (Ben Reilly)

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.

Superior Carnage (Karl Malus)

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.
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.

Red Goblin (Norman Osborn)

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. He initially found himself overwhelmed by the symbiote's desire for mindless slaughter when he allowed it to merge with him, 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. 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. 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.

Eddie Brock

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. After a narrow escape that cost him his left hand, Eddie was eventually rescued by the Avengers, who promptly nuked the island to finally eradicate the symbiotes still on it. 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. 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.

''Eddie Brock: Carnage''

After the Venom War Event, Eddie bonds with Carnage to survive, in Eddie Brock: Carnage, with Carnage joining the New Avengers in New Avengers.

Arthur Krane

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.