Carnage (character)

Carnage
File:Carnagemarvel.jpg Carnage. Art by Mark Bagley.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	As Cletus Kasady: Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #344 As Carnage (cameo): Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #360 First full appearance as Carnage: Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #361
Created by	David Michelinie Mark Bagley
In-story information
Alter ego	Cletus Kasady
Team affiliations	Carnage "family"
Abilities	Alien symbiote grants: Superhuman strength speed, stamina, durability, reflexes, and agility Ability to create blades and projectiles from symbiotic costume Wall-crawling Webbing Shape-shifting Accelerated healing Immunity to Spider-Man's "spider-sense"

Carnage is a fictional character in the

, a supervillain and adversary of Spider-Man and Venom. Created by writer David Michelinie and artist Mark Bagley, he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #361 (April 1992).

Carnage is the result of a spawning of a separate extraterrestrial symbiote by Venom. This symbiote bonded with serial killer Cletus Kasady, creating one of Spider-Man’s most murderous adversaries. His ultimate goal is for a society based on murderous hedonism, with no law or moral order, and for people to have the freedom to do whatever they want, something uncommon among supervillains who most desire wealth, money, power or world domination.

Publication history

According to his introduction the trade paperback book Spiderman:Carnage (which reprints Amazing Spiderman #361-363), David Michelinie created Carnage to be a darker version of Venom. Michelinie intended to have Venom's human alter ego; Eddie Brock be killed off in Amazing Spiderman #400, (which he ended up not writing) and have the symbiote continue to bond with a series of hosts. However as Venom's popularity grew Marvel would not allow him to be killed. Thus Michelinie decided that if he couldn't bond the existing symbiote with a different host he should instead create a whole new one. He thought of making this new character a total psychopath who unlike Venom had no sense of honor. The character was originally meant to be named "Chaos" and then "Ravage" before being settled on "Carnage."

Carnage's human component, Cletus Kasady, was introduced in Amazing #344 and was designed by Erik Larsen. Cletus' design was based on The Joker. He didn't appear as Carnage until a small cameo in Amazing #360 and finally; Carnage made his first full appearance in the following issue which started a 3 issue story arc with Carnage as the villain. Carnage's first appearances sold out and he became a fan favorite. Carnage next appears in what what is consider to be his most the 1993 Spider-Man event "Maximum Carnage," a 14 part storyline crosscover that span though all the Spider-titles. While highly popular, some fans contend that the storyline dragged on for too long and was nothing but a complete gorefest.

Carnage may have been meant as Spider-Man's equivalent to the Joker. This tag was once given to the Green Goblin. Incidentally, Maximum Carnage began on the same day as Harry Osborn's funeral- Harry being the second Green Goblin. Carnage had his most important stories set during the absence of the Green Goblin. The Spider-Man/Batman crossover featured Carnage meeting Joker, an apparent idol- though the two tried to kill each other when the two started disagreeing with eachother's methods. This led many to wonder why Carnage had been chosen for the book rather than a more classic villain. Carnage began to be used less and less when Norman Osborn was brought back.

Fictional character biography

Background

Kasady claims his mother tried to kill him after she caught him torturing her dog. She was apparently beaten to death by Kasady's father, who received no defense from his son during his trial. Kasady seems to care for his mother, digging up her grave in Maximum Carnage, contradicting his prior account in which he took glee in her death. He also claims he killed his grandmother when he was a child, pushing her down a flight of stairs. How much of his childhood is true and how much isn't is up for debate, as he has been known to flatly lie to his doctors, assuming his own insanity even allows him to accurately remember.

Now an orphan, Kasady is sent to the St. Estes home for boys, where his antisocial behavior makes him the target of abuse from both the other orphans and the staff. Kasady vindicates himself by murdering the disciplinarian administrator and burning down the orphanage. During the events of Carnage: It's A Wonderful Life, images from his own memories play of a failed relationship with an unnamed girl during his teen years. By his early twenties, he has been convicted of 11 murders, although he brags about committing dozens more.

He justifies his acts of murder with an absurdist philosophy, based on the idea that the universe is essentially chaotic and that law and order are a perversion. In his first appearance, he shares a cell with Eddie Brock, who had just recently lost his Venom symbiote after a battle against Styx.

"Carnage Unleashed"

When Brock's symbiote returns and bonds with him to form the entity known as Venom, the supervillain unwittingly leaves behind a symbiote spawn, which bonds with Kasady, allowing him to transform into the red and black monster called Carnage. One night, Cassady murders a guard and escapes prison, beginning a series of gruesome and seemingly random murders. At the scene of each crime, he writes "Carnage Rules" on the walls with his own blood. He is found by Spider-Man, though the hero proves to be no match for Carnage's powers. In desperation, Spider-Man makes what is, despite his expectations, only the first of many truces with Venom to fight Carnage. Carnage is defeated with sonic weaponry, but the symbiote lives on by merging with Cassidy's bloodstream.

File:Spiderman037.jpg

Cover to Spider-Man vol. 1, #37. Art by Tom Lyle.

In the Maximum Carnage story arc, Carnage returns and recruits a cadre of psychotic super-villains (consisting of Shriek, Demogoblin, Carrion, and Doppelganger) to overtake New York, but are driven back by Spider-Man, Venom, the Black Cat, Cloak, Dagger, and Captain America.

Cassidy, albeit having a stronger bond to his symbiote than Eddie Brock does, has been separated from and re-bonded with the symbiote several times as the symbiote looks for stronger hosts. In the 1996 "Web of Carnage" storyline, the Carnage symbiote escapes from the Ravencroft Institute where Cletus Kasady is incarcerated, seeking a stronger host. It takes over Ben Reilly, who had recently replaced Peter Parker as Spider-Man. Reilly has little previous experience with symbiotes, and is unprepared for an enemy that is immune to his spider-sense. Together, they become Spider-Carnage, and the symbiote attempts to force him, both mentally and physically, to kill a powerless Peter Parker along with other innocent people. Reilly barely escapes the symbiote's control with help from Dr. Ashley Kafka and John Jameson, the administrators of Ravencroft. The symbiote later bonds with the Silver Surfer (Who had dropped into Earth to welcome the Fantastic Four back from the Heroes Reborn universe and seen the fight), which created the insane and vastly powerful Cosmic Carnage. In the process, it was revealed that the symbiotes have an instinctive knowledge of the Heralds of Galactus, with the Carnage symbiote initially terrified of the Surfer upon arrival. However, the Surfer and Spider-Man manage to return the symbiote to Kasady, who is susequently encased by the Silver Surfer in an unbreakable material to spend the rest of his life reflecting on his sins.

However, the material is clearly not as 'unbreakable' as the Surfer believes; when next seen, Cassidy has somehow escaped form the material, although he is trapped in a cell specifically designed to contain him and stop him transforming into Carnage. Venom later locates Cassidy in prison and re-absorbes his Carnage symbiote into his own body "for good". Without the symbiote, Cassidy retains the Carnage persona by costuming himself in red paint and continuing his killing sprees, but does so as a normal human, only for Spider-Man to easily defeat him in a fight (He claimed to still possess some of the symbiote's strength, but if he did it was clearly not enough to allow him to win in a fight with Spider-Man). Soon, however, Kasady finds an exact replica of the symbiote in the Negative Zone. How this symbiote is an identical copy, or where it came from, has yet to be explained. However, the issues in which Kasady discovered the replica had references to the Spider-Man Unlimited TV series which had been airing at the time and which featured the Carnage symbiote as one of its villains. In this same issue, Spider-Man himself briefly takes on the costume of the Spider-Man from Unlimited. Somewhere down the line Cletus got his original symbiote back. It is not explained how he got it back or what happened to the one from the Negative Zone.

File:Sentrycarnage.jpg

Carnage ripped in half in New Avengers #2. Art by David Finch.

Spawning and apparent death

Carnage stars in the miniseries Venom vs. Carnage in 2004. The Carnage symbiote spawns a "child" symbiote, which he tries to kill without success, acting on the symbiote race's instinctive hatred for their immediate offspring. The "child" later bonds with police officer Patrick Mulligan. Carnage feels nothing but hatred for the young creature and attempts to kill it, while Venom defends it. Venom names the new symbiote Toxin. Mulligan has since attempted to steer his symbiote towards heroism instead of murder.

Carnage is one of several supervillains trying to escape from The Raft in New Avengers #1-2. Although Luke Cage, Matt Murdock and Jessica Drew manage to keep him contained in the lower levels, it is the Sentry who finishes him off, flying Carnage outside the Earth's atmosphere and ripping him apart. He has not appeared since. A preview cover of Mighty Avengers #8 has shown Carnage again. But this time it has bonded with a gaint-sized Wasp rather than Cletus Kasady.

Powers and abilities

Main article: Symbiote (comics)

The alien symbiote suit is made of tough, flexible fibers of organic polymer which have the ability to mimic any type of clothing whatsoever (typically colored black or red in Kasady's case). As with Venom, it also makes him undetectable to Spider-Man's spider-sense. Carnage can also block Venom's senses as well.

In addition, the suit gives Carnage the ability to adhere to most surfaces with his hands and feet, a power which the symbiote inherited, via Venom, from Spider-Man. Also adapted from Spider-Man is the ability to project a web-like substance from his body. Typically, Carnage's webs appear to simply be black/ red extensions of his costume, instead of resembling webs. Unlike Venom, Kasady can also separate parts of the symbiote costume from himself and use them as weapons, as was one example in the Spiderman animated series, where the symbiote took the form of an ax. Carnage's symbiote originally had the power to "see" from any part of itself and relay the visual information to Kasady, although he appears to have lost this power. Unlike Venom, Carnage can shoot `tendrils` from any part of his body. Carnage's symbiote is also vampiric, feeding on and thus endangering his victims by mere touch.

The living costume endows Carnage with superhuman strength greater than that of Spider-Man and Venom combined. Carnage also has superhuman reflexes and reaction time superior to that of Spider-Man, although he has the disadvantage of having no spider sense.

Carnage once demonstrated an ability to plant thoughts into a person's head using a symbiote tendril. In the one-shot Carnage: Mind Bomb, a psychiatric specialist named Matthew Kurtz attempted to treat Carnage. Thinking he had Kasady under control, Kurtz ended up having a symbiote tendril drilled in his head. Kasady then preceded to pump mental images into Kurtz's mind to show him how he saw the world. As a result: Kurtz was driven mad and ran amok only to be gunned down by the Ravencroft gaurds.

Carnage is an unrepentant killer and his powers make him a formidable combatant, even though he has had no formal training in hand to hand combat.

Kasady's bond with the symbiote is far more profound then that of Venom's; They have bonded so completely, they refer to themselves as "I" instead of "We".

Other versions

Ultimate Carnage

File:Usm62.jpg

Ultimate Carnage. Art by Mark Bagley.

The Ultimate Marvel Universe version of Carnage is very different from the Marvel Universe version, although both characters were designed by Mark Bagley. Curt Connors had created a rejuvenating symbiotic suit using the work of Spider-Man's late father Richard Parker: the Venom "suit". After a series of mishaps, the suit went missing, and Connors worried that years of work had been destroyed. But a new opportunity presented itself. After an injury, Peter Parker sought out Connors' help in treating his wounds, and Connors ended up with a sample of Spider-Man's genetically altered blood.

Using the blood Connors begins to create a new organism based partly on the Venom project. Using DNA from himself, the Venom project, and Peter, Connors developed a unique, self-regenerating form of life. This blood-red creature grew from a few inches long to the size of a child very rapidly, and quickly escaped. The creature drained the fluids from several victims, rapidly increasing its mass and strength. Remembering memories from Peter, the Carnage creature went to the Parker residence. It surprised and killed Gwen Stacy. Soon afterwards, it found itself in combat with Peter Parker. Reasoning that the creature was not actually alive (and alarmed at its gradual resemblance to his own father), Peter threw it into a smokestack, where the Carnage creature apparently met its end.

Doctor Octopus, in addition to creating several Peter Parker clones in a special program run by the Central Intelligence Agency, also ran a project known as the "Stacy Experiment", a Carnage monster that later took on the form of Gwen Stacy. It is never revealed how this version of Carnage came to be, or whether she was an additional clone of some description. However, the Carnage / Stacy experiment escapes, and in the ensuing chaos, causes the Parker clones, including Spider-Woman (a female clone of Peter) to escape. Carnage eventually has no memory of the lab, and takes the memories of Stacy. "Gwen" is reunited with the Parkers, when a army of Spider-Slayers commanded by Nick Fury surrounded the household, causing stress to revert Stacy back into Carnage. Carnage leaps out of the building and engages both SHIELD and the Fantastic Four, even managing to fling the Thing through the air into a store. The slayers eventually adapt to Carnage's genetics and blast Carnage, reverting it back to Stacy. Stacy is taken into SHIELD custody, where Nick Fury orders his staff to "get to work".

A preview for Ultimate Spider-Man #113 shows Norman Osborn AKA Green Goblin cause a massive prison break at the Tresikilion. The creature, still in the form of Gwen Stacy, escapes the other side of the building, away from the other prisoners. Whether this creature will return in Peter's life as Gwen or Carnage remains to be seen.

Ultimate Spider-Carnage is created in the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, where Venom particles remaining in Peter's blood overtake his body after a strange injection. Venom eventually absorbs this symbiote after a brief, difficult battle, granting Eddie Brock full control over the symbiote at last, also giving him the spider-symbol.

The name Cletus Kasady shows up in a list of names when Peter searches for "Cat Burglars" during Cats & Kings; it is unlikely that this will be expanded upon, as it appeared to be a mere homage to the many criminals of the 616 continuity.

MC2 Carnage

In the MC2 reality, Spider-Girl accidentally frees the Carnage symbiote from its prison inside a metal ball under the care of S.H.I.E.L.D. The symbiote escapes and takes over one of Spider-Girl's friends, Moose Mansfied, as its new host. The general public believed Carnage dead for 10 years, and although the symbiote is active and in 297 separate pieces, Cletus Kasady has been dead for some time. Oddly enough, he doesn't bypass both Spider-Man's spider-sense nor Spider-Girl's one, as revealed in Amazing Spider Girl #10, although it is unclear whether the symbiote has lost this ability due to age or because Peter and May's spider-senses operate on a different frequency than the symbiote is used to negating. However, it is interesting to note Spider-Girl can sense Venom as well, presumably because she was never bonded to the Symbiote. Carnage attacks and kidnaps Peter Parker and May's little brother, turning the baby into another Carnage. Eventually Spider-Girl defeats Carnage by using the ultrasonic weaponry of the villain Reverb to destroy both Symbiotes.

Amalgam Comics

In the Amalgam Comics universe, both Carnage and the DC Comics character Bizarro were combined to create the entity Bizarnage, which resembled a white, angular version of Carnage.

Exiles

An alternate, psychotic version of Spider-Man fused with the Carnage symbiote, called the Spider, appears in Exiles as a member of Weapon X. Before he became a member of Weapon X, the Spider was on death row. Spider is eventually killed by Firestar and sent back to his home world, Earth-15, to be buried.

In other media

Film

• Carnage was originally supposed to appear in a Venom film as a villain. The film would have been release by New Line Cinema. However, a script was never written and the rights to Venom switched to Columbia Pictures. Instead, rumours say that Carnage & The Lizard are said to become the main villains for Spider-Man 4.

• In a recent interview, Avi Arad revealed that a Venom spin-off film is in development currently. Whether it will be similar to New Line's original Venom project or not is unknown.

Television

Spider-Man: The Animated Series

File:Carnageanimted.png

Carnage in the Spider-Man animated series.

In the Spider-Man animated series, Carnage's creation is orchestrated by the demon Dormammu. The Venom symbiote had previously been launched into space aboard a probe by Spider-Man, but, learning that it is on the verge of asexually reproducing, Dormammu has his agent, Baron Mordo, bring the probe back to Earth. When the recently arrested Cletus Kasady witnesses Brock's reunion with his symbiote, he is soon offered the chance to merge with the symbiote's spawn. Becoming Carnage, he is sent out to capture enough "life energy" from human beings to provide Dormammu the strength to enter Earth. Because of the degree of censorship placed on the show, this version of Carnage was less violent than his appearances in the comics, merely draining life from his victims, which was later restored, rather than killing them outright. He is eventually defeated by Spider-Man and Venom, as he, Venom, and Dormammu are sent hurling through a dimensional vortex. He was voiced by Scott Cleverdon.

In the show's series finale, the Carnage symbiote emerges from a dimensional portal into an alternate reality, and bonded with the extremely emotionally unstable Peter Parker of that world. The resultant merging causes the symbiote and that world's Spider-Man to take on a nearly identical appearance to the comic book incarnation of Spider-Carnage, down to the appearance of Spider-Man's webshooters on the outside of his costume as was the case with Ben Reilly. The reason for this occurrence is never explained.

File:SpiderCarnage.jpg

Spider-Carnage in the Spider-Man animated series.

As the insane Spider-Carnage, he threatens to destroy all reality and thus all existence using an invention mixing the dimensional warp generator and a huge bomb to destroy every dimension consecutively. The real Peter Parker, assisted by several other Spider-Men from other universes, is eventually able to foil Spider-Carnage's plan, and Spider-Man ultimately convinces him to stop what he is doing and fight the symbiote off.

This is done by bringing in Peter's Uncle Ben from a reality where he was not murdered. Peter knows the symbiote is influencing Spider-Carnage to commit genocide, since they are in fact the same person and Peter could never kill another human being. Uncle Ben convinces Spider-Carnage he could still be a hero as long as he has the courage to reject the symbiote. However, the Carnage symbiote is too powerfully bonded, and despite Spider-Carnage's best efforts, he could not get rid of it. He throws himself into a dangerously unstable warp hole where he is killed.

One of the show's makers in Spider-Man: The Animated Series confirmed if the show were to have a sixth season before its finale, Carnage would have been Jack the Ripper in a Colonial England as Spider-Man finds Mary Jane, after she falls into a dimensional portal in the third season finale.

Spider-Man Unlimited

File:Carnage Unlimited.jpg

Carnage in the Spider-Man Unlimited series.

Carnage also appeared in the later series Spider-Man Unlimited, where he, along with Venom, are attempting to conquer Counter-Earth with an invasion of symbiotes, which, unlike the Venom and Carnage symbiotes, don't bond with people, they simply possess them. Cletus Kasady appears to have fused with the Carnage symbiote completely, explaining his more monstrous appearance (skeletally thin with several protruding spikes) and the fact that he refers to himself as "we".

Carnage was voiced by Michael Donovan.

Appearances by episode

In Spider-Man (1994)

• "Venom Returns" as Carnage/Cletus Kassady
• "Carnage" as Carnage/Cletus Kassady
• "The Haunting of Mary Jane" as Robo-Carnage
• "I Really, Really Hate Clones" as Peter Parker/Spider-Carnage/Carnage Symbiote
• "Farewell, Spider-Man" as Peter Parker/Spider-Carnage/Carnage

In Spider-Man Unlimited

• "Worlds Apart, Part One" as Carnage
• "Worlds Apart, Part Two" as Carnage
• "Where Evil Nests" as Carnage
• "Deadly Choices" as Carnage
• "One Is The Loneliest Number" as Carnage
• "Destiny Unleashed, Part One" as Carnage/Cletus Kassady

Video games

Carnage appears in "Spider-Man & Venom: Maximum Carnage" for the Super Nintendo.

• Carnage was an unbeatable foe in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 for the Game Boy. He could not be killed or defeated, but had to be avoided at all costs.
• Carnage appeared with the Rhino as a boss in Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge for the Super Nintendo, Game Gear, Game Boy, & the Sega Genesis. He awaited Spider-Man at the end of his second level and had attacks identical to those of Spider-Man himself.
• Carnage appeared in both Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage (for the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo) and the sequel, Spider-Man & Venom: Separation Anxiety as the final boss.
• In the PlayStation and PC/Nintendo 64/Sega Dreamcast/Game Boy Color Spider-Man video game, Carnage was again a final boss. Unusually restrained, he worked with Doctor Octopus to orchestrate an invasion of Earth by symbiotes. Spider-Man put an end to their plan, and fought Doctor Octopus while an altruistic Venom faced Carnage. After Spider-Man intervened and halted Carnage's rampage, the symbiote left Cletus Kasady and bonded to Doctor Octopus. The aptly named "Monster-Ock" then triggered an explosion that destroyed his base. Spider-Man (saved by allies including Venom and Captain America) hauled Octopus off to jail, and the Carnage symbiote and Kasady are apparently killed.
• In the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, (which launched on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and PC platforms) a version of Ultimate Carnage is the final boss for the Venom portion of the game. Spider-Man was captured and injected with a serum that stimulated the inactive Venom-suit particles in his body, turning him into a copy of the original, presumed-dead Carnage. Venom defeated the creature in single combat and devoured him, assimilating the rest of the Venom suit and freeing Spider-Man.In the DS version of the game, Ultimate Carnage becomes a playable character in multiplayer mode after you reach 80% game completion.
• Carnage was also the final boss in the Japanese-only video game Spider-Man: Lethal Foes. A computer-controlled Venom assists the player in fighting him.
• In Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes there is a secret character called Hyper Venom, a red Venom that moves faster which could be a means of incorporating Carnage without making a new character slot.

References

• Carnage Rulz-A page of the Marvel World Order site
• Carnage's Profile from the Villains of Marvel Comics site
• Brief bio at Spiderfan.org