Carnage
Attributes
| Eyes: | Green |
| Features: | As Carnage, elongate jaw & "teeth", ever moving tendrils from various parts of his body, both of which are a part of the |
| Hair: | Red |
| Height: | 6' 1" |
| Weight: | 190 lbs |
Powers
| Abilities: | Carnage animates his costume to create snares, swing line, and most often bladed weapons. Carnage can hurl these "blades" from anywhere on his body. They disintegrate after about thirty seconds after they are thrown. Carnage also posses wall-crawling abilities similar to Venom's. In some unknown manner, the symbiote can dampen both Spider-Man's spider-sense, & the Venom symbiote's in born ability to track its spawn. |
| Limitations: | The symbiote is vunerable to both sonics(to a much lesser degree than it's parent) & heat based attacks (to a much greater degree than its parent). |
| Powers: | Has a symbiote costume similar to Venom, but seems to be more powerful, possibly due to it's incubation on Earth. Kasady's symbiote can, like Venom's, mimic any type of clothing, but unlike Venom, Carnage has not been seen using the costume as camouflage. The symbiote has augmented all of Kasady's physical abilities to super-human levels apparently higher than that of Venom's. |
| Strength Level: | Unknown, shown to be significantly stronger than both Venom and Spider-Man |
Summary
| Citizenship: | U.S. |
| Created By: | |
| Current Occupation: | Prisoner/patient, Ravencroft |
| Dual Identity: | Publicly Known |
| Education: | High School |
| Former Bases: | Former site of the St. Estes Home for Boys, Brooklyn, New York |
| Former Occupation: | Serial Killer |
| Known Allies: | Shriek, Doppelganger, Demogoblin, Carrion II, Toxin (son), Hybrid (nephew) |
| Known Confidants: | Shriek |
| Known Relatives: | Mother (killed by father), Venom (symbiote parent), Father (deceased), Grandmother (killed by Cletus) |
| Legal Status: | Mostly Dead |
| Major Enemies: | Spider-Man, Venom, Cloak & Dagger |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Place of Birth: | Brooklyn, New York |
| Real Name: | Cletus Kasady |
| Usual Bases: | Ravencroft Institute |
Background
"Savage Genesis"
Kasady was serving 11 consecutive life terms in prison for murder at Riker's Island prison when he became a cellmate of Eddie Brock (Venom). Brock had been separated from his symbiote and was working out vigorously to stay in shape, hoping to be able to avenge his alien partner's "death." Cletus griped that it was boring watching him work out and Eddie complained that he hated sharing a cell with a serial killer. Cletus told him that could change if he kept whining. Cletus then saw a shadow outside their window but then convinced himself it was nothing. (Amazing Spider-Man #344)
Eddie's exercising was still irritating Kasady and finally the killer decided to shiv his cell mate when the Venom symbiote arrived and re-bonded to the ecstatic Brock. Venom escaped by smashing out of the prison wall, leaving a badly shaken Cletus Kasady behind. Not alone, however, as the Venom symbiote left a spawn behind. (Amazing Spider-Man #345)
A guard soon found Kasady talking to himself and asked who he was talking to. Cletus and his new friend then pulled officer Ramone through the prison door bars and escaped out the hole in the wall. (Amazing Spider-Man #359) Kasady and the new symbiote committed their first murder as Carnage after picking Gunther Stein out of the phone book. Kasady thought he had a stupid name, which was as good a reason as any to kill him. (Amazing Spider-Man #360)
Carnage eventually murdered a classmate of Peter Parker, Chip, at Empire State University's Agro-Lab. Spider-Man arrived at the crime scene (after thinking about the dozen extremely brutal killings around New York the previous week) and overheard a witness's account of what happened. The description of the killer made him think that Venom may have been the culprit. Peter did some research on Brock's activities after his escape from prison and found that Kasady had been his cell mate. Further research on Kasady found that he had been raised in a Brooklyn orphanage that had been destroyed in a fire. The orphanage's disciplinarian was found dead in the building, and the cause of death was ruled an accident. Peter wasn't so sure.
He did some background research on Kasady by interviewing his former landlady, friends, school officials and doctors, all of whom were either reluctant to talk about him or connected him to one tragedy or another. Spider-Man eventually visited the ruins of the orphanage and found Kasady at a camp fire. Spidey was shocked at Carnage's speed, ability to solidify his costume, not trigger his spider sense and form weapons from the costume. Carnage was momentarily distracted by the appearance of two cops, and quickly stabbed one of them. Spider-Man protected the officers while Carnage threw a stove at them. Carnage escaped, but not before he pained "CARNAGE RULES!" in his own blood on a wall. Peter soon realized that he needed someone with a symbiote to understand Carnage and that meant finding Venom. (Amazing Spider-Man #361)
While Spider-Man and the Human Torch went to find Venom at his island exile, Kasady paid a visit to the office of Robert Sutcliff, a wealthy businessman. He easily killed the security team and the mechanical devices. Sutcliff tried to escape in a helicopter, which Carnage grabbed and tossed over the side of the skyscraper. Meanwhile, Spider-Man and the Human Torch made peace with Venom long enough for Brock to explain that the alien symbiote reproduces one a lifetime and has no concept of family. As such, it felt no need to tell Eddie that it had spawned. Brock's twisted sense of honor demanded that he return to New York and help find Carnage, which Spider-Man was less than happy about.
Venom used his alien's ability to track it's offspring to one of Kasady's unfound crime scenes. Carnage tried to persuade Venom to kill the webhead, but Brock was determined to end Kasady's killing spree. Spider-Man and Venom tried to use their brute force against Carnage, but the mutated alien proved to be stronger than both of them and they were easily flung aside. A mother in the apartment beneath the battle complained about the noise and Carnage smashed through the floor and grabbed her baby. He tossed it out the window, drawing his attackers away. Carnage soon arrived at The Daily Bugle, targeting J. Jonah Jameson after reading his anti-crime editorial. (Amazing Spider-Man #362)
In Jameson's office, Carnage explained that rules and morals are just words that a scared society created to feel safe. Since Jonah was a crusader for law and order, he needed to die. Tossing Jonah into his desk, Carnage was about to make an example of him, when Jameson hit a silent alarm, which drew the attention of Robbie Robertson. Carnage began to bemoan the sudden audience, when he realized that an audience was actually a good idea. He swung away with Jameson, looking for a receptive group. On the way, he stopped to shove a woman named Lisa's head through a wall. Spider-Man and Venom followed Robertson's advice that Carnage had left towards the southwest, where they found a group of people around Lisa's body. A nearby heavy metal poster made Spider-Man think that Carnage was headed for Madison Square Garden.
Carnage soon arrived at the concert with Jameson in tow. He quickly killed the band members and security team, then turned to the microphone to explain to the crowd that he was going to kill Jameson to show how easy it is. Most of the audience wanted nothing to do with him, but one concert goer was inspired to try and cut another man's throat. Spidey webbed him in time to stop him and Venom managed to get Jonah away from Carnage. Kasady was soon throwing Venom through the floor of the stadium and into Penn Station. Spider-Man managed to kick Carnage through the hole he created, and he also fell into the train station. He soon slaughtered the nearby travelers and escaped through a train tunnel. An incensed Venom caught up with him and promised to kill him but was nearly torn apart when Kasady's alien tried to merge with Brock's. Spidey punched him away, and Carnage landed on the third rail of the train track. Where the electrical current would have fried an average person, the symbiote protected Kasady.
Kasady smashed the vigilantes into a wall and then escaped to finish off Jameson, whom he found calling The Bugle to report the story of his kidnapping. Spider-Man arrived to find Jonah captured and Carnage was about to pluck the wall crawler's eyes when Venom arrived to save Spidey. As the two killers fought, Spider-Man went to the P.A. system and turned up the volume control to a level that injured both alien creatures. The older Venom symbiote was strong enough to survive the sound barrage but the newborn alien was seemingly destroyed. Kasady was left unconscious. (Amazing Spider-Man #363)
"Maximum Carnage"
Kasady had been sent to the federal government's prison "The Vault" in Colorado after he had been captured. He was returned to New York's Ravencroft Asylum after being given a clean bill of health. The doctors had noticed a strange anomaly in his blood that they wanted tested, which turned out to be a mistake. The blood sample exposed his blood to the air, which released his mutated symbiote and allowed him to become Carnage. Before killing the lead doctor, he told her he was going to kill every guard and patient in the facility. As he made his way down the corridors, he heard a woman cheering for him. He tore the reinforced door off it's hinges and met his new partner, "Shriek."
They escaped together and gave their back stories. He explained that during his fight with Spider-Man and Venom, his symbiote had crawled into one of his cuts and mutated. It had seemed that it had died but had only changed. As they swung over the city, he thought he saw Spider-Man in an alley but after they investigated, they were attacked by Doppelganger. He threw the mindless creature around and was about to kill it when he was blasted away from it by Shriek. She had the ability to use sonics as a weapon and had decided that she wanted to keep the monster as a pet. He reluctantly allowed her to keep it, and went to visit Jonah Jameson. (Spider-Man Unlimited #1)
He destroyed the Daily Bugle sign, leaving only "BUG" remaining on the roof. He also told Jameson that wanted him to print a story that he wanted a rematch against Venom and Spidey. He caught up with Shriek and Doppelganger at Holy Ghost Church after a gangbanger told him about finding an injured Spider-Man in an alley. Carnage killed him and tossed the body through the church doors, and joined the fight with Spider-Man, Cloak and Dagger. During the fight, Shriek seemingly killed Dagger, along with Spider-Man and Cloak. Carnage was furious with Shriek for taking the revenge that he wanted and she fled. He followed her and dragged Doppelganger with him on a leash made of it's own barbed wire webbing. (Web of Spider-Man #101)
After he caught up to her, he berated her for killing his enemy. She didn't understand why he cared, since a kill is a kill. He explained that every drop of the webhead's blood was his and she stuttered, "I-I just thought..."and he said she had better get over thinking. Doppelganger jumped to her defense, and he swatted it away. Shriek was actually turned on by his take-charge attitude and said she follow him anywhere. They decided to go kill together in Central Park and he murdered a couple in their car. When a cop arrived, Doppelganger killed him with his barbed wire webbing. Venom arrived to put Carnage down, not knowing about Shriek and Doppelganger and he was quickly beaten. In desperation, Venom fled to Peter Parker. (Amazing Spider-Man #378)
Shriek led them to a warehouse for a hideout, where they were ambushed by Demogoblin, who had been following them all the way from Holy Ghost Church. He had come to kill them as part of his righteous fury and when Carnage realized he wanted to kill people, he invited his to join them. Shriek didn't trust the goblin and neither did Carnage but he knew he'd be a useful sidekick. They were then found by Cloak, looking to avenge Dagger's death but he was overpowered quickly and nearly torn apart by Doppelganger. He was saved in the nick of time by the arrival of Spider-Man, Venom, and Black Cat. Carnage ordered Demogoblin to burn the roof and Shriek to crash it down, which trapped the vigilantes in burning wreckage. Carnage and the others escaped. (Spider-Man #35)
As they fled, Demogoblin got tired of Carnage and Shriek's endless banter and demanded to know what their plan was. Carnage yanked him off of his glider and explained, "There...is...no...plan! Life is meaningless! Chaos! The universe has no center! It's creator is a drooling idiot!" Demogoblin defied him, saying that the universe is nothing but order and pattern, but had been defiled by man's sins. Their arguing continued and Shriek separated them with a sonic blast. She talked him into thinking of Demogoblin and Doppelganger as his sons, to be molded by him and made to think his way. From that point, they referred to each other as family and went to kill girl scouts to make girl scout cookies. Then went on through the streets, killing everyone they could. Some were slashed open, some were hung, or blasted open. Demogoblin managed to destroy a police helicopter. Shriek's mind control drove nearby people into mindless rages, beginning the riot that would continue for the next few days. (Spectacular Spider-Man #201)
They moved on to a dance club called The Deep and continued the murder spree. The slaughter would have continued if the good guys hadn't recruited Michael Morbius, who tracked the killers to The Deep after smelling the blood that they were spilling. Carnage and his team fled, leaving the heroes behind to save the civilians trapped by the rubble and fire. (Web of Spider-Man #102)
They broke into the Metropolitan Museum and destroyed many of the exhibits inside. Demogoblin again complained about the lack of a point to their mission and Carnage told him it was an appetizer before a big meal. The police arrived and were cut down by Carrion (Malcolm McBride) before they could act. The rest of them attacked the cops as Carnage admitted that Carrion used to be his hero. Their next target was the streets of Manhattan, as Shriek blew up a bus, Carrion rotted anyone he touched and Demogoblin burned pedestrians alive. Carnage was about to kill a mother and her kids when he was stopped by Deathlok. The cyborg was beaten by the other murderers and stung up against an electrical sign, keeping him shorted out. (Amazing Spider-Man #379)
They found themselves in Brooklyn at the abandoned St. Estes Home for Boys, Cletus Kasady's former home. He explained that he was sent there after he killed his father for killing his mother...or maybe it was the other way around. Anyway, he was there as an eight year old and bullied by the other kids, then beaten and whipped by the care-takers. His memoir was interrupted by the good guys, who came with a sonic gun (one of his weaknesses, stolen from the Fantastic Four) and a new teammate, Firestar. The melee was chaotic and the sonic gun proved to be useless against him. Firestar managed to hurt him enough to melt the symbiote off of him, leaving him helpless. He pleaded with Venom to not kill him and he was stopped by Spider-Man. He got a second wind after Shriek encouraged him. (Spider-Man #36)
The fight continued and they were all joined by bloodthirsty civilians under Shriek's emotional control. Carnage was about to kill some of them but was stopped by Spider-Man and Firestar. Under Venom's demand and Spider-Man's reluctant acceptance, Firestar turned on her full heat against Carnage, who begged and pleaded on the ground for her to stop. Her conscience got the better of her and she stopped. Venom nearly tore her apart in rage and she had used her powers past the point where she could generate heat. Spider-Man saved her but was battered away by Venom. He was taken by surprise by Carnage and Shriek, who defeated him. Carnage actually had to stop her from killing him, as he planned to kill his old cellmate slowly. (Spectacular Spider-Man #202)
Carnage and Shriek took Brock and his symbiote to the Statue of Liberty, and hung him over a fire. She repeatedly hit him with sonic blasts, while Carnage cut at him. The rest of his "family" dealt with the vigilantes in New York. (Web of Spider-Man #103)
Carnage was interrupted from torturing Venom by Morbius and Nightwatch, who threw Demogoblin and Doppelganger threw the Staute's torch's glass. The heroes had to flee as the sun rose and Carnage mocked his allies for letting them get away. Demogoblin sarcastically said he could help next time and he told them both to go back to their mother and let him handle killing Brock. (Amazing Spider-Man #380)
Carnage had Brock begging for his life over the fire and Carnage told him that the torture was going to go on for weeks. He tried to use the sonic gun on Venom but found that the Venom symbiote had sabotaged it, causing it to misfire. Venom broke free of his chains and punched Carnage in the face, stunning him long enough to escape. He was too weak to put up a fight and planned to get his strength back before finishing Carnage off. Back in the statue's torch, Carnage screamed that he had been winning. Furious at Venom's escape, he returned to New York just in time to see Shriek and the others try to leave their rendezvous point to go killing by themselves. As he bashed her around a rooftop, he considered killing her but decided to hurt her instead. Doppelganger came to her defense and Carnage impaled the creature, then kicked it over the edge of the roof. He turned to the others and asked if they understood his point and Demogoblin tried to leave. He was stopped by the heroes (Iron Fist, Deathlok, Firestar, Captain America and Spider-Man) who said that none of them were leaving. At that point, Cloak returned with a revived Dagger. (Spider-Man #37)
Carnage stood back and let Shriek try to kill Dagger again, as he thought she acted like she was better than them anyway. Dagger's light power briefly overwhelmed Shriek and Dagger tried to convince her that she was forgiven. Shriek wanted nothing to do with her forgiveness and tried to blast her away again. Carnage came to rub Shriek's nose in her near defeat and turned around to see that all of their enemies had run away...except for Spider-Man. He took on the four of them alone and eventually he collapsed. Shriek turned on her emotional mind control powers on him, amplifying all of the anger and fear and guilt that he felt. He was saved by the timely arrival of the others, as he had bought them time to get the device that had been built at the Rand Corporation. (The company owned by Iron Fist.) The device calmed the alpha waves of the brain and override the negative emotions that Shriek controlled and replaced them with positive ones. The family was defeated and rounded up by the good guys but device seemingly killed Carnage, as the energy was too foreign to him. They found a body partially covered in his symbiote and assumed it was him. Later, Spider-Man was standing near a pond in the park, reflecting on the day. Venom approached him in a rage that his revenge had been stolen from him. Carnage emerged from the pond, telling him his "son" is alive and well. (Spectacular Spider-Man #203)
Spidey figured out that Kasady had faked his death and fooled them by wrapping part of his suit around a corpse. Carnage fled the two of them and Spider-Man wasn't able to go after him, as a vengeful Venom broke his ribs. Carnage fled across town, from his old cell at Ryker's Island to St. Estes. Venom found him at the abandoned orphanage and was about to kill him when Spider-Man arrived, and Carnage escaped. He fled to his parents gravesite, hoping that his dead mother would protect him. His mind had been burning since he had been exposed to the positive energy and he wanted his mommy to protect him. Venom and Spider-Man found him again and he nearly stabbed Spidey, until Black Cat arrived and saved him. He tried to run off with his mother's coffin but was slammed into some nearby electrical generators, which blew up. Venom escaped in the chaos and Kasady was saved from the fire by Spider-Man. He was unconscious and badly burned but alive. He was then taken away by the Avengers. (Spider-Man Unlimited #2)
"The Mortal Past"
While being transported from The Vault in Colorado, Kasady escaped from the armored transport and Spider-Man. Carnage targeted an old friend of Cletus': Bill Bentine. Bill had become successful in the lumber industry and the fact that he and Cletus had been childhood friends would make the murder seem even more senseless and unexpected. (People had began to expect Carnage to kill at random, so to keep up with the chaos theme, he went after Bentine.) At his lumberyard office Kasady threw a table at Bill, crashing it through a window and drawing the attention of Spider-Man. The ensuing fight turned against Spider-Man but Bill saved him by telling Kasady that he didn't think that Kasady would kill him. Reverting back to his vulnerable human form, Kasady set out to prove him wrong, giving Spider-Man the opportunity to knock him out. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual #28)
“Power and Responsibility”
Carnage recovered at Ravencroft Asylum and was soon held hostage by a mysterious man named Judas Traveller. He could read minds and found a common thread in the minds of Cletus Kasady, Frances Barrison, and Dmitri Smerdyakov: Spider-Man. He sent his assistant, Chakra, to find the wall crawler and bring him to Ravencroft. Chakra informed Spidey that Traveller had taken control of the asylum and would kill the patients unless Spider-Man arrived. If he defeated Traveller, the patients would all go free. Spider-Man arrived at Ravencroft, knowing it was a no win situation. (Web of Spider-Man #117)
Inside the asylum, Traveller released all of the patients but Spidey was fortunate, as Ben Reilly was also there to assist him. When they finally came across Carnage, he said he killed a bunch of the other inmates. Working together, Peter and Ben defeated him. (Spectacular Spider-Man #217)
”The Trial of Peter Parker”
Kasady again dealt with Judas, along with Ashley Kafka, John Jameson and Kaine. Traveller held a trial at Ravencroft to determine if Peter Parker was responsible for creating so many super criminals and Kasady acted as the prosecutor. After the jury (made up of Shriek, Chameleon, Vermin, Carrion and others) found Parker guilty, he was saved by Kaine who refused to let someone as good as Parker be killed by such base people. Cletus had been given all of the information of Peter's life by Judas, but that information was erased from his mind after he was put back in Ravencroft. (Amazing Spider-Man #403)
”Carnage Unleashed”
Some time later, a video game based on Maximum Carnage was created for online play. Apparently, the symbiote has the ability to make itself so small that it can travel along telephone cables. This ability helped Kasady force a security guard to set him free. This was fortune for Carnage, as Venom was on his way to kill him out of rage that Carnage's murder spree had been made into a game. That particular sequence ended with Kasady's therapist setting him on fire and his falling out of a high rise window, only to be saved by Venom. He ended up in a coma.
"Planet of the Symbiotes"
But not for long. A space ship of alien symbiotes arrived on earth, and the Planet of the Symbiotes took place. The agony of the crisis caused Kasady to wake up (I assume the symbiote, who is sensitive to emotions, got a boost from the agony and used it to wake him up. Yeah, that's it.) and he found that he could increase his size by absorbing other symbiotes. With millions of the buggers on the planet, he quickly grew to enormous proportions. He was stopped by Venom, Spider-Man and the Scarlet Spider when they blew up a transport truck full of fuel.
"Web of Carnage”
Back at Ravencroft, the Carnage symbiote had grown tired of being incarcerated with Kasady, yearning for more mayhem. It escaped without him through the water pipes in the sink, and bonded to John Jameson. The creature forced John to commit several murders before it was defeated by Ben Reilly. However, the alien used that defeat to bond to the new Spider-Man and they became Spider-Carnage. It took every ounce of strength Ben had to keep himself form following through on the creature's demands that he kill, even when they crossed paths with Jessica Carradine and Peter. (Amazing Spider-Man #410)
Peter discovered that Ben had joined with the symbiote as Ben was tearing through some security guards at a hospital. Ben nearly killed Peter but eventually left him alone. In desperation, Ben went to Ravencroft to ask Cletus how to control the creature. The madman told him that control was impossible and that the alien would twist and corrupt Spider-Man until he gave in to it. While Ben refused to let the symbiote return to Kasady, he asked John to put him in a cell with microwave emitters, which weaken the creature. The thing eventually left Ben and retreated through the water system to Cletus, making him Carnage once more. (Spectacular Spider-Man #233)
"Carnage Cosmic"
At another time, the symbiote blended with the Silver Surfer. After bonding to the Surfer, it was revealed that the symbiotes were a space traveling species that act as locusts. The Surfer arrived as the symbiotes consumed the inhabitants of a far off planet. Disgusted by the creatures, the Silver Surfer summoned his master, Galactus. The world devourer quickly destroyed the planet, an event which traumatized the symbiotic race. It became a "genetic memory" and each symbiote desired to kill the Silver Surfer. (Amazing Spider-Man #430)
"Toxin"
The next writer ignored the fact that this was a new symbiote and had Carnage spawn a new creature. Carnage was sickened that he, the figure of death in his own mind, was forced to give birth. He did everything he could to destroy the new symbiote, but was prevented by Venom. Brock wanted to use the new symbiote as an ally in his battles against Spider-Man. The new symbiote bonded to a New York cop named Pat Mulligan and became Toxin.
Pat tried to make the best of being bonded to a violent creature and became a crime fighter. Toxin started his career against Carnage. The sense of conscience disturbed Venom, who started an uneasy alliance with Carnage. Toxin held his own against the two, and chased them off with the help of Spider-Man and the Black Cat.
"New Avengers"
Carnage and many other criminals escaped from The Raft after it was shut down by Electro. (Max Dillon had been hired to break out Robert Reynolds and to release the other criminals to distract the inevitable vigilantes.) Carnage was about to kill Foggy Nelson when the killer was grabbed by the Sentry, flown into orbit and torn in half. He was abandoned there and presumed dead. (New Avengers #1 and #2)
"Carnage Reborn"
Symbiotes have proven pretty dang hard to get rid of, as the alien is shown to be alive and in containment in New York. This was revealed as Doppelganger attacked a prison transfer vehicle, containing his "mother," Shriek. The creature, and the riot of nearby New Yorkers caused by Shriek's empathy powers, was subdued by Spider-Man and Iron Man. Little did they know what the armored car was carrying.
The alien had been found barely alive in space by a satellite, which returned it to earth. The symbiote had nearly starved itself to death by keeping Kasady alive. The company that claimed ownership of the creature also saved Cletus and gave him bionic legs to replace the ones destroyed by Sentry. The alien was saved from death by the company using Shriek's empathy powers to feed it, as the creature feeds on strong, negative emotion. (Carnage #1)
Shriek was held at the same containment facility as the creature, and was still undergoing psychiatric treatment from her doctor, Dr Tanis Nieves. Dr Nieves had a bionic arm that used part of the symbiote in its mechanisms. The Carnage symbiote used that connection to force Nieves to free it. It then bonded to her and forced her to go to Kassady. (Carnage #2) The expected battle royale broke out after Carnage was free and he quickly dispatched the armored guards. Their suits used parts of the symbiote as circuitry, which Carnage was able to communicate with and ordered them to destroy the men in the suits. He then wore the dead men and armor as protective gear. This gave him an advantage over Spider-Man and Iron Man. Shriek soon arrived by her lover's side, much to his annoyance. (Carnage #3)
He wanted to deal with the heroes and told her to make the nearby New Yorkers go mad with her empathy powers if she got bored. As New York began to go through the same rioting and senseless violence it experienced during Maximum Carnage, Kasady went back to pounding on Spidey and Iron Man. They had been momentarily stunned by Shriek's sonic attack and were playing defense against Carnage. Carnage held his own against Stark's better weaponry, until Dr Nieves, now bonded with a new symbiote spawn, forced Shriek to attack him. (Carnage #4) When Spider-Man pried apart the armor that encased Carnage, he found that that lunatic was already gone. Kasady and Doppelganger hunted down Mike Bolton, who had been the man responsible for taking the symbiote from him. Kasady let Doppel munch on Bolton, saying that the "music" helped him think. He decided that they were going on the road. (Carnage #5)
"Carnage USA"
Kasady later showed up in Doverton, Colorado, where he took the town's 1,145 residents hostage. The Avengers learned of Carnage's whereabouts and sent Captain America, Spider-Man, Hawkeye, the Thing and Wolverine to capture him. Their attack failed miserably as the symbiote quickly engulfed all of the assembled Avengers, sans Spider-Man. At the U.S. Emergency Response Center, the gathered military specialists watched as the communication devices given to the Avengers went off line and the president was demanding action. A general calmly replied that there were five contingency plans at the ready: Venom, Toxin, Hybrid, Scorn and Anti-Venom.
As the government assembled its team, the Carnage influenced Avengers chased Spider-Man out of town. Later they went to a bar to shoot pool, and Kasady had take a young mother and her sons hostage. As in Maximum Carnage, Kasady relived as a dysfunctional father to the family, eventually sending them out to kill the woman's husband after they were also bonded to Carnage. After they left, Kasady set up a town meeting at the Last Chance Church, demanding that the town folk hurt themselves and each other. Kasady momentarily lost control of Captain America, who radioed to his superiors to send code name 4563: Agent Venom (Flash Thompson).
Agent Venom took on Carnage but Scorn had built a device that separated the aliens from their hosts, leaving Flash and Cletus to fight it out alone. Both men had lost their legs but in the end, the Venom symbiote returned to Flash in time to save him, while much of the Carnage symbiote was destroyed in a missile attack sent by the army. Scorn collected the symbiote, while the Avengers took Kasady away.
"Minimum Carnage"
Naturally, Kasady didn't stay locked up for long, and soon made his way to Houston, Texas to aid tiny killers from another dimension. They teleported him to their world, just in time to escape the newest Scarlet Spider (Kaine Parker) and Agent Venom. Once he arrived in the Microverse, he learned that he was brought there to kill The Redeemer, a being worshiped as a god by the beings of that dimension. Redeemer was opposed by Marquis Radu, who wanted to conquer the Microverse and refused to share it, even with a god. The problem is, if the Redeemer died, then the Microverse died. If the Microverse unraveled, so did the Macroverse. Carnage was thus in a position to kill all life in the universe.
After both Carnage and Agent Venom were captured by Radu, they learned they were going to be used to create a symbiote army. (Long ago, symbiotes had invaded the Microverse and nearly destroyed it. All symbiotes have a toxic effect on that reality, so Venom and Carnage were a very potent threat to Redeemer.) Both symbiotes were cloned and combined, the new symbiotes bonded to host bodies. Carnage, untainted by the government's mind control as the Venom symbiote was, had the ability to control the newly formed army. Agent Venom managed to defeat the army but Carnage and many of the new symbiotes somehow escaped the Microverse and returned to Houston.
The Redeemer managed to return Scarlet Spider, Venom and reporter Katie Kiernan to Earth, just in time to see Kasady and the cloned symbiotes slaughtering Houstonians. Venom had been given a sonic grenade before they left the Microverse, which he used on Carnage. While Kasady was momentarily weakened, he was stabbed in the brain by the Scarlet Spider, effectively lobotomized. Later, at a containment facility, Agent Venom was told by a doctor that while Kasady was catatonic, the symbiote was still alive and well. The alien was now in complete control of Cletus Kasady.
"Superior Carnage"
In prison, the mindless Carnage went on a rampage, much to the satisfaction of the Wizard. The master criminal intended to create a new Frightful Four and to add Carnage to the roster. He wanted to accomplish this via mind control of Kasady, but he soon found that mind control wasn't an option after the lobotomy. The Wizard was saved from slaughter by the timely arrival of Klaw, who used his sonic powers to subdue Carnage. (Superior Carnage #1) After he regained his courage, Wizard again attempted mind control of the symbiote itself and repeatedly failed, nearly causing his own death. He attempted his mind control with the aid of the wheelchair bound Dr. Malus. Eventually, Wizard decided to perform a blood transfusion, transferring the symbiote from Kasady to Malus. (Superior Carnage #2)
Wizard and Klaw eventually gained a tenuous control over Dr. Malus and the symbiote. They soon went on a rampage at city hall, looking for mayor Jameson. Once they arrived, they instead found the Superior Spider-Man waiting for them in the mayor's office. (Superior Carnage #3) Spider-Man decided to deal with the Wizard first, "to remove the head of the snake." After Wizard was beaten, the Carnage symbiote took control of Dr. Malus. When Spider-Man radioed his troops to assist him, Carnage said not to bother, as he had removed all of their tongues. Klaw interrupted and used his sound waves to paralyze Spider-Man, until he was impaled by Carnage. Klaw blew up and the explosion separated the alien from Malus, after which the creature bonded to the Wizard. (Superior Carnage #4)
After bonding to Carnage, the Wizard demanded to see his son. Spider-Man's goons tried to stop him with a flame thrower, which failed as it was a prototype. At the same time, Carnage tore off the crippled legs of Dr. Malus after he told Spider-Man he couldn't run away. Carnage also speared Spidey in the side to force him to bring him his son. Spider-Man ordered his men to bring them Kasady, which the symbiote immediately rejoined. He nearly devoured the Wizard as retribution but was stopped by Klaw's sound waves. The spider-goons separated the alien from Kasady and the creature was imprisoned at Spider-Island. The bonding to the symbiote also repaired Kasady's brain. (Superior Carnage #5)
With the alien imprisoned at Spider-Island, Kasady was left vulnerable in a prison's general population, and he was stabbed by other inmates. Meanwhile, the symbiote died suddenly. However, a separate specimen had been taken from the alien, which was being studied at a lab in New Mexico. It escaped and bonded to a researcher, who went home and killed her husband. It soon left her and bonded to other hosts. As Cletus lay recovering from his near murder, he was smothered by the doctor that was keeping watch over him. Soon the alien arrived at Kasady's bedside and the doctor tried to bond to it. The alien re-bonded to Cletus, bringing him back to life. They had both been sick without each other and the bonding had saved both of them. Carnage slaughtered the inmates of the prison, including the prisoner that had stabbed him. Carnage escaped, looking forward to seeing the world. (Superior Carnage Annual #1)
"Deadpool vs Carnage"
Kasady next showed up at a small Kansas diner and killed the dozen patrons inside. This was his fifth massacre since escaping and made the national news. He found a hideout at an abandoned housing development near Tulsa, Oklahoma. He enjoyed that he was hiding out where someone's dream home was "murdered by inflated interest rates and bad credit loans." His happiness was cut short when a missile blew up the porch he was standing on, fired by the mercenary called Deadpool. Kasady survived the explosion and during the following fight with Deadpool, who soon stuffed a grenade in his mouth. Deadpool was about to cut the stunned killer's head off with a sword, when he was blasted by Shriek. (Deadpool vs Carnage #1)
As Carnage tortured Deadpool to find out how he found them, he was furious when 'Pool said he just followed the clues. As a devote to chaos and random slaughter, Kasady refused to believe that he had left clues. Deadpool managed to distract Carnage with dubstep so loud that it acted as a sonic weapon. The grenades that he used against Carnage only stunned the symbiote and Kasady escaped with help from Shriek's levitation. They made their way to Chicago, moving randomly to avoid being found again. Cletus told Shriek to stop worrying after they stole a classic car and drove out of Chicago. Little did they know, but Deadpool was on the flatbed truck ahead of them, sitting in a farm's harvesting machine. Deadpool turned the machine on and tried to roll over the duo, causing Shriek to hit her head on the windshield. This infuriated Carnage, who soon smashed through the harvester and tossed the mercenary into the highway. (Deadpool vs Carnage #2)
As he and Carnage hacked and slashed at each other, Deadpool was yammering about how chaos was a lie and that there were underlying patterns. Carnage ignored him, then tossed him in front of an oncoming semi. Carnage hijacked a family that was on a road-trip, forcing them to help him and Shriek escape. He decided to see if Deadpool was right about the universe trying to tell him something about chaos and told the father to drive them to the attractions that they had planned to see. After the car arrived at a ghost town, Kasady killed the family. Kasady sensed something familiar about the place and soon found that there was an underground base that housed the military team that bonded to the former Hybrid symbiotes. Carnage quickly murdered the team and set the base to self-destruct to kill the other symbiotes. When Deadpool finally arrived, Carnage tore him to pieces. (Deadpool vs. Carnage #3)
Carnage and Shriek took hostages at the Carrington Psychiatric Hospital, looking for answers from the doctors about if what Deadpool said was true. One of them suggested that what he was saying was not at all rational and Kasady killed him. Deadpool then sniped him from outside, blowing his head off. Little did he know, but Deadpool had been rejoined at the ghost town by the symbiotes that he had tried to kill. Shriek fled the room and Carnage and Deadpool repeatedly tried to kill each other. Carnage ignored the other inmates and decided that no one was going to die that day but Deadpool. Little did he know, but when he thought he had snuck up and killed Deadpool, he had only cut up Shriek, whom Deadpool had disguised as himself. Carnage gave himself up to police by sealing himself up in a hospital cell, saying that he was staying right there until he was his "own man again." (Deadpool vs Carnage #4)
"Axis: Carnage"
In the meantime, the Red Skull had conquered the nation of Genosha, causing the X-Men and Avengers to join against him. It was after that event happened that Magneto visited Carnage in his prison cell. Kasady was still bitter that chaos seemed to be a lie, until Magneto convinced him that Carnage becoming a hero was the definition of chaos. (Magneto #11)
Soon Carnage was in Genosha with Hobgoblin, Deadpool, Mystique, Enchantress, Absorbing Man and Jack O'Lantern VI. Red Skull had two Sentinel robots created by Iron Man programmed to attack any heroes that arrived, but as none of these combatants were identified as "heroes," they had the advantage. Doctor Doom and the Scarlet Witch were also involved in the fracas, and they cast an "Inversion" spell to make Charles Xavier's consciousness dominant over the Red Skull's (Skull was in possession of Xavier's brain), but the spell backfired and covered the entire nation of Genosha. After the spell was cast, the villain army had mysteriously vanished. (AXIS #3)
"Absolute Carnage"
"King in Black"
"Unmade in His Image"
Carnage, now without Kasady, escaped from his prison cell through the fire extinguishers in the ceiling after convincing a guard to set the fire alarm off. If he set Carnage free, he'd be spared. The symbiote made it's way to Hydro-Man's cell, whom assumed the alien wanted a new host. He willingly agreed to bond to the creature but the alien wasn't interested. It had become curious about it's potential without a host, and only wanted Hydro-Man's power. The alien began to drain Hydro-Man as guards arrived. Carnage asked his prisoner if he wanted to see what carnage was all about. (Carnage Forever #1)
"Carnage"
A copy cat serial killer left his victims as twisted works of art for the police to find. After he (Kenneth Neely) had drained the blood from his latest victim, he was visited by the Carnage symbiote. It wanted to know if he was just dumb by leaving the spiral symbol of Knull on his victims or if he was trying to get Carnage's attention. Kennth's victim escaped despite his blood loss and told the police about his abductor and a strange conversation he had. Kenneth had asked Carnage to make him it's new host, and it wasn't sure if it should stick a sharpened finger into his ear or take him up on the offer. Carnage took him too where he was torturing Hydro-Man, and Kenneth told him it was beautiful. Carnage explained that it had been digging into Hydro-Man's atoms, trying to find his essence. It no longer needed a human host. It had enjoyed killing with Kasady but he tired of his obsession with it. It wanted to escape those petty desire and find it's own beauty. (Carnage (vol. 2) #1)
Carnage went on to explain that Kasady had taught him that serial killers enjoy taking a trophy from their victims. Neely said he took pictures, before and after the murder, to capture the transformation. Carnage agreed, killing was a transformation for both the killer and victim. Officer Jon arrived to arrest them but they escaped but only after Carnage left a piece of himself in him. He wanted to see how far the cop would go to catch them. Jon gained more insight into Carnage's motives and understood it was trying to find a way to alter and improve itself. After it took Hydro-Man's power, it tracked down Dr. Jonathan Ohn, the Spot. (Carnage (vol. 2) #2)
Carnage demanded access to the spotted dimension and Spot told him he could just give him access. Carnage told him there was no violence in that option. Spot avoided the symbiote by dodging through his dimensions but was grabbed by Kenneth and Carnage grabbed Ohn, tearing him apart. Kenneth's hand was cut off in the attack, and Carnage had no sympathy for him. Before Ohn died, Carnage took one of his spot portals. Carnage opened a portal and took Kenneth with him, still complaining about his missing hand. They showed up at the Fuertes Astronomical Observatory in New York. There he explained that he had gotten a taste of incredible power when Knull arrived on earth but that power had been taken by Venom. He had one of the scientists turn on their transdimensional portal while he utilized the powers he took from Hydro-Man and Spot. He would use those abilities to reach across the universe and see how far he can go. (Carnage (vol. 2) #3)
They arrived in Svartalheim, the home of the Dark Elves. Carnage wanted to kill some gods, so he chose the place of hunting. This was a kind of holy day for the Dark Elves, as it was the one night in sixteen cycles that Nyaz, the wolf goddess, nurses her pups before abandoning them. The elves always sent six of their group to find and tame one of the wolf pups. Carnage was also there for one of the pups and sent Kenneth after one of the elves after he killed one himself. (Carnage (vol. 2) #4)
”A Tangled Web We Weave”
The Carnage symbiote had decided to let go of Kasady’s ideals and follow its own path, which was to create death across worlds. (Wasn’t that always Kasady’s ideal?) He and Jon Shayde ended up on Earth 31, in an abandoned subway tunnel. They crossed paths with Morlun, who had fled there. Carnage smelled death and violence on him, and Morlun explained that he had been an apex predator but had lost his powers after being stabbed by the spider totem named Silk. Carnage was bored by his story and started to leave when Morlun said he knew Carnage was looking for something, a venomous spider. He could trace any prey that he touched, in any time or world. Unfortunately, when he lost his power, all of that energy had to be transferred to someone else that also hunted spiders.
They found that world’s Venom (Cletus Kasady) fighting that world’s Kraven, Kraven the Hunter-Spider. Morlun was appalled that a totem had gained the power of an Inheritor and tried to feed from Carnage. He had mistaken him for a spider totem but while totems represent life, Carnage was death and chaos. Carnage went after Venom and Kraven, realizing that Kraven was the one he wanted.
Quiz: Quiz on Carnage.
Image Gallery
Appearances
Thanks To
The assistance of the Marvel Chronology Project is gratefully acknowledged.
Some of the above information is extracted from the various versions of the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe and the more recent Marvel Encyclopaedias.