Carnage . Created by writer David Michelinie and artist Mark Bagley, he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #361 (April 1992). Carnage's human component, Cletus Kasady, was designed by Erik Larsen before Carnage; Cletus' design was based on The Joker. [1]

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.

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 seemed 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. Now an orphan, Kasady was sent to the St. Estes home for boys, where his antisocial behavior made him the target of abuse from both the other orphans and the staff.

Kasady vindicated himself by murdering the disciplinarian administrator and burning down the orphanage. By his early twenties, he had been convicted of eleven murders, although he bragged about committing dozens more.

He justified his acts of murder with an absurdist philosophy, based on the idea that the universe was essentially chaotic and that law and order were a perversion. He had recently shared a cell with Eddie Brock who had just recently lost his symbiote after a battle against Styx.

"Carnage Unleashed"

When the symbiote returned and bonded with Eddie to form the entity known as Venom, the supervillain unwittingly left behind a spawn which merged itself into Kasady's bloodstream. One night, Kasady murdered a guard and escaped prison, beginning a series of gruesome and seemingly random murders. At the scene of each crime, he'd write "Carnage Rules" on the walls with his own blood. He was found by Spider-Man, though the hero proved to be no match for the Venom spawn. In desperation, Spider-Man made what he thought would be the first of many truces with Venom to fight Carnage.

Kasady, albeit having a stronger bond to his symbiote than Eddie Brock did, has been separated from and re-bonded with the symbiote several times. The Carnage symbiote, attracted to stronger hosts, has attempted to bond with Ben Reilly to become Spider-Carnage and, later, the Silver Surfer, which created the insane and vastly powerful Carnage Cosmic. Later, Venom decided to re-absorb the Carnage symbiote "for good." Without the symbiote, Kasady retained the Carnage persona by costuming himself in red paint and continuing his killing sprees, but he did so as a powerless human.

Soon, however, Kasady found 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 gained the costume the animated version of him from that series wore.

Perhaps the most famous storyline in which Carnage appears is the 1993 Spider-Man event Maximum Carnage. Carnage, and a cadre of psychotic super-villains (consisting of Shriek, Demogoblin, Carrion and Doppelganger) overtook New York, but were driven back by Spider-Man, Venom, the Black Cat, and several other heroes.

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 Peter Parker (then powerless), and other innocent people. Reilly barely escapes the symbiote's control with help from Dr. Ashley Kafka and John Jameson, the administrators of Ravencroft.

Recent events

Carnage starred in the miniseries Venom vs. Carnage in 2004. The Carnage symbiote spawned a "child" symbiote, which he tried to kill without success. The "child" later bonded with police officer Patrick Mulligan. Carnage felt nothing but hate for the young creature and attempted to kill it, while Venom defended it (feeling protective of his "grandchild"). Venom named the new symbiote Toxin. Mulligan has since attempted to steer the symbiote towards heroism instead of murder.

Carnage was one of several supervillains trying to escape from The Raft in New Avengers #1-2. The Sentry flew Carnage outside the Earth's atmosphere and ripped him apart. It is unknown whether this was Kasady or the symbiote itself, acting alone, but he has not appeared since.

Powers and abilities

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). It also makes him undetectable (like Venom) to Spider-Man's spider-sense. Similarly, Venom's ability to "detect" Kasady's presence can be blocked only by Venom himself.

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. Unlike Venom, Kasady can also separate parts of the symbiote costume from himself and use them as weapons. 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.

The living costume endows Carnage with superhuman strength, he is stronger than both the original Venom(Eddie Brock) and Spider-Man 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 is a totally unrepentant killer and a formidable fighter.

Contradictions

• Various stories contradict one another as to whether the symbiote is permanently bonded with Kasady's DNA, due most likely to the symbiote's apparent death after its first appearance. In Maximum Carnage, Kasady himself indicated that the symbiote had mutated his blood to allow Kasady to produce a copy of the suit, but the suit was trapped in Kasady's body until he could release it from his bloodstream. During the Spider-Carnage arc, the symbiote independently chooses to leave Kasady and bond with Ben Reilly. Kasady rapidly ages and his body quickly deteriorates. In this state, Kasady was barely able to function, let alone pose a threat. The symbiote bonded with him again in time to save his life. However, in the story arc where Venom ate the symbiote, Kasady did not deteriorate, but this was left unexplained. He was later to gain another symbiote in the Negative Zone, but this story was quickly forgotten. It is generally presumed that Kasady simply regenerated the biomass of the original symbiote while in the Negative Zone and that Kasady and the Carnage symbiote are merely one organism on a genetic level.^{[citation needed]} The symbiote that spawned Toxin was clearly the original Carnage symbiote, due to Venom referring to the Toxin symbiote as his 'grandson'. Other evidence for Kasady having regrown the Symbiote includes the fact that he had been diagnosed with a Stomach Cancer. During Kasady's sickness the Symbiote had kept him alive wi; had it actually been permanently removed, he would have slowly died, and also that in the panels in which Venom devours the Carnage Symbiote, a small trace of it is left on Kasady's cell floor.

• Carnage meets the Black Cat during the Maximum Carnage storyline, but in Venom Vs Carnage they don't recognize each other. This contradiction continued in the Toxin limited series when the Black Cat sees Toxin for the first time.

Ultimate Carnage

Template:Spoiler

The Ultimate Marvel Universe version of Carnage is very different from the Marvel Universe version, although both characters were designed by Mark Bagley. The title of the arc, Carnage, referred only to the path of murder the creature embarked upon; the creature is never named.

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.

He used the blood 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. However, the ultimate Carnage's power is significantly less than that of the 616 version.

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.

In the video game Ultimate Spider-Man, another Carnage creature was created when hostile scientists activated the dormant Venom particles in Peter's body. The particles overtook him, and he battled Venom. The Carnage suit is quickly absorbed by Venom, whose host, (Eddie Brock) gains full control of the Venom suit.

Recently, someone claiming to be Gwen Stacy returned. She retained no memory of her death, only remembering waking up in a hospital room. When a small army of S.H.I.E.L.D. Spider Slayers arrived to take Peter into custody, the new 'Gwen' became agitated and transformed into Carnage, or a creature similar to it. She (or it) then attacked the gathered Spider Slayers. After a prolonged and destructive rampage through the Slayers, the AI on the Slayer drones manage to adapt to Carnage's biological data, and neutralize the creature by changing it back into 'Gwen' with a series of power energy blasts. Notably, this 'Gwen' version appeared to have white teeth in a similar manner to the 616 Venom rather than Carnage's traditional black, red or yellow fangs. This version, or one like it, was also seen in Ultimate Spider-Woman's flashback to the labs where she was created; Carnage, referred to as "The Stacy Experiment" by a fleeing scientist, caused enough panic for all of the Spider-Clones to escape.

Solicitations for the Epilogue of The Ultimate Clone Saga - issue #105 - stated that the fate of 'Gwen Stacy' will be decided by Nick Fury. Within this issue, Fury inspects Stacy, who is held in containment next to Ultimate Scorpion, turns to the Geneticists in charge of the project, and tells them to 'Get to Work'. Template:Endspoiler

In other media

Television

In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Carnage's creation was orchestrated by the evil demon Dormammu. The Venom symbiote had previously been launched into space aboard a probe by Spider-Man, but, learning that it was on the verge of asexually reproducing, Dormammu had his agent, Baron Mordo, bring the probe back to Earth. When the recently arrested Cletus Kasady witnessed Brock's reunion with his symbiote, he was soon offered the chance to merge with the symbiote's spawn. Becoming Carnage, he was sent out to capture enough "life energy" from human beings to provide Dormammu the strength to enter our world. Because of the degree of censorship placed on the show, this version of Carnage was quite noticeably tamer and less violent than his appearances in the comics, merely draining life from his victims, which was later restored, rather than killing them outright (although he still took a perverse pleasure in the action, and referred to it as if it were feeding). He was eventually defeated by Spider-Man and Venom, as he, Venom and Dormammu were sent hurling through a dimensional vortex. He was voiced by Scott Cleverdon.

In the series finale of the show, the Carnage symbiote emerged from a dimensional portal into an alternate reality, and bonded with the extremely emotionally unstable Peter Parker of that world.

The joining of the two created the insane Spider-Carnage, who was threatening 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, were able to convince Spider-Carnage to fight the symbiote off.

This was done by bringing in Peter's Uncle Ben from a reality where he was not murdered. Peter knew the symbiote was influencing Spider-Carnage to commit this genocide, since they were in fact the same person and Peter could never kill another human being. Uncle Ben was able to convince Spider-Carnage he could still be a hero as long as he had the courage to reject the symbiote. However, the Carnage symbiote was too powerfully bonded and despite Spider-Carnage's best efforts, he could not get rid of it, so he threw himself into a dangerously unstable warp hole where he was 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 fell into a dimensional portal in the third season finale.[2]

Carnage also appeared in the later series Spider-Man Unlimited.

Appearances by episode

• (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

http://www.quik.guate.com/mcdonald/fanfics/mxcarnage/carnage2.jpg ===Film=== Carnage is going to be one of the villans along with The Lizard in the next film,Spider-Man 4.

Video games

• 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 & the Sega Genesis. He awaited Spider-Man at the end of the second level and had attacks identical to those of Spider-Man himself.
• Carnage appeared in both Spider-Man & 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 PSP/Nintendo 64/Sega Dreamcast 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 for the Japanese-only video game Spider-Man: Lethal Foes. A computer-controlled Venom will assist the player in fighting him.
• In Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes there is a secret character called Hyper Venom, which is usually mistakenly considered Carnage.

External links

• Carnage on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki
• Ultimate Carnage on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki
• 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
• MDP: Carnage - Marvel Database Project