History ComicBook / MaximumCarnage

* VillainousBreakdown: Well, Carnage was never the calm, collected bad guy that this trope usually entails, but at the end of the story, he's so traumatized that he actually appears to have gone crazy ''even in comparison to his regular behavior''.

* {{Determinator}}: After a particularly vicious fight (which of course was on the heels of a series of vicious battles) Spider-Man has to actually go to the hospital to treat multiple broken ribs. On the way out, Mary Jane comments that she "didn't know they taped ribs any more"; the moment Peter says he told the doctors he needed support she realizes he's about to go swinging back into the fight, ribs set but still broken and barely treated, without so much as taking a nap to regain some strength, because he [[ComesGreatResponsibility has a responsibility]].

* NinetiesAntiHero: Venom is one of the ultimate exemplars of this trope, a "reformed" villain who shows almost no heroic qualities and can be considered a hero only by contrast with the Complete Monsters he fights. Morbius follows this formula to a tee as well. Though Deathlok's origins are in the 70s, by this point he's morphed into a textbook Creator/RobLiefeld design, right down to the shoulder pads, and Nightwatch is typical of the many shadowy mystery men who populated hero comics at that time. Cloak goes off the deep end for most of this tale as well, but perhaps in his case it's a JustifiedTrope, given that he's [[spoiler: coping with extreme grief and survivor guilt]] and that he comes to his senses by the end.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Spider-Man, Venom, Black Cat, Iron Fist, Deathlok, Morbius, Nightwatch, Cloak & Dagger, Captain America, Firestar, Carnage, Shriek, Doppelganger, Carrion, and Demogoblin.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maximum_carnage_title_2.jpg]]

!!The series provides examples of:

Carnage recruits C-list villains Shriek, Doppelganger, Carrion, and Demogoblin, while Spidey teams up with (deep breath) Comicbook/{{Venom}}, [[ComicBook/NewWarriors Firestar]], ComicBook/BlackCat, Comicbook/CloakAndDagger, Comicbook/IronFist, Deathlok, Nightwatch, ComicBook/{{Morbius}}, and ComicBook/CaptainAmerica.

* NietzscheWannabe: Carnage. Shriek actually does a better job of articulating his views than he does though.

* FilkSong: "Carnage Rules" by Green Jelly, about the madness of Carnage and the battle against Spidey, which is used in the video game adaptation.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: Played straight or subverted, depending on your point of view. [[spoiler: On the one hand, Dagger gets better, so perhaps a subversion, but then again, DeathIsCheap, so maybe the resurrection doesn't undermine the trope, since such things are so common they're almost a given.]]

* AntiHero: Venom is a Type V, Morbius is a Type IV while Black Cat is a Type II.

The event was poorly received and, in hindsight, marked the beginning of a [[DorkAge downward spiral]] in quality in the ''Spider-Man'' books over the next several years. In fact, the whole thing might have faded into obscurity if it hadn't been unexpectedly adapted into a surprisingly popular beat 'em up game for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis and UsefulNotes/SuperNES, published by Creator/{{LJN|Toys}}. The game allowed players to control either Spider-Man or Venom, and featured the rest of the hero cast as summonable power-ups. A surprising amount of attention was paid to accurately recreating the comic, including levels modeled after scenes from individual issues, and villains' vulnerabilities or resistances to certain attacks.

Carnage recruits C-list villains Shriek, Doppelganger, Carrion, and Demogoblin, while Spidey teams up with (deep breath) Comicbook/{{Venom}}, [[ComicBook/NewWarriors Firestar]], ComicBook/BlackCat, Comicbook/CloakAndDagger, [[ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist Iron Fist]], Deathlok, Nightwatch, ComicBook/{{Morbius}}, and ComicBook/CaptainAmerica.

''Maximum Carnage'' was a 14-part comic book crossover event in 1993. The story spanned every ComicBook/SpiderMan title released that summer, three issues apiece of ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'', ''Web of Spider-Man'', and ''Spider-Man'', plus two new ''Spider-Man Unlimited'' issues that bookended the story.

* EvilCounterpart: Doppelganger, who is, well, Spider-Man's Doppelganger. Venom as well, though he was technically an anti-hero at this point.
** EvilerThanThou [[EvilCounterpart Counterpart]]: Carnage, who Spider-Man calls a "twisted" version of Venom (who is already pretty twisted himself). Also, Demogoblin is supposed to be an ''even more'' evil version of the Hobgoblin, though the latter does not appear in this story.

* DependingOnTheWriter: Carnage's personality. Of the four writers involved, only David Michelinie and Tom [=DeFalco=] seem to remember Carnage's working class, uneducated roots (probably because the former wrote the character's origin story, and the latter was also the editor). Terry Kavanagh has Carnage spitting off Dr. Doom-esque lines like [[LargeHam "Your pathetic arrogance, fools, shall be your very downfall!"]] J.M. [=DeMatteis=] gives Carnage a highbrow sense of humor which doesn't fit the character at all. He even makes a reference to Leo Buscaglia.

The event has received three semi-sequels, two miniseries titled Minimum Carnage and Carnage, U.S.A in 2012 and a event series titled ''ComicBook/AbsoluteCarnage'' in 2019.

* SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: In Issue Fourteen, Peter gives a speech to his father, challenging his father's CrapsackWorld View. He points out that the World is full of people who listen to their hearts to do the right thing, and that the Devils can never win as long as people have hope!

Received a semi-sequel in a miniseries in 2010.

* AssPull: Carrion literally appears out of nowhere, and joins Carnage for seemingly no reason. Doppelganger is found lurking around an alley, for no obvious reason.
** In the case of Doppleganger, Carnage and Shriek are webbing around the city when Carnage catches a glimpse of Doppleganger and immediately attacks, mistaking him for Spider-Man. Shriek then [[FluffyTamer decides he's cute]].
** The positive emotion gun is not built up or alluded to ''one single time'' before it is used to defeat Shriek.

* FiveBadBand

* {{Asspull}}: Carrion literally appears out of nowhere, and joins Carnage for seemingly no reason. Doppelganger is found lurking around an alley, for no obvious reason.

* AxeCrazy: Carnage is basically the living embodiment of this trope. Shriek as well, to a lesser degree.

* BigDamnVillains: Averted. Venom ''tries'' to step in and take the hurt to Carnage the way that Spider-Man won't, but Spidey just plain refuses to stand back and let him do the dirty work.

* [[GoKartingWithBowser Making A Sidekick With Venom]]: Spider-Man. This is actually the second time this happened in 1993 alone; Spidey previously worked together with Venom in the ''Venom: Lethal Protector'' mini-series (which was later adapted to the video game ''Spider-Man/Venom: Separation Anxiety'', as a sequel to the ''Maximum Carnage'' game).

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Almost comes to an explosively literal example when [[spoiler: the good vibes from the Alpha Wave gun appear to have killed Carnage. It turns out he was just playing possum, although exposure to the "good bomb" really did mess with his head. Perhaps as an interesting epilogue, in a story shortly afterwards, Demogoblin sacrifices himself to save the life of an innocent child.]]

* YouHaveFailedMe: Poor [[spoiler:Doppelganger.]]

The event was poorly received and, in hindsight, marked the beginning of a [[DorkAge downward spiral]] in quality in the ''Spider-Man'' books over the next several years. In fact, the whole thing might have faded into obscurity if it hadn't been unexpectedly adapted into a surprisingly popular beat 'em up game for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis and SuperNES, published by Creator/{{LJN|Toys}}. The game allowed players to control either Spider-Man or Venom, and featured the rest of the hero cast as summonable power-ups. A surprising amount of attention was paid to accurately recreating the comic, including levels modeled after scenes from individual issues, and villains' vulnerabilities or resistances to certain attacks.

'''''Maximum Carnage''''' was a 14-part comic book crossover event in 1993. The story spanned every ComicBook/SpiderMan title released that summer, three issues apiece of ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'', ''Web of Spider-Man'', and ''Spider-Man'', plus two new ''Spider-Man Unlimited'' issues that bookended the story.