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Carnage is a Spider-Man villain and the first spawn of Venom. The symbiote has bonded to a number of hosts over the years, and like Venom has accumulated a number of alternate-universe counterparts.


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Carnage

    Carnage 

Carnage

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/carnagenew_3181.jpg

Alter Ego: Cletus Kasady

Notable Aliases: The Red Slayer, Friendly Neighborhood Carnage, Poison Carnage, Prophet of the Void

Species: Human

First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man #344 (March 1991)

"I'm chaos, Mistuh Kurtz, chaos—and the rest of the world won't admit that its just like me. And because of that the world is worthless, its dirt on my heel—its a planet full of mannequins filled with blood and they may as well be torn up and burst and stamped on because what else are they good for—apart from making noise and being nice and making more stupid little mannequins that sit still for lies and TV and kissy-kissy garbage."

A psychopathic serial killer imprisoned for eleven consecutive life sentences, Cletus Kasady met Eddie Brock when the latter, separated from the Venom symbiote by the toxic touch of the supervillain Styx, became his cellmate. Learning of Brock's grudge against Spider-Man, Kasady tried to convert him to his nihilistic philosophy, mocking Eddie over his claims to have once been the supervillain Venom. Repeatedly rebuked, Kasady decided to murder his cellmate, but before he could the Venom symbiote entered the cell and rebonded to Eddie. Venom broke free, leaving the terrified and jealous Kasady behind. Sensing his desire for the power Eddie possessed, a scrap of the symbiote left behind dripped onto Cletus' hand and bonded with him, transforming him into the monstrous Carnage. As Carnage, Kasady proved stronger than Spider-Man and Venom combined, and his symbiote was not only less susceptible to sonics than its progenitor but infinitely more difficult to remove, having bonded to his bloodstream.


For more information on him, please refer to his page, and the adjoining symbiote page.

Carnage's Spawn

    Toxin 

The Toxin Symbiote

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/607f70734ca5535cb48778feef71277c.JPG

Hosts: Patrick Mulligan, Eddie Brock, Jubulile van Scotter, Bren Waters

First Appearance: Venom Vs. Carnage #2

The first offspring of the Carnage symbiote. Cletus, disgusted at the notion of giving birth, forcibly bonded the infant symbiote, later named "Toxin" by Venom, to police officer Patrick Mulligan, who attempted to use it as a force of good, inspired by Spider-Man. Despite initial success, Patrick was murdered by the demon Blackheart, who cloned the symbiote and bonded them to clones of X-23. Agent Venom was blackmailed by the Crime Master into stealing the Toxin symbiote from Blackheart, although the Venom symbiote took control of Flash and tried to kill its progeny. Jack O'Lantern extracted the symbiote and took it to the Crime Master, who later forcibly bonded it to Eddie Brock. The symbiote initially took total control of Eddie's body and tried to kill Venom, but was ignited by Flash. It survived, still bonded to Eddie, and they agreed to work together until they could kill Venom before trying to kill each other.


See Toxin

    Scorn 

Scorn

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/scorn_9041.jpg

Hosts: Tanis Nieves, Frances Barrison

First Appearance: Carnage #4 (June, 2011)

When the Carnage symbiote was taken back to Earth from its orbit after the prison break in the Raft, Michael Hall used the symbiote to create hybrid prostheses consisting of both technology and the symbiote itself. Eventually, the Carnage symbiote managed to escape its containment cell and bonded to Tanis Nieves, leaving its offspring within her prosthesis after it used her to rescue Cletus Kasady. Tanis initially refused to bond to this new symbiote, which was briefly later taken from her by Shriek, but eventually acquiesced to bond with it.


    Raze 

Raze

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dixonraze.jpg

Hosts: Claire Dixon, Jubulile van Scotter

First Appearance: Carnage Vol 2 #10 (September, 2016)

The Raze symbiote was spawned by Carnage as part of a ritual involving the Darkhold and bonded with former FBI special agent Claire Dixon, leaving her a puppet of Carnage's will. It was eventually taken from Claire by Jubulile van Scotter, who used it to augment her own symbiote to fight Chthon.


    Jubulile van Scotter's Symbiote 

Jubulile van Scotter's Symbiote

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jubulile_van_scotter_earth_616_from_carnage_vol_2_16_001.jpg

Hosts: Jubulile van Scotter

First Appearance: Carnage Vol 2 #6 (May, 2016)

An offshoot of the Darkhold-augmented Carnage symbiote bonded with the South African teenager Jubulile van Scotter, this symbiote established a psychic link between her and Cletus Kasady that enabled her to help the Anti-Symbiote Task Force track him. When the eldritch god Chthon was summoned by Carnage, Jubilile absorbed the Toxin and Raze symbiotes to augment her own before banishing the dark god back to his interdimensional prison; though her symbiote seemingly perished in the process.


Supporting Characters

    Doppelgänger 

Doppelgänger

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/carnage_005_023.jpg

First Appearance: The Infinity War #1

Doppelganger: Grrrr!
Carnage: That's my line—! I'm supposed to be the monster here!

Originally a "living geometric pattern" that resided in another dimension, Doppelgänger and several other members of his kind were turned into twisted duplicates of various superheroes by the Magus during the Infinity War. Unlike the other knock-offs, this one survived that event, and has periodically resurfaced to torment the real Spider-Man.


For more information on him, please refer to the Spider-Man rogues gallery page.

    Shriek 

Shriek

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/carnshriek_8852.jpg

Alter Ego: Frances Louise Barrison

First Appearance: Spider-Man Unlimited #1

Cletus, via the Carnage Symbiote: She screams her pain as death and hatred. She kills for me. I like it. When it gets boring, I'll put her down like my mother's dog. I am Carnage. Killing someone I love will make me happy. So happy.

As a child, Frances Barrison was abused by her parents, especially her mother, whose cruelty drove her to drugs, overeating, and heavy metal. Frances' mental stability was further damaged when she was shot in the head during an altercation with the police, and when she had a run-in with heroes Cloak and Dagger, whose powers did something to her, giving her various superhuman abilities of her own. Now fully capable of taking revenge on the world she blames for her misery, Frances — calling herself Shriek — found soul mates of sorts in the form of her "husband" Carnage, and "son" Doppelganger.


For more information on her, please refer to the Spider-Man rogues gallery page.

    Alice Gleason 

Alice Gleason

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alicecarn_7841.jpg

First Appearance: Axis: Carnage #1

Alice: What are you doing?!
Carnage: Taking a victory lap, babe! You can't rob a bank if burn it down first!
Alice: What are you thinking? You've made everything worse! Put out the fire!
Carnage: Jeez, okay, chill out, gawd...

A beautiful but unscrupulously ambitious reporter who found herself in the crosshairs of the spectral Sin-Eater. Rescued by the inverted Carnage, she begrudgingly attempted to coach him on how to be a hero — while actually trying to get a promotion-winning scoop out of it. After Carnage defeated the Sin-Eater, Alice was disgusted that he'd developed feelings for her and revealed her deception before fleeing to the police.


  • Ambition Is Evil: She is an attractive but unscrupulous reporter who wants to take over the position of her deceased colleague ASAP.
  • Berserk Button: Does not like the hair being mussed, as she indignantly yells at both Carnage and the Sin-Eater.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She pretended to be distraught over her co-worker's deaths, when in fact she, as the Sin Eater put it, reeks of "sin, vainglory, selfishness and hubris".
  • Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Has to continually reel in the overzealous Carnage.
  • Karma Houdini: Presumably got rich and famous from the events of AXIS.
  • Morality Chain: Cletus latched onto her in much the same way Eddie Brock once latched onto Jenna Cole. Unfortunately for him, she proves to be a less-than-upstanding individual.
  • Nerves of Steel: After an initial moment of panic, she seems quite alright hanging out with a nihilistic serial killer whose soul mate is a carnivorous alien parasite masquerading as a costume.
  • Really Gets Around: She was sleeping with her co-worker, solicited a police officer who had been sent to guard her after said co-worker's murder, pretended to be interested in Kasady, and seemingly tried to seduce the Sin-Eater ("And I'm totally not wearing any underwear") to save herself even after seeing what's under his mask.
  • Spirit Advisor: After being bombarded with missiles, Carnage has near-death experience involving an angelic Alice, who offers him sage wisdom:
    Alice: You have great power, yes. And with great power comes great, like all kinds of, I don't know, stuff... so don't be a jerk. You're good now and you've got mad skillz. Be a hero! Save me!
  • Tagalong Reporter: Is abducted by Carnage, who adamantly believes that she can teach him to be good. Alice goes along with it, due to the fame that can entail becoming close to a "cape".
  • Ungrateful Bastard: After Carnage saves her from the Sin Eater, she thanks him by blowing off his head and screaming at the police to finish him off. Cletus interprets this as her teaching him that The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: She hasn't been seen since the end of the AXIS: Carnage miniseries. Considering that Cletus had been hunting down those aware of his Heel–Face Brainwashing and she openly admitted to using him to his face, it doesn't bode well for her.

    Manuela Calderon 

Manuela Calderon

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mannycarnage.jpg

First Appearance: Carnage Vol. 2 #1

The sole survivor of Cletus' massacre at St. Estes Home for Boys, Manuela Calderon joined the military and was eventually hired as a security consultant at Grey Ridge Mine. When the FBI attempted to lure Carnage into a trap, Manuela was recruited into the Anti-Symbiote Task Force alongside John Jameson and Eddie Brock. Befriending Brock and developing a romantic affection for Victoria Montesi, Manuela helped stop Carnage from summoning the eldrich god Chthon.


  • Action Girl: She's a soldier who served three tours of duty, and is agile enough to dodge Carnage's tentacles.
  • Ambiguously Bi: While it was implied that she might have had a slight attraction to Eddie Brock, in the end he gets the impression that she's developed a thing for the canonically gay Victoria Montesi.
  • Badass Normal: She's an unaugmented human who is capable of keeping up with the likes of Toxin and Man-Wolf.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: Victoria Montesi flirts with Manuela after she commiserates with her hellish backstory.
  • The One That Got Away: Manny was the Sole Survivor of Cletus's first killing spree, and he intends to rectify that.
  • Only a Flesh Wound: She's set on fire by Gleason but still manages to put up a good enough fight to steal one of the Darkhold's pages and put the fire out.
  • Ship Tease: She is sympathetic towards Eddie Brock, who himself seems to be infatuated with her. However, in the last couple of issues Victoria Montesi begins flirting with her and Manny appears to reciprocate, with Eddie joking that he may as well have been furniture to them.
  • Taking You with Me: When Carnage is about to eat her, she presses a detonator to blow up a large amount of mining explosives. Toxin shows up in time to shield her from the blast.

    Barry Gleason 

Barry Gleason

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gleacar.jpg

First Appearance: Carnage Vol. 2 #1

"Agent Dixon was a useful tool, but her usefulness—and yours—is drawing to a close. We—all of us—stand on the cusp of a new historical era. I'm grateful to you, agents. Your sacrifice, yours and your fellow agents', will make possible a new age. You've brought us the one who was foreseen in the prophecies of Aelfric the Mad Monk. At his hands the forgotten door will be reopened. Through him, he who sleeps shall wake, and all who live will tremble in the knowledge of his wrath."

  • Big Bad Wannabe: He's the evil mastermind behind the first arc of the 2015-2016 Carnage Vol. 2 series. He doesn't last long after Carnage catches him.
  • Killed Offscreen: It's not shown exactly what Carnage did to him after/while interrogating him about the Darkhold, but it wasn't pretty.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: When the sonic cannons open up a sinkhole that plunges Carnage and several FBI agents into the depths of his mine, Gleason protests he had no idea that would happen several times. Turns out he planned it all.
  • One-Steve Limit: Despite having the same last name as the manipulative lady reporter in the AXIS: Carnage miniseries, he's presumably not related to her.
  • Playing with Fire: He can summon a wall of flames using the Darkhold.
  • Religion of Evil: He is a member of the Cult of the Darkhold, a cult that worships an ancient evil entity called Chthon.
  • Tome of Eldritch Lore: He possesses a copy of the Darkhold, a tome of dark magic written by the evil deity Chthon.
  • A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: His day job is the manager of a mining corporation, which he uses as cover for his night job is as a cultist to an evil deity.

    Cortland Kasady 

Cortland Kasady

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cortland_kasady_2528earth_6162529_from_ruins_of_ravencroft_carnage_vol_1_1_001.png
Click here to see as Spoiler 

Alter Ego: Plague

First Appearance: Ruins of Ravencroft: Carnage #1

The ancestor of Cletus Kasady, Cortland was a 17th century English settler whose lover — Mary Ravencroft — was captured by a symbiote-worshipping cult. While attempting to rescue her,note  Cortland was captured and bonded to a symbiote, turning him into a bloodthirsty serial killer.


  • Beard of Evil: A full red beard and after becoming a symbiote worshipper, very evil.
  • Evil Redhead: Just like his distant descendant Cletus.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Prior to his run-in with the Others, he was an all-around decent person who dearly loved Molly Ravencroft. Afterwards, he became a bloodthirsty symbiote-worshipping cannibal.
  • In the Blood: Cortland being forcibly recruited into the symbiote-worshipping cult is implied to be the reason why his descendants Roscoe and Cletus were a violent abuser and a serial killer of unprecedented bloodlust respectively.
  • Life Drinker: As Plague, Cortland is able to drain the life-force from others.
  • Revenant Zombie: During Planet of the Symbiotes, Knull reanimates Cortland in the same way he did Cletus, bringing him back as symbiote-possessed corpse capable of absorbing the life-force of others.
  • Serial Killer: Cortland became the first American serial killer after being corrupted by the symbiote-worshipping cult.
  • Wingding Eyes: After being forcibly recruited by the symbiote-worshipping cult, he's shown with red spirals for irises.

    The Artist 

Alter Ego: Kenneth Neely

First Appearance: Carnage Vol 3 #1

A serial killer who worships Carnage and desires to become the symbiote's new host.
  • An Arm and a Leg: Carnage lops off one of Neely's arms with a bladed tentacle when Neely tackles the Spot and is dragged into the path of Carnage's attack. It's Neely's first big Broken Pedestal moment, leading him to snap at Carnage before being reminded of his place.
  • Admiring the Abomination: While offput by Cletus' initial refusal to stop Carnage from becoming a god of destruction, Kenneth is nonetheless awestruck by Cletus' capacity for bloodshed once his Batman Gambit pays off.
  • Ascended Fanboy: Neely idolizes Carnage, and while the symbiote rejected him as its new host it did take him along on its journey of self-discovery and improvement. He later meets Cletus Kasady, and despite almost ending up being scraped from existence the two of them get along relatively well.
  • Dirty Business: Neely betrays and murders Zeiste, who had offered to help him escape being Carnage's thrall, but takes no pleasure in doing so and confesses he found no beauty in it. Had he not done so, Carnage would have killed him.
  • Heel Realization: Neely is Mind Raped by Rosvelg, a god tasked with making those damned to Hel relive their sins, and comes to the realization that he was never an artist or making people beautiful by killing them.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Kenneth is impaled by Cletus in Extreme Carnage Omega, who mocks him for not seeing the double-cross coming. Cletus having bonded Kenneth to an offshoot of the Extrembiote literally comes back to haunt him, as Kenneth's consciousness persists in the Hive as a codex and needles Cletus over being incomplete without the Carnage symbiote.
  • Inadequate Inheritor: He wants to become the new Carnage, but the symbiote repeatedly scorns him for not holding a candle to Cletus Kasady's twisted genius for murder.
  • Kill the God: Ken kills a god in Carnage #6, stabbing Rosvelg with a sword on Carnage's orders — albeit after Carnage incapacitated Rosvelg by mind-bombing him.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Kenneth clearly regrets betraying Zeiste, calling himself "Judas" and confessing he saw no beauty in killing him.
  • A Lighter Shade of Black: Kenneth starts out as a serial killer who idolizes Cletus Kasady and wants to become the Carnage symbiote's new host, but is clearly in over his head when the symbiote decides to drag him along on its quest for godhood.
  • The Load: Despite being a notorious serial killer in his own right and trying to be of assistance to Carnage, Kenneth is in way over his head and thus more hindrance than help to the symbiote's plans — losing an arm in the process of distracting the Spot, and getting captured by Zeiste the dark elf when tasked with killing him. For its part, Carnage mainly keeps him around because it finds his slavish devotion amusing and enjoys mocking him for thinking he's worthy of being its next host.
  • Loony Fan: Neely idolizes Carnage and wants nothing more than to be the symbiote's next host, but Carnage finds him more naive and annoying than anything.
  • Nightmare Fetishist: Ken Neely believes that by mutilating his victims he is making them beautiful.
  • Serial Killer: Neely was given the unsub moniker of "The Artist" due to making gruesome "art" out of his victims.
  • This Is Gonna Suck: When Carnage warps itself and Neely to Svartalfheim, Neely is increasingly dismayed at being stranded in a fantasy-horror realm full of dark swamps and living nightmares, complaining that he thought Carnage was just going to take him across the border.
  • Turn to Religion: Neely dismissed his father's Christian beliefs after he died of leprosy, but in the wake of King in Black became a worshipper of Knull, devoting himself in particular to the dark god's apostle Carnage.
  • Psycho Supporter: Neely is a serial killer who both idolizes the late, great Cletus Kasady, and literally worships Knull, accompanying the Carnage symbiote as it tries to educate him on the finer points of murder.

Enemies

    Spider-Man 

    Venom 
See Venom

    Doctor Jenner 

Doctor Jenner

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jenner_2.jpg

First Appearance: Superior Carnage Annual #1

"You don't have to keep holding on. Carnage has no hold on you. You're your own man now. You can die a man's death. Doesn't that sound fine? After all... what good are you without the symbiote? Hmm? And the way you are right now... so weak... so pitiful... why would Carnage want you? Carnage wants a worthy host... not some bed-ridden has-been. I know it's coming... I know you can sense it. And when it gets here... it will find me waiting... and you—dead! Don't worry, Cletus. I'll take good care of Carnage."

A therapist working at Kramer Penitentiary, Dr. Jenner requested to work with spree killer Cletus Kasady, who had been separated from the Carnage symbiote by the Superior Spider-Man. Under his guidance, Cletus was admitted into the general populace and finally seemed ready to sever his psychological ties with the symbiote. However, Jenner secretly desired to become the symbiote's new host and hired an inmate to shank Cletus, smothering him when he learned the symbiote was on its way. When it reached the prison, Jenner offered himself to it, but it vehemently rejected him and resuscitated Cletus, who proceeded to kill Jenner along with the rest of the prisoners.


  • In Love with Your Carnage: Pun aside, when face-to-face with the symbiote he gushes about how he's dreamed of becoming its host. The symbiote is not amused.
  • Murder the Hypotenuse: He kills Cletus Kasady in an effort to convince the symbiote to take him as its next host. It doesn't work.
  • Psycho Psychologist: He only agreed to be Cletus' shrink to become the next incarnation of Carnage, and had Cletus murdered when the opportunity presented itself.
  • The Shrink: He was a therapist at the Kramer Penitentiary.

    Sin-Eater I 

Sin-Eater I

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sincarn_8507.jpg

Alter Ego: Emil Gregg

First Appearance: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #107

Sin-Eater: I can smell your sin. Like a mountain so massive that merely contemplating it requires madness.
Carnage: I tried confession, but that really didn't work.

A man who contacted Eddie Brock claiming to be the Sin-Eater serial killer, but was seemingly exposed as a compulsive confessor. In the wake of Carnage's morality (or lack thereof) being altered by the events of AXIS, he was found to have died, but returns as a sin-eating demon, and places the symbiote serial killer in his crosshairs after Cletus interferes with his mission to wipe out the press. After becoming Dark Carnage, Cletus used his new symbiote to reanimate Gregg and send him after Eddie Brock.


For more information on him, please refer to the Venom Rogues Gallery page.

Alternative Title(s): Carnage 2022, Carnage 2023

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