Later this year we’ll see Cletus Kasady aka Carnage make his way to the big screen for the first time in Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
The villain is an obvious choice for the Venom sequel as he has been a fan-favourite for decades after his debut in the comics and subsequent appearances in Spider-Man: The Animated Series (someone should do a podcast about that, huh), Spider-Man Unlimited, Ultimate Spider-Man & Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as 15 or so video game appearances.
We recently talked about Carnage’s comic book history on our podcast, which you can find below:
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So what’s the deal with the ‘red slayer’? Read on…
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Before we get to the nitty gritty, here’s the TL;DR below:
Noted serial killer Cletus Kasady was a cellmate of Eddie Brock aka Venom. The Venom symbiote’s offspring bonded with Cletus on a cellular level during Eddie’s escape, creating Carnage. Instead of Venom’s twisted moral code, Carnage believes in pure chaos and sees all societal rules as illusions that we should be free from, which usually involves a whole lot of killing.
My take? Carnage was created to fill the void left by Venom after his popularity led to Eddie becoming a ‘lethal protector’ of the innocent, as well as a cash-in on the cultural obsession with real-life serial killers and 1990s moral panic over satanism and nihilism originating from the likes of heavy metal and… uhh… Dungeons & Dragons.
But it’s not an idea built to last, given how powerful and unrepentantly homicidal Carnage is. So by time we got to the 2010s, Marvel started taking Kasady to strange new places…
Cletus Kasady’s Origins
Cletus Kasady first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #344 (1991), as we discussed in our previous episode on Venom Returns. Serving eleven life sentences for a string of murders (not including the ones he got away with as a child), he becomes cellmates with Eddie Brock.
Eddie and Cletus hate each other from the moment they meet at Ryker’s. Eddie is working out all the time and incredibly self-righteous for an obsessive killer who dabbles in eating brains… Cletus, on the other hand, is a chaotic serial killer of the worst variety.
As detailed in Absolute Carnage years later, Cletus was actually born in The Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane – where he’d go on to spend years of his adult life for different reasons.
His mother, a paranoid schizophrenic inmate at Ravencroft, gave birth to him in her cell, before dying shortly after. Cletus also briefly died, after his umbilical chord was wrapped around his neck and cut off his oxygen. He later claimed that he remembers dying and going to hell – but with Cletus, you can never tell whether that’s an invention or not.
In later issues, Cletus also clarified (if we can believe him) that as a child he was adopted by his biological father and his new wife. He tortured and killed her dog, pushing her to attack him.
In defence of his son, his father stepped in and accidentally killed her. But when the case was taken to court, Cletus testified that his father had killed his step-mother for no reason at all, leading to him getting the death penalty.
After this, he briefly stayed with his grandmother, before pushing her down a flight of stairs.
Both his grandmother and father were later seemingly retconned to be more abusive to him – but again, it’s hard to say whether or not this is true.
It’s after this he moves to the St. Estes Home for Boys, where he was abused by the staff and other orphans for his antisocial behaviour.
He got his revenge by murdering one of the staff, pushing a girl in front of a bus (for rejecting him), and burning the whole place down. And that was all before he hit 18 and started his real killings.
How does Cletus merge with the symbiote?
Back to the present, and Eddie Brock’s reunion with his ‘other’ put an end to Cletus’ plans to shiv him.
Always loved this panel – the bliss on Eddie’s face as he realises that not only is his symbiote alive and well, but it’s back to help him bust out of Ryker’s as Venom.
What he doesn’t know is that his symbiote asexually reproduced, leaving behind its offspring to find his old cellmate.
Then, in ASM #359, we see our first glimpse of this new red symbiote as Cletus murders a guard and busts out himself.
The next issue we get our first little glimpse of Carnage as he takes his first kill (pulled randomly out of the phone book), but it’s in ASM #361 that we are properly introduced to the new fiend – and he gets his first cover too.
Erik Larsen was the first to draw Cletus back in #344, but it’s Mark Bagley who gets to define the character (though the above cover is drawn by Randy Emberlin) in a story written by David Michelinie.
When we first see Carnage, he’s after yet another random kill – something he’s sure to remind ol’ Chip before he takes him out.
What’s scarier than a revenge-driven symbiote killer? A symbiote killer driven by absolute chaos, with no morals and no reason for what he does.
(There’s a reason why one of the names being thrown around to begin with was Chaos rather than Carnage.)
Notice how Carnage is saying ‘I’ and not ‘we’ like Venom does? The symbiote and Cletus are one after it merged with his bloodstream, and while it is a little inconsistent over the years, the idea is that they are one entity – making their occasional separations even more traumatic.
Soon enough Peter Parker hears about the escape, the string of murders, and unfortunately makes the connection between the two and sightings of a new symbiote in town.
Turns out it pays to be a cynic, as the insane Carnage is squatting in the ruins of his old orphanage. This is his first meeting with this symbiote and Cletus, unlike in the 90s Spider-Man cartoon, where he is the one to apprehend Kasady.
What are Carnage’s powers?
Carnage has some different traits to his daddy, with enough powers to convince Spidey to look for help in taking him down. Eddie later explains this as being a result of the symbiote gestating on Earth, an alien planet to the parasite, as well as their unique bloodstream bond.
When Spider-Man confronts him, Carnage reveals he can solidify parts of his symbiote to act as battering rams or sharp blades (think the T-1000).
As you can see above, his symbiote has an awareness of its surroundings that functions as a sort of spider-sense, and he can also even form weapons that he can throw as projectiles.
He has also inherited the ability to cling to surfaces much like Venom and Spider-Man, can regenerate any part of his body when in his symbiote form, and is undetectable to Spider-Man’s spider-sense. As for weaknesses, he’s still vulnerable to sound waves (less than Venom) and heat (more than Venom).
More powers are revealed later, such shows that he can even transmit thoughts via a tendril of his other, and has been known to use the symbiote to interact with technology and survive in the vacuum of space.
Somehow I don’t think this aspect will make it to the movie.
It’s easy to make fun, but this was 1995. People still thought The Lawnmower Man was right around the corner.
Carnage Meets Venom
After Carnage’s rampage takes the lives of a family, Peter realises he has to turn to his arch-enemy, Venom, for help – as he’s no match for Kasady.
The tragic thing for Peter is that the last time he saw Eddie, he was blissfully unaware that Spider-Man was alive.
It’s a perfect day on the desert island that Spidey left Brock on – at least until his least favourite person in the world shows up.
They duke it out for a while, but once he finds out that Cletus has bonded to his symbiote’s offspring and is killing innocents back in New York… he agrees to help out.
I’ve got to say, it’s a lot of fun seeing these two be forced to collaborate – as it’s the only time that Spidey has been able to hang out with Eddie’s particular brand of crazy without being on the receiving end of his fist.
The two symbiotes meet, and Carnage immediately shows how he’s different to his daddy by throwing a baby out of a window just to see the new reluctant dynamic duo chase after it.
After saving baby and realising Carnage has long gone, the unlikely pair search around New York for him as he continues his rampage.
Like I said before, this pairing is a load of fun.
Carnage kidnaps J Jonah Jameson as part of his plan to wake the world up to their ‘real selves’ and make everyone a little bit more like him. He starts at a rock concert.
He tries to get the crowd to freak out and start murdering each other – without realising that the lyrics and tone of those songs has nothing to do with their real-life morals… it’s a bit of a Joker-two-boats situation.
They confront him finally and fight, but fail to take him down on their own. After his plans are disturbed by Spider-Man and Venom, Carnage flees – killing on his way.
To be fair to Carnage, Venom is a major hypocrite when it comes to killing – but he’s definitely the lesser of two evils when it comes to Carnage’s dicing and dashing.
As Carnage says, he’s just… nastier.
Eventually, they manage to subdue Carnage with the venue’s sound system, after which both he and Venom are locked away again – but it’s not long before Cletus manages to escape from prison.
Cletus Breaks Out of Jail (A Lot)
Cletus definitely has a knack for getting out of tough spots – either that or the security that looks after him in Ryker’s, The Vault, The Raft and Ravencroft are all extremely lax. Or maybe it’s both!
One of the ways in which he escapes is after a doctor tries to take his blood. Given how his symbiote bonded with him through his bloodstream, this wasn’t a great idea. He does it in various ways throughout the years, but most of the time it comes down to mistakes made by egotistical doctors and security officers who let their guard down.
The next biggest event for Carnage is Maximum Carnage, a 14-part event spanning various different ongoing Spider-Man comics and involving a whole plethora of heroes and villains.
I’m not really a fan of this series – but there are a lot out there who like it. And there is one character introduced here that is a notable for Carnage moving forward.
Who Is Shriek?
Shriek has been announced as a character in the Venom sequel – presumably taking on a similar role as she does in the comics. She’ll be played by Naomi Harris in Let There Be Carnage, where she’ll undoubtedly get involved with Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady.
It’s right at the start of Maximum Carnage that Cletus meets Shriek for the first time. In Spider-Man Unlimited #1 (1993) – an issue written by Tom DeFalco and with art by Ron Lim – Carnage breaks out of Ravencroft… only to come across one of his biggest fans.
Shriek and Cletus quickly hit it off and become an item – even putting together a horrific family unit with the likes of Demogoblin and Doppelganger.
Originally Frances Barrison, Shriek was an abuse victim turned drug dealer who was confined to Ravencroft. She’s also a mutant, making her a useful tool in Carnage’s assault on New York City.
What are Shriek’s powers?
Shriek can generate powerful sound waves that she use in the form of concussive blasts, as well as using it to levitate.
In addition to this, she has what is sometimes referred to as ‘dark empathy’. She effectively hypersonically induces intense emotion in those around her, bringing the dark side of humanity to the surface. This can even go so far as inspiring madness, violence and all-around mayhem. A perfect match for Carnage.
Then there’s the Planet of the Symbiotes (95) storyline, in which a portal is opened to the planet Klyntar – through which a whole mess of symbiotes invade Earth, before a bunch of them are absorbed by Carnage to become this giant monstrosity.
Then you’ve got the likes of Carnage: It’s A Wonderful Life and Carnage: Mind Bomb (96), where his time spent at Ravencroft brings those around him to a particularly dark place.
The above panels are from Mind Bomb, written by Warren Ellis, a horrific and excellent read. A brutal psychiatrist tries to get to know Kasady through some ugly means during his stay at Ravencroft, but instead finds himself debased and brought down to his patient’s level after being exposed to his mind.
After a drug oversight, Carnage uses a tendril to share his mind with the psychiatrist, immersing him in his worldview and driving the man so mad he strips off his clothes and tries to eat the guards – until he’s shot dead.
This comic is not for the faint-hearted.
Losing the Symbiote
In the late 90s, the writing team mixed it up with regards to Carnage. Nothing is ever permanent in comics, not really, but we did see some major shake-ups that could have lasted longer if not for how much people loved the villain.
At one point, the symbiote begins to escape via the plumbing of Ravencroft – first bonding with John Jameson, before finding a spider-themed superhero to hitch a ride with in Amazing Spider-Man #410 (1996).
The symbiote briefly bonds with Ben Reilly (Spider-Man’s clone… it’s a long story) AKA The Scarlet Spider, creating Spider-Carnage, an all-around excellent design.
But that’s not the only person the symbiote jumped ship to…
That’s right, the red symbiote then tries to bond with the Silver Surfer after they come to blows in Amazing Spider-Man #430 (1998). The symbiote leaves Cletus to become The Carnage Cosmic for a two-parter, before the Surfer overcomes its control.
So where’s Venom amidst all of this? In Peter Parker: Spider-Man #10 (1999), Eddie sneaks into Ravencroft disguised as a janitor, where he removes the symbiote from Cletus and… uhh… eats it.
This was seemingly the end of Carnage, but it didn’t take too long for him to find a convoluted way to get his mojo back. But first…
Cletus escapes a few issues later, painting himself red and going on a murder spree. He believed he could get his other back if he just killed enough people – but instead he got KO’d by Spidey with one punch.
So how does he get his symbiote back? Well, it’s a confusing one… one we’ll finish off in the second part!
That '90s Spider-Man Show 