Carnage (comics)
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Carnage (Cletus Kasady) is the name of a supervillain in the Spider-Man comic book published by Marvel Comics. He was created by comicbook writer David Michelinie.
Cletus Kasady first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #344. As Carnage, he a cameo in #360 before making his first full apearance in #361.
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Fictional Biography
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Cover to Amazing Spider-Man #361, Carnage's first appearance. Art by Mark Bagley.
Carnage was once a serial killer known as Cletus Kasady, and became Carnage after merging with the offspring of the alien symbiote called Venom during a prison breakout at which Eddie Brock/Venom and Kasady were both present. The symbiote not only made Kasady more dangerous physically, it amplified his psychotic nature making him even less mentally stable than he had been previously, making him even more dangerous to innocent people. He is also the "father" of Toxin.
Maximum Carnage
The most famous storyline in which he appears is Maximum Carnage in which Venom and Spider-Man had to team up to stop Carnage. Although Spider-Man has successfully thwarted Venom a number of times, Venom is technically more powerful than Spider-Man and has used this advantage to win an upper hand on occasion. Carnage, however, is actually more powerful than Venom, and it took both him and Spider-Man to stop Carnage during the "Maximum Carnage" series.
During Maximum Carnage it is revealed that the Symbiote has become a part of Kasady's blood and is unremovable from him, Kasady only needed to be cut for the symbiote to flood out to become Carnage once again. Unlike Venom, Carnage had become less vulnerable to the high pitch sounds which would normally stop Venom, however he was still vunerable to intense heat.
This storyline was the subject of the video game Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage. In the game, as in the comics, Carnage seems to be sane enough to actually enlist aid from other Spider-Man villains, Shriek, Doppelganger, and the Demogoblin. The game allowed the player to control Spider-Man and/or Venom in multiple levels ranging from fighting punks on the streets of New York City and San Francisco to battling security droids in the Fantastic Four headquarters. It also featured the ability to summon various Marvel heroes (such as Black Cat) to aid the player by appearing to perform one or two special attacks.
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Death?
Recently, in the pages of New Avengers, Carnage was one of many supervillains trying to escape from The Vault. The Sentry flew Carnage outside the Earth's atmosphere, where he then ripped Carnage apart.
Oddly enough, when the Sentry ripped Carnage apart, there did not seem to be a human inside, but simply the symbiote. Given that characters earlier in the story referred to Carnage possessing traits only possessed by the hostless "Ultimate" version, some fans have suggested that perhaps Brian Michael Bendis, the story's writer, got the two confused and directed the artist accordingly.
It is therefore possible that, as when the symbiote briefly abandoned Kasady for John Jameson, Ben Reilly and the Silver Surfer, it had taken another host at the time, and thus Kasady survives on Earth, while the symbiote may be capable of surviving in orbit.
Powers and abilities
The alien symbiote suit is made of tough, flexible fibers of organic polymers which have the ability to mimic any type of clothing whatsoever and provide the wearer with nearly limitless pocket-storage. It also has a limited capability to change the wearer's appearance and it dampens Spider-Man's "spider-sense", making Carnage (as well as Venom) nearly undetectable to Spider-Man until they are in his direct sight. Similarly, Venom's ability to "detect" Kasady's presence is hindered by the suit's abilities.
In addition to the above abilities, the suit gives Carnage the ability to adhere to most surfaces with his hands and feet, a power which the symbiote adopted from its first victim/user, Spider-Man. Also adopted from Spider-Man is the ability to project a web-like substance from the body. However in the form of Carnage, the web substance can be projected from any part of the costume/body, not just the hands/wrists. Kasady can also separate parts of the symbiote costume from himself and use them as weapons, but they dissipate after a very short time, again similar to the artificial webbing Spider-Man uses, which dissolves after a period of time.
Ultimate Carnage
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The Ultimate Marvel Universe version of Carnage is almost completely unlike the Marvel Universe version.One similarity, coincidently, is that Mark Bagley first drew both incarnations.
"Ultimate" Curt Connors created a rejuvenating organism using his DNA, Peter's DNA, and work stolen from Peter's late father, who was an expert in cellular reconstruction. The creature possessed its own shape-shifting ability, capable to alter its shape and proportions. The creature escaped and started to absorb other people's vitality, and their DNA, to survive, leaving the victims dead. The victims also assume a mummified form. One of the victims is "Ultimate" Gwen Stacy.
Unlike the original Carnage, the Ultimate version does not bond with anyone. Also, despite the title of the arc being "Carnage", the creature is not called Carnage in the story. In addition, while the original Carnage is a homicidal maniac, the Ultimate one is a mindless creature that kills to sustain itself.
Carnage in other media
On the Spider-Man animated series, Carnage worked for the evil demon Dormammu and was sent out to capture enough "life energy" from human beings to provide Dormammu the strength to enter our world. This version of Carnage was much tamer and less violent than his appearances in the comics, most likely because a serial killer murder does not often appear on Saturday morning cartoon shows. He was eventually defeated by Spider-Man and Venom, sending the symbiote and Dormammu hurling through a dimensional vortex.
In the series finale of the show, it is revealed that the Carnage symbiote was sent to another reality where it bonded with an extremely emotionally unstable Peter Parker. The joining of the two created the insane Spider-Carnage, who was threating to destroy all reality and thus all existence. The real Peter Parker, assisted by several other Spider-Men from other universes, was able to convice 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. Spider-Carnage saw the error of his ways, but could not reject the symbiote, and cast himself into a dimensional vortex, destroying himself.