Cletus Kasady
Carnage is a male comic supervillain that features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Cletus Kasady was the son of Roscoe Kasady and his wife Louise Kasady. (Carnage v2 #12) According to one account, his mother was admitted to Ravencroft Institute where he was born there one night on a Wednesday. He was born choking as his umbilical cord was wrapped around his throat where he was said to had died but was revived shortly afterwards. (Web of Venom: Carnage Born v1 #1)
His Nana regularly struck him as she sent him for chores like getting cigarettes and shouted at him calling him a bad boy and a useless child. One day, he pushed his grandmother on her wheelchair down the stairs to kill her. (Carnage v2 #12) From a young age, his murderous nature manifested in numerous attempts to kill his own mother such as dropping a television into the bath with her but she managed to pull the cord in time. His mother at some point had a dog that she named Fifi with Cletus hating the pet and believed that she loved it more than him. One day, the dog was in the basement when Kasady killed it with an electric drill with him being found by the bloody remains when his mother was looking for Fifi. He later claimed that he accidently killed the dog and said that his mother told lies about him to his father about the pets death. This culminated in her one day chasing Kasady to his room but he rigged a line to cause her to trip to the ground where he tried to kill her but she fought him off. In anger, she pulled a knife and was ready to kill her son when Kasady's father came in the room to stop her. She was killed and Kasady later told the police that his father murdered his mother leading to him taken away for trial. (Venom: Carnage Unleashed v1 #1) However, another account held that his mother was killed when she tried to stop his father from beating him with Louise Kasady accidently knocked her head on the table with her dying as a result. (Carnage v2 #12) Kasady sometimes confused the deaths of his parents with those of his step-dad and foster mom. (AXIS: Carnage v1 #2)
For a time, he was kept at Saint Estes Home for Boys where he grew to love his older teacher and confessed his feelings to her. She rejected him and in his anger he pushed her onto the path of a coming bus killing her. Afterwards, he was responsible for burning down the orphanage that he used to live. (AXIS: Carnage v1 #2)
Carnage
Kasady was taken to the Vault where he was studied and it was held that he could be admitted into the Ravencroft Institute to help treat him. Whilst there, the doctors were looking to cure him of his insanity but the staff were unaware that Cletus had the Carnage Symbiote bonded to his blood. After piercing his skin, the blood allowed Carnage to manifest where he began to slaughter the staff at the Institute. Kasady, however, came to reason that Spider-Man and Venom would target him if he made openly began slaughtering people leading to him deciding to bide his time. During his murder of the staff, he heard an in-mate cheering him on leading to Cletus encountering Shriek with the two becoming insane lovers that wanted to go on a rampage in the city. The pair escaped the Asylum where they were ambushed by the Doppleganger after mistaking him for Spider-Man. Carnage battled the duplicate creature where he was prepared to kill him but Shriek stopped Kasady with her deciding to adopt the Doppleganger. Cletus relented and decided to accept the creature as part of his family with him being Shriek's child though he went to deal with another piece of business. (Spider-Man Unlimited v1 #1)
He was later kept contained at the maximum security supervillain prison known as the Raft. Its power was shutdown causing all the supervillains to be free from their cells. As a result, Carnage was freed and he fought Luke Cage, Spider-Woman along with Daredevil where he nearly overpowered them. However, the Sentry was convinced to lend his aid and he grabbed onto Carnage where he took him into orbit after which he ripped him in half seemingly killing Kasady. (New Avengers v1 #2)
Return
Though mortally wounded, the Symbiote entered into a state to keep the host alive and functioning though the pair were trapped in space. Michael Hall of Hall Industries had a space salvage crew find the remains of Carnage in orbit following his apparent death at the hands of the Sentry with the remains brought back to his corporate headquarters. He had no need for Cletus Kasady but extract live tissue samples from the Symbiote in order to serve as the baseline for a new revolutionary form of prosthetic and technology. This was used to build a series of symbiotic alloy armored suits for an elite team of employees that became the Iron Rangers. Kasady survived but was kept locked away in a secure facility whilst the Symbiote was removed to produce the baseline for Hall Industries new technology. Whilst touring the corporate facility, the new prosthetic limb in Dr. Tanis Nieves lashed out as the Symbiote took over the arm and killed anyone in its path against the hosts will. It forced Nieves to break open the container for the Symbiote which bonded to her and forced her to find Cletus Kasady where it re-bonded with him. The Iron Rangers attempted to restrain him but the Symbiote informed Kasady that part of it was used in their armored suits with the wearers killed in the process. This allowed him to take control of their bodies and forcibly merged them into his form where he battled Spider-Man and Iron Man. (Carnage v1 #4) Inside the giant suit, he intended to kill Michael Hall and easily overpowered the two heroes that attempted to stop him. This was until Dr. Tanis Nieves bonded to the Carnage Symbiote's spawn thus becoming Scorn where she forced Shriek to unleash a powerful sonic scream to wound Kasady. He managed to escape and used a symbiotic tether to control the suit which was destroyed by Iron Man and Spider-Man. During his escape, he killed a dog before finding an isolated homestead where he and Doppleganger resided as they tortured a person with Kasady planning his next rampage. (Carnage v1 #5)
He later managed to escape with Shriek where Kasady decided that his prior plans were too big and ambitious with him instead deciding to go back to basics. This meant going around towns in order to indulge in carnage and murder people. These deaths were showcased on the news which attracted the attention of Deadpool who was able to pinpoint Cletus's whereabouts cause he himself was similarly insane. (Deadpool vs. Carnage v1 #1)
Kasady came to believe that he had been lied to by the world in that he believed he was following chaos yet his actions seemed to had followed a pattern. Whilst in the Carrington Hospital, he was approached by Magneto who was recruiting various supervillains to aid him against the Red Skull who attempted to destroy the world now that he possessed the power of Onslaught. At first, Cletus refused but he was convinced to join this team simply due to the random chaotic act of being the planet's saviour. Among his teammates was Deadpool where he promised a reckoning with him once the fight was over. (Magneto v3 #11)
Though seemingly his dead, his body came into Earth's orbit where his Symbiote attempted to protect him as it fell into re-entry. With the last of its form, the Carnage Symbiote sacrificed itself in order to ensure that Kasady came to the surface though he died in the process. His body was found by locals who informed the authorities with an armed response to take over the body as the discovery of Cletus resulted in a heightened response to arrest him. During the transport of his remains, the armed escort came under attack from cultists that worshipped the cosmic being called Knull who was the god of the Symbiotes. They took Kasady's body as they believed he could be an amplifier to communicate with Knull and bring about their dark deity's release. Thus, they bonded a fragment of a Symbiote used by Knull to Kasady thus restoring him where his body fought the cosmic being for dominance. He consumed one of the cultists that had been bonded to a Symbiote with Carnage wanting to deepen this connection to Knull. This saw him being informed that this could only happen if he absorbed Symbiote Codex fragments that existed in everyone person that served as a host to a Symbiote with Kasady looking to seek them all out. (Web of Venom: Carnage Born v1 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Hate was the one thing that kept him going and the only thing that mattered to Kasady with him desiring to kill everyone. (Carnage v2 #16) He said that he killed people and loved it with him knowing nine million ways to murder a body where he loved each approach. Kasady thought of killing people when he was awake and when asleep he thought of new ways to murder people. He considered it to be pretty and an art with each death being an achievement. (Carnage: Mind Bomb v1 #1)
He claimed to remember his first death when he was born only to be revived shortly afterwards. Cletus said he remembered the act of dying and that he witnessed hell for that brief period. According to him, he stated that he vividly remembered finding himself waking up in hell in a cage. It was this feeling of being caged that psychologists believed inspired his belief that everyone was caged in life and that he was not mutilating them but rather freeing them. When he became Carnage, he saw himself as an agent of the void with life not being about black or white but rather of life and death. This inspired his belief that the universe was chaos and that god was carnage. (Web of Venom: Carnage Born v1 #1) Kasady enjoyed the idea of his deaths being witnessed by the media and inspiring them. (Carnage: Mind Bomb v1 #1)
He believed that the world was just like him and would not admit this fact. As such, he felt that the world was worthless as a result and no more than the dirt on his heels. Thus, he felt he needed to show people that chaos was the only way of the world with those embracing this becoming sane as a result. (Carnage: Mind Bomb v1 #1)
Cletus was said to think about how he murdered his mother and father. (Carnage: Mind Bomb v1 #1) He came to believe that his mother loved their son more than him which was part of the reason he killed the animal. Kasady believed that killing someone he loved would make him happy. (Carnage v1 #3)
Powers and abilities
The Symbiote later managed to mutate his metabolism through a cut he gained from a fight allowing it to bond with his blood and giving Kasady the chance to regenerate Carnage if he sustained a cut. (Spider-Man Unlimited v1 #1)
One of the more unique parts of the Symbiotes abilities was to extrude into its molecular filaments and travel along communication cables. This effectively allowed him to send his Symbiote through a computer and attack a person on the other end of the cable line. (Venom: Carnage Unleashed v1 #1) He could use a symbiotic tether in order to control remotely inanimate objects allowing him to fight enemies from a distance and escape capture. (Carnage v1 #5)
Notes
- Cletus Kasady was created by David Michelinie, Erik Larsen and Mark Bagley where he first appeared in the Amazing Spider-Man v1 #344 (March, 1991) before debuting as Carnage in the Amazing Spider-Man v1 #361 (April, 1992).
Alternate Versions
- In Amazing Spider-Man v4 #1 (2015), an alternate version of Carnage with a host named Canice Cassidy was shown to exist in the Multiverse where he resided on Earth-311.
- In Venomverse v1 #3 (2017), an alternate version of Carnage was summoned in the Multiversal setting with him being summoned by the Venom Doctor Strange to aid him and his compatriots against the parasitic Poisons. Carnage initially was ready to kill the other Venoms but decided to attack the Poisons after seeing that they were corrupted superheroes and supervillains with his ferocity allowing him to kill a number of them.
In other media
Television
- In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Cletus Kasady as Carnage appeared in the 1990s animated television series where he was voiced by actor Scott Cleverdon.
- In Spider-Man Unlimited, Cletus Kasady as Carnage appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Michael Donovan.
- In The Spectacular Spider-Man, Cletus Kasady made a small cameo non-voiced appearance in the animated television series in the episode "Reinforcement". He was shown in the Ravencroft Institution as part of a support group when Doctor Octopus escaped.
Video games
- In Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage, Carnage appeared in the video game adaptation of the comic storyline where he served as the main boss villain.
- In Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety, Carnage appeared in the video game adaptation of the comic storyline where he served as an antagonist.
- In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, Carnage was introduced as a playable character in DLC of the video game where he was voiced by actor Fred Tatasciore.
- In Marvel Heroes, Carnage was introduced as a Team-Up character in the MMORPG video game where he was voiced by actor Dee Bradley Baker.
- In Marvel: War of Heroes, Carnage appeared as a playable card in the mobile video game.
- In Marvel: Future Fight, Carnage appeared as a playable character in the iOS video game.
- In Spider-Man Unlimited, Carnage appeared as a playable character in the iOS video game. After defeating the other Symbiotes, he along with several of them along with other versions of the Carnage Symbiote formed the Nation of Carnage.
- In Marvel: Contest of Champions, Carnage appeared as a playable character in the iOS video game.
Appearances
- Amazing Spider-Man:
- Carnage: Mind Bomb v1:
- Carnage v1:
- Minimum Carnage:
- Superior Carnage:
- Deadpool vs. Carnage v1:
- Carnage v2:
- Web of Venom: Carnage Born v1:
External Links
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