Carnageis perhaps the most terrifying villain in Marvel Comics history, and he’s certainly the most infamous symbiote, as his brutal actions and sadistic nature can be seen with every one of his many appearances.Carnage is the offspring of Eddie Brock’s Venom, which infected the blood of aserial killer named Cletus Kasady. Interestingly, Cletus’ psychopathy actually corrupted the symbiote, twisting it into the hellish villain, Carnage.
Over the years,Carnage has taken many hostsother than Cletus, and even became powerful enough to not need a host at all for a time. And no matter who his host is,Carnage is still the same sadistic murdererhe became upon taking his first host, Cletus, just moments after being born. In other words, Carnage is always a mass-murdering psychopath with god-tier power, allowing him to unleash untold carnage upon the world - and he gleefully does just that. Here are the10 most gruesome kills in Carnage’s Marvel Comics history!
10Carnage Massacred a Diner
Deadpool vs Carnageby Cullen Bunn and Salvador Espin
After Cletus Kasady escaped from prison (one of the many times he’s done so throughout his Marvel Comics history), he heads to a small town in search of Deadpool before stopping off at a diner. A state trooper recognizes Cletus, and confronts him. So, Cletus responds by using one of Carnage’s tendrils to stab the trooper in the face, killing him instantly. At that point,Cletus morphs into Carnage, and proceeds to murder everyone in the dinerin truly gory fashion.
The worst part of this scene is actually what isn’t shown, as the comic cuts away right beforeCarnage murders some children, which is later confirmed by a news report stating that Cletus slaughtered everyone in the diner - kids included.
9Carnage Tortures & Decapitates Spider-Man
Carnage: It’s a Wonderful Lifeby David Quinn and Kyle Hotz
Everyone knows that Carnage is a long-time enemy of Spider-Man, as the symbiote-villain would love nothing more than to murder Spider-Man in the most grisly ways imaginable. Lucky for Carnage, he finally gets that chance (well, sort of).Carnage: It’s a Wonderful Lifetakes readers inside the mind of Carnage, showing all of his sick fantasies and twisted thoughts. There were some pretty gnarly kills that took place within the darkest corners of Cletus' mind, including and especiallythe murder of Spider-Man himself.
While it didn’t actually happen, readers still witnessedSpider-Man getting his head cut off and his body mutilated by Carnage. Real or not, this kill was still depicted for every fan to see, and it’s just as brutal as one would expect it to be.
8Carnage Murders Ravencroft Staff
Maximum Carnageby Tom DeFalco and Ron Lim
In another instance where Carnage escapes from his incarceration, he decides to remain in the institute in which he was confined - in this case, Ravencroft Institute. This was during theMaximum Carnagestoryline, where Carnage wanted to get the attention of both Spider-Man and Venom in order to kill both of his arch enemies in one fell swoop. To do that,Carnage slaughters everyone in Ravencroft indiscriminately, and even takes sick pleasure in killing those who beg for their lives.
One of his doctors tries to beg for her life, attempting to speak to Cletus' humanity. Unfortunately, Cletus has no humanity, and is basically a demon - which is manifested in his Carnage form. Needless to say, the doctor’s pleas did not help, andeveryone in Ravencroft was slaughtered.
7Carnage Infects a Small Town & Murders a Young Girl
Carnage, USAby Zeb Wells and Clayton Crain
In perhaps the most disturbing display of Carnage’s cruelty,Carnage, USAtakes readers toa small town in Colorado, where Cletus infects everyone with the Carnage symbiotetotally unprovoked. Carnage simply decides to corrupt an entire town just to see if he could, which produced the infamous comic panel featured above, showing a young boy being violently possessed by the red symbiote in the bath tub. However, much like the brutal diner scene fromDeadpool vs Carnage, the worst part of this slaughter wasn’t shown on-panel.
Spider-Man and Agent Venom eventually stop Carnage, but not before it’s revealed thatCarnage murdered a young girl named Stephanie, which only adds to the senseless horror and gruesome brutality of this comic.
6Carnage Drills a Man to Death (Through the Internet)
Venom: Carnage Unleashed#1 by Larry Hama and Andrew Wildman
In this comic, both Venom andCarnage learn that they can upload their symbiotes to the internet via ethernet cable, allowing them to travel along the World Wide Webas fast as information travels online. Then, they can manifest through the computer anywhere they want to go, which is extra exciting for Carnage, as that means he can kill people all over the world with the ‘click of a mouse’. In fact, Carnage proves he’s capable of doing just that when he travels through the internet to murder a hacker, manifesting through the hacker’s computer screen as a literal drill, and proceeds to drill the man to death.
Not only is the idea ofCarnage turning his symbiote tendrils into a drill and then using that drill to brutally kill someone utterly horrific, but the fact that he did it after traveling via the internetis downright terrifying.
5Carnage Turns His Psychiatrist Into a Cannibal
Carnage: Mind Bombby Warren Ellis and Kyle Hotz
As previously mentioned, Cletus Kasady and Carnage have been in and out of prisons and institutions throughout their Marvel Comics history, and each time, rehabilitation - or even just simple understanding - is attempted. During one such instance,a renowned psychiatrist attempts to understand Kasady’s madness, hoping to delve into his mind and help him through his twisted, deranged thought process. Unfortunately, the opposite ends up happening.
When Cletus morphs intoCarnage, the evil symbiote infects the doctor’s mind and utterly corrupts him. He fills the psychiatrist’s brain with horrors beyond comprehension, fracturing the doctor’s psyche, driving him insane. By the end of this horrific process, the psychiatrist effectively becomes a cannibal, as he tries to eat the guards at the institution. While Carnage didn’t murder the doctor per se, he certainly ended his life in truly gruesome fashion.
4Carnage Goes On an Ultra-Gory Prison Rampage
In the same comic as the last one (Carnage: Mind Bomb), Carnage doesn’t stop with simply driving his psychiatrist totally insane. Indeed, this comic shows yet another classic ‘Carnage prison break’, but this time, things are arguably more gory than they’ve ever been. In previous storylines, the real gruesome parts of Carnage’s carnage were mostly implied, or Marvel cut away from the truly disturbing bits rather than showing them on-panel. That’s not the case inCarnage: Mind Bomb, asCarnage’s gruesome brutality is put on full display.
It’s also worth noting that Carnage wasn’t alone here, as the Wizard was the one who opened Carnage’s cell doors, and paved the way for this bout of ultra-violence. However,Carnage alone is responsible for the lives he took, and the grisly manner in which he took them.
Minimum Carnageby Cullen Bunn, Chris Yost, and Lan Medina
Despite the name of the comic,Minimum Carnagecertainly delivers maximum brutality in truly horrific (though admittedly creative) ways. Scarlet Spider and Agent Venom battle Carnage in the Microverse before Carnage breaks himself apart to create an army of mini-Carnages. Then, Carnage uses those mini-Carnages to break back into the physical world through the literal blood of innocent bystanders.The mini-Carnages claw and scrape through the mouths and pores of these innocent people(yeesh).
To make matters worse, these mini-Carnages then combine to create a massive version of the original Carnage, which allows the symbiote villain to unleash even more carnage - indeed, far more than ‘minimum’.This killing-spree definitely stands out from the rest, as it’s more akin to eldritch and otherworldly horrorthan a simple slaughter, and the fact that all these people were just innocent bystanders makes it even more horrific.
2Carnage Rips a Pilot Serial Killer Apart
Eddie Brock: Carnage#1 by Charles Soule and Jesús Saiz
When Carnage took Eddie Brock as his host (something neither party wanted, but were forced to do to survive), Brock agreed to allow Carnage to kill people so long as they were bad. So, the two of them decided to hunt serial killers, and one of those serial killers ended up being the pilot for the flight they were on. Not wasting any time, Eddie andCarnage burst into the cockpit to confront the pilot. Except, Carnage wasn’t just interested in confronting him. Carnage wanted to kill the serial killer right then and there - not because of any sense of justice; he just really wanted to kill someone again.
Carnage didn’t just murder this serial killer pilot, he ripped him to shredsright there on the plane. While Carnage’s victim certainly deserved it, this scene is still one of the most brutal ‘Carnage kills’ that has ever been brought to the panel.
1Carnage Metaphysically Murders a God-Tier Monster
CarnageVol. 3 #6 by Ram V and Rogê Antônio
During theDeath of the Venomversestory arc, which also included theVenom Warevent, Carnage had taken to the multiverse to kill Venom symbiotes and steal their power. At this time, Carnage was powerful enough to not need a host to survive, and even transformed his body into something akin to a demonic brute. During this dark mission,Carnage was seeking godhood, which meant he had to go up against god-tier enemies, including one of Hela’s top-killers, Rosvelg.
Rosvelg is a monster in Hel with god-tier strength, but evenRosvelg wasn’t a match for Carnage, who metaphysically murdered the monster by destroying it mentally. Killing something that turns gods into minced meat on a regular basis is certainly an impressive feat, and definitely allowsCarnageto live up to his iconic name.
