WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Extreme Carnage Alpha by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Manuel Garcia, Cam Smith, Marc Deering, Roberto Poggi, Guru-eFX, and VC's Travis Lanham, on sale now.
Ever since the events of King in Black, the Marvel Universe has been in a state of recovery. While heroes such as the Avengers have openly embraced Eddie Brock's new status quo as the god of the symbiotes, the general populace has not been able to come around to the idea of opening their arms to a hero made of living darkness or the many symbiotes who are still on Earth. Of course, there is good reason for humanity to be afraid of their symbiote invaders, especially since Carnage just took himself back to the top of the food chain.
When Carnage and Venom last fought, things did not go well for the murderous symbiote. After having barely survived the encounter, the Carnage symbiote was left to its own devices, stranded on an island. It took bonding to an unwitting shark and waiting for an unfortunate ship to pass by before Carnage could take a proper body for its own again. Around the same time, Eddie Brock replaced Knull as the new King in Black, and his first decree was that there was no room left in his kingdom for Carnage. Using the symbiote Hive to take control of dozens of symbiotes at once, Eddie commanded an entire shiver of symbiote sharks to tear Carnage apart. Despite the brutal attack, a small piece of the symbiote survived at the bottom of the ocean just waiting for the right time to start moving up in the world.
With undying ferocity and unyielding persistence, the Carnage symbiote moved from one host to another, beginning as little more than a clump of tendrils on the ocean floor before moving on to a fish and finally a shark. Once Carnage had taken hold of its toothy new host, it happened upon a pirate, who provided the symbiote with a human host.
The pirate was set to attend a meeting with a shadowy American government agent, and upon taking over the agent, Carnage secured a return to the United States and put himself in prime position to continue on with the next phase of whatever horrible plan he has in store.
Cletus Kasady, the original host of the Carnage symbiote, has never been one to give up on himself and it appears that his symbiote may have picked up the trait. After having been torn apart more than a handful of times, not to mention the various other ends that he has met, the fact that Carnage is still standing at all is a testament to just how powerful he is.
With no telling what he is up to and Eddie's attention having been drawn elsewhere thanks to another intergalactic tyrant, Carnage may get a shot to climb the food chain all the way to the top and knock the new King in Black off of his throne.