Perhaps Spider-Man's most powerful enemy, Carnage is almost impossible to stop. Carnage is a truly terrifying villain to come across due to his insane bloodlust. Stronger than both Spider-Man and Venom, Carnage is definitely a force to be reckoned with.
Over the course of his long history, Carnage has fought many heroes other than Spider-Man. He has defeated some of these heroes on his own and alongside other villains, but sometimes the heroes manage to secure their victory, handing Carnage a bitter defeat.
Updated On April 4, 2022 by Scoot Allan: Carnage's popularity has continued to grow over the years, and he has starred in epic events like Absolute Carnage and Extreme Carnage. Each event put Carnage on a higher level that brought in new enemies for him to face, some of which didn't stand a chance against the symbiotic serial killer. On the other hand, there were quite a few heroes who managed to survive long enough in battle with Carnage to seize the win.
15 Defeated: Carnage Has Proved To Be Too Much For Spider-Man On More Than One Occasion
In the majority of battles the two superhumans have had, Carnage tends to come out on top. He is simply too powerful for Spider-Man. The webhead often finds himself overwhelmed not just by Carnage's strength, but also by his unpredictable, chaotic nature.
In order to defeat the mad symbiote, Spidey usually has to enlist the help of his greatest allies — whether that be the Fantastic Four or his on-again-off-again ally in Venom. Spider-Man does what it takes to stop Carnage, even if it means compromising with villains like Venom.
14 Lost Against: Spider-Man And Venom Are Often Forced To Team Up With Each Other To Take Down Carnage
During his first encounter with Carnage, Spider-Man was soundly beaten. The serial killer/symbiote then went on a murderous rampage, choosing to do whatever he pleased. With nowhere left to turn, Spider-Man was forced to turn to one of his greatest villains, Venom.
Although Venom is known for his hatred of Spider-Man, he actually isn't pure evil like his red counterpart. Upon learning Carnage was his offspring and murdering innocent people, Venom decided it was his responsibility to stop the serial killer in his tracks. Spider-Man and Venom were able to barely defeat the mad symbiote and have teamed up many times to defeat Carnage.
13 Defeated: Carnage Has Beaten And Tortured Venom Quite A Few Times Over The Years
While teaming up with Spider-Man often leads to the Carnage's defeat, Venom doesn't really stand a chance on his own. Carnage was born from Venom's symbiote, and he is simply stronger, faster and more durable than his "father."
Venom nevertheless tries to fight Carnage time and time again. Carnage is essentially Venom's antagonist, and Venom will always return to fight his evil symbiote kin. Carnage almost killed Venom during the Maximum Carnage storyline, choosing instead to torture his enemy rather than terminate him.
12 Lost Against: Mr. Fantastic Created Sonic Weapons That Could Separate The Symbiote From The Host
The first person Spider-Man turns to whenever he needs assistance is Reed Richards, the leader of the Fantastic Four. When Spider-Man first wore the Venom symbiote, it was Reed who discovered the suit was alive and weak to sonics.
On a few separate occasions, Spider-Man has called on the help of Mr. Fantastic to stop Carnage from continuing his many murder sprees. Using his technological knowledge, Reed has built a variety of sonic weapons, including a sonic gun, to take down Carnage. These weapons have proved incredibly effective in separating the symbiote from Cletus Kasady.
11 Lost Against: Firestar Would Have Killed Carnage If Spider-Man Hadn't Stopped Her
The Maximum Carnage event saw the symbiotic serial killer carve a path of destruction across New York City, prompting Spider-Man to ally himself with a team of heroes that included Angelica Jones/Firestar from the New Warriors. Her mutant microwave heat was especially dangerous to Carnage due to his weakness to flame.
During a battle in Central Park with Carnage's dark family and Spider-Man's allies, Firestar cut loose and nearly killed Carnage. She was spurred on by Venom, but Spider-Man changed his mind about the lethal action and talked Firestar out of killing the dangerous villain.
10 Defeated: Carnage And His Murderous "Family" Nearly Destroyed Deathlok
Carnage allied with other deadly villains like Shriek, Demogoblin, Doppelganger, and Carrion during the Maximum Carnage event. This story brought in a number of heroes who attempted to stop the mayhem from spreading further throughout the city.
While Spider-Man and his team of heroes were occupied, the cyborg known as Deathlok attempted to engage Carnage and his family. Although Deathlok initially held his own, Carnage and his team of villains soon overwhelmed him. Deathlok was left for dead in an electrical sign as a message to the other heroes.
9 Lost Against: Jubulile Van Scotter Used Her Magical Symbiote To Imprison Carnage
Carnage received a power upgrade from the Elder God Chthon after he was transformed by the dark magic of the Darkhold in the ongoing Carnage series. He was able to spontaneously spawn new symbiote offspring which he could control as his own. Carnage attempted to use his ability on a woman named Jubulile Van Scotter who had saved him from the ocean after a battle with the FBI.
However, Jubulile retained control of her symbiote which later merged with the Toxin and Raze symbiotes so she could stop Chthon from returning to Earth. Cletus Kasady was imprisoned by the Carnage symbiote while the merged symbiotes disappeared.
8 Defeated: Carnage Was Able To Hold Out Against Agent Anti-Venom And Silence
A portion of the Dark Symbiote survived the events of Absolute Carnage, and it was able to create a new symbiote hive-mind. This hive mind was used to gather the Life Foundation symbiotes and bond them with new hosts during the Extreme Carnage event.
Agent Anti-Venom teamed up with the new Toxin and his former sidekick who had gained a powerful new symbiote known as Silence. The three took on Carnage who'd managed to increase his power after bonding with Iron Man's Extrembiote armor — allowing him to defeat the team and escape by turning into a Grendel symbiote dragon.
7 Lost Against: Batman Teamed Up With Spider-Man To Stop Carnage And The Joker
While it isn't considered in-continuity, fans did get the chance to see Spider-Man and Batman team up in the 90s. The two iconic heroes from Marvel and DC were brought together when Carnage and The Joker escaped from prison together during a failed experiment to implant a microchip that would control their homicidal urges.
While Carnage and Joker weren't able to work together and eventually turned on each other, Batman arrived to deliver a beating to a fire-weakened Carnage while Spider-Man took out the Clown Prince of Crime.
6 Defeated: Carnage Took Out Man-Wolf By Ripping The Moonstone From John Jameson's Chest
During the Carnage comic book series, a team of soldiers was formed to apprehend Kasady and his symbiote once and for all. Among this team was John Jameson, the son of J. Jonah Jameson. On one of Jameson's trips to the moon, he recovered a strange red stone that transformed him into a creature known as Man-Wolf.
When the plan went off the rails and Carnage started murdering all the soldiers, the Man-Wolf was activated. Jameson put up quite a fight and got some good hits in. Despite this, the fight didn't last long once Carnage pulled the moonstone out of Jameson's chest. Man-Wolf was later taken over by Carnage during the Absolute Carnage event, but he was freed by the Lethal Protectors.
5 Lost Against: The Carnage Symbiote Failed To Bond With Silver Surfer Who Then Imprisoned It
During one particular fight between Spider-Man and Carnage, it just so happened that the cosmic hero Silver Surfer was passing by. Quickly intervening, it was soon clear the surfer was much more powerful than Carnage. Out of fear of being destroyed, the symbiote leapt onto Silver Surfer in hopes of bonding with him.
The alien's attempt to bond with the Silver Surfer failed and it returned to Cletus Kasady. Using the Power Cosmic, Silver Surfer imprisoned Carnage within an energy shield. The symbiote eventually escaped, but no doubt will continue to avoid any conflict with the Silver Surfer in the future.
4 Defeated: Carnage Took Down His Own Symbiote Offspring Before Toxin Was Able To Find Help
Just as Carnage is the offspring of Venom, Toxin is the offspring of Carnage. Upon learning he was going to create an offspring, Carnage became furious. He hated the idea of bringing a new life into this world, partly fearing Toxin may become more powerful and kill him.
Although Toxin was more powerful than him, Carnage was nevertheless able to defeat his young offspring. This is most likely due to Carnage's murderous experience. Later, Toxin was able to bond with a detective named Patrick Mulligan and team up with Spider-Man to earn his own win.
3 Lost Against: The Sentry Took Carnage To Space And Ripped Him In Half During The Raft Breakout
When a group of supervillains staged a breakout at the Raft, Carnage was among the villains escaping. The newly formed New Avengers (including Spider-Man and Wolverine) showed up to stop the jailbreak but found themselves overwhelmed by the number of escapees.
Among the prisoners at the Raft was the forgotten hero known as The Sentry. Choosing to help the new team of Avengers, Sentry grabbed Carnage and flew into space. Upon reaching the upper atmosphere, Sentry ripped Carnage in half and left his corpse floating in space.
2 Defeated: Carnage Was Able To Take Control Of His Own Team of Avengers
Later in Carnage's career, he gained an additional ability. Carnage learned to create small symbiote clones of himself which he used to possess and control unwilling hosts. During the Carnage USA storyline, Carnage used this power to take over the small town of Doverton.
Upon learning Carnage was terrorizing an entire town, a team of Avengers arrived to stop him. Using his new ability, Carnage defeated and took control of Captain America, Hawkeye, Thing, and Wolverine. Luckily Spider-Man, Agent Venom, Scorn and a squad of symbiote-bonded soldiers known as Mercury Team were able to save the day.
1 Lost Against: Deadpool Bonded With The Mercury Team Symbiotes To Take Down Carnage
Chaotic and murderous in his own way, Deadpool is essentially the "good" version of Carnage. His incredible healing factor allows the mercenary anti-hero to keep up with Carnage in a battle, despite the many sharp and deadly weapons Carnage produces from his skin.
In the Deadpool vs. Carnage mini-series, Deadpool took it upon himself to stop Kasady's latest murderous rampage and managed to survive Carnage's attacks. Deadpool even briefly bonded with the Mercury Team symbiotes in order to secure the win. The two would face off once again during the Absolute Carnage event.