Announced by Marvel at last month's C2E2 in Chicago, the publisher's next big summer comic book crossover event is Absolute Carnage. Created by the current Venom series creative team of Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman, the upcoming series teases a showdown of epic proportions between Carnage and the rest of the Marvel Universe after over a year of quiet development.
However, the roots of the story actually go back for decades of publishing history, with Carnage and the alien symbiotes extending far into the Marvel Universe's past. As such, here's a quick primer on the history leading up to Marvel's next epic event, including key characters and previous storylines that will likely play a major role in informing the direction of Absolute Carnage.
What Is Absolute Carnage?
At Marvel's Next Big Thing panel at C2E2, the publisher unveiled an official announcement trailer for Absolute Carnage featuring a video with writer Donny Cates. Cates revealed that the event would launch this August, partially spinning out of the events of next month's Free Comic Book Day title FCBD Spider-Man/Venom #1, out on May 4 from a story written by Cates and illustrated by Stegman.
As for the event itself, Cates teased that the symbiote-bonded serial killer Cletus Kasady would stage his full comeback to the Marvel Universe as Carnage in a major way. More powerful than ever, the homicidal madman would target every character in the Marvel Universe that has ever worn a symbiote before. Given the scope of previous events from Maximum Carnage to Venomized, that puts virtually every major hero in the Marvel Universe in danger of Carnage.
The Alien Costume Saga and Maximum Carnage
Symbiotes were introduced to the Marvel Universe during the landmark 1984 comic book crossover Secret Wars by Jim Shooter, Mike Zeck and Bob Layton. As Spider-Man's adventure on Battleworld left the webslinger's costume in tatters, Peter Parker entered a strange, alien structure where he accidentally bonded with a symbiote that formed the now-iconic black and white costume.
Upon his return to Earth, Peter learned from Reed Richards that the new suit was actually a living, extraterrestrial creature trying to permanently bond with his body. Taking advantage of the symbiote's weakness to sonic noise, Spider-Man used a nearby church bell to remove the alien from his body, where it bonded with disgraced journalist Eddie Brock to become the villain Venom.
In the years that followed, while Venom's hatred of Spider-Man remained, the character had become more of an antihero, a lethal protector dispensing hard-hitting justice as Eddie and the symbiote formed their own strange symbiosis. 1992's Amazing Spider-Man #361 by David Michelinie and Mark Bagley had the serial killer Cletus Kasady bond with the spawn of Venom to become the symbiote-empowered villain Carnage.
In the following year's crossover story Maximum Carnage, Kasady revealed the symbiote had bonded so deeply it remained in his bloodstream, leading him to reemerge as Carnage and assemble a group of villains for a killing spree across New York, forcing Spider-Man and Venom to team up and rally other superheroes against them, eventually imprisoning Carnage once again.
Venomized
After losing the lower half of his body to the Sentry in a failed escape attempt from the Raft, Kasady loses his connection to the symbiote. During the comic crossover Venomized by Cullen Bunn and Iban Coello, an alien species known as the Poisons begin to infect the Marvel Universe's heroes and villains with symbiotes from the alien world Klyntar in the hopes of consuming them.
Kasady is re-bonded with Carnage by symbiote-controlled versions of Thanos and Doctor Doom. Feigning loyalty to the Poison hive, Carnage retains his self-awareness and battles Venom and Spider-Man before being hurled into outer space. Eventually, the Poisons are defeated and brought back to their world by the X-Men while the tech corporation Alchemax restores those infected.
Given the sheer scope of the story, Venomized stands the chance of being the most influential past storyline to Absolute Carnage, as virtually every major hero and villain in the Marvel Universe was bonded to a symbiote at some point during the crossover. Meanwhile, Carnage himself survived his expulsion into space and eventually made his way back to Earth.
The Road to Absolute Carnage
In the eighth issue of Cates and Stegman's Venom ongoing series, it is revealed that a mysterious cult worshiping Knull, the god of symbiotes, had recovered Kasady's body. Badly burned upon reentry into the Earth's atmosphere but still alive, Kasady bonds with a Grendel symbiote developed by the Ultimate Universe's evil version of Reed Richards, Maker, with the help of the new cult. The Grendel symbiote had made up a symbiote dragon created by Knull during his attack on New York and was recovered by Maker following Knull's defeat at the hands of Venom.
Now psychically linked to Knull through the Grendel symbiote, Kasady blends the powers of the new symbiote with his existing Carnage symbiote to become even more powerful than before. Additionally, Knull's codex contains the identity of everyone in the Marvel Universe who has ever been bonded to a symbiote. Now connected to the symbiote god, Carnage vows to free his new benefactor while consuming anyone who has provided a host body for a symbiote at any cost.
Absolute Carnage is written by Donny Cates and illustrated by Ryan Stegman. The series is scheduled to launch this August from Marvel Comics.