WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, now playing in theaters.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage further introduces moviegoers to the evil Cletus Kasady, a vile serial killer with a mile-long body count. Also seen in the movie is Carnage's bride, his sinister sound-manipulating partner Shriek. Ever since the two were introduced in the Spider-Man comic books, Shriek and Carnage have almost always been an inseparable duo, and it's no different in the film.
In bringing Shriek and Carnage together, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, strangely enough, switches the deadly couple's motivations from the comic books. Now, Carnage is the one seeking a twisted family of his own, while Shriek is simply out for a killer thrill. Here's how the movie adapts the comic book characters but in mirroring ways.
Carnage and Shriek's Relationship in the Spider-Man Comics
In the comics, Cletus Kasady is also a gruesome serial killer, lacking remorse, empathy or anything else that would make him humane. Even before obtaining the symbiote, his only real motivation in life is to wreak absolute, unmitigated carnage upon all those who stand in his way. For instance, he once killed a girl simply for rejecting his amorous advances as a youth, and this, of course, came after his similar antisocial antics with his grandmother and mom.
Francis Barrison, on the other hand, was slightly more sympathetic, being a victim of childhood abuse. Due to the suffering she faced at the hands of her own family, the future Shriek grew up wanting a brood of her own. She eventually realized this dream with Carnage, forming a diabolical ménage with Carnage made up of Demogoblin, Doppelganger and Carrion. As maniacs tend to go, this family proved incredibly dysfunctional, with recent attempts at a reunion turning downright demonic.
Carnage and Shriek's Relationship in Venom: Let There Be Carnage
In Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the circumstances behind the characters are mostly similar, with a few exceptions. For instance, Cletus Kasady's grisly backstory matches the comics to a T, except that he meets Shriek as a child instead of an adult at the Ravencroft Institute. She quickly becomes his one beacon of hope in his nightmare of a childhood, one in which abuse and turmoil are more accentuated than they were in the comics. Carnage even brings this up, lashing out at Eddie Brock for not relaying in his reporting how he was tormented as a child.
Due to how horrible his own family experiences were growing up, Cletus tells Eddie that all he's ever desired is a family. Eddie scoffs at such an assertion, but it's an interesting confession given that it's usually Shriek's forte. In contrast, film Shriek seemingly has no such desire for a family outside of being with Cletus himself. Instead, she's portrayed as energetically homicidal, lacking any of the potential humanity that her Marvel comic book counterpart had in comparison to Carnage. Likewise, any abuse that she suffered in the past is never specified, essentially giving Cletus her comic book backstory in a way. This backstory and motivation switch doesn't change how the two feel about each other in the present day, with a penchant for violence and destruction bringing the two superpowered lovebirds together once more.
To see Cletus and Shriek's bad romance, see Venom: Let There Be Carnage in theaters now.