Carnage's Path to Godhood, Explained

Symbiotes are running wild across the Marvel Universe again—and Carnage, the most murderous symbiote of them all, has become an outright god just in time for VENOM WAR (2024). 

The road to true power pushed Carnage beyond the borders of life and death. Here is how Carnage upgraded his powers and abilities to become a divine being capable of bringing the entire Marvel Universe to its knees.

CARNAGE AND THE DARKHOLD

Carnage's divine upgrade emerged from a magical source: the Darkhold, a dark magic tome capable of great power. While on the loose, Carnage was lured deep into a mine in West Virginia by the Darkholders, a cult that sought to revive the Elder God Chthon by sacrificing Carnage to it in an occult ritual. Instead, the Darkhold itself magically enhanced Carnage and he stole it for himself before escaping from the authorities in CARNAGE (2015) #5. 

Obsessed with unlocking more power from the Darkhold, Carnage hid out on a remote island and created a new symbiote companion, Raze, along the way. Carnage unleashed Chthon with the intention of stealing his unholy power. However, the sorcerer Victoria Montesi arrived in CARNAGE (2015) #16, only to seal Chthon away and strip Carnage of his newfound powers; she also removed the symbiote from Cletus Kasady. Though only a seemingly temporary upgrade, this brief magical enhancement whet Carnage's appetite for new ways to grow stronger by any means he could.

THE BIRTH OF DARK CARNAGE

Although Cletus died after crash-landing on Earth after his space adventure in WEB OF VENOM: CARNAGE BORN (2018) #1, this only proved to be a temporary setback for the super villain. Cletus' body was recovered by the Cult of Knull, a murderous sect that worshiped Knull, the cosmic god of the Klyntar symbiotes who intended for Cletus to become his host. The cult stole the ancient Grendel symbiote and resurrected Cletus by bonding his body to a piece of it. However, Cletus unexpectedly broke from Knull's will and regained control of his own body as well as the Grendel symbiote, altering it to resemble Carnage.

When he learned that the spines of anyone who had ever bonded to a symbiote contained a codex that could empower those who consumed them, Carnage decided to forcibly recover as many codices as he could. As he consumed the codices himself, Carnage grew significantly stronger. He cut a bloody path across Earth, going as far as to devour an entire Colorado town that had briefly been overwhelmed by symbiotes in WEB OF VENOM: CULT OF CARNAGE (2019) #1. After months of consuming codices from both the living and the dead, Cletus physically transformed into Dark Carnage and kicked off his master plan in ABSOLUTE CARNAGE (2019) #1.

THE FALL OF DARK CARNAGE

As Carnage consumed additional codices, including ones from heroes and villains that had bonded with symbiotes, he gained their abilities, including that of the ill-fated Ghost Rider Alejandra Jones. Confident of his powers, Carnage launched a full-scale attack on New York, intent on absorbing codices from Spider-Man, Venom, and Eddie Brock's young son Dylan to add to his already impressive power. Along the way, Carnage used his symbiote offspring and malevolent influence to build himself an army, keeping many of the heroes occupied as he continued his hunt.

Carnage confronted a Venomized Hulk and grew determined to exploit the Hulk's connection to the One Below All to grow even stronger. After absorbing the symbiote bonded to the Hulk, Carnage transformed into an even more powerful form just in time to face a similarly upgraded Venom after Eddie's symbiote absorbed its own set of codices in ABSOLUTE CARNAGE (2019) #4. Venom managed to use his newfound abilities to slay Carnage, with the Grendel symbiote transferring to Eddie and leaving Cletus' human remains behind.

EXTREME CARNAGE

Though his physical form was destroyed, Cletus' consciousness lived on within the greater symbiote hive mind, where he plotted his full return and revenge. Telepathically taking control of several symbiotes, Cletus formed a new Carnage symbiote and looked for a suitable human host he could similarly possess in EXTREME CARNAGE ALPHA (2021) #1. Through his connection to the symbiote hive mind, Cletus systemically corrupted symbiotes like Phage and Agony, who faithfully carried out his agenda.

Cletus seized control of Iron Man's Extrembiote while looking for new ways to upgrade himself, making him a physical and formidable threat once again. These bloody travels took Carnage as far as the Norse realm of Nidavellir, where he used its forge and a codex from the Dark Elf Malekith to empower himself in CARNAGE (2022) #10. Following this, Carnage set his sights higher than ever, leading the symbiote to explore the Multiverse.

CARNAGE ATTACKS THE VENOMVERSE

In DEATH OF THE VENOMVERSE (2023), Carnage began killing Venoms across the Multiverse and absorbing the symbiotes to make himself stronger. More powerful than ever, Carnage resumed his plans to become the God of Symbiotes by targeting the Knull of an alternate universe. No longer interested in using Knull as a potential host body, Carnage killed this universe's Knull, absorbing his symbiote and, with it, his godly powers in DEATH OF THE VENOMVERSE (2023) #5.

Having finally realized his dream of achieving godhood, Carnage easily defeated a team of Venoms from across the Multiverse that united to stop him. With this resistance out of the way, Carnage traversed the Multiverse, continuing his mission to add to his power and learn more about his potential. 

Through his travels, Carnage realized he needed a human host to ground him and balance his godly perspective. As a result, he decided to return to his own Earth and create a clone of Cletus, his most effective host.

THE CLONED CLETUS

After bonding with the clone of Cletus in CARNAGE (2023) #1, Carnage escalated his vendetta against the Brocks and Agent Anti-Venom to eliminate any opposition to his quest for godhood. Like any god, Carnage sought to build his own congregation, and his latest killing spree inspired a new Cult of Carnage, rallying the depraved to his murderous cause. This placed Carnage on a collision course with Agent Anti-Venom, but—anticipating this—Carnage came with more than a few tricks up his sleeve.

In addition to quickly building up a tolerance to the Anti-Venom symbiote's effects against him, Carnage revealed to a shocked Flash Thompson that he once again wielded the powers of the Darkhold. Using the unholy tome's dark magic, Carnage banished Flash to the Darkhold Dimension before setting his sets on Dylan Brock and the Venom symbiote in CARNAGE (2023) #4. With the battle lines drawn for VENOM WAR (2024), Carnage is poised to become a godly wildcard as he makes his full debut in the symbiote conflict.

Carnage enters the fray in VENOM WAR (2024) #2, on sale now!

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