Carnage

Real Name: Cletus Kasady

First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #344 (February 1991) as Cletus Kasady, Amazing Spider-Man #360 (March 1992) as Carnage

Powers: Superhuman Strength, Speed, and Stamina. Has a resistance to injury and possesses Healing Abilities. Can create weapons that can be detached and thrown and weapons that remain attached to the Symbiote. It can also reduce Spider-Man’s “Spider-Sense.”

Affiliation: None

Enemies: Spider-Man, Venom

Did you know: Cletus Kasady was actually modeled after DC’s, Joker

A Little History

Cletus Kasady is the living definition of a homicidal maniac who came from a dysfunctional family. Not only did he kill his grandmother by pushing her down the stairs, but he tried to kill his mother and actually successfully killed his dog. Unable to live with her son, his mother attempted to kill him, only to be beaten to death by his father.

This led Cletus to be sent to and live in the St. Estes Home for Boys, where his classmates abused and ridiculed him. While there, he killed the Disciplinarian Administrator, pushed a girl in front of a moving bus, and burned down the orphanage.

As he aged, he became a serial killer. Eventually, he would be caught and sent to live on Ryker’s Island (a prison). While staying here, he was a cellmate with a symbiote-less Eddie Brock.

Eddie’s symbiote, looking to once again bond with him, eventually came looking to free him. During the escape, the symbiote left behind offspring in the cell. Feeling no emotional attachment to Eddie, the symbiote latched onto a new host, Cletus, and transformed him into Carnage.

Unlike the symbiote hosted by Peter Parker and Eddie Brock, the symbiote hosted by Cletus Kasady entered his bloodstream. This form of hosting created a much stronger and deeper bond.