Carnage Explained: Venom 2 Movie Villain Origin & Powers

Here is everything you need to know about Carnage - the villain of Venom 2 played by Woody Harrelson. When the character of Venom was first created in 1988, he was intended to be Spider-Man's most dangerous enemy ever. His popularity with fans, however, killed the original plans to see Venom destroyed in a climactic battle. This left Spider-Man's writers with the question of what to do to keep Venom around while also giving him another purpose beyond destroying Spider-Man.

Eventually they hit upon the idea of creating a new villain who would be so dangerous that Venom and Spider-Man would have no choice but to work together to deal with the greater evil. Enter Carnage - an insane serial killer with the same powers as Venom and Spider-Man, plus other abilities that made him into one of Marvel Comics' most dangerous villains. The introduction of Carnage also helped further cement Venom in his newfound role as an anti-hero - the lethal protector who helped the homeless and fought to protect the innocent but still hated Spider-Man and saw him as a threat to decent people everywhere.

With Venom 2 on the way - and potentially eyeing a late 2020 release - moviegoers will eventually see Carnage for themselves on the big screen played by Woody Harrelson. But who is Carnage, really? What makes the Spider-Man character an ideal villain for Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock/Venom?

This Page: Carnage's Comic Origin & Powers Explained
Page 2: Woody Harrelson Is Carnage In Venom & Will Be Venom 2's Villain

Carnage's Comic Origin Explained

Cletus Kasady Carnage comic book origins

First appearing in Amazing Spider-Man #360, Peter Parker was first alerted to Carnage's existence after he tied news reports of a new serial killer to sightings of a monster whose description matched that of Venom. Fearing that Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote were on the rampage again (having previously been pacified after being tricked into believing they had successfully killed Spider-Man), Parker investigated only to be confronted by an entirely new symbiotic menace - one so dangerous that Spider-Man was forced to turn to Venom for help in stopping the far more dangerous Carnage.

Carnage was eventually revealed to be Cletus Kasady - a sociopath and serial killer, whom had previously appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #344. A born bad seed if ever there was one, Kasady killed his grandmother by pushing her down the stairs as a child and tortured his mother's dog to death. Much like the similarly violent Joker from The Dark Knight, Kasady developed an nihilistic personal philosophy and an obsession with spreading chaos through bloodshed. This let to his conviction on 11 counts of murder, though he claimed to have committed many more.

Kasady became the cell-mate of Eddie Brock in the high-security prison known as The Vault. Brock eventually escaped with the help of the Venom symbiote, which, unbeknownst to Brock, was about to produce a child, which it left in Brock's cell. The symbiote species didn't have any emotional attachment to their offspring, so it felt no need to inform Eddie that it was about to have a child or that it had just given birth once they rebonded. The symbiotic child then attached itself to the first host it could find, which turned out to be Cletus Kasady, giving birth to Carnage.

Carnage's Comic Powers Explained

As dangerous as Eddie Brock was as Venom, Carnage was even more threatening, having developed new powers that his parent never had. According to the Venom symbiote, this was due to the Carnage symbiote having gestated in an alien atmosphere, which altered its development. Because of this, Carnage is physically stronger than both Spider-Man and Venom put together. Carnage also has the unique ability to reshape parts of his symbiotic form into weapons and can even turn fragments of itself into projectiles, which can maintain their form for up to ten seconds once disconnected from his body. He also has the power to alter people's minds and memories, assuming he can make contact with their brain through a tendril.

Beyond that, Carnage has all of the other standard symbiotic powers, including shape-shifting and rapid-healing. He can change his appearance to mimic any form of clothing, though Carnage rarely does this as blending in and going unnoticed is usually the last thing he wants to do. More frequently Kasady uses this power to grow wings or extra limbs - another unique power that only the Carnage symbiote seems to possess. The Carnage symbiote is also notable in that his bond to Cletus Kasady is the strongest and most complete of any symbiote in Marvel Comics history. The symbiote lives in Kasady's bloodstream when it's not acting as his armored costume and can be regenerated from a single drop of Kasady's blood.

Carnage also has all of the powers which the Venom Symbiote copied from Peter Parker, allowing it to cling to any surface and rapidly crawl across walls and ceilings. Carnage has also developed a form of Spider-Sense, being able to sense direct physical attacks coming thanks to a form of omni-directional vision. Like Venom, Carnage is also invisible to Spider-Man's Spider-Sense, due to it being too closely connected to Peter Parker for him to perceive it as a threat. Despite all this power, Carnage is far from invincible. He still possess the standard symbiote weakness to extreme heat and his connection to his host is disrupted by certain sonic frequencies. It's worth noting, however, that Carnage is far more vulnerable to heat and fire than Venom, yet far more resistant to sonic-based attacks than his parent, due to the stronger bond he has forged with Cletus Kasady.

Page 2 of 2: Woody Harrelson Is Carnage In Venom & Will Be Venom 2's Villain

Venom post-credits Carnage Woody Harrelson

Woody Harrelson Is Carnage In Venom 2

Woody Harrelson's involvement in Venom was a closely guarded secret early on. There were rumors before Venom's release that Harrelson would be playing Cletus Kasady in anticipation of setting Carnage up for the sequel. However, it wasn't confirmed until very close to the film's release that Harrelson was in Venom. One of Venom's post-credits scenes showed Eddie Brock traveling to San Quentin Prison, having been personally requested by one of the inmates to interview him. The inmate is revealed to be a serial killer named Cletus Kasady, who is portrayed by Woody Harrelson. Though the scene is barely a minute long, Harrelson casts a menacing shadow as Kassady, who tells Brock "When I get out of here, and I will, there's gonna be Carnage."

Carnage's Villain Role In Venom 2

Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock in Venom and Carnage

As of right now, it's uncertain just what role Carnage might play in Venom 2 beyond being the chief antagonist. This is largely because there's very little that has been confirmed about the Venom sequel aside from the fact that a Venom 2 screenplay is being written by the original writer, Kelly Marcel. Venom director Ruben Fleischer has freely admitted that he's unsure how to bring Carnage into Venom 2 given that his version of Eddie Brock is markedly different from the one in the comics and the traditional origin story for Carnage won't work in his universe.

Despite this, it seems obvious that there are plans to make use of Carnage at some point. Ignoring that Harrelson was confirmed for Venom 2, it seems highly unlikely that Sony would hire an actor of Woody Harrelson's caliber just to drop an Easter egg in a post-credit sequence if there wasn't an intention of eventually bringing him in to play the part of Carnage. Logistically, it's too much work for too little yield, though it seems unlikely they will do something as simple as retroactively revealing the symbiote just happened to give birth and dropped off its offspring during the visit to Kasady's cell.

One possibility is that Cletus Kasady may be the villain of Venom 2 but he won't become Carnage until later in the film. His empowerment may even be saved for Venom 3. While it may seem absurd to have a non-powered serial killer set up as the main enemy for a character as powerful as Venom, Kasady was far from an ordinary murderer and Venom in the comics frequently concerned himself with going after anyone who was a threat to the lives of innocents, powers or no. This could lead to a movie that is more thriller than superhero story, with Eddie Brock trying to investigate Kasady's killings while holding back the rage of his other half and dodging the police.

Another possibility that seems like something of a long-shot now with the fate of Sony's superhero universe up in the air beyond their plans for Venom 2 and the on-going work on Morbius is that Carnage might be saved for an adaptation of the classic Maximum Carnage storyline. This miniseries saw Spider-Man, Venom, and a host of other superheroes and anti-heroes (including Morbius) join forces to take on Carnage and a group of supervillains who flocked under his banner and joined his mission to sow as much chaos as possible. Such a film could act as an Avengers piece for Sony, though that seems unlikely with their current production line-up.

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