Warning: SPOILERS for Absolute Carnage: Lethal Protectors #1
Absolute Carnage is just getting started, but the event has already left an impact on the Marvel Universe and readers alike. But now through all this death and destruction, a ray of hope has flickered: Carnage has found love, taking a break from ripping out spines to lock some lips with a new villain... well, maybe not so new? It's complicated.
Those reading the event know that Cletus Kasady is amassing an army of infected minions (in the most disgusting, Carnage way possible). But even he can't be everywhere at once (yet). Needing a few lieutenants for this army, Cletus already has his sort of son Doppelganger and Shriek at his side, and an infected John Jameson a.k.a. the symbiote ManWolf makes three. But the dynamics of this Carnage command will be changing in a big way... now that the villain's resurrected himself a Spider-Man villain, and a romance to go along with it.
Doppelganger has been Carnage's spine-ripper-in-chief, and John Jameson already attempted to prove his worth by capturing Misty Knight so Carnage could perform a human sacrifice (a lot has happened in this event already). The good news for Misty is she's not actually the one scheduled to be slain, since the entity being resurrected requires a willing host. The bad news is she's going to be breakfast for the entity in question.
The willing sacrifice is where Shriek comes in, professing her love to Carnage and proving her dedication to the cause by letting him rip out her spine. With the sacrifice made, the being is able to take over the body formerly inhabited by Shriek. The new occupant may not be instantly familiar to every Spider-Man fan, so allow us to introduce those newcomers: the entity Cletus is resurrecting is none other than the Demogoblin himself. Or herself.
Carnage and the Demogoblin go way back, so resurrecting the demonic maniac to help cause death and destruction as part of this larger assault makes perfect sense (especially considering Cletus Kasady actually died before he was similarly resurrected as this new, horrible version of Carnage). But as the comic makes perfectly clear, it isn't the classic Demogoblin that returns to the world of the living. It is a demon after all, requiring a willing host body in order to be brought back from the depths of hell. So what's resurrected is a new-ish villain: the Demagoblin, possessing Shriek's body. And having his old demonic friend possess his dead girlfriend's body is exactly the kind of thing that gets someone like Cletus Kasady's heart racing...
Now, Carnage says that Demogoblin is merged with Shriek, so it's a little unclear if this is still Shriek he's locking lips with, on more than a strictly physical level? Are fans to assume that Carnage and Shriek's relationship was always a bit more than readers assumed? Those details remains to be sorted out, but either way it makes for an interested development.
Whatever the answer, there will surely be shippers for this demonic romance. Carnage is thinking multiple steps ahead, plotting a role for everyone he recruits. So with the end goal of resurrecting Knull the Symbiote God, and bring about death and never ending darkness, there's no telling what horrors he has in store for Demagoblin to fulfill.
Absolute Carnage: Lethal Protectors #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.