Warning: SPOILERS for Web of Venom: Carnage Born #1

Venom fans may be talking about Carnage's next movie appearance, but the comics just made the serial killer Cletus Kasady the most powerful symbiote in the galaxy - with the powers of a Symbiote God. Lord help the Marvel Universe.

The very first issue of the new Web of Venom: Carnage Born has lived up to the name, revealing the next key player in Marvel's ever-expanding Venom-verse. The symbiote hero has risen in prominence in the comic book universe recently, with new twists on the mythology revealing the symbiotes were there at the start of Marvel's Universe, and may be what finally kills it too - thanks to Loki's fusion with a Venom of his own. But before we worry about the death of everything, the rebirth of Carnage is something fans will want to see for themselves. And believe us, the new form of Carnage is bigger, badder, deadlier, and more terrifying than any before.

Carnage's Rebirth... Begins With His Death

For those comic fans familiar only with Carnage's early exploits, his latest adventure took him into the cosmos in a major way, as prisoner of the Poisons. A symbiote empire from another reality, the Poisons used a different strain of symbiotes to take over and enthrall entire universes. And even if they were capable of Venom-izing Thanos himself in the event, and leaving Wolverine's son a new kind of Venom, Carnage was the one nut they couldn't quite crack. So when the Poisons were finally defeated by Marvel's heroes, Cletus Kasady was left to tumble through space alone. Luckily, his Poison symbiote kept him preserved in the cold vacuum of space... until he came burning back down to Earth.

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After summing up Carnage's story to that point, Carnage Born #1 shows his tragic return to Earth. Eddie Brock's symbiote loves him with a passion, and the same goes for the twisted version flowing through Cletus Kasady's veins. So as his body burns in re-entry, the symbiote does what it can to keep him alive... and fails. Cletus Kasady is dead yet again, burned into a legless husk, yet still one of the most sought after corpses in Marvel's Universe. The authorities know death is never the end for Carnage, and in Born #1, a new group of holy symbiote worshippers have a new role in mind for him: their next conduit to the God of the Symbiotes.

Carnage Becomes Host To The Symbiote God

With the God of the Symbiotes believed to be dead (we'll get to explaining that storyline in a minute), a group of devout worshippers of the symbiote species and the "abyss" from which they came clearly have plans to resurrect him. Plans that are being led by Scorn, a former wearer of a hybrid symbiote, and plans which involve recovering the remains of Carnage to use for their... let's call it a 'summoning' ritual, from their perspective. And it all relies on the mark left in, and by a symbiote's host.

Recent issues of Venom have revealed that a symbiote and its host don't sever their psychic connection when parting ways, so with a sample of their god's symbiote in hand, the followers of Scorn believe that a chance to reincarnate, or at least take the first step towards reincarnating their demon is only a host away. A host that can't be killed, and bears a stronger, more volatile link to the dark abyss than any other known person to bond with a symbiote: Carnage. And wouldn't you know it, their experiment works better than expected.

Carnage is Reborn With The Symbiote of a God

With Carnage's corpse returned to life by the symbiote sample, the being that shatters its metal cage and erupts with maniacal laughter isn't the version of Carnage most fans will recognize. For starters, the red color scheme used by Kasady to distinguish himself from Venom, Spider-Man, and another other symbiote suit is gone. Instead, he looks... well, about the same as every other symbiote when it's being remotely controlled by the Symbiote God. But the massive insignia of the Dragon-God blazing across Carnage's chest confirms that Cletus Kasady isn't the only consciousness fighting to take control of his body.

As Scorn explained, the whole point of getting a sample from the Symbiote God was to give his mind a new vessel, if you will. Which means that if Cletus Kasady wants to take control of this new body, and harness the powers of the Symbiote God for Carnage, he will have to beat him on a mental level. And boy, the fight that follows is incredibly short, and finally sees Carnage truly reborn...

Page 2 of 2: How Carnage Takes The Powers of The Symbiote God

Carnage Faces Knull, The God of The Symbiotes

The moment of victory in which Carnage bust forth in a bigger, more powerful form is quickly set aside as the creature seems to be at war with itself. As Scorn clearly predicted such a struggle, she informs the other followers that Carnage is duking it out with the "psychic remnants of Knull's connection." That line of communication from god to creation was too much for Venom and Eddie Brock to resist, effectively overwhelming the free will of both the symbiote and the host. But Carnage missed out on that development, since he was spinning, frozen solid, through Earth's orbit. When he awakens to the call of Knull's voice, he is driven mad with pain and anger. For Cletus Kasady, that's really saying something.

We've previously gone into greater details about Knull, the Symbiote God and his dragon form recently added to the larger Venom mythology. But for those who want a quick version to help explain just how much power Carnage is competing with, we'll say only this: Knull was the first being in the void of the universe. He molded the abyss into a weapon when the first Celestials made creation. And that first symbiote, All-Black the Necrosword, began his quest to conquer the universe. A quest that eventually led to him creating the symbiotes, before he was recently awoken on Earth, defeated by Venom, and killed with only a small sample left behind.

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The small sample now injected into the mind and body of Carnage. Even for an Elder God who has just about conquered the universe, the mind of Cletus Kasady is a gauntlet. So when Scorn offers up the trace of symbiote left in her own body to make Knull whole, and victorious, Carnage decides instead to tear out her spine and suck it dry. And it obviously hits the spot.

Carnage Takes Control of Knull's Symbiote

The "snack" made of Scorn makes all the difference, with Carnage finally able to speak with its own voice. And clutching at its head, the symbiote soon returns to the classic, iconic, big-eyed face of Carnage fans all know and love. With the spiral signifying subservience to Knull gone, it appears that the telepathic remains of Knull within his symbiote dragon (or the small fragment of it used to awaken and empower Carnage) has been defeated. Whether that means Knull's presence has been killed, crushed, or simply overridden for now isn't clear.

All we really know is that Carnage is truly reborn, and with his own form now "amplified" by the raw strength and direct connection to Knull's power as God of the Symbiotes, Carnage has never been so fearsome. The only good news - if there is any when Carnage has basically been given the power of a god - is that the symbiote serial killer seems to think of nothing but Knull, the foe he murdered to come back to life. Explaining to a nearby worshipper that "I want to kill that baby again, meat. I want to talk to that god again", it sounds like Knull may finally have met an enemy crazed and unhinged enough to truly show him a challenge.

Regardless of how destructive the coming adventure may turn out to be, and which of the madmen wielding symbiotes like planet-destroying hammers ends up on top, Web of Venom: Carnage Born has delivered in its first issue. We had previously made the case that introducing Knull as the cosmic villain of a Venom movie trilogy would give the MCU a run for its money. So with Carnage bearing a stronger link to the God of the Symbiotes (by being less clouded by sanity and consciousness) in the comics, and coming with Woody Harrelson's Cletus Kasady in Venom 2, the stage is certainly set.

But considering that Sony actually needs a world to exist if they want to make their own Spider-Man movie universe... perhaps we'll wait and see what kind of damage is done by a Knull-empowered Carnage, first. Something tells us we'll have plenty of company waiting to see what the world of Venom comes up with next.

Web of Venom: Carnage Born #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.

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