St. Estes: Cletus Kasady Location - Comics History Explained

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Cletus Kasady's (Woody Harrelson) dark origins in Venom: Let There Be Carnage's St. Estes' Home For Unwanted Children mirror the story and location from Marvel Comics. Before inheriting his own symbiote and becoming Carnage, Cletus Kasady had a deeply troubled childhood that set him on the path to becoming a sociopathic serial killer, and much of his time was spent in St. Estes. However, the movie's depiction of the home and the version seen in the comics carry some key differences despite their similarities.

In Venom: Let There Be Carnage, it was revealed that Cletus Kasady pushed his grandmother down a flight of stairs as a child. Furthermore, he also killed his mother and her dog in the midst of being abused by his father. Eventually, Cletus was sent to St. Estes Home for Unwanted Children, where he eventually met Frances Barrison (also known as Shriek), a young girl who became his "one bright light" in what was otherwise a world of darkness. However, Shriek was eventually taken to the Ravencroft Institute due to her abilities as a metahuman. It was only after Cletus became a serial killer, was arrested, and then transformed into Carnage on death row that he was able to break out and rescue Frances from Ravencroft. Reunited, the first thing they did was burn down St. Estes before going after Venom, Eddie Brock, and Patrick Mulligan, the detective who shot Shriek's eye when she was taken from the home.

While Kasady's origins in the comics are largely the same (such as his murdering his family members), he was then sent to St. Estes Home For Boys, as Shriek wouldn't be introduced in his life until years later in the Maximum Carnage event after he had bonded with his symbiote. Furthermore, Spider-Man discovered that St. Estes was destroyed in a fire when Cletus was still a young boy, which he theorized was Kasady's doing to cover up his murder of the home's disciplinarian administrator. Furthermore, the ruins of St. Estes was the site of Spider-Man's first encounter with Carnage in the comics, featured in Amazing Spider-Man #361 by David Michelinie and Mark Bagley.

Despite these differences between the respective film and the comics' depiction of St. Estes, the home still played the same role in Cletus Kasady's life: doing nothing to correct his disturbed and sociopathic behavior and making it worse, resulting in his rise as a serial killer who received 11 consecutive life sentences. Additionally, while having Shriek growing up in the home as well was an interesting choice, it does feel as though her relationship with Kasady as children could have been explored further in the film.

Regardless, the inclusion of St. Estes in Cletus Kasady's movie origins proves director Andy Serkis' commitment to accuracy when it came to adapting the character for the big-screen, seeing as how it played such a pivotal role in his first dark transformation into a serial killer before his second transformation into Carnage. However, the new twists such as Shriek's involvement provided a fresh take as well, making the home arguably more important in Venom 2 than it was in Marvel Comics.

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