University of Panels

25: Carnage

(Cletus Kassidy)

 

The symbiote offspring of Venom, even before coming into contact with the alien, Cletus Kassidy had built up a reputation as a notorious serial killer. When he was admitted to Ravencroft Instiution for the Crimminally Insane (think of it as Spider-Man's Arkham Asylum) he shared a cell with Eddie Brock, also known as Venom. When Eddie escaped confinment and rebonded with the symbiote, the alien had unknowingly reproduced, and claimed Cletus Kassidy as it's host. 

 

What's interesting about Carnage is how despite having virtually the same powers and abilities as Venom (minus Spidey's webbing), he is completely different from his symbiotic parent. Venom sees himself as an innocent wronged by Spider-Man, compelling his desire to kill the wall-crawler. Despite his need for vengeance, Venom still mantains a strong moral code, and will kill only those he percieves as a danger to the innocent. Carnage on the otherhand, is a psychopath who uses the symbiote's raw power to cause mass-murder and anarchy. Similar to the Joker, he has no plan other than to create chaos, believing murder and violence to be the ultimate form of expressing his own psychotic beliefs. This theme was perfectly conveyed in the highly overhated MAXIMUM CARNAGE Arc (seriously, while it does has flaws, it does not deserve to be ranked among the worst Spider-Man comics of all-time), as his perspective of life erupts all of New York into complete anarchy, causing even Spider-Man to question the moral values that he was raised on.