Venom 2: Carnage Explained – Who is Woody Harrelson’s character?
Venom 2, aka Venom: Let There Be Carnage, finally arrives this week! But for non-comic fans, some may wonder … who exactly is the very red and scary symbiote bad guy in this movie?
It all started with Spider-Man’s black alien costume in the comics, which betrayed him and ended up in the hands of his bitter rival Eddie Brock, who became Venom. But he also spawned an even more cruel and deadly nemesis in the form of Carnage. This bloodthirsty sadist has racked up a massive death toll over the years, and even the Avengers have had a hard time bringing him to justice.
And now the character of Woody Harrelson (aka Cletus Kasady) is finally getting his fair share on the big screen. With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about this psycho symbiote …
Venom 2 Carnage explained: the basics
Carnage is basically the closest thing Spider-Man’s rogue gallery has to a Joker. Most of Spidey’s enemies have some tragic or redeeming qualities. Not Carnage. It is a force of nature that lives to kill, destroy, and wreak havoc. And he is not particular about the order in which he does it.
Cletus Kasady was already a consummate criminal and sadist even before he gained superhuman powers. But after spending time as Eddie Brock’s cellmate and getting his own symbiote costume, he has become one of the most proficient assassins in the Marvel Universe. It is incredibly strong and very difficult to put down once the blood begins to flow. A mutual hatred for Carnage is the only thing that can cause Spider-Man and Venom to put aside their differences and work towards a common goal.
Who is stronger: poison or carnage? Carnage’s powers and abilities
Carnage is basically a stronger and more cruel version of Venom. His disguise is an offshoot of the Venom symbiote and, like Venom, Carnage has access to enhanced versions of Spider-Man’s powers, such as increased strength, agility, and speed. Like Venom, Carnage can block Spider-Man’s arachnid sense, even when he has access to his own enhanced senses.
However, because the Carnage symbiote breeds on Earth instead of the planet Klyntar, it is stronger and more unstable. Carnage is powerful enough to fight Spider-Man and Venom to a stop. It can transform its symbiote tendrils into various deadly weapons and even launch them as projectiles. The symbiote also grants Kasady a Wolverine-like healing factor, allowing him to survive what seemed like certain death multiple times.
Fortunately, Carnage has weaknesses. He is not as susceptible to sonic weapons as Venom, but he is even weaker than Venom when faced with fire. He is also extremely vulnerable to the touch of Anti-Venom, a hero whose sole purpose is to hunt down and destroy symbiotes. And in Venom 2, director Andy Serkis says that Carnage’s powers are somewhat different, including the ability to turn into mist!
Carnage: origin and background
Given Venom’s massive popularity after 1988’s Amazing Spider-Man # 300, it was only a matter of time before Marvel exploited the concept further. Carnage was the first (and by far the most popular) of several new symbiote villains introduced in the early ’90s, with Cletus Kasady making his first appearance as Carnage in 1992’s Amazing Spider-Man # 360 (created by writer David Michelinie and artists Erik Larsen and Mark Bagley) and quickly became a recurring presence in the franchise.
1993 brought with it a massive Spider-Man crossover called “Maximum Carnage,” arguably the biggest Marvel story ever to revolve around this character. It even inspired a video game of the same name (more on that later). “Maximum Carnage” forced Spider-Man and Venom to join forces with other Marvel heroes like Captain America, Black Cat, and Cloak and Dagger to fight against Carnage’s alliance of evil.
Carnage remained an active player in the Spider-Man comics throughout the 1990s, with several stories in which the symbiote linked up with characters other than Cletus Kasady. That resulted in some less loved hybrid characters like Spider-Carnage and Cosmic Carnage. Ultimately, most fans agreed that the villain had been overexposed. Even Marvel seemed to agree, and an early issue of New Avengers from 2004 featured Carnage being split in half by the Sentry and left to die in Earth orbit.
But few characters remain dead forever in superhero comics, and Carnage finally made his return in a 2010 miniseries called, appropriately, Carnage. That book revealed that both the symbiote and Kasady survived and were split in half. Carnage and follow-up stories like Carnage USA and Superior Carnage restored the villain to his former status quo and once again made him a force to be reckoned with in the Marvel Universe. Still, that didn’t stop Carnage from briefly changing a new blade in 2014’s Avengers & X-Men: AXIS. There, a villain named Red Onslaught (part Red Skull and part Professor X) invested the minds of many heroes and villains and converted Carnage temporarily heroic.
Carnage experienced its most significant revision in “Go Down Swinging,” the final chapter of the decade’s Amazing Spider-Man from writer Dan Slott. There, the Carnage symbiote teamed up with Norman Osborn to form a new villain named Red Goblin. That alliance didn’t last, but Carnage got another boost in 2019’s Absolute Carnage, which shows the villain trying to assassinate everyone on Earth who has ever joined a symbiote. It’s no longer just a Spider-Man and Venom problem.
Carnage: beyond the comics
Carnage has had a lot of room to shine on the small screen. Carnage first appeared in animated form in 1994’s Spider-Man: The Animated Series (voiced by Scott Cleverdon) and served as a major antagonist in several episodes. He also played a major role in the spinoff series Spider-Man Unlimited (voiced this time by Michael Donovan).
Carnage as seen in Ultimate Spider-Man
Carnage was unable to appear in 2008’s Spectacular Spider-Man, although he was scheduled to appear if the series had run for more than two seasons. He played a recurring role in Marvel’s upcoming Spider-Man cartoon, Ultimate Spider-Man (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker and Fred Tatasciore). That series continued the comic book trend of having Carnage’s symbiote bond with other Marvel characters, resulting in combinations like Carnage-Ock and Carnage-Hulk.
Carnage has also enjoyed a healthy career in video games dating back to the 1992 Game Boy title, The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He was a major boss character in 1994’s Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage and its sequel, Spider. -Man and Venom: Separation Anxiety, both inspired by the comic book stories of the same name. Carnage has also appeared in everything from LEGO Marvel Super Heroes to Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and Marvel Puzzle Quest. The 2014 Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie video game adaptation even offered a glimpse of what Carnage might have looked like in the Sony-rebooted Spider-Man universe (of the time).
For years the villain was rumored to be the main antagonist in Sony’s Venom solo movie. At one point, the movie was even titled Venom Carnage. However, Riz Ahmed’s character Carlton Drake ended up being the main bad guy, as a different symbiote villain named Riot, in the movie. Woody Harrelson had a small role as Cletus Kasady in the film, setting up his transformation into Carnage for the sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, where he will co-star with Tom Hardy.
September 27, 2021 – This story has been updated with the latest information on Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
Jesse is a gentle writer for IGN. Let him lend a machete to his intellectual thicket following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.
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