In refusing to kill his primary tormentor, Carnage’s would-be sidekick both affirms and disproves the core ideal at the heart of his twisted philosophy.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Carnage #1, available now from Marvel Comics.
Although most of the villains that make up Spider-Man’s gargantuan rogues’ gallery have a long history of teaming up, one villain never seems to get welcomed. For Carnage, the invitation always seemed to get lost in the mail.
Carnage emerged when an already unstable symbiote spawned from Eddie Brock’s Venom bonded with Cletus Kasady, a deranged serial killer. Ever since the constantly writhing mass of black and red has gained a well-deserved reputation as one of the most psychotic and dangerous villains in the Marvel Universe. He’s garnered so much infamy that even Spider-Man and Venom’s other enemies would prefer to have nothing to do with him.
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For his part, Cletus is usually more than happy to pursue his maniacal ambitions on his own, having renounced nearly all forms of human connection to pursue his nihilistic crusade against all forms of authority. However, Carnage #1’s “A Lesson in Blood and Bone” (by David Michelinie, Ron Lim, Roberto Poggi, Israel Silva, and VC’s Joe Sabino) revealed that Cletus almost found a sidekick in an unnamed juvenile hall escapee. Despite signs suggesting otherwise, the boy ultimately managed to defy the symbiote serial killer. Even more impressively, he did so and lived to tell the tale by both embracing and rejecting his idol’s most cherished ideals.
Cletus first encountered the unnamed boy when he stumbled upon the jumpsuit-clade child’s makeshift camp within the ruins of the St. Estes Home for Boys, the orphanage where Cletus had grown up. Although Cletus had initially planned to kill the child on the spot, the serial killer relented when the boy revealed that he admired Cletus and had come to St. Estes’ ruins to meet him. Having heard stories about Cletus while imprisoned in the Midtown Jubneille Detention Center, the boy asked Carnage to help him kill the Midnight Boys, a gang of older inmates who had relentlessly abused him throughout his incarceration. Cletus initially refused, claiming that acting as a third gun went against his mission to spread chaos. However, he changed his mind after the boy argued that the Midnight Boys were so unlike his usual victims that killing them would be the ultimate chaotic act.
Striking while the Midnight Boys were in the middle of being transferred to an adult prison, Carnage made short work of both the Midnight Boys and the correctional officers overseeing the transfer, brutally slaughtering them in horrifically creative fashions as the boy looked on. Deliberately saving the leader of the Midnight Boys for last, Cletus offered the boy a symbiote dagger to kill the chief architect of his misery himself. However, the boy refused, disturbed by the brutality of the murders and overwhelmed with guilt, citing Cletus’s teachings by telling him that he’s choosing to show mercy because he wants to, not out of respect for the law or morality. Despite his initial outrage, Cletus realizes that the boy’s decision aligns with his philosophy and leaves without killing him.
Carnage’s would-be sidekick simultaneously affirms and disproves the core ideal at the heart of his twisted creed in refusing to kill his primary tormentor. Unlike many of Marvel’s other villains who are driven by immoral but understandable motivations like greed or vengeance, both Cletus and the Carnage symbiote are motivated by a simple desire to spread anarchy. Believing that all forms of legal and moral authority are nothing but constructs that have no real power over humanity, Cletus views the random acts of brutal violence that he commits as the ultimate expression of freedom. While his unforgivable actions serve as a constant source of personal pleasure for the maniacal serial killer, Cletus’ ultimate goal is to inspire others to embrace his nihilistic ideology, which the boy appears initially willing to do.
However, the boy’s refusal to follow in Cletus’ footsteps reflects a more restrained but equally valid interpretation of the serial killer’s beliefs. Having suffered through many of the same experiences that Cletus did, the boy initially shared his resentment towards authority, blaming the rules of society for his incarceration and desiring revenge against those who’d wronged him. However, when confronted by the horrific reality of his revenge, the boy chooses mercy over vengeance, rejecting Cletus’ attempts to influence him and resolving to face the consequences of his actions. In doing this, the boy proves that morality results from people choosing to be better than their base urges, both proving and disproving Carnage’s belief in absolute freedom.
While the boy’s refusal to follow in Cletus’ footsteps didn’t change Cletus’ views, his internal acknowledgment that his “student” had surpassed him proves that he’s aware that violence isn’t the only outlet for his hatred of authority. Throughout his life, Cletus believed that lashing out at the world was the only honest answer to the world’s problems, but one boy was able to prove that he’s nothing but a rebel without a cause.
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