Carnage Vol 4 1

Appearing in 1st story

Featured Characters:

• Agent Anti-Venom (Flash Thompson)

Supporting Characters:

• Lord Librarian

Antagonists:

• Carnage Symbiote (Bonds to Cletus Kasady clone)
• Carnage ("Cletus Kasady") (First appearance) (Bonds to the Carnage Symbiote)

Other Characters:

• Numerous unnamed god-soldiers (Death)
• Cletus Kasady (Mentioned)
• Knull (Mentioned) (Deceased)
• Unnamed Ryker's Island inmate (First appearance; dies)
• Billy (Mentioned) (Deceased)
• Sarah (First appearance)
• Unnamed security guards (First appearance)
• Flash's boss (First appearance)
• God (Mentioned)
• John (First appearance; dies)
• Thomas (First appearance; dies)
• Matthew (First appearance; dies)
• Philip (First appearance; dies)
• Jon Shayde (Death)
• Aria (First appearance)
• Nathanael Jones (First appearance; dies)
• Peter (Named only)
• John (Named only)

Races and Species:

• Alien Gods
• Symbiotes
• Devils (Referenced)
• Humans
• Deer (Corpse, skeleton or other remains)

Locations:

• Multiverse (Referenced)
  • Earth-616
    • Omnipotence City
      • Halls of All-Knowing
    • Earth
      • United States of America
        • New York
          • New York City
            • The Bronx
              • East River
                • Ryker's Island
            • Manhattan
              • Sarah's café (First appearance)
              • 5th Street (Mentioned)
              • Pour Decisions Pub & Restaurant (First appearance)
              • Times Square
            • Long Island
              • Queens
                • John's house (First appearance)
        • Texas (Mentioned)
    • Hell (Invoked)

Items:

• Lord Librarian's Staff (Destruction)
• The Bible

Synopsis for 1st story

Outside Omnipotence City, the shredded corpses of dismembered god-soldiers drift through space. Inside the Halls of All-Knowing, the Lord Librarian repeats the question posed to him by the rampaging Carnage symbiote: "What is a god?" As the Carnage symbiote effortlessly tears through more god-soldiers, the Lord Librarian scoffs that it come to him for answers to a question it can't even properly articulate. Livid at the Lord Librarian calling it a coward and saying that it came to find out if it is a god, the Carnage symbiote snarls that it already knows it's a god -- having claimed the divine power and immortality of the King in Black from Knull; but the Lord Librarian scoffs that it stands before him half a creature, having came to him for answers it already has and asking the wrong questions. Tearing apart more god-soldiers, the Carnage symbiote tells the Lord Librarian to tell it what questions it should be asking, and he responds by asking who prays to and worships Carnage, what Carnage's doctrine is, what was it created to do, what its purpose is, and where its other half is. Activating the black hole at the tip of his staff, the Lord Librarian thrusts it into the Carnage symbiote's chest as it lunges at him, the singularity sucking it through time and space and ripping off his arm in the process. Collapsing, the Lord Librarian prays to the gods to have mercy for what he's done.

Pulled through time and space, the Carnage symbiote arrives on Ryker's Island in the same prison cell where it first bonded to Cletus Kasady over a decade prior. As it picks itself up, the cell's inmate recoils in fear and asks who it is. Leering at him, the Carnage symbiote says it will show him before devouring the inmate, reformatting his biomass to create a clone of Cletus Kasady as he was when it had first bonded to him. As the Carnage symbiote bonds to the clone of Cletus, it fills him in on everything that's happened over the last decade. As he processes the flood of information, the Carnage symbiote tasks him with helping it find answers to the questions the Lord Librarian had posed to it, Cletus agreeing to do so.

Elsewhere, Flash Thompson senses Carnage's return through the Anti-Venom symbiote as a wave of dread and fear, though he can't tell what's causing it.

Clad in a trench coat, Cletus walks through the streets of New York City taking in all the changes and developments the 21st century has wrought -- delighting in the negative ones like artificial intelligence chatbots, cryptocurrency, and fake news. The smartphone in his hand chimes and a woman's voice asks to speak to Billy, Cletus smirking as he replies that Billy's dead. Stopping at a café, Cletus orders a burger with everything on it, fries, and waffles from the waitress, a young woman named Sarah. Watching Sarah walk away, Cletus revels in the impulses of life and contemplates killing her then and there, as he and the Carnage symbiote become one and his purpose overtakes its.

As Flash arrives at his job as a security guard at a warehouse district, the Anti-Venom symbiote again alerts him to impending danger, though as it can't determine what it is and he has a job to do, he suppresses the sensation and apologizes to his boss for being late. Unconcerned, his boss retorts that he didn't even notice.

At the café, Cletus peruses the Bible as Sarah listens to a true-crime podcast. As he asks for coffee, she inquires about his reading material and she apologizes when he informs her. Curious, Cletus asks why she's sorry and inquires if she's a God-fearing woman -- amused by the notion of anyone being afraid of an absent, indifferent deity. Grinning as he quips that it smells like daddy issues to him, Cletus asks what she's listening to and she apologizes, saying she'll turn it off if it's disturbing him. Cletus replies that he finds it interesting and asks why she enjoys listening to it. Mulling the question over, Sarah replies that it gives her a sense of comfort in knowing what really goes on out in the world, and that she enjoys the mystery. Struck by an epiphany, Cletus tips her generously and leaves, leaving his Bible on the table. Curious, Sarah flips it open to see it's full of rambling notes scrawled in blood.

Two weeks later, Flash sits at his window listening to a police scanner -- unable to shake the sense that something dangerous is coming. Alerted to an ongoing crime, he transforms into Agent Anti-Venom and leaps into action.

Arriving at the house of an army veteran named John, Cletus confronts the man in his living room. John grabs his shotgun and opens fire, but Cletus transforms into Carnage and strangles him, then hangs him from the ceiling fan. Reveling in the act of murder making him feel like a god, Cletus muses that all of John's war-buddies were killed in action and that there was relief in John's eyes, sarcastically quipping that maybe he's a god of mercy as he carves a #1 into John's chest. Cletus then embarks on a killing spree, finally confronting an inmate named Philip who'd committed a mass shooting intended to immortalize himself in infamy -- only for him to survive and for three other mass-shootings to grab the media's attention. Noticing that Philip is reading the Bible and that there's a cross on his cell's desk, Cletus asks if he's found God yet. Philip replies that he's trying and Cletus suggests they pray together. As Philip wonders if he's hallucinating, Cletus utters a prayer and then impales Philip numerous times with symbiote tendrils.

At Pour Decisions Pub & Restaurant, Flash Thompson tries to drink his sorrows and dark thoughts away only to realize the Anti-Venom symbiote keeps him from getting drunk. The bartender, Aria, cuts him off, saying he's wracking up an impressive tab, and inquires as to why he keeps checking his phone. A fight breaks out between two drunk men, and as Aria unsuccessfully tries to break it up Flash misses the times he could blame his rash actions on being an alcoholic as he tackles one of the men.

At Nathanael Jones' high-rise apartment, Cletus uses the new powers the Carnage symbiote obtained on its multiversal killing spree to get inside. Conjuring a red mist from his hands, Cletus knocks Nathanael out while waxing philosophical on the power of belief.

As Flash pins the man he tackled against the wall, Aria yells at him to stop and hauls him off. As he protests that he was only trying to help, Aria snaps that the man could sue him for assault and Flash apologizes, saying he only wanted to help. Calming down somewhat, Aria says she knows and tells him to just go home.

The next day Nathanael Jones awakens to find himself encased in a large glass box in the middle of Times Square, a #12 carved into his chest. As he pounds on the side of the box, shouting for people to help him, onlookers assume it's a publicity stunt or art piece due to the spirals and nihilistic ramblings scrawled in blood on the outside of the box. Boiling-hot water rapidly seeps in through the bottom of the box, melting Nathanael's skin and flesh off until the water turns red with his blood, the onlookers not processing what they're seeing until it's too late to save him, not understanding they're witnessing the birth of a new religion, scripture in the making. Walking down the street, Flash senses Cletus' presence and checks his phone to see a woman livestreaming Nathanael's death. Immediately realizing who is responsible, Flash transforms into Agent Anti-Venom and charges towards the scene.

Grinning wickedly at the horrified reactions to Nathanael's gruesome death, Cletus Kasady fades into the crowd and walks away.

Solicit Synopsis

See Also

• 11 image(s) from Carnage Vol 4 1
  • 1 reprint(s) of Carnage Vol 4 1.jpg
• 1 reprint(s) of Carnage Vol 4 1

Links and References

References