Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Venom War #5
The Venom War is over and with the symbiotic apocalypse finally coming to an end, so too does the original story of Carnage. The bloodthirsty spawn of Venom came into this world with murderous intent. Emboldened by Cletus Kasady’s psychopathic personality, Carnage had one goal that he set from the very beginning of his life’s journey, a goal that has finally been reached. Venom is dead.
Venom War #5 – by Al Ewing and Iban Coello – finally sees the end of a years-long conflict that officially began when Eddie Brock became the King in Black. While Eddie, Dylan, and Meridius were at war for control over Venom, Carnage has been lurking in the background, pushing his own motives.
Throughout the conflict, Carnage has been pursuing a path of power, a path of godhood. But with Venom dead and Eddie dying, Carnage, barely clinging to life himself, has finally completed his first and most consistent goal in life, to kill Venom. But what comes next for Carnage?
Carnage’s Future Is a Crimson Eventuality
Venom War #5 – Written by Al Ewing; Art by Iban Coello; Color by Frank D’Armata; Lettering by VC’s Ariana Maher
When Carnage first met Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #361 in 1991, he was an instant terror. Venom was already considered one of Spider-Man’s most monstrous villains, but when Venom’s firstborn was introduced, the Wall-Crawler’s life only got worse. The enemies’ first conflict was disastrous, leaving Spider-Man defeated, with no one else but Venom to call upon for help. Instantly feeling the same betrayal from Venom that Venom had once felt from Peter Parker, Carnage deemed his father a rival and a threat to be surpassed. No kill or bloodbath would feel as sweet until Venom was dead.
Unfortunately for the multiverse, Carnage only has one future to follow; an Eventuality.
But, now Venom is dead. Carnage’s long ascent into godhood or the countless universes of death he has left behind him have meant nothing compared to his original goal. So what comes next? Venom is gone. Eddie Brock has returned to the church where everything began, naked and bleeding to death. Cletus Kasady is only a construct within Carnage’s codex, little more than a puppet. And Carnage has been left degrading, soon to die without a proper host. So, what does come next? Unfortunately for the multiverse, Carnage only has one future to follow; an Eventuality.
The King in Crimson Is On the Horizon
One Deal With a Devil Will Forever Change Eddie Brock
Stripped down to their most basic components, all that is left from Venom and Carnage’s three-decade-long conflict with the other is a host without a symbiote and a symbiote without a host. Equal parts of the other’s greatest enemy. Eddie Brock and Carnage. Both can’t deny their incessant drive to live. No matter how satisfied they feel with their life’s work, the safety of a son and the death of a father, Eddie and Carnage must live. In the aftermath of the war, the two glare at each other with tired resentment, knowing the eventuality of what is to come.
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At the end of Eddie Brock’s destiny, lies the Eventuality, the final evolution of the King in Black. Where Knull was supposed to serve as the Anti-All for the Seventh Cosmos, it remains Eddie’s destiny to become the true Anti-All of the Ninth. However, when speaking about this future with his time-displaced son, Eddie tells Dylan of another deity, a new king. Eddie Brock warned of the arrival of the King in Crimson. Just as the King in Black’s final evolution, the King in Crimson presents as a bodiless hand, this time entrenched in an endless ocean of crimson blood.
Carnage’s Future Was Always With Eddie Brock
Cletus Kasady Was Only a Mean to an End
Until now, it’s been assumed that Carnage would singlehandedly become the King in Crimson, as the symbiote hasn’t needed a host for some time. However, back in a church, holding only the souls of Eddie, Carnage, and the symbiote’s last meals, it’s become clear that Carnage cannot become the King in Crimson alone. This is for the same reason Venom couldn’t have become the King in Black alone. Eddie Brock is the commonality. Eddie Brock was the King in Black and holds the cosmic potential to become something more.
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It was never Carnage and Cletus, it’s been Carnage and Eddie. Decades after his initial debut and with his lifelong adversary dead, Carnage’s future is clear and without distraction. Before, the symbiote’s ascension to godhood was only a means to an end. If Venom was a god, Carnage had to match him. Every moment of growth for the genocidal monster was built on the need to kill Venom. Nothing else mattered; even Cletus Kasady was tossed aside and replaced when Carnage felt the host had lost his usefulness. However, Eddie Brock still has a destiny and Carnage intends to join.
Marvel’s Future Runs Red With Crimson Carnage
Eddie Brock and Carnage Are Marvel’s Next Great Threat
What follows is and will remain a mystery for some time. As Marvel turns away from the symbiotes to embrace One World Under Doom and the growing threat of Chthon’s return, only the All-New Venom series promises to bring more symbiotic stories to the comics. The series’ writer Al Ewing has already promised that the new Venom series will pull away from multiversal travel and cosmic gods, leaving Carnage and Eddie in a state of uncertainty. That said, it’s been Ewing’s writing that has led the bitter enemies to their current trepidacious unification.
While Carnage’s future is unclear, it’s promised to run crimson red until the tides of innocent blood meet at the point in time when
Carnage
and Eddie Brock cease and the King in Crimson is born.
With his life’s greatest goal complete, Venom’s death by his hand, albeit indirectly, Carnage still has a destiny and Eddie Brock still has an eventuality. Despite years of finding the crimson alien foul and horrific, Eddie needs to live for his son. Despite years of finding his father’s other a weak and crumbling man, Carnage needs to live for his future. While Carnage’s future is unclear, it’s promised to run crimson red until the tides of innocent blood meet at the point in time when Carnage and Eddie Brock cease and the King in Crimson is born.
Venom War #5 is available now from Marvel Comics.
Venom
Venom is a symbiotic alien entity bonded with various human hosts, notably Eddie Brock and later Flash Thompson. It grants superhuman strength, agility, and a shape-shifting black costume. Initially a Spider-Man villain due to its origins, Venom evolved into an antihero, battling both villains and his own dark impulses. The character embodies themes of duality and redemption within the Marvel Universe.
