Web of Venom: Carnage Born Ties Cletus Kasady to Venom’s New Mythology

Web of Venom: Carnage Born Ties Cletus Kasady to Venom’s New Mythology

Marvel’s current Venom comic has been busy expanding on the mythology of Venom and his fellow symbiotes, and now we know how Carnage ties into that bigger picture.

Warning: this article contains spoilers for Web of Venom: Carnage Born #1!

Over the past few months, readers have learned that Venom and the rest of Marvel’s symbiotes were originally created by Knull, a godlike being who existed before the birth of the known universe. Carnage Born #1 reveals that Knull has attracted a cult of worshipers on Earth. This cult is led by none other than Scorn, a powerful fusion of symbiote biology and advanced technology who’s battled Carnage in the past.

As Scorn reveals to her fellow cultists, Cletus Kasady is unique because he’s always shared a direct link to Knull himself. That link began when Kasady briefly choked to death during birth and saw the face of the symbiote god. That’s where his penchant for murder truly began. Just as Knull sees light and life as an intrusion into the empty void he calls home, Kasady kills innocents in order to free them from the prison of existence.

Art by Danilo Beyruth. (Marvel Comics)

Because Kasady shares such a fundamental connection to Knull, and because all symbiotes and hosts retain a latent connection to their creator, Scorn believes that Carnage is the key to communing with Knull. The only problem is that Kasaday recently died in the Venomized crossover, while the Carnage symbiote found a temporary new host in Norman Osborn.

However, Scorn and her cult manage to recover both Kasady and the symbiote, resurrecting Carnage in a new, even more twisted form. Carnage, as is his wont, wastes little time before killing Scorn. And for a brief moment, he becomes one with his creator all over again.

Art by Danilo Beyruth. (Marvel Comics)

That connection proves fleeting, but it serves as a newfound motivation as Carnage returns to life. He’s now determined to hunt down every last person on Earth who’s ever bonded with a symbiote. According to Scorn’s cultists, only by consuming them can Carnage be made whole and take his place at Knull’s side.

Art by Danilo Beyruth. (Marvel Comics)

Let us know what you think of this big status quo change for Carnage in the comments below.

Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

Leave a Comment