Appearing in "A Wild Hunt"
Featured Characters:
- Jon Shayde
- Zeiste (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- "Cletus Kasady" (Jon Shayde's symbiote)
- Spiderling / Patternmaker (Annie Parker)
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Doctor Halliday (Cameo)
- Hydro-Man (Morris Bench) (Mentioned) (Deceased)
- Spot (Johnathon Ohnn) (Mentioned)
- Black Bile Clan
- Wild Hunt (Only in recap)
- Nyaz (Only in recap)
- Nyazen Pups (Only in recap)
- Cletus Kasady (Mentioned)
- Master Weaver (Karn) (Mentioned) (Deceased)
Races and Species:
- Humans
- Symbiotes
- Dark Elves (Main story and recap)
- Wolf Gods (Only in recap)
- Horses (Only in recap)
- Asgardians (Mentioned)
- Dwarves of Nidavellir (Mentioned)
Locations:
- Prime Earth
- Ten Realms (Mentioned)
- Earth
- United States of America
- New York State
- Ithaca
- Fuertes Astronomical Observatory
- Ithaca
- New York State
- United States of America
- Svartalfheim
- Nethanual (Mentioned)
- Etor Dera (Mentioned)
- Nidavellir, Asgard (Mentioned)
- Niffleheim
- Hel (Cameo)
- Earth
- Hell (Invoked)
- Ten Realms (Mentioned)
- Earth-001
- Loomworld (Ruins)
Items:
Events:
- War of the Realms (Referenced)
- Spider-Geddon (Referenced)
Synopsis for "A Wild Hunt"
Bursting into the Fuertes Astronomical Observatory just as Doctor Halliday activates her wormhole machine, Jon Shayde grabs onto Ken Neely's ankle just in time to get fired into space alongside the serial killer and Carnage. Noticing him, Neely kicks Shayde loose and leaves him stranded in the depths of space. Cursing himself for his failure, Shayde waits for death to claim him only to realize that his symbiote is keeping him alive in the frigid vacuum. Speaking in Cletus Kasady's voice, the symbiote mocks him for feeling sorry for himself and then suggests putting their time to good use by figuring out where Carnage is taking Neely next, adding that it has an idea of where that could be.
As they touch down in Svartalfheim, Neely looks around in shock and asks where they are. Carnage explains that Svartalfheim is the realm of the Dark Elves, a place of living shadows and nightmarish entities. Neely complains that he thought Carnage was going to take him across the state border, asking what they're doing in a fantasy-horror world. Carnage retorts that it already said its ultimate goal is to kill gods, gleefully telling Neely it's time to hunt some elves.
Elsewhere, the Black Bile Clan gathers to mourn the death of their leader, Malekith the Accursed -- whose soul is imprisoned in Hel, crucified and forced to watch his child-self live a happy life. The priestess says that while the clan has clung to its pride, the time has come for them to regain a measure of their former glory. Informing them that every sixteen years the wolf-goddess Nyaz ceases her pursuit of the Moon to give birth to a litter of cubs -- which she then abandons to resume the chase -- the priestess says that six chosen elves will set out to claim one or more of Nyaz's cubs or die trying, and that only one is permitted to return. Varuen, Kilereth, Morveita, Xetien, and Y'Dreis volunteer; and to the priestess' shock so does Zeiste, a dark elf soldier with a missing hand and crooked spine. Zeiste says that the other members of the clan treat him like garbage despite him having trained every day of his life, and that he's sick of being looked down upon by them and will either win their respect by capturing the cubs or die trying. Zeiste challenges the other elves to try to rob him of this chance, and when none do the priestess dispatches them, remarking that six have set out but only one may return.
Later, Xetien flees through the dark forest only for a bladed tendril to lop off one of his legs. Emerging from the mist, Carnage picks up the severed limb and mockingly says he dropped it. Hurling his spear, Xetien snaps that the monster won't take him without a fight. Impaled, Carnage casually pulls the spear free and stabs him through the heart with it. Stepping out of the mist, Neely expresses confusion as to why Carnage is hunting elves when it said they were there to kill gods. Chiding him for his impatience, Carnage says that it wants to obtain one of the wolf-god pups, and that if Neely wants to know more he'll have to earn it. Tossing Xetien's dagger to Neely, Carnage tasks him with killing the one-handed dark elf with a crooked spine. When Neely expresses apprehension, Carnage replies that such a target should prove easy even for someone of Neely's mediocrity.
In deep space, Shayde listens as "Cletus" exposits that Carnage's plan is to become an entity so powerful that even Earth's mightiest heroes won't stand a chance against it, and that only Shayde can stop it. Shayde asks what makes him so special, and "Cletus" replies that it does, explaining that the real Cletus Kasady would love nothing more than to watch the world burn, but that -- only being an echo of the real Cletus' memories and personality -- Shayde's bleeding-heart sentimentality must be starting to rub off on it and make it go soft. Remarking that this makes them the perfect hero to stop Carnage, the symbiote tells Shayde to prepare himself for the fight ahead, for when the hand of fate reaches out to him. Right on cue, a portal suddenly appears and a gloved hand grabs Shayde. As he's pulled through, Shayde grumbles that he hates the symbiote, "Cletus" replying that that makes this even better. Shayde finds himself in the ruins of a fortress confronted by a teenage girl in a blue-and-black bodysuit and mask. Introducing herself as Spiderling, the girl quips that he was probably expecting a humanoid spider-monster or guy in a cool mask with a spider-body. Noting that Shayde is in over his head, Spiderling cuts off his protests saying they don't have enough time to get him all the way up to speed. As his symbiote sneers that Spiders are overly chatty, Spiderling says that the fate of entire universes rests in Shayde's hands. Confused, Shayde says he's having enough trouble as-is trying to make sense of everything that's happened to him, asking what he has to do with the fate of worlds. Leading him deeper into the ruins, Spiderling replies that as the Patternmaker her duty is to repair and maintain the Web of Life and Destiny, but that she's still a neophyte when it comes to the duties of weaving the Great Web; lamenting that ever since it was blown up she's been struggling to put it back together. Entering a chamber where the webbing strands are coated in red ooze, Spiderling says that something is corrupting this part of the Web and that her Spider-Sense told her that he would be able to help fix it. Saying that she would be a fool to ignore it and that Shayde has a thread of destiny in his hands, Spiderling worries what kind of monster has the power to corrode the Web of Life itself.
In Svartalfheim, Ken Neely hunts for the one-handed dark elf only for Zeiste to grab him from behind and press a dagger to his throat. Saying that he's been watching Neely for some time, Zeiste says he's cast a temporary spell to let them understand each other and warns Neely to choose his next words carefully.
Solicit Synopsis
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES!
The CARNAGE symbiote is stronger, more violent and more bloodthirsty than its brain-consuming progenitor, VENOM. In this issue, it PROVES IT!