You know how I spent my endless days? I spent them thinking about how you only told one side of the story. You didn't write about the part where Cletus was abused by mommy, daddy and granny! You didn't tell the world how he was a scared little boy that no one cared about and no one came to save! You never asked yourself why! That's bad journalism! I'm not a crazy man, but I am a vengeful one. 
- —Cletus Kasady[src]
History
Early Life[]
Cletus Kasady was born in Brooklyn. In his childhood, Cletus was abused by his grandmother, mother, and father; lashing out by torturing his mother's dog and murdering his mother and grandmother - the latter by pushing her down a flight of stairs, and the former by electrocuting her when she was bathing. Cletus' father had him institutionalized at St. Estes Reform School, where he met Frances Barrison - his first and only friend, who he eventually fell in love with. After Frances displayed the preternatural ability to absorb sonic energy and channel it into shockwave-creating screams, she was taken and imprisoned in the Ravencroft Institute.[2] Enraged at the loss of the one person he loved, Cletus burned down the orphanage and killed the disciplinarian administration. He also once pushed a girl in front of a bus, killing her instantly, for simply not agreeing to go out with him.[3]
Meeting Eddie Brock[]
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While locked up.
Cletus became a notorious serial killer, embarking on a massacre in New York City and murdering 11 people on Ryker's Island. Following the massacre, Kasady dug up his mother's grave.[3] However, Cletus was eventually arrested by the FBI and placed into solitary confinement in San Quentin State Prison.
Requesting an interview with investigative journalist Eddie Brock, Cletus told him that when he escaped he would resume his killing spree.[1] Over the next year, Eddie continued to interview and correspond with Cletus at the behest of the FBI and Detective Mulligan - the police officer responsible for Frances' arrest. However, Cletus - who came to view Eddie as a kindred spirit - was enraged when Eddie's exposé only told the victims' side of the story and portrayed him as a ruthless sociopath incapable of anything other than bloodlust. Sentenced to execution, Cletus confronted Eddie over what he had written and angrily disparaged him, only to be attacked by Venom - a symbiote that had bonded to Eddie. Biting Eddie's hand to get away, Cletus noticed something strange about the taste of Eddie's blood and spotted a piece of the symbiote clinging to his hand, promptly eating it.
Becoming Carnage and Death[]
Cletus was taken to be executed by lethal injection and read his last rites, but as the poison was injected into him the piece of the symbiote he'd consumed bonded to him, merging with his blood, and emerged from his body. Transformed into a towering red-and-black humanoid monster with a fanged maw and large white eyespots, Cletus rampaged through the prison slaughtering the guards and freeing the inmates before killing them too. Communicating with his symbiote, which called itself Carnage, Cletus agreed to help it kill Venom in exchange for it helping him reunite with Frances. Breaking into a convenience store and killing the clerk, Cletus used the Carnage symbiote to hack into the FBI's mainframe to find where Frances had been imprisoned. Breaking into Ravencroft, Carnage slaughtered his way to Frances' cell and broke her free. However, Frances' sonic powers inadvertently injured the Carnage symbiote and it attacked her, Cletus begging it not to kill her and it begrudgingly acquiescing. After escaping the police, the two killers traveled to their childhood home and razed it to the ground to celebrate their reunion.
Deciding to get married, Cletus and Frances captured Detective Mulligan and Anne Weying - Eddie's ex-fiancé, taking them to a cathedral to serve as bait. Just as Cletus' wedding to Frances concluded, Venom arrived and Cletus transformed into Carnage - terrifying the Venom symbiote into retreating into Eddie's body. Annoyed at Eddie disregarding him to bicker with the Venom symbiote, Cletus waited until Eddie bribed it with the promise of letting it eat whoever it wanted before transforming again. However, Frances unleashed her sonic scream just as Carnage lunged at Venom, causing Carnage to lash out at her - to Cletus' horror and outrage. Cletus attempted to rush to his wife's side but was pulled back into the Carage symbiote to fight Venom, and Carnage's superior strength and shapeshifting abilities enabled him to gain the upper hand against Venom until Dr. Lewis poured flaming gasoline onto him. Sending Frances to kill Detective Mulligan, Carnage attempted to eat Dr. Lewis but was stopped by Venom, resuming their battle until the church's bell started to toll. This intermittently forced both symbiotes to retreat back into their hosts until Carnage tore out the clapper, Cletus brutally beat Eddie with a sledgehammer while berating him for having misrepresented his life story in his exposé. Declaring his intent to make Eddie suffer by watching Anne die, Cletus transformed into Carnage, removing Anne from where he'd hidden her and scaling the side of the church. When Frances called Cletus out on going too far and asked him to stop Carnage, the crimson symbiote angrily tried to kill her - Cletus shouting it to stop and trying to separate from it. Realizing the disharmony between Cletus and the Carnage symbiote made their bond inferior, Venom scaled the church and stabbed Carnage in the face with a piece of broken scaffolding, catching Anne and lowering her to safety even as Carnage stabbed and impaled him dozens of times. Venom provoked Frances into blasting them - separating Eddie from the Venom symbiote and Cletus from the Carnage symbiote, and causing the cathedral to collapse. Cletus survived the fall, but to his dismay Venom ate the Carnage symbiote before it could rebond to him.
,_Edward_Brock_(Earth-688B)_and_Venom_(Symbiote)_(Earth-688B)_from_Venom_Let_There_Be_Carnage_001.png){kind=link}
Cletus' final moments before dying.
Personality
According to Eddie Brock's notes, Cletus Kasady is an insane, anti-social, homicidal maniac with a lust for destruction; and finds random bloodshed to be the path to freedom. Brock also speculated that Kasady has an Oedipus complex based on him unearthing his mother's grave.[3]
Cletus himself argued that his antisocial personality disorder stemmed from a history of abuse and bullying, and described himself as being vengeful but not insane. While bloodthirsty and more than willing to commit murder and cannibalism, Cletus genuinely loved Frances Barrison and was outraged by the Carnage symbiote repeatedly trying to kill her, attempting to forcibly separate from it when it attacked her.[2]Attributes
Powers
Weaknesses
Paraphernalia
Weapons
Notes
- Woody Harrelson appears as Cletus Kasady in the mid-credits scene of the film Venom, setting up his main antagonist role in the sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
Trivia
- Eddie's prop notes for his meeting with Cletus were put on display at the 2018 New York Comic Con, and contain numerous references to the character's comic book backstory as well as the Maximum Carnage event.[3]
- In the extended version of Eddie's meeting with him, Cletus mockingly confessed to cannibalizing his victims and attempted to persuade Eddie to give him his pen.[1]
- Paolo Giandoso, a senior concept artist working for the DNEG special effects studio, released concept art indicating that Cletus was originally planned to be the first film's antagonist, bonding to a symbiote to become Carnage, before being replaced by Riot early in development.[4]
See Also
- 2 appearance(s) of Cletus Kasady (Earth-688B)
- 21 image(s) of Cletus Kasady (Earth-688B)
- 1 quotation(s) by or about Cletus Kasady (Earth-688B)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Venom
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Venom: Let There Be Carnage
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Daniels, Omari (October 9, 2018) ‘Venom:’ Eddie Brock’s Notes Sets Up Carnage As Sequel Antagonist Heroic Hollywood. Retrieved on December 31, 2018.
- ↑ Giandoso, Paolo (2 February 2019) Venom, Ani-Concept, Symbiote Smackdown ArtStation. Retrieved on 13 April 2019.