- —Venom to himself
Appearing in "Minimum Carnage, Part 5: Family Bondage"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Carnage (Cletus Kasady)
- Marquis Radu
- Venom / Carnage Hybrids (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Symbiote Imperium (Main story and recap) (Only in flashback)
Locations:
- Texas
- Houston
- Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
- Houston
- Microverse
Items:
Synopsis for "Minimum Carnage, Part 5: Family Bondage"
On an unzoned planet in the Microverse, Katy Kiernan asks Marquis Radu to verify that he intends to use Carnage to kill the spiritual leader of the Microverse, extinguishing the Enigma Force. Radu replies that he would rekindle the Enigma Force under his own control, and when Katy calls him insane remarks that he has ambitions of conquering the Macroverse as well and wants her to advise him. Katy responds with profanity, so Radu has her imprisoned, stating that her rage will help her cope with the coming conquest.
In the Body Banks, Flash Thompson sees the Symbiote Imperium's attempted conquest of the Microverse via the Venom symbiote's genetic memory, realizing in horror that he and Cletus have helped the parasites finish what they started. The Body Banks extract samples of the Venom and Carnage symbiotes, causing excruciating pain, but Carnage laughs at Flash's screaming and tells him to cowboy up. Venom watches in horror as clones of the Venom and Carnage symbiotes merge together and bond to the mass-produced bodies, consuming them like cancer, to Carnage's delight. The Venom symbiote corrodes through the restraints binding Flash and he lands on an operating table across from Carnage, just as the fused clones break free from their chambers. Carnage explains that the clones are "less offspring and more extensions", and Flash realizes this means Cletus can control them through the original Carnage symbiote. He attacks, but Carnage regenerates and orders the hybrids to attack.
In Radu's prison, Katy reveals she swiped a key from one of the guards, freeing herself and the Enigma Force. In the Body Banks, Carnage taunts Venom over his ability to control the hybrids. Flash realizes he can hear the hybrids through the Venom symbiote, but that its chemical lobotomy inhibits the connection. Deciding that if he wants to stop Carnage he has to think like Cletus, think mean, Venom transforms his left arm into a sword blade and decapitates Carnage. He berates himself for nearly not going through with the attack, but is interrupted by Carnage taunting him by speaking through the clones, regenerating his entire body in a matter of seconds. Just as Carnage is about to deal the finishing blow, Kaine arrives and stabs him from behind. The Redeemer reveals that Carnage is becoming more powerful by consuming the essence of the Microverse, warning that if left unchecked he will destroy both it and the Macroverse.
Elsewhere in the facility, the Enigma Force engages the symbiote clones, despite the danger to themselves. Mari, Bug, and Katy go in search of where the clones are coming from, only to run into Marquis Radu, who is also struggling against the clones. Radu taunts them, stating that he will destroy the Enigma Force and return the Microverse to its natural state of chaos, before vanishing and leaving them to fight the clones.
Flash and Kaine struggle against Carnage, who continues to hold the upper hand. As the Redeemer warns them the Enigma Force is dying, Flash laments that the Venom symbiote is little more than a corpse, as he needs its power to help him fight Carnage. As the hybrids swarm Kaine and the Redeemer, Flash orders the Venom symbiote to awaken and kill the hybrids with a scream containing his and its pain and frustration, like it once did to stop the symbiote invasion of Earth. Carnage exits the Multiverse, either expelled by the Enigma Force of his own volition. In the Macroverse, a man awakens to find his face swarming with the hybrid symbiote clones.
Solicit Synopsis
MINIMUM CARNAGE – PART FIVE! • Venom, Scarlet Spider and the Micronauts fight to save a universe – but in the process, have doomed our own!
• Cullen Bunn and Declan Shalvey bring you the pentultimate chapter of the mega-levolent masterpiece!