One of our favorite Marvel characters has always been Spider-Man. Not only because of his abilities or skills, but also because of Peter Parker’s personality. Peter, an ordinary college student who is frequently bullied by the rough guys, gains superhuman abilities and transforms into a superhero. His everyday troubles are not forgotten in his quest to save the planet, which makes it relevant and compelling in its own right.
The MCU’s new Spider-Man films have wreaked havoc at the box office, particularly with ‘No Way Home,’ which encapsulates everyone’s affection for the character. Not only in movies, but Spider-Man also had a number of fantastic comic series. Comics with stories like “A Death in the Family” from Peter Parker: Spider-Man 1999, “Back in Black” from The Amazing Spider-Man, and others have sparked interest in the industry.
When it comes to animation, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, which premiered on the Fox Kids Network in 1994, wowed audiences with its terrifying plots and great character incarnations. Some villain beginnings stuck out more than in the comics, and we’ll speak about one of them in today’s video: Spider-Carnage. Yes, you read that correctly.
In the 12th episode of season 5, “I Really Really Hate Clones,” the chaotic and deadly Carnage symbiote combines with Peter Parker to form Spider Carnage. The genesis story of the “Scarlet Spider” is also told in this episode, as the two characters are connected throughout the plot. The genesis narrative for Spider Carnage in the comics is different, but in today’s video, we’ll go over the background of this deadly monster, Spider Carnage from the animated series.
SPIDER CARNAGE: THE DESTROYER OF REALITY
The story continues from Beyonder’s experiment with the team of superheroes and super-villains. Spider-Man is now in a reality where entire Queens and neighboring cities are destroyed. Peter worries about Aunt May but before he can go and search for her The Beyonder appears and tells him that his Aunt May did not exist in this reality. Peter loses his mind and tells the Beyonder that he is done with his games but is perplexed by the Beyonder’s next lines.
He tells Peter that the cause of the destruction of this world is none other than Spiderman. Peter is confused, but before he can ask further questions, the building underneath him explodes as the HobGoblin and the Green Goblin fly around. Spider-Man follows them to the Daily Bugle, where J. Jonah Jameson is trying to reach out for military assistance over the radio.
The two Goblins are searching for a Microwave broadcaster kept under security in Daily Bugle. Spider-Man tries to stop them, but they refer to him as their boss. Both sides are confused till HobGoblin informs Green Goblin about the clone their boss had warned them about. They both destroy the building and take away the Microwave Broadcaster. Spider-Man attempts to stop them but is caught by a vicious-looking version of him, none other than Spider-Carnage.
He is quickly overpowered by his symbiotic doppelganger and is almost about to die when Madam Web transports Spiderman to her place, where he meets other Peter Parkers. He later finds out that these different versions of Spiderman share the same life but are from different realities. There is a Peter who is during his mutation phase with six arms. There is a Peter in an armored suit who is a multi-billionaire, Peter Parker who got hold of Doc Ocs metal arms, a Peter with no superpowers who played the role of Spiderman in the movies, and Scarlet Spider whose reality is the one in which Spiderman first arrived.
Scarlet Spider looked different from Peter and had a different name- Ben Reilly. Madame Web uses her powers to cast a visual and Ben narrates his story and that of Spider Carnage. In his reality, Peter had lost both his Uncle and Aunt and started losing his mental stability till he met a scientist who was a genius in genetic cloning, Miles Warren. He cloned Spiderman, but the clone escaped. Ben thought he was the clone and so he changed his look and adopted the name Scarlet Spider.
The other version started growing hatred for him and lost it when Dr. Curt Connors revealed that Ben Reilly was the real Peter Parker. In an attempt to stop the crime lord Kingpin, they both encounter each other. Kingpin had devised an interdimensional portal. While Peter engaged in fighting Ben the Carnage symbiote got drawn to his hatred through the interdimensional portal and bonded with him, creating the unstoppable symbiote-human bond named Spider Carnage.
One of the Spidermen interrupts and asks how his reality becomes a part of their problem, and then The Beyonder shows them how, in the future, Carnage Spider detonates an explosion using the microwave broadcaster and wipes off all realities. When the explosion had reached Beyonder’s reality he had used all his power to roll back time to this point where the catastrophe can be undone with all their help.
The team of Spidermen arrives at Kingpin’s location to stop the detonation. They somehow manage to enter through Kingpin’s security and lose a few spidermen too. In his mutation period, Peter Parker transformed into a Human Spider and attacked Scarlet Spider and Spiderman. Seeing Spider Carnage winning the battle, The Beyonder uses all power that is left in him to transport the Human Spider to his dimension. With the Beyonder’s last help, the team manages to stop the detonation, but Spider Carnage escapes to another reality. The reality where Peter Parker had prospered to become a multi-billionaire.
Madame Web tracks him down and he is seen to be inside Peter Parker Science Foundation trying to recreate the bomb. Madame Web, this time however can only transport the Spidermen, and Peter Parker along whom the series has been narrated decides to go. Peter is shocked upon entering this reality. In this world, everyone is cheering for him, and the entire world is a big fan of his deeds, very similar to Tony Stark, though. He searches for Spider Carnage in Peter’s science foundation lab and is confronted by a robot hijacked and controlled by Spider Carnage. Peter soon learns that the robot is voice-controlled and is acquainted with his voice.
He commands the robot to put him down and the robot obeys. Spider Carnage who also shared the same voice commands the robot to destroy Peter. The two conflicting commands confuse the robot and fry his interface. Spider-Man however gets trapped by Spider Carnage and Kingpin as Spider Carnage disguises as the Peter of this universe and attends the press conference.
Peter manages to free himself and confronts Spider Carnage. They take the fight to the terrace where Spider Carnage is about to detonate the interdimensional bomb. Spiderman learns that Spider Carnage also shares the same memory as Peter Parker and Peter Parker always had love and compassion for his dear ones.
They bring Uncle Ben of this Universe, who is still alive, and upon seeing him, Peter Parker breaks down in tears as his memories with Uncle Ben keep playing on his mind. He tries hard to free himself from the Carnage symbiote but fails, and so to save everyone from his wrath, he dives into the teleporter, vaporizing himself. And with this, the story of Spider Carnage comes to an end.
Conclusion
Although the episode showcases the wrath of the vicious Spiderman-Carnage hybrid, it also emphasizes Spiderman’s true character. His hatred for his reality aided his transformation to the Spider Carnage. He was already disturbed and mentally unbalanced even before the cloning process owing to the death of his Uncle and Aunt. The story reveals the two tributaries of misery for the inevitable.
One half sought a life full of hatred as he could not accept his loss whereas the other, that is Ben Reilly chose to live a life in solitude yet living up to his name and purpose, which was saving the world from bad guys. Written by John Semper and animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha the cartoon series is amazing and the story of Spider Carnage is a must-watch.