The roster of Marvel’s New Avengers series has some surprising choices, but none stand out quite like Carnage. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are accustomed to reforming villains like Hawkeye, Black Widow, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch, but they never had a wrap sheet as long and as bloody as the one that belongs to the Carnage symbiote. Carnage belongs in The Raft, not slumming it with the Avengers. Yet, Carnage is going from terrifying serial killer to humanity’s last hope in The New Avengers by writer Sam Humphries (Uncanny X-Force) and artist Ton Lima (West Coast Avengers). But can even Carnage be redeemed? And should it be redeemed?
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Joining Carnage on the New Avengers are the Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Hulk, Clea, Namor, and Wolverine (Laura Kinney). Instead of being “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,” the New Avengers are billed as “Earth’s Deadliest Heroes.” Every member exists in shades of grey, neither a true villain nor what one would describe as a classic hero. Carnage always would fall in the villain category, except instead of Cletus Kasady being the host underneath the alien symbiote, it’s Venom’s former host, Eddie Brock. This change happened at the end of Marvel’s Venom War event, with their story officially starting in the new ongoing series, Eddie Brock: Carnage.
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Eddie Brock and Carnage have an uneasy alliance that was formed out of necessity. Both were on the brink of death, and their bond is the only thing keeping them alive. Eddie Brock: Carnage follows the duo as they travel the Marvel Universe eliminating the worst of the worst. It’s the only way Eddie can satisfy Carnage’s hunger for bloodshed. It’s a literal battle of wills between Eddie Brock and Carnage, and now the New Avengers are tied up in their struggle. If there is one saving grace, it’s that the New Avengers can now keep an eye on Carnage to make sure it doesn’t step out of line. Black Widow also has a symbiote of her own, adding even more intrigue to New Avengers.
But the question at hand is, should Carnage be a part of the New Avengers? Obviously, it’s Eddie Brock’s idea to be a part of the team. The Venom symbiote has a history with the Avengers, with Flash Thompson’s Agent Venom a member of Steve Rogers’ Secret Avengers, and Space Knight Venom was also on the Guardians of the Galaxy. Eddie Brock and Venom fought with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes during Venom-centric events like Absolute Carnage and King in Black. Eddie probably sees the New Avengers as a failsafe against Carnage, knowing that Carnage can’t act out its sadistic ways while Hulk and Wolverine are around.
New Avengers will hopefully spend time addressing the Carnage-sized elephant in the room. At least Eddie has history with the other team members, so he can trauma dump with the best of them. Even though readers love a good redemption story, this may be one instance where there is no amount of redemption available for Carnage to make up for its sins. Carnage has to want to be redeemed, and so far, it’s shown no signs of that being the case. Maybe that will change after working side-by-side with other heroes, but I’m skeptical of that happening. The New Avengers better hope Carnage doesn’t drag them down into the dirt with it.
