Steve Orlando Spreads Carnage on Marvel’s Future in Spider-Man 2099: Dark Genesis (Exclusive)

Before we descend into the Summer of Symbiotes, Marvel’s 2099 future is spreading Carnage around this spring. Steve Orlando, writer of the Spider-Man 2099: Exodus series celebrating the 30th anniversary of the dystopian future, is back for more 2099 hijinks in Spider-Man 2099: Dark Genesis. The five-issue limited series picks up after the events of Exodus, but this time Orlando is replacing Norman Osborn’s Galactic Goblin with Carnage as the central antagonist. Along the way, readers will also get to meet some new 2099 heroes that take on the namesakes of current-day, fan-favorite characters.

ComicBook.com spoke to Spider-Man 2099: Dark Genesis writer Steve Orlando to learn more about how Carnage fits into the 2099 landscape. We also got some details on how Daredevil 2099 is different from his past iteration, the addition of Blade 2099, how much fun he’s had playing in the 2099 sandbox, and more. We also have an exclusive first look at pages from Spider-Man 2099: Dark Genesis #1 by artist Justin Mason and colorist Jordan Boyd. The pages show our new Carnage unleashing a gory bloodbath, Spider-Man 2099 and Spider-Woman 2099 – introduced in Spider-Man 2099: Exodus Omega #1 – swinging together through Nueva York before confronting Carnage, and Moon Knight 2099 approaching a pyramid with their symbol displayed on it.

Carnage Unleashed

How Carnage Fits Into 2099 World

ComicBook.com: The 2099 franchise is all about reinventing and offering new takes on classic characters. When you were developing Dark Genesis, how did you approach doing this with Carnage?

Steve Orlando: We wanted our Carnage to of course give folks what they love about the original, but with a new setup and flavor that fits into the world of 2099. So when Justin [Mason] and I got together with editors Mark and Danny to plan the character out, the key was to hone in on what makes Carnage who he is. And then we feed that into the lore that’s been built into 2099 for the past thirty years. So now, with Carnage 2099, you’ve got the mayhem, you’ve got the blood and chaos. But you’ve also got a cyberpunk futuristic angle, where Carnage is now a creature who quite literally needs to kill to survive. While the original clearly ENJOYS it, this Carnage’s heart burns blood like a car’s engine burns gasoline. 

Spider-Man 2099 and Spider-Woman 2099

New Characters

It’s fun to see that you’re continuing to introduce new, 2099 versions of heroes. What can you tell us about characters like Daredevil 2099 and Blade 2099? How are they both similar and different to the current-day heroes readers are already familiar with?

I’m so so excited about both! And hope we get time in the future to work with them again, since they’ve become standouts for us on the creative side. DAREDEVIL 2099 is technically a reintroduction of the first DD 2099, created by [Warren] Ellis and [Dale] Eaglesham in 1995. But we’ve taken the advent of Earth-2099 and its combination of all 2099 timelines into one to reposition him a bit. DD 2099’s senses are so strong that they’re overwhelming anywhere except his specially retrofitted sensory deprivation apartment. To go out into the world, he dons the DD helmet, which buffers his senses down to a superhuman, but not overwhelming level. BLADE 2099 is all new, and is someone whose life is a natural extrapolation of what his mentor, the original Blade, went through. Blade 2099’s struggle mirrors Blade’s, but is… a bit more toothsome. 

In both cases, you’ve got characters whose thematics and imagery recall the characters we know and love, but with twists that fit them right into 2099’s kill-or-be-killed world of tomorrow.

Spider-Man 2099 vs. Carnage

Big Appeal of 2099

What have you found most appealing about playing in the 2099 playground?

Marvel has always strived to show the world outside our window. What’s fascinating to me about 2099, and what’s always been so, is that it follows that tradition by offering folks a glimpse at how what’s outside that window could change. Like the best speculative fiction, a lot of what was posited by 2099 at its inception has come to pass in one form or another. So now, playing in 2099 means continuing to play in a world that’s a deadlier, even more exciting, and semi-dystopian vision of the future. As our “today” has changed over the past thirty years, so too must our “tomorrow” change with it. The fun is exploring just what could be, and what new dangers may come. 

Double Team

2099 Post-Dark Genesis

Using one or two words, how would you describe the status of the 2099 world after Dark Genesis concludes? 

Chaotic.

Hopeful.

Moon Knight 2099