Absolute Carnage Writer Donny Cates Explains the Massive Change to Carnage Design

Finally, after issues upon issues of build up, Marvel’s Absolute Carnage event has finally arrived. From writer Donny Cates and artist Ryan Stegman, Absolute Carnage takes the story of their Venom run up to 11, sending a resurrected Cletus Kasady on the hunt for everyone who has ever been attached to a Symbiote, creating an army of mindless creatures along the way.

It’s a wild book to be sure, but one thing that has had readers talking heading into the event’s launch is the complete overhaul of Carnage’s design. The villain has abandoned much of its human qualities, and taken on the symbol of Knull, the Symbiote god, across its chest. And it’s hard to look at Carnage without noticing the completely exposed spine holding everything together.

Carnage has an absolutely gnarly new design, and according to Cates, the change is all about conveying the dangerous circumstances the new version of the villain represents.

“We wanted this new, Dark, Carnage to look unique and insanely powerful for our big event, you know? So his new look has elements of the Knull design in it to reflect his new allegiance and power source,” Cates told ComicBook.com. “He’s taken on Knull’s tall, lanky physique and he wears the Knull logo on his chest, and the spiral pattern on his forehead that Knull’s minions seem to all wear to show their allegiance to the void god. Furthermore, this is really the first time you can look at Carnage and think, ‘Wow, there is not a human being in that suit,’ as his spine is hanging out and he looks….well, like a walking nightmare. It’s really scary to see him stalking the streets as this huge slender man monster.”

There are plenty of other changes to Carnage throughout the new book, including his ability to infect anyone and everyone he comes across with a little red Symbiote, turning them into one of his hive-mind beasts. But the most glaring of the changes is definitely his design, making this iteration of Carnage stand out from the rest. There has never been a Carnage quite like this one, and the design certainly reflects that.

What do you think of Carnage’s new design? Are you adding Absolute Carnage to your pull list? Let us know in the comments!

Written by Donny Cates and illustrated by Ryan Stegman, Absolute Carnage #1 is now available online and at your local comic book store.