Carnage was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so while out spreading chaos in NYC a mystical portal appeared and a woman clothed in scarlet stepped through, he didnât hesitate to stab her through the back to yank out her heart. As the blood dripped out of the black heart to land on her book that this woman had, he began to hear a voice coming from it. The book claimed it was called the Darkhold, an ancient book of dark magics that could help whatever that user wished for; all it required was blood. It asked what Carnage would like and Carnageâs mind went back to through his years of causing chaos and pain and fell back on the short time that he had a family: Shriek, Demogoblin, and Doppelganger. The Darkhold, seeing these thoughts in his new user, decided to use its power to bring forth another Carnage, one from another reality that had merged with a Goblin of his own. The Carnages, while not entirely trusting each other, did agree that causing more chaos was what they should do. Red Goblin, as this other Carnage preferred to be called, suggested they attack the Fantastic Four on the idea that they may hold technology to spread their brand of chaos more quickly. Carnage agreed, especially after the Darkhold suggested more magical abilities, including the protection against fire, with the spilling of more blood. (Image 1-3)
The Fantastic Four were as mighty as Carnage had heard⊠or they would have been, if the Darkhold hadnât been boosting his and Red Goblinâs strengths and abilities. Suddenly, his claws were sharp enough to cut through the Thingâs neck has he attempted to clobber them while Red Gobinâs strength was increased to be able to easily rip off Mr. Fantasticâs arm. Their tendrils were able to resist fire, effortlessly pinning the Human Torch against the wall and while the Invisible Woman tried to fight, the Darkhold began to drain her. With the FF slain, Red Goblin ransacked their base, discovered an old glider once used by Demogoblin that he reappropriated and the Darkhold, having gotten enough blood, offered Carnage another boon. As Carnage decided what he wanted, the Enigma Force, sensing a great evil was coming with Carnage and the Darkhold, endued a person with the powers of Captain Universe to stop it. As Captain Universe flew in, Carnage realized that while he wanted his âfamilyâ back, he wanted members to be subservient, not his equal. With this knowledge, the Darkhold gave Carnage the ability to spread, corrupting others and turning them into his thralls. Eager to use this new power, Carnage quickly corrupted Captain Universe, making the Enigma Force his to use. (Image 4-6)
With this new addition to his family, Carnage wanted more chaos. While Red Goblin thought this might be the time to spread disorder through the city, the Darkhold suggested to Carnage that perhaps, the Avengers would provide enough power for another upgrade. Carnage agreed, excited for what else he could get, and with that, his new âfamilyâ made their way to the Avengerâs Mansion. Reaching there, they gave the Avengers no warning before attacking, leading to a massacre. Black Panther was quickly killed by Red Goblin as Thor was unable to resist the powers of the Enigma Force while Carnage sliced through Iron Manâs armor like paper, removing his head and hands. As the Avengers attempted to rally, Carnage managed to grab ahold of the Wasp and ripping off her wings. As Giant-man attempted to stop the symbiote, he was killed by Captain Universe, blasting right through the manâs head. Captain America also attempted to stop the attack as well, but as he defended from one of Red Goblinâs pumpkin bombs, he didnât see the glider until it pierced him from behind, igniting and killing him. (Image 7)
After the slaughter, the Darkhold once again offered power, but this time, it was what the Darkhold wanted. It suggested the ability to cross the threshold of realities, walking between the realms and spreading chaos across not just one world, but countless others. Carnage eagerly accepted but Red Goblin recommended that they use this ability to eradicate the Spiders, for he knew what a pain they could be if not dealt with. Carnage agreed and with that, they began eradicating Spiders throughout the multiverse. Over and over again, they killed them, with Carnage enjoying the killing and blood, but Red Goblin seemed to take a perverse pleasure in it, especially when killing the ones calling themselves Spider-Man. While slaughtering them, Carnage did come across a few Spiders who seemed to have residual Carnage symbiote DNA in them, which Carnage used to take them over and add them to his growing family. When there were no Spiders left to kill, they began to spread their chaos across the multiverse. (Image 8)
Reality after reality fell to the Carnage family. Some gave more resistance than others; in one reality, it was ruled by a man called Superman and his Regime. Unfortunately for the Man of Steel, his apparent weakness was magic so he was killed, as well as eradicating the so-called âInsurgencyâ that had long failed to overthrow them. In another reality, they came across a group of teenagers with attitude, wearing colorful spandex calling themselves Power Rangers who attempted to protect the universe. Like all the others, they were no match for Carnage and his family. It appeared that nothing could stop these psychopaths as they spread death and fear across the infinite realities. That was, until Carnage and his family came face to face with a group from across the multiverse that had assembled for the sole purpose of defeating them. (Image 9+10)
Superior Spider-man had managed to avoid the killing of the rest of the Spider-People, jumping across realities in an effort to find people that could help him stop them. However, he found himself over and over again arriving too late or just as Carnage began to rampage through a reality, forcing him to scramble for choices. He had managed Batman as the Insurgency was being eradicated while the so-called Crimson Hawk Ranger came only after he found one of the slain teenagerâs âmorpherâ and gave it to a martial artist named Ryu in an effort to give him a power boost. The man named Joel came because his ward had apparently been murdered by Carnage and he was searching for vengeance; the Predator joined because the âpreyâ in his reality had been eliminated and he wanted to hunt what killed them. While the Superior Spider-man wasnât sure if they would be able to stop them, a portal opened and Doctor Strange stepped through claiming he had been searching for the Darkhold that was in the possession of the Scarlet Witch, but felt the bookâs dark magic grow more powerful and spread through each reality it touched, forcing him to confront it before it grew so strong he wouldnât be able to stop it. With the additional magical protection added by Doctor Strange, Superior Spider-man decided it was time to stop Carnage once and for all. (Image 11)
The battle for the multiverse was a long and bloody one, with losses on both sides. The Predator, used to hunting humans, wasnât prepared for the ferociousness and single mindedness of the Spider-Carnages, turning the Predator into prey. Unfortunately for them, the Crimson Hawk Ranger was able to use a Hadoken to blast one away leaving the other creature to scramble away. Joel used the molotov cocktails and gunfire to try and keep the other Carnages away, but the last Spider-Carnage managed to make it through; while the Crimson Hawk Ranger tried to stop it, Joel ensured his last cocktail would be the creatureâs last as well, taking them both down. Doctor Strange faced off with Captain Universe and only barely, was Strange able to subdue him with magical fire. Red Goblin tried to blow up Batman, but with all the villains that Batman had faced, it wasnât hard to cause the Red Goblinâs own pumpkin bomb to explode with a batarang, forcing the Red Goblin to down. As Carnage felt each of his family be taken down, he began to lose focus, acting more erratically. Using this to his advantage, Superior Spider-man managed to remove the Darkhold from the symbiote's grasp, tossing it away to Doctor Strange. Without the added benefits of the book, Carnage was stripped of his new magical power and trapped in a fiery prison made by Doctor Strange. The battle was over. (Image 12-17)
In the aftermath, Doctor Strange attempted all sorts of magical spells and incantations to imprison them, but no such luck. It was only after a discussion with the group that Doctor Strange used the Darkhold to lock the symbiotes away. First, he removed the symbiotes from both Captain Universe and Red Goblin, freeing them. Superior Spider-man immediately offered to watch over the newly freed Green Goblin while Captain Universe stayed wary of any final attempts of Carnage to break free. In the end, Doctor Strange made a deal with the Darkhold: the book would get the symbiote as a sacrifice as long as the book kept it imprisoned until the end of days. After locking Carnage away in the Darkhold, Doctor Strange cast the book away into the void, where he hoped no one would ever find it. With victory earned and the symbiote gone, the group disbanded, returning to their realities in an attempt to rebuild something from the ashes. (Image 18-19)
With the Darkhold cast away and Carnage imprisoned inside it, the group would be safe from ever having to face that monster again⊠right? (Image 20)