Venom and Carnage have had numerous confrontations over the years, and one of their strangest battles literally took place inside of a computer.
Venom and Carnage are two of Spider-Man’s most dangerous foes. Despite them both having an alien symbiote as the source of their powers, Carnage views Venom as just another person he needs to kill. In Venom: Carnage Unleashed #4 by Larry Hama, Andrew Wildman, and Joe Rubinstein the two symbiotes take their battle off the streets of New York City and directly into the internet itself.
Capitalizing off of Carnage’s infamy and extreme nature, the video game company Extreme Violence Video Games decides to make a game based on Carnage. In order to ensure that the game lives up to their high expectations, Extreme Violence Video Games gives Carnage a computer inside his cell at Ravencroft Institute to help play test it. Some find it wrong to reward the serial killer with a computer and video games, but Carnage’s psychologist believes it helps him open up during their talks.
Extreme Violence Video Game’s plan backfires spectacularly when Carnage is able to escape his cell and kidnap his psychologist. He plans to confront the creators of his own video game and demand proper royalties for using his likeness. As Carnage begins his trek to their office in New York City, Venom learns of the in-development video game and pursues the violent symbiote.
Carnage enters the offices of Extreme Violence Video Games and discovers something amazing: he can inject his tendrils directly into the internet itself and kill people remotely. Taking full advantage of his newfound skill, Carnage enters into a computer fully and appears on a digital billboard. Venom sees an advertisement for Carnage’s game and figures out Carnage’s plan for digital mayhem. Venom then enters into a computer himself and fights Carnage from within cyberspace.
Venom and Carnage battle in a strange environment that’s a mix between digital cyberspace and the physical constructs of the computer itself. The space around them is a bright digital green while the ground they stand on is a giant circuit board. Somehow, fighting in a single computer allows them to also fight across the entire internet as well. Venom finds himself at a stark disadvantage as Carnage had already gained experience moving through cyberspace. Knowing Carnage is weak to fire, though, Venom stuns him by luring him close to the computer’s heatsink and then destroying it. Their battle returns to the real world where Carnage is defeated and returned to Ravencroft.
Venom: Carnage Unleashed was written in 1995. Computers were not as we know them today and the internet was still in its infancy. Imagining the possibilities of what computers were capable of as well as the limits of virtual reality technology was very popular throughout the 90’s. While it’s easy for readers today to look back at this story and laugh at how ridiculous computer technology is presented, it’s important to remember that it was still a brand new frontier to explore and that most people didn’t have a firm understanding of the technology yet.
Venom: Carnage Unleashed is the quintessential 90’s comic: an extreme anti-hero fighting an extreme villain, social commentary on violent video games, and tons of hammy quips. While the misunderstandings of how computers and the internet work can cause a few smiles today, watching Venom fight Carnage through cyberspace is still a really cool moment in the symbiote’s history. It’s a fun and action-packed romp that never takes itself seriously, delivering equal parts excitement and laughs.
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