Cletus Kasady (Carnage Clone) (Earth-616)

During the apotheosized Carnage symbiote's confrontation with the Lord Librarian, he posed a series of questions regarding the nature of its godhood that unsettled it, declaring that it was incomplete without its other half. Warped to the cell in Ryker's Island where it had first bonded to Cletus Kasady over a decade prior, the Carnage symbiote devoured the hapless inmate and used his biomass to create a clone of Cletus Kasady as he was when they'd first bonded. Bonding to the clone, the symbiote imbued him with the original Cletus' memories and tasked him with helping it answer the questions that the Lord Librarian had posed to it.

Marvelling at the technological and social malaise of the 21st century, Cletus began studying the Bible and embarked on a killing spree in an attempt to find inspiration.^[4] Using the Carnage symbiote's powers to murder people bearing the name as the Apostles, Cletus accrued an online following of internet trolls and conspiracy theorists while also incriminating and baiting Flash Thompson--whose Anti-Venom symbiote was the Carnage symbiote's sole remaining weakness.^[5]

Tracking down the original Cletus Kasady, Carnage attempted to devour him only to discover he'd injected himself with concentrated antibodies in emulation of the original Anti-Venom symbiote. Exsanguinating him, Carnage cut off the top of the original Cletus' head and devoured his brain to assimilate his consciousness into that of the clone. Finally ready to pursue the symbiote's endgame, Carnage lured Agent Anti-Venom into a trap,^[1] having poisoned his mother, Rose, with radioactive material in order to force him to weaken the Anti-Venom symbiote healing her. Carnage attempted to assimilate the Anti-Venom symbiote in order to fully overcome its vulnerability, but was forced to settle for sealing Agent Anti-Venom in the Darkforce Dimension.^[6] Having gleaned that Dylan Brock was the host of the Venom symbiote, Carnage murdered the son of the police officer Eddie had killed after becoming Venom and left his corpse posed in Dylan's apartment, then slaughtered Dylan's coworkers in order to prompt him to investigate. Although confused by the Carnage symbiote's fixation with reuniting the Venom symbiote and Eddie Brock, Cletus went along with its enigmatic plan and revealed the full enormity of the Venom symbiote's sins to Dylan before tearing him out of it; the Carnage symbiote fatally impaling Dylan through the heart.^[7] To Cletus' shock, the Carnage symbiote was torn off his body and pulled into the Symbiote Hive, leaving him naked and confused with only the Venom symbiote for company.^[8]

Distraught at being abandoned, Cletus's body rapidly began to lose its cellular cohesion and melt into a slurry of biological matter, all the while bearing witness to his Other's violent deeds through their telepathic connection; minutes later, the Carnage symbiote returned from its jaunt into the far future. The symbiote assuaged Cletus's pain and indignation at its wreaking havoc without him by sharing the experiences with him, rebonding to the clone and healing his dissolving cellular structure, but the emotional dynamic between the two had shifted, and Cletus did not forget the pain of being left behind. Stopping to question a woman who had survived the massacre in Our Lady of Saints by hiding in a closet, and later butchering a drunkard, Carnage finally returned to the Spotted Dimension to absorb Flash's Anti-Venom symbiote, only for Flash to pick that moment to explosively escape the dark pocket universe.^[9]

Emerging from the Spotted Dimension in pursuit of Flash, Carnage found himself amidst a metal concert, echoing the original Carnage's climactic battle with Spider-Man and Venom at Madison Square Garden years prior. Slaughtering the metal band in the process, Carnage beat down Agent Anti-Venom in yet another brutal clash, ultimately absorbing enough of his symbiote to render himself immune to its effects; before Cletus could finish Thompson off, however, Liz Allan arrived wielding a weapon containing a mysterious chemical hostile to symbiotes. Curious about the weapon and paranoid about a possible connection to other players in the upcoming war, Carnage attacked Liz, attempting to pry out the answers he sought; however, Liz was able to pass the weapon to Flash, who promptly used it on the sinister symbiote.^[2]

The weapon near-instantly annihilated the clone's body, almost killing the Carnage symbiote in the process; though near-dead, the symbiote later successfully reconstituted itself and the clone by infesting the body of a drunk, devouring him from the inside out, and consuming the brains of another man to fully restore Cletus. Hurt and enraged, Cletus and the symbiote resolved to accelerate their plans in response. Carrying out another brutal killing, Carnage left behind another trail of false clues, this time luring his followers to congregate in a public park, where he arrived amongst them and began openly slaughtering them. Minutes later, as Carnage had hoped, a squad of paramilitary troops -- working for the Absent Throne -- appeared, bearing the same deadly chemical weapons. This time, Carnage was ready, ambushing and killing two troopers and absconding with one of the weapons -- though not before setting off a bomb, massacring yet more of his supporters, an act observed by a disguised Meridius.^[3]

Many long, cold hours of experimentation later, Carnage had near-exhausted his supply of K-43, slowly but surely killing a handful of kidnapped victims using the chemical to determine its effects -- and to try and build a resistance to it. Cletus, however, was growing extremely bored by the process, failing to see the merit in the slow, agonizing deaths being dealt to their victims and hungering to get back out into the world. Host and symbiote began to bicker, Cletus accusing the Carnage symbiote of being scared by its self-image of godhood continually being broken by new threats, until their discussion was interrupted by a remote-controlled bomb set off by Meridius. Surviving the explosion, Cletus -- thrilled at the prospect of another enemy to hunt -- promised his enraged symbiote he would find and kill the culprit. Gnawing his way through Alchemax employees, Cletus's trail led him to Finn Taylor, a playboy official associated with the K-43 program. Pursuing and attacking Taylor in his home, and proving himself now-resistant, albeit not immune, to K-43 weapons, Carnage transformed into a liquid state, host and all, to force his way into Taylor's mouth, devouring his organs and seizing control of the man's body -- leaving the horrified Taylor alive and conscious in the process.^[10]

Inside Taylor's body, Carnage managed to infiltrate Alchemax Tower where they discovered the Zombiotes, fascinating the symbiote. The Zombiotes attempted to break out, only for the K Chemical to pour on them which dissolved them. However, this also affected Carnage which blew their cover. Carnage went to kill everyone in his path, but was ultimately subdued by Meridius.^[11] Meridius then decided to show him his discoveries and secret agenda, inviting Carnage to make a temporary alliance. The symbiote was intrigued, but Kasady had enough of their quest to apotheosis and only wished for things to go back to how they were. The symbiote refused Meridius' offer and left the building, at which point it began arguing with its host. As Kasady only wished to commit random acts of murder instead of becoming a god, he was unwilling to continue with the symbiote's plan. This led to a falling out and the two separated, with Kasady going on his own path.^[12]

The clone of Cletus was created with the memories and personality of the original Cletus Kasady at the time he'd first bonded to the Carnage symbiote. Tasked with developing the Gospel of Carnage, Cletus began developing a god-complex as their bond deepened.^[4] After eating the brain of the original Cletus Kasady, Cletus absorbed his template's memories and consciousness--effectively becoming him in the process.^[1]