Summary

• Primarily known as a villain, Carnage's occasional attempt at heroism leads to horrifying results, including turning an abused child into a brutal serial killer.
• Carnage has a tendency to develop a cult-like following and spare those who amuse him, though his precise reason for bonding with Elsie is unknown.
• Elsie, a twisted follower of Carnage, could possibly return to comics and aid her mentor in creating the Church of Carnage.

Carnage is well known as one of Marvel's most powerful, most terrifying villains – but as with most popular comic book characters, fans' positive reception has lead to attempts at making the symbiote more heroic, something that wound up having horrifying results when Carnage attempted to try and save a little girl from a broken home.

Carnage Forever #1 contained the story "Homecoming" – by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Edgar Salazar, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Joe Sabino – which featured this terrifying attempt at heroism. The story followed a young girl named Elsie, who lived with abusive parents in a run-down home. She would often play outside Saint Estes, a burnt-down orphanage with a dark history.

While exploring the orphanage, Elsie discovered the Carnage symbiote, which bonded with her and allows her to take out her vengeance on her abusive parents. This turned what is traditionally a wholesome heroic moment, saving a child, upside down in typical, horrifying Carnage fashion.

Carnage Enables Elsie To Strike Back At Her Abs

Rather than become Carnage's latest victim in "Homecoming," Ellie becomes its latest host, as the Carnage symbiote decided to merge with her. This subsequently allows her to go on a murderous rampage, killing her abusive parents in the gory style synonymous with Carnage. At the start of the Elsie was just an innocent child, and by the end, Carnage turned her into a terrifying monster. It is perhaps likely that the reason he did it in the first place, to corrupt innocence, rather than as an act of heroism. This inversion of a typical superhero scenario emphasized that Carnage is one of Marvel's most remorseless, irredeemable characters.

One significant aspect of Carnage's character is that he seems to have a thing for worshipers. There have been several instances where Carnage had a cult worship him, and he's been known to spare people if they amuse him enough, such as when he became a mentor to serial killer Kenneth Neely. "Homecoming," from Carnage Forever, ended with the Carnage symbiote still inside of Elsie, as she threatened one of the few survivors of the Saint Estes fire that Cletus Kasady had set many years ago. While Elsie hasn't appeared in since, she has been mentioned, meaning she's absolutely still out there, following Carnage's will.

Elsie-Carnage Has More Stories Left To Tell

There have been several instances where become a god.

Forever Carnage was published in 2022. It is on sale now from Marvel Comics!