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Warning: Spoilers for Venomverse Reborn #4!Carnage has been on a largely unchecked rampage spanning multiple series for several years – and soon his bloody quest will reach fruition. Ever hungry, ever grabbing for more and more power, the Venomverse Reborn anthology series concludes with the shocking revelation of Carnage’s final form as “a King in Crimson.“
The central narrative of the Venomverse Reborn anthologies is titled “Five Questions,” by Al Ewing, Danilo Beyruth, Ceci De La Cruz, and Travis Lanham, in which Dylan Brock is permitted to ask five questions of the King In Black version of his father, Eddie (also known as Venom). Venomverse Reborn #4reveals that all Dylan’s questions have pertained to gathering an army.
The final panel reveals that the King In Black, traditionally depicted as a hand, is himself standing in the palm of an even larger, monstrous crimson hand, referred to as “a King in Crimson” and heavily implied to be Carnage.
Carnage’s Quest for Ultimate Power Finally Pays Off
Carnage Isn’t Satisfied Even with Godhood
Carnage’s epic, bloody quest for ultimate power kicked off in 2022, with Carnage #1 by Ram V., Francesco Manna, Roberto Poggi, Dijjo Lima, and Joe Sabino following Carnage as he hunts specific heroes and villains to absorb their powers and remove any of his potential vulnerabilities. What begins as a break-in to a supermax prison swiftly escalates to Carnage hunting through Asgard to claim godlike power – something he functionally attains by forging the weapon known as All-Blood, the Necrospear.
This quest in turn escalates even further as Carnage tests himself by hunting various incarnations of Venom across the multiverse. By the end of this journey, Carnage is powerful enough to challenge other elevated symbiotes like Meridus – a King in Black.
“We are the Anti-All”: Venom’s Final Form Just Revealed How He Becomes the Ultimate King in Black
The King in Black is the god of all symbiotes, and one future shows just how far Eddie Brock can take that title as the greatest King in Black.
Venom #18 by Al Ewing, CAFU, Frank D’Armata, and Clayton Cowles clarifies that a “King in Black” is a power equal to Marvel’s reality-transcending Beyonders, only operating on the physical plane instead of monitoring events from outside reality. As Marvel’s current King in Black, Eddie Brock has demonstrated powers such as projecting his consciousness through space and time, kinetic control over organic matter and Symbiote biomass, and command over different versions of himself from across the timeline. The ultimate form of a King in Black is described as an “eventuality,” presented to the reader as a hand that manages “the engine room” of reality.
So far, Marvel has revealed three Kings in Black. The first, Knull, was the primary antagonist of 2020’s “King in Black” event. Despite having enough power to bring even Marvel’s Celestials to heel, Knull is ultimately the weakest King in Black, revealed to have abandoned his post and much of its power. The second King in Black is Meridus, a Machiavellian offshoot of Venom who seeks to become the ultimate version of Venom throughout space and time. The final King in Black is the aforementioned “Eventuality,” revealed to be the final form of Eddie Brock himself, managing Marvel’s symbiotes across the Multiverse.
A King In Crimson Promises Only Destruction for the Marvel Universe
An Eventuality of Endless Murder
Presenting Carnage as a King in Crimson has several terrifying implications. While the original King in Black, Knull, forsook his duties for nihilism, Venom #18 implies that doing so removed Knull’s transcendent state within time and space and made him a linear entity, someone with both a birth and a death. As a King in Crimson, Carnage would have no such limitation and would maintain a connection to his various forms throughout all reality, allowing the murderous symbiote to inflict his sadism across all of time and space, infinitely and forever.
There is no precedent for a King in Crimson, because such an entity was never meant to be in the first place.
Similarly, the Kings in Black serve as a counterpart to the Kings in White, balancing out the forces of reality and being part of the fabric of the Marvel Universe. At the time of writing, there is no such mention of a King in Crimson. This further serves to emphasize how unnatural Carnage has become, clawing his way into power against the very natural order of the universe. There is no precedent for a King in Crimson, because such an entity was never meant to be in the first place.
Carnage is an oddly compelling figure: unquestionably vile, yet strangely pathetic in his constant quest to keep up in power with his older sibling, Venom. With Venom’s ultimate form revealed as an entity beyond time and space, it was only a matter of time before Carnage attempted to replicate the same feat – yet the fact that he has managed to do so is nonetheless still shocking. Carnage’s ultimate form as a King in Crimson means that not a single corner of Marvel’s reality is safe – and that one way or another, Carnage will eventually transcend.
Venomverse Reborn #4 is available now from Marvel Comics.
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