After running through the formation of Carnage’s new “family” last week, it’s time to take a look at the assemblage of heroes who will stand up to him. This is truly one of the most unique collection of characters to ever fill the pages of a major Marvel comic book, and it really captures the current state of the comic book industry in 1993. If a group of supervillains were on a mass murder spree in New York City in 2005, it would be reasonable to expect the Avengers team from that time to handle it (Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Luke Cage, and Sentry). That was the preeminent superhero team of the day handling citywide threats. Such was very much not the case in 1993. Avengers was a poorly selling book at the time, and the team did not have any big names outside of Captain America. Also, most of the team was wearing matching bomber jackets. These were dark times. What heroes could New York City turn to with the Avengers not being a viable option? I am so glad you asked.
The Heroes
Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
Obviously. This is a Spider-Man event, so of course Spider-Man is involved. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in Amazing Fantasy #15 in 1962, Spider-Man has been Marvel’s flagship character for the vast majority of the publisher’s existence. He was at arguably the peak of his popularity in the 1990s which is why he was currently headlining five different ongoing comic book series. His involvement in this story kicks off in Spider-Man Unlimited #1 when he gets ambushed by Shriek and Doppelgänger on a rooftop. Despite putting up a strong fight, Spidey ends up getting his ribs broken on his right side when he gets drop kicked off the roof by Doppelgänger. Ouch. Badly injured in the alley below, a group of criminals see the perfect opportunity to take out this pesky superhero for good as the issue comes to a close.
Cloak (Tyrone Johnson) and Dagger (Tandy Bowen)
Fortunately for Spider-Man, Cloak and Dagger are in the area to come to the arachnid’s aid. Cloak and Dagger were created by Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan back in 1982. The two were each teenage runaways (Tyrone from Boston, MA and Tandy from Shaker Heights, OH) who both end up in New York City. The two end up kidnapped and injected with a new synthetic heroin that ends up giving them superpowers (do not try this at home). Cloak wears a cloak that contains a portal to the Darkforce Dimension and can also teleport. Dagger has the ability to generate and throw Lightforce daggers that drain people of their vitality. Cloak also suffers from a feeling of insatiable hunger that only dissipates when Dagger is near, so they are rarely apart. Now they are here to rescue Spider-Man in Web of Spider-Man #101 and join him on his quest to bring down Carnage, Shriek, and Doppelgänger. Almost immediately after joining forces, Shriek and Doppelgänger show up to finish what they started with Spider-Man. After gaining the upper hand on the villains, Carnage shows up to turn the tide (he was previously busy terrorizing J. Jonah Jameson). During the fight, Shriek nails Dagger with one of her sonic blasts that seemingly vaporizes her and kills her instantly. Damn. So much for Cloak and Dagger coming to the rescue. The two sides separate for the time being to lick their wounds (and mourn in the case of Cloak). Meanwhile, a certain symbiote antihero sees what Carnage is up to on the news.
Venom (Eddie Brock)
There was no way a Carnage mega event was going to happen in 1993 without Venom being involved. Created by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane in 1988, Venom is the product of Spider-Man’s spurned alien costume and a tabloid reporter named Eddie Brock who blamed Spider-Man for losing his job and resulting downward spiral. By this point, the two had formed a truce with Venom heading to San Francisco to be an antihero there. Venom has a special hatred for Carnage because he feels guilty for helping to create him since Carnage’s symbiote is the offspring of the Venom symbiote. After hearing about his rampage on the news, Venom heads to New York City to take him down. This does not go well. Venom is promptly jumped by Shriek and Doppelgänger after confronting Carnage, and he’s barely able to escape with his life. He ends up stumbling over to Peter Parker’s doorstep (much to Mary Jane’s chagrin).
Black Cat (Felicia Hardy)
While Venom is crashing on Spider-Man’s couch like an old college buddy, Black Cat swings by to check in on her old flame and see what she can do to help bring Carnage down. Created by Marv Wolfman, Keith Pollard, and Dave Cockrum in 1979, Black Cat is a sometimes villain/sometimes hero/sometimes Spider-Man romantic interest who is an expert cat burglar with an array of tools and tricks to get what she wants. Sometimes she’s depicted as having luck altering abilities, and sometimes she’s depicted as not having any superpowers. I don’t remember her being written as having powers in this time period, but I could be mistaken. Regardless, she teams up with Spider-Man and Venom to go looking for Carnage and his allies to bring them to justice. Spider-Man does not want to kill anyone to stop them, but Venom and Black Cat are more than happy to murder these murderers. They end up finding the Carnage Crew (now with Demogoblin added to the fold) ganging up on Cloak, so they jump in to even the odds. After a vicious fight, there is a building collapse that results in Black Cat buried in rubble and Venom weakened by the fire resulting from the clash. Don’t worry. They’re both okay.
Morbius the Living Vampire (Michael Morbius)
After their disastrous last encounter with Carnage and his family, the trio of Venom, Black Cat, and Cloak decide to ditch that naive do-gooder Spider-Man and go recruiting for allies that won’t be afraid to get their hands dirty. Fortunately for them, they happen upon Morbius the Living Vampire as he brutally murders and drinks the blood of some criminals. Morbius was created as a Spider-Man villain by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane way back in 1971. Morbius is a vampire for all intents and purposes (drinks blood, can fly, weakened by sunlight, etc.), but his condition is from a science experiment gone wrong instead of being an undead supernatural monster. Much like Venom, Morbius was made into an antihero in the ‘90s and given his own series to try to cash in on the “extreme”and “grim and gritty” crazes that were all the rage among comic book readers at the time. Morbius doesn’t need much convincing to join Venom’s gang of antiheroes, and they head off searching for their quarries. In a stroke of (bad) luck, the Carnage Crew attacks a nightclub where Mary Jane happens to be dancing. Spider-Man obviously shows up to save her, and the newly formed antihero team arrives as well for a very entertaining battle. I would definitely consider it a highlight of the event as all of these super folks tear into each other surrounded by terrified clubbers. Like all of the previous battles in this event thus far, this one ends in a stalemate. That being said, Spider-Man reluctantly agrees to join back up with this group despite disagreeing with their murderous methods.
Deathlok (Michael Collins)
That’s right. Freaking Deathlok is in this comic now. Where do I even begin with this guy? For starters, there have been numerous characters who have adopted the Deathlok mantle over the years. This particular incarnation was created by Dwayne McDuffie, Gregory Wright, and Jackson Guice in 1990 (though the original version was created by Rich Buckler in 1974). All you really need to know is that Deathlok is a cyborg from the future basically made using a corpse body, and different brains have been dropped in over the years. The brain in this version is from a scientist named Michael Collins. His introduction into this story is wild. He’s introduced in an “interlude” that comes out of nowhere in Amazing Spider-Man #379, and all of a sudden he’s just in the streets of New York City trying to take down Carnage, Shriek, Demogoblin, Doppelgänger, and Carrion all by himself. After getting some good licks in initially, the Carnage Crew promptly kicks his ass and strings him up to an electronic billboard for fun. Very rude.
Firestar (Angelica Jones)
While Deathlok was getting pummeled by the Carnage Crew, our other gang of heroes and “heroes” were off retrieving the sonic gun owned by the Fantastic Four. Marvel’s First Family wasn’t home, so Spider-Man, Venom, and Black Cat broke in to retrieve it. Meanwhile, Cloak was off looking for someone with fire based powers to join the team (symbiotes are notoriously weak to fire and sonics). Cloak’s mission is a success, and he returns with Firestar. Firestar is a mutant with the ability to generate microwave energy as well as fly. Unlike the other characters appearing in this story, Firestar was originally created for the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends animated series that aired on NBC in 1981. A one-shot comic featuring her origin story would be published by Marvel later that year. She’s a perfect addition to this collection of characters as an optimistic teenager who helps balance out the bloodlust of characters like Venom and Morbius.
Molten Man (Mark Raxton)
I’m sorry. I just had to include my boy Molten Man on this list of heroes. Created by some guys named Stan Lee and Steve Ditko back in 1965, he’s yet another former villain who has turned over a new leaf. He has organic metal skin that gives him super strength and durability. He was such a great part of the DeMatteis and Buscema Spectacular Spider-Man run, and he makes a few brief cameos in “Maximum Carnage” as a guy just hanging out with the Parker and Osborn families to keep them safe amidst the chaos in New York City as Shriek continues to drive people into a murderous rage. We first get to see him in this story in Spider-Man #36 as he jumps in to save Flash Thompson. What a guy!
Iron Fist (Danny Rand)
While our primary protagonists are off taking the fight to the Carnage Crew with their newly acquired sonic gun and mutant microwave, poor Deathlok is still strung up and being electrocuted. Won’t someone come to his aid? Fortunately, Iron Fist happens to be in the area! Created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane in 1974, Iron Fist is an expert martial artist who has the ability to focus his chi to turn his fist into a mystical weapon that punches with superhuman force. It was very nice of him to lend a helping hand to Deathlok. Meanwhile, the tide of battle seems to have finally turned as our heroes have Carnage on the ropes. The combination of Firestar’s microwaves and the sonic gun have Carnage reeling, and he seems to be on death’s door. Unfortunately, it’s revealed that the symbiote has permanently merged with Kasady’s bloodstream. It doesn’t appear that he can be stopped even by fire or sonics now. Uh oh. The heroes begin to lose ground, and Venom is ultimately defeated by Shriek’s sonic blasts rendering his own symbiote impotent. The Carnage Crew scoops him up for some extended torture. Who could possibly help our heroes now when they are at their lowest?
Captain America (Steve Rogers)
Of course it’s Captain America! Created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon in Captain America Comics #1 published in 1941, Steve Rogers was a scrawny kid turned into a super soldier to go kick some Nazi ass. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you’re probably familiar with this guy. He shows up when our heroes are at their lowest point (in Spectacular Spider-Man #202 by DeMatteis and Buscema) to inspire them to keep fighting and do the right thing. I appreciate that despite having a roster loaded with violent antiheroes who think old school superheroes are out of touch, it’s Captain America who rallies the troops when things are at their most dire. He also has the resources as an Avenger to get everyone organized for a counteroffensive. He works with Spider-Man and Firestar to bring Iron Fist and Deathlok into the fold while Morbius, Cloak, and Black Cat go prowling for the Carnage Crew. They end up getting ambushed by Demogoblin, Doppelgänger, and Carrion while Carnage and Shriek are off torturing Venom in their new base of operations: the Statue of Liberty. Carrion gets the drop on Morbius and almost kills him. That leaves Cloak and Black Cat outnumbered. Demogoblin and Doppelgänger quickly subdue Black Cat, and now things look really bleak. Are there any other random heroes wandering New York City who can help?!
Nightwatch (Kevin Barry Trench)
Yes. Nightwatch is here to save the day. He swoops in to grab Black Cat and fly her away to safety. It’s just like that episode of The Simpsons when Moe flies in on a fan-based flying machine to scoop up Homer before he dies in a boxing ring. I digress. So who the hell is this guy? You would be forgiven if you looked at him and thought he was Spawn as they have very similar fashion senses. Nightwatch was created by Terry Kavanagh and Alex Saviuk in Web of Spider-Man #99 which was published in 1993 exactly two issues before “Maximum Carnage” began, so he was completely brand new at the time. Kevin Barry Trench became Nightwatch after seeing a superhero die while fighting terrorists. When Trench inspected the body, he found out that this costumed hero was himself from the future. This is giving me major Back to the Future vibes. Trench ultimately dons the costume himself and becomes Nightwatch. The costume granted him powers such as flight and super strength, and the cape used sophisticated nanotechnology to read the wearer’s subconscious thoughts and essentially have its own sentience to make decisions on the fly to protect the person wearing it. Anyway, the villains flee the scene now that Nightwatch has swung the momentum back in the heroes’ favor. Morbius and Nightwatch give chase while Cloak sees to Black Cat’s injuries. Meanwhile, Spider-Man, Captain America, Firestar, Iron Fist, and Deathlok assemble at Avengers headquarters to prepare for their own mission to save the city.
That’s a good spot to end on for the week. We now have all of the players who will be involved in the third and final act of the story. Next week we’ll focus on how this sprawling event finally wraps up.