Written by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman, Absolute Carnage is an event taking place in the Marvel Universe, and more precisely in the Venom continuity (go to Donny Cates’s Venom Reading Order).
The story is set around Cletus Kasady’s return as Carnage. After being resurrected by a cult dedicated to the worship of the god Knull and being bonded to the deific primordial Grendel symbiote, he makes his come back to New York in order to collect codices, traces left inside those who wore a symbiote, even once – and that’s a lot of potential victims, even for him!
Naturally, Kasady’s new reign of terror spells misery for Spider-Man and Venom – but the devastation is felt by Miles Morales, the Avengers, Deadpool, Ghost Rider, the Immortal Hulk, and more! But what is Kasady’s horrific endgame? Experience a new level of crazy as Carnage runs wild!
Venom and Spider-Man (Spidey’s Reading Order) must team up to stop him, but they will need even more firepower to achieve that. The heroes of New York City have to join the fight.
What to read before Absolute Carnage?
To understand the Knull mythology used to explain Cletus Kasady’s actions, you need to go back to the beginning of Donny Cates’ run on Venom—and read the first two TPBs collecting 12 issues.
- Venom by Donny Cates Vol. 1: Rex
Collects Venom (2018) #1-6. - Venom by Donny Cates Vol. 2: The Abyss
Collects Venom (2018) #7-12. - and Venom (2018) #16 (see the next section to know where to find it collected).
After that, as a prelude to the Absolute Carnage Event, Marvel published a series of one-shots under the banner “Web of Venom”, that you can find in :
- Venom Unleashed Vol. 1
Collects Web of Venom: Ve’Nam #1, Web of Venom: Carnage Born #1, Web of Venom: Venom Unleashed #1, Web of Venom: Funeral Pyre #1.
Absolute Carnage Reading Order:
Absolute Carnage Reading Order by Collected Editions:
You can find all of the issues of this event in one big and beautiful omnibus Edition:
- Absolute Carnage Omnibus
Collects Absolute Carnage #1-5, Absolute Carnage Vs. Deadpool #1-3, Absolute Carnage: Captain Marvel #1, Absolute Carnage: Immortal Hulk #1, Absolute Carnage: Symbiote Spider-Man #1, Absolute Carnage: Symbiote Of Vengeance #1, Absolute Carnage: Lethal Protectors #1-3, Absolute Carnage: Avengers #1, Absolute Carnage: Miles Morales #1-3, Absolute Carnage: Weapon Plus #1, Absolute Carnage: Scream #1-3, Absolute Carnage: Separation Anxiety #1, Amazing Spider-Man #29-31, Venom #16-20, And Absolute Carnage Stinger Pages.
But also in a series of TPBs, as follows:
- Absolute Carnage
Collects Absolute Carnage 1-5. - Venom by Donny Cates: Absolute Carnage
Collects Venom (2018) #16-20 - Absolute Carnage: Scream
Collects Absolute Carnage: Scream #1-3, Absolute Carnage: Separation Anxiety #1. - Absolute Carnage vs. Deadpool
Collects Absolute Carnage Vs. Deadpool #1-3, Absolute Carnage: Captain Marvel #1, Ravencroft stinger pages from Captain Marvel #8, Amazing Spider-Man #24, Deadpool #14, Black Cat #2. - Absolute Carnage: Miles Morales
Collects Absolute Carnage: Miles Morales #1-3, Absolute Carnage: Weapon Plus #1. - Absolute Carnage: Immortal Hulk and Other Tales
Collects Absolute Carnage: Immortal Hulk #1, Absolute Carnage: Symbiote Spider-Man #1, Absolute Carnage: Symbiote of Vengeance #1, stinger pages from Symbiote Spider-Man #3, Immortal Hulk #20.
Absolute Carnage Reading Order Issue by Issue:
The must-read issues are the ones from the Absolute Carnage series and the Venom regular series.
- Absolute Carnage #1
- Absolute Carnage: Ghost Rider #1
- Absolute Carnage: Symbiote Spider-Man #1
- Absolute Carnage: Separation Anxiety #1
- Absolute Carnage: Scream #1-3
- Absolute Carnage vs. Deadpool #1-3
- Venom #17
- Absolute Carnage #2
- Absolute Carnage: Miles Morales #1-2
- Absolute Carnage: Lethal Protectors #1-3
- Absolute Carnage: Avengers #1
- Venom #18
- Venom #19
- Absolute Carnage #3
- Absolute Carnage: Miles Morales #3
- Absolute Carnage: Immortal Hulk #1
- Absolute Carnage #4
- Absolute Carnage: Weapon Plus #1
- Absolute Carnage: Captain Marvel #1
- The Amazing Spider-Man #30-31
- Absolute Carnage #5
- Venom #20
After Absolute Carnage
When everything ended, the aftermath of the Absolute Carnage event was addressed in Venom #21-25 (Venom by Donny Cates Vol. 4: Venom Island), and in Web of Venom: The Good Son #1. New series emerged:
- Ruins of Ravencroft (Ruins Of Ravencroft: Carnage #1, Ruins Of Ravencroft: Dracula #1, Ruins Of Ravencroft: Sabretooth #1)
- Ravencroft (Collects Ravencroft #1-5)
- Scream: Curse of Carnage (Collects Scream: Curse Of Carnage #1-5)
The real follow-up is The King in Black (Reading Order), a 2020 crossover that takes up the story of Knull.
Thanks for posting this. I would have been totally lost without it.
I don’t think this is right, Deadpool #1 references events from lethal protectors
so would you put lethal protectors before deadpool?
you got some stuff wrong in the reading order. for background info, you need to read the donny cates venom run until issue 16, as that is when eddie brock learns cletus has been revived. this is important because absolute carnage opens to eddie brock talking about this
You are right, issue 16 is part of the event. In fact, it is collected in the “Absolute Carnage Omnibus” and TPB “Venom by Donny Cates: Absolute Carnage.” That said, I didn’t list it in the issue-by-issue reading order of the event because it is a prelude. And as #13-15 are not from Cates (and are part of the War of Realms event), I inadvertently skip it in the what to read section. Sorry for the confusion about that issue.
Ngl good event better then most marvel events that year