Issue 1: Not an Ordinary Villain
-Night time, in the middle of an unknown patch of woods-
In the middle of the deep woods, a bull elk wandered around looking for a good patch of grass to eat free of potential predators. The moon—which was at half phase—shown overhead in a starless sky, marred black by centuries of light pollution.
"That's it big guy, get right in between my crosshairs." A voice whispered from a tree as a male figure in white camo cargo pants, a grey tank top, a white camo jacket, and grey combat boots held a rifle up to his face as he laid on one of the tree branches in a sniper's sprawl.
As the elk found a good patch of grass, the figure—the dark obscured his age—readied himself to pull the trigger. Though as this happened, a comet streaked across the night sky, before suddenly changing directions. Like all objects crash landing, it made landfall with a resounding boom, scaring the elk off.
"Shit!" The hunter cursed as his quarry got away, sliding down the tree he decided to investigate the crash by following the smoke trail, and found an asteroid the size of a bowling ball sitting in a sizable crater. "This is what scared my kill off? Are you fucking kidding me?!" He shouted in frustration.
He then took out a hammer, wanting to take his frustrations out on the rock by seeing what was inside it. Though as he chipped away at the rock's surface, he accidentally cut himself on his pickaxe, and out of frustration, hit the space stone hard enough to make it split in half.
This revealed something fascinating: the asteroid was hollow.
"Well… That's new." He noted, still frustrated but was slightly intrigued. After not finding anything interesting inside the rock, he decided to leave the woods for the night.
Though as he examined the hollow piece of space debris, something oozed out of it and slipped into the cut that was on his hand without him knowing.
(Later)
The man sighed as he entered his two story home, putting his hunting gear away and preparing some tea to calm his nerves. As he washed his face at the kitchen sink, his face was reflected in the window, revealing that he had auburn colored hair, yellow eyes, and a face covered in freckles and over such blemishes common in redheads. Though most notably, was a crescent moon shaped scar on the back of his neck
This was Cain Eden, age 18, and he lived on his own inside a small house just outside the city, allowing him seclusion and free from being pestered by annoying other teens or the weekly super villain attack.
He had a… dark side to himself: he loves killing. He doesn't want to hurt anybody, so he keeps that side of him in check via hunting. He never understood why this was, it just happened. But he had plenty of friends and his parents were alright so he had no reason to complain.
But still, it was a rough spot to be sure. As he sat down with his glass of Prince of Wales Tea, he started drinking it as he watched a news report on the Guardians of the Globe defeating the Mauler Twins.
"They tried to off the President? Even a two year old could see how much of a failure that would turn out to be." Cain scoffed. "Though it's to be expected, how many times was that this year? A dozen?" He thought aloud before he noticed that his hand was healed. Completely, in fact, not so much as a scar on it.
"You're welcome." A dark voice spoke up, causing the man to jump in surprise.
"W-who's there?! Who said that?!" He shouted as he looked around frantically.
"I did." The voice responded again.
"Where?!" Cain said, looking around more, getting an aggravated sigh from the disembodied voice.
"In your head." The voice clarified before a mass of red and black tendrils came from the man's body and formed a face with jagged white lenses for eyes and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.
"What the hell are you, man?" The boy gasped.
"I am Carnage. And you are mine." It said, sounding almost like him to an extent.
"Wh-what?! What's going on?!" Cain exclaimed, close to freaking out.
"You want to kill, right? I can help you with that. If you want." The creature told him, catching him off guard. How did it know that?!
"H-how…?" Cain uttered with wide eyes.
"I am a part of you. And as for how, we target the most dangerous game: other humans." The creature stated with a bloodthirsty grin.
"I don't kill people, there are good people here, I don't want to hurt them." The teen retorted.
"Then another option, kill the bad ones. Simple enough, right?" Carnage responded. That caused the boy to pause and think. There were dozens of bad people in the world, that he knew for sure. Murderers, rapists, villains… and the heroes just put them behind bars to keep the cycle going. Something had to be done.
"… Then let's do it." Cain responded as the slime creature grinned wildly. It then started covering the boy as he stood up and was enveloped in a viscous red and black goo.
When it covered him entirely, he looked like he was clad in a skintight bodysuit that showed his physique, his eyes were jagged lenses and his mouth was full of teeth like a shark's, his fingers were also morphed into jagged claws.
All in all, he was unrecognizable.
"Alright." Cain said as he looked at his hands. "Let's go kill some people!" He grinned as he leapt out of his window and started running towards the City.
(The next day)
Meanwhile in the same school that Cain went to, a boy that looked to be of Asian and Caucasian descent was walking down the hall towards his classes with another boy, looking at his phone as he saw reports of several gruesome murders all around town. Each one being committed to convicted criminals and other riff raff, and another similarity was that the places where the bodies (or pieces of bodies) were found had the words "Maximum Carnage" scrawled on the walls in the victim's blood.
"Okay, this is creepy." He said to himself with a shudder.
"Super villains are a dime a dozen these days, haven't seen a serial killer before though." The boy next to him said.
"That's usually a good thing, Will." His friend said.
"Just saying, Mark, it adds variety." Will stated as they got their books.
"So, you guys saw the Carnage murders. Crazy, huh?" A voice said behind them, causing them to turn around and see Cain. However instead of his previous white clothes, it was now all various shades of red, with the only white remaining was a pair of sunglasses with white lenses that rested on his head.
"Uh, yeah. What's up with the wardrobe change, Cain? Seems a bit… loud." Mark commented.
"Let's just say I needed a change." The Hunter shrugged. "Good riddance to all those lowlifes too. If they were just thrown in jail they'd be back on the streets eventually, now they won't get the chance." He added dismissively.
"Dude, that seems kinda heartless." Will remarked.
"Heartless? They're scumbags who prey on the weak. They don't deserve any heart." The host responded. "Better off if they're dea—." He said as he was slammed into the lockers.
"Hey there, Eden." A douche's voice said mockingly.
"Todd, I see you're still scuttling around like a cockroach." Cain said as he looked up at the blonde jock in front of him. "How ya doin' man?" He asked sarcastically.
"I'd be better if you gave me your milk money." The idiot demanded.
"For fucks sake, what? Your mommy didn't wanna spare enough makeup money to buy your own lunch?" The redhead questioned.
"Shut up and hand it over." The bully ordered.
"How about I give you this, instead?" Cain offered as he flipped off Todd.
"You want me to punch your lights out, punk?" Todd questioned. "Just hand over the cash and nobody gets hurt." He pressed, but the freckled boy just smirked.
"Nobody gets hurt?" The boy asked with a laugh as he grabbed the blonde by the collar and pulled him closer. "Man, what fun would that be?" He added before he shoved the bully with his enhanced strength and caused him to slam against the wall with a thud.
"You little bastard!" The moron exclaimed angrily as he got up. "I'm gonna kill you!" He growled.
"And look at how many fucks I give about what you say to me." Cain said as he flipped Todd off again. "Now piss off. I have actual shit to do." He added with a grunt as he walked off.
Will and Mark looked at the boy as he walked away. "Since when was he like that?" Mark questioned in surprise.
"I dunno, it was kinda hot though, not gonna lie." Will noted.
(Later)
Mark walked into his house after a very long day at school involving getting punched by Todd, and saw his parents on the couch, watching a news report on another murder that happened, and this time, the killer was caught on camera.
"What the hell is that thing?" He questioned as an image of Carnage appeared.
"No idea." The boy's father, Nolan, who was in his mid to late fifties with black hair with a bit of grey and a moustache, replied. "He looks pretty dangerous, though." He added.
"A killer who kills villains. What does that make him? An anti hero?" Debbie, his mother asked. She was Asian like him.
"No, Anti heroes don't enjoy the killing they do, I'd say this guy is more of an Anti Villain." The boy said as he opened the refrigerator.
"That does make more sense." The man nodded.
"Speaking of weird, Cain had a wardrobe change today, apparently." Mark said as he pulled out a soda and sat next to them.
"How so?" Debbie asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Switched from white and grey to red and black. Had a complete personality change too, like, his usual 'act like a serial killer to make people leave you alone' schtick but way more over the top." The boy elaborated, stretching his arms for emphasis.
"That much?" Nolan asked with a blink.
"Yeah, he said to Todd when he got shook down and I quote: "Nobody gets hurt? Man what fun would that be?", and shoved him into the wall like he had super strength." His son nodded. "And his reaction to these murders? He was like "Good riddance"." He added.
"Should we be concerned?" Debbie asked in worry.
"Honestly? I don't know." Mark sighed, though his father's expression seemed to darken as he looked back at the TV and Carnage's appearance.
'A Symbiote, on Earth? Those things killed hundreds of Viltrumites and consumed thousands more. This is not good. Not at all.' The man thought as he continued to think.
(Elsewhere)
Carnage narrowed his eyes as he squared off against his newest opponent in the lamp lit streets of the city, said figure standing between him and his latest quarry: a man who had just been harassing and attempting to rape a thirteen year old girl.
And who was this opponent? The leader of the Guardians of the Globe: The Immortal.
'Tch. Looks like we'll be dealing with an idiotic hero tonight, Carnage.' Cain thought to his partner.
"Seems that way." The symbiote nodded.
"You know that guy was raping a teenager just a few minutes ago, right?" The duo questioned.
"I'm aware, doesn't give you the authority to appoint yourself judge, jury and executioner." Immortal stated, fists up.
"And what of his victims who cry out for vengeance? The parents that want actual results?" Carnage retorted.
"Justice is served by the law, not vigilantes with a god complex." The man shot back, knocking the rapist out before he could get away.
"Laws have flaws, man. Can't rely on 'em all." The duo shrugged. "And I'm not a vigilante. Vigilantes are just heroes that people don't want to acknowledge because they're jealous. I—on the other hand—am no hero by any means. I enjoy killing, I have fun doing it. But I'm not really a villain, either." He added. "You see, I was born to be a killer, so I'm using that part of me for a good cause. So I guess you could say that makes me, not an ordinary villain." He continued before he shot tendrils at the hero and slung himself towards him at top speed before he sucker punched Immortal in the jaw and sent him flying.
"Because I—we are carnage incarnate." Cain concluded before he walked over to the criminal as he woke up. "Snack time!" He exclaimed before he shot two tendrils at the man and dug them into his chest as blue energy started flowing from him into Cain. "I hope your life force isn't as worthless as your life!" He laughed.
"No…!" Immortal groaned weakly as he watched the criminal shrivel up like a raisin and die. Carnage grinned as he started laughing.
"There, we've done our job. But we want a bonus!" He grinned as he picked up the guy's corpse and bit his head off, swallowing it whole. "Ah. Delicious." The duo sighed happily before he leapt away as the other guardians arrived, responding to Immortal's distress call.
"Immortal, what happened?!" A fishman asked urgently.
"That serial killer, he just killed that guy after he sucked out his life force and bit his head off." The man said as War Woman and Knightwing helped him up. "He called himself… Carnage." He continued as he wiped some blood from his mouth. "He's strong too." He added.
"Let's get you back to base so you can be patched up. You can tell us everything then." Red Flash told him before the group left.
(The next day)
Cain was sitting on a rooftop the day after his latest kill and was watching the sky, when he saw Omni Man flying towards somewhere in a hurry. Curious, he decided to transform and follow.
"Where is he going in such a hurry?" He wondered aloud as he followed the superhero. After a while, he followed the man into the Guardians of the Globe base… where he got a front row seat to Omni Man brutally murdering the Guardians, much to the boy's shock and anger.
'Well ain't that just a son of a bitch!' Carnage remarked in the boy's head.
"But why?" Cain questioned as he watched Omni Man look like he was about to collapse, in the struggle he had received a serious beating.
"Screw the why, he's clearly evil! If we don't kill him now, who knows what he'll pull!" The symbiote shouted.
"No point. He's about to pass out." Cain sighed as the fake hero slumped to his knees. Jumping down he assumed his Carnage form and walked up to Omni Man and knelt in front of him. "We hope you realize that you just made a big mistake, hero." He said, narrowing his eyes at the man.
"What… are… you… talk… ing… about…?" The 'hero' got out weakly. Carnage then tapped a clawed finger on his forehead.
"You just earned yourself a spot on our list, a list of pure evil people who we'll really enjoy killing." The symbiote replied. "You're a viltrumite, right? Say… How would you feel if we did to what little you care about, what the symbiotes did to the other viltrumites?" He questioned with a sick grin.
"You… wouldn't… dare…!" Omni Man tried to growl.
"Try us, villain." Carnage said before whispering the last part in his ear with a dark chuckle before he knocked the hero out cold with a punch to the face, breaking his nose.
Everything was changing. And only one thing was certain: when it all ended, there was gonna be Carnage.
Dragon Emperor0: And there you have it, our first Invincible story. Gotta say I think an anti villain Carnage was a perfect choice for an MC in this series given how graphic it is with its slaughter scenes.
ThermalsniperN7: Yeah. This should work out just fine. I wonder how Mark's gonna handle the identity reveals of Cain and his dad as the murderer.
Dragon Emperor0: I've seen episode 8 so I know how he takes the latter. No idea about the former, definitely gonna be a spicy issue. Also be on the lookout next chapter for the next character in the story: Beatrice Thurman. Our version of Shriek, Carnage's lover in the comics. To see her and her truly OP powers, be sure to tune in next chapter to: Maximum Carnage Issue 2: Project Silent Siren.
ThermalsniperN7: Until then, see you next time!