Double the Carnage equals double the fun in Marvel's latest What If? Dark one-shot

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

What If? Dark shows twisted versions of classic Marvel characters. But what if the character in question is already totally twisted? Well, in the case of What If? Dark: Carnage, that means doubling up on the sinister symbiote villain.

In the one-shot by legendary writer Larry Hama and fan-favorite artist John McCrae, the Carnage symbiote bonds with the corpse of Cletus Kasady's long dead ancestor Cortland Kasady.

We've got an early look at some unlettered preview pages which also feature Carnage facing off with cosmic threats such as Dormammu and Knull, the King in Black. McCrea and colorist Mike Spicer turn in some totally wild pages with an aesthetic that captures the balance of Carnage's bloodthirsty nature and the skewed style of the What If? Dark series of one-shots.

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"What if…Cortland Kasady became Carnage? Cletus Kasady, the mad man who bonded to Carnage, wasn't the only family member to have a connection with symbiotes," reads Marvel's official description of What If? Dark: Carnage #1. "Cortland Kasady, his long-dead ancestor, rests beneath the Ravencroft Institute For The Criminally Insane! What would happen if the symbiote reanimated the corpse of Cortland Kasady? Is the world big enough for two Kasady Carnages?!"

The Carnage symbiote spawned from the Venom symbiote that's most often been worn by Eddie Brock, bonding with Cletus Kasady while he was Brock's cellmate in prison. Unlike Venom, who often straddles the line of being an anti-hero, Carnage is a bloodthirsty serial killer who wreaked havoc in Spider-Man's life in the classic '90s story Maximum Carnage.

What If? Dark: Carnage goes on sale September 20.

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I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)