Who's better: Venom or Carnage?

[Alpha Man]

This thread is not specific to the word "better." That is simply a generalization. You may classify it as "cooler," "stronger," "nastier," "more evil," "more skilled," etc. Or who would beat the other in a fight.

If this thread has already been discussed then the mods can close it down. If that happens, I would like a link to the thread where this was already talked about.

So, who's it gonna be? Venom? Or Carnage?

 

[Stu]

Animation wise? Carnage.

I felt they did a lot better with him than they did with Venom. I think an a Spidey Vs Venom rematch before Carnage turned up would've been a lot better.

I'll spare you my rant about seeing the island fight of Amazing Spidey #316-317 animated.

Plus, Carnage just looked a hell of a lot cooler.

 

[GregX]

Venom is better in just about every way.

 

[Spider-Man]

Venom is better in just about every way.

Agreed! Carnage is a good character but Venom is the better of the two. Venom was a great character until he went "lethal protector" in the comics. I found he was handled better in the cartoon but he was given more time. Carnage did have a great design in the cartoon and it might have been a bit better than the animated Venom.

 

[Xurk]

Since this is in the Marvel Animation forum, I'm assuming it's indeed about the animated versions of the characters.

The first Venom three-parter put down a good characterization of Venom, as well as a great story [especially the parts with Peter wearing the symbiote].
The story with Carnage and the return of Venom wasn't as good, but I still enjoyed it. Seeing Carnage animated was cool at the time, and his design was indeed eye-candy
I know they couldn't use too much violence, and I have respect for the way they still managed to fit Carnage in [hey, he's a huge deranged serial killer: not much Saturday morning cartoon material!], but the energy-draining seemed a bit dumb [maybe that's where Bendis got his "vampiric" powers from ].

Dormammu and Mordo shouldn't have been included, but I liked the way they stuck to Kasady getting the symbiote in jail, although it should have been like in the comics, him finding the offspring in the cell.

Animated, I preferred Venom overall.

 

[RAINMAN]

I think they both are cool. But I`m going whit carnage because hes so bad, venom has to put their difference for spider aside just to fight him.

 

[DarkKnight]

i'm going with carnage on this one, because kletus was a raving psychopath before he got the symbiote, and even worse after he got it. plus he can form objects with his suit and use them as projectiles. venom can't do that.

 

[GregX]

maybe that's where Bendis got his "vampiric" powers from [/size]].

Actually, I haven't read the actual comic, but Bendis wasn't wrong here. After the post Gathering of Five reboot, Venom retook the Carnage symbiote from Kasady, but according to the 2004 Spider-Man guide, Kasady received a second symbiote from another dimension much like his old, except with "vampiric" powers. I don't know what the exact comic where this happened was, but Bendis didn't get it wrong.

 

[Anime]

Yeah but what about when Venom and Spidey had to take on Carnage together?

 

[RAINMAN]

Spider and venom took on carnage in carnage,MAX carnage,planet of the symbites and venom on trail. Kassidy get his new symbites in short live spider books called wepspinners.

 

[Kolbar]

There's always been something about Venom that I didn't like that much. Sure, he's cool as a villain in his first episode but when he becomes a superhero, then he just seems less interesting.

Carnage, on the other hand, is great. I love how he is so unpredictable and you don't know what he's going to do next (well, at least in the comics). In my opinion, Carnage was done much better than Venom in "Spider-Man: TAS." I really don't care for either of them in "Spider-Man: Unlimited."

And Carnage does look a lot cooler too. He just looks so creepy.

 

[Spider-Man]

There's always been something about Venom that I didn't like that much. Sure, he's cool as a villain in his first episode but when he becomes a superhero, then he just seems less interesting.

I think just about every fan will agree with you there. He lost alot of his wedge when they started to change him from villain to anti-hero. While his reason for becoming an anti-hero did seem plausible he was much better as that lunatic stalker making Spider-Man's life a living hell. I think his design still remains a very strong visual.

Marvel has tried to fix him a bit by making him a villain again during the 12-part storyline in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man but his characters has been damaged quite abit over the past few years. I really hope they can straighten him out and really make him a threat again.

The cartoon version of Venom really followed the same path as the comics didn't he? He started out as this great villain but by his last appearance he became more of a reluctant hero. It added some depth to the character but it did lose his edge. I don't really remember Venom or Carnage from Spider-Man Unlimited so I may rewatch those episodes so I can add my comments on that as well.

 

[RAINMAN]

I guess I`m the only one who likes venom playing the roll as anit-hero in the 90`s.

 

[MikeAdams]

I thought Venom was better in both the comics and the animated series. However, I do agree that Venom is a much better villain than anti-hero.

 

[Spider-Man]

I guess I`m the only one who likes venom playing the roll as anit-hero in the 90`s.

Probably. While I did enjoy the fact that Spider-Man and Venom teame dup a few times it was better handled when they teamed up as enemies and not reluctant allies.

His anti-hero role didn't add anything new to the character just water him down. Gone was the interesting villain who stalked Spider-Man's move putting our hero on edge and on constant vigilance. We had no idea how and when Venom would strike. In return we got this boring "anti-hero" who burst onto the scene screaming about "innocents" and how he must protect them. I found that to be quite boring.

 

[cuon]

I think Venom is the better of the 2. I liked venom the most in his earlier appearances, later they started exaggerating the huge mouth, long tongue, and excessive saliva too much for my tastes.

 

[fantastic 7]

I voted for Carnage because he would win in a fight. Carnage is just way more agressive than Venom, although i have to say Venom was a lot cooler and more interesting character.

 

[RAINMAN]

Probably. While I did enjoy the fact that Spider-Man and Venom teame dup a few times it was better handled when they teamed up as enemies and not reluctant allies.

His anti-hero role didn't add anything new to the character just water him down. Gone was the interesting villain who stalked Spider-Man's move putting our hero on edge and on constant vigilance. We had no idea how and when Venom would strike. In return we got this boring "anti-hero" who burst onto the scene screaming about "innocents" and how he must protect them. I found that to be quite boring.

I saw it more like eddie trying to used venom in a postive and helpful way then as the scary monsters he was towards spiderman. But make nomistake,even when they did team up he still hated spiderman. They were even fighting each other during most of MAX CAR sega.

 

[Spider-Man]

I saw it more like eddie trying to used venom in a postive and helpful way then as the scary monsters he was towards spiderman. But make nomistake,even when they did team up he still hated spiderman. They were even fighting each other during most of MAX CAR sega.

But Eddie using Venom in a positive way defeats the purpose of his character. He was created to be a thorn in Spider-Man's side with an advantage over his enemy. He wasn't created to be some lame "lethal protector." We already have enough heroes and anti-heroes. Let's have him return to the frightening villain he used to be.

 

[Stu]

He wasn't created to be some lame "lethal protector." We already have enough heroes and anti-heroes. Let's have him return to the frightening villain he used to be.

That's what I feel too. Venom had a big impact when he first appeared, easily becoming Spider-Man's most popular villain. Why make him a hero? Probably so Marvel could give him his own book (which sucked, if I remember correctly)

Venom works better as a ruthless killer obsessed with Spider-Man. Now, I could see how they had to team up when Carnage first appeared, but the number of times it's happened since is ridicolous (and yeah, most of them sucked too.) The original Carnage story was excellent, and they've yet to have a Carnage apperance that tops it.

I've never understood Venom's morals. He's killed before, often over stupid reasons. Why does he live by this moral code?

To get back on topic, I think they did a lot better job with Carnage on the show. He was arguably one of the shows better villains, it's a shame he had the utterly lame Dormammu and Mordo dragging him down.

However, the most interesting character in the symbiote was probably Spider-Man himself.