2026 Is Officially The Golden Age For Carnage

Whether or not the blood-red symbiote is bonded with the murderous Cletus Kasady, Carnage is easily one of Spider-Man’s most unhinged and haunting super-villains, relentless in its pursuit of bloodlust. This was emphasized in The Amazing Spider-Man/Venom: Death Spiral, where Carnage abandoned Eddie Brock to bond with Torment, a brand-new serial killer who aimed to complete “spirals” by killing relatives in a particular someone’s family tree before they themselves become the final victim.

However, even in some of the character’s best stories/events, like Maximum Carnage, Carnage, U.S.A., and Absolute Carnage, Carnage has forever basked in the cold darkness of Venom’s shadow. This is especially true of their appearances in video games, where Carnage is typically only around or relevant if Venom is already established and present; this makes sense to a degree, seeing as how Carnage is an offspring of Venom’s, but the more sadistic and bloodthirsty symbiote may finally be receiving its due as early as this year.

Carnage Could Have A Heyday In 2026/2027

It was announced recently at EVO Japan 2026 that Hulk and Black Panther will be on Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls’ base launch roster, joining Captain America and Iron Man as the four-character team Fighting Avengers. In this same trailer, Arc System Works laid bare a tease for the character who will presumably be revealed next, and half of its clues point a finger toward Carnage.

The number “361” is messily scrawled in one corner, potentially referencing Carnage’s first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #361, with Spider-Man’s head scratched at, implying that this character will be on Doctor Doom’s super-villain team and belong to Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery.

Moreover, Marvel Rivals’ in-game lore has teased Carnage quite explicitly by being name-dropped. Plus, leaked voice lines supposedly tease Carnage further, allegedly in relation to Gorr the God Butcher.

Marvel Rivals is barrelling toward MCU and Avengers: Doomsday synergy with Avengers-related events slated until the upcoming movie releases this holiday season, and it is likely that newly released characters between now and then will include ones who will be featured in Avengers: Doomsday. Cyclops is being added in Marvel Rivals Season 8.5, for example, yet Devil Dinosaur launching at the beginning of Season 8 is proof nonetheless that Carnage and plenty of other arbitrary characters could balance the synergy scales.

To be fair, there is no official confirmation that Carnage will be coming to Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls and Marvel Rivals, though it is plain to see how these teases could clearly be preparing fans for momentous reveals. If both games released an iteration of Carnage simultaneously, or had fans highly anticipating Carnage following their respective announcements, it would undoubtedly be one of the most special video game eras for Carnage ever.

Marvel Ensemble Games Are Enjoying A Renaissance

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Venom is a legendary fighting game and ensemble game character, appearing as a playable character in Marvel Super Heroes, copious Marvel vs. Capcom games, Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, Marvel Rivals, Marvel Cosmic Invasion, and so on. Venom’s ubiquitousness almost makes it an inevitability that the Lethal Protector will at least be a post-launch DLC character in Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, and yet that hopefully does not rule out the possibility that Carnage could be a base roster character.

Fighting game and ensemble game rosters grant Marvel an exciting opportunity to showcase lesser-known or underrepresented characters while also obligatorily peppering these games with iconic characters whose appearances are basically guaranteed. Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls would mark the first fighting game role for Cletus Kasady’s Carnage, for instance, and Marvel Rivals is bound to feature more symbiote characters, considering how prominent symbiote lore is in-universe via Venom, Knull, and Klyntar.

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is scheduled to be released for PC and PS5 on August 6, 2026.