Deadpool vs Carnage # 4

By Mark Rodriguez

Carnage went on a killing spree and Deadpool decided he's crazy enough to take him down. After facing off several times, the battle led both of them to a military base designed to take down symbiotes. Carnage sliced and diced Deadpool into pieces and left him for dead. Unbeknownst to him, several symbiotes have attached themselves to Deadpool and have brought him back....

 The issue opens in the Carrington Cottage Psychiatric Hospital as Carnage is questioning several of the doctors there, and killing them when he doesn't like the answers. Deadpool's words of 'following the signs' are getting to him and he hates knowing some force is out there controlling him since he's all about chaos. Just then he gets sniped, as half his face is blown off by a shot coming from the window. Shriek tends to him as they both realize that Deadpool is alivee and still out there. 

Deadpool is hiding on a tree branch outside and sends Lasher, a symbiote dog to attack Carnage. Then Cletus gets blindsided as Deadpool attacks him with super speed thanks to one of the symbiotes called Riot. Agony gives Deadpool enough strength to dish out the pain. 

The dog attacks Shriek and she blasts it down. The dog turns into Carnage, bleeding to death and asking her why she did it. The real Carnage tells her that it's a fake, but Shriek is too freaked out and runs off. The dog turns into Deadpool that brags about his new symbiote powers and gets ready to continue the fight.

 Deadpool shoots Carnage down with multiple guns and then tases him. He then flings him into a wall. As they fight it out, the Merc with the Mouth asks Cletus what brought him to that place. Carnage hacks him up saying that he's out to prove him wrong and that nothing is controlling him. Deadpool says they're alike and both have angels and devils on their shoulders, then his intestines lash out and stab Carnage in the face.  

Carnage says they're nothing unlike and slashes Deadpool on the side. Deadpool recovers and notices that Carnage is gone. He decides to go hunting for him and runs into Shriek.

Carnage walks around, looking for Shriek and starts to think that Deadpool might be right about a greater power trying to control him. He figures even if it's true, he doesn't have to listen. As he walks, he sees several patients mumbling to 'not to kill the scary lady'. Carnage sees this as more signs and ignores it. He then finds Deadpool and slashes him from behind. He then realizes that it was Shriek, covered up to look like Deadpool. Carnage starts freaking out saying that if he'd listen to the signs, he would have known, but he's still determined to be his own man.

 Carnage is later seen sitting in a cell in an asylum. The cops say he walked in and put himself into the cell himself. It's not even locked, he's staying there of his own will. Carnage says he'll sit in his cell until he's his own man again and then go out to get payback on Deadpool. 

Deadpool says goodbye to the dog, who keeps all of the symbiote powers. He brags about taking Carnage down and considers himself the Dr. Phil of the super powered lunatic world... And asks who's next.

My Opinions-

Leave it to Deadpool to drive Carnage um.. even crazier. Carnage literally is all about chaos. He just lives to kill at random with no set goal or plan, other than of course killing Spider-Man, Venom or whoever else is messing with him. In the Maximum Carnage storyline he got mad at one of his men for asking him 'what's the plan'. And even though inter-company crossovers don't count, in a Batman/Spider-man crossover, Carnage was happy to team up with the Joker... until he found out that the Clown Prince of Crime relied on over-elaborate super villain plans. So to have Deadpool come along and show off that maybe his actions weren't as random and chaotic as he thought they were just made him snap. 

And wouldn't you know it? He actually does care about Shriek, even though I wouldn't be surprised if he threatened to kill her a few times during the relationship. Being tricked into nearly killing her also made him snap and admit defeat.

It is funny how Deadpool had to trick Carnage into snapping and admitting defeat. Honestly it's a fight that will never end, but it does look like eventually Carnage would have been the winner. Based on how Cletus left him in pieces in the last issue, it does look like Deadpool would have remained just lying their in pieces, helpless unless however long it would have taken to regrow those limbs the hard way. Those symbiotes really did him a solid in putting back into the game a lot sooner.

Speaking of which, the symbiotes seem to be the same ones that Venom faced in his first mini series several years go, Lethal Protector. Out of all them, of course, Riot is probably the most popular currently since he was the main villain of the recent Venom movie.

Overall a great story and full of good bloody gory fights you'd expect from the two, and interesting character moments. But man, I lost track of how many times Carnage spilled Deadpool's intestines all over the place. LOL