Highlights

  • Teases for Marvel's Spider-Man 3 include a potential new protagonist, Silk, and a new villain in the Chameleon, but the most anticipated villain is Carnage, whose identity was revealed in The Flame side quest.
  • The Flame's clues pointing to him being Cletus Kasady include his eventual connection to the symbiote, his violent and chaotic nature, his red hair, his scarring and graphic shirt resembling Carnage's tendrils, and his name-dropping of "carnage."

The wait for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was quite a long one, even with Miles Morales helping to tide fans over between installments. Of course, this is now the status quo for AAA development with games taking upwards of five or more years to ship, meaning that the next Marvel’s Spider-Man game could easily land in 2028, but thankfully studios are also developing multiple games at a time in order to scatter releases sooner—Marvel’s Wolverine, for example. Even though it might be a while until Marvel’s Spider-Man 3, though, the threequel already has a lot of established teases to look forward to.

Teases in the sense that there are loose threads Insomniac can now follow up on in Marvel’s Spider-Man 3, such as a potential new protagonist in Cindy Moon’s Silk or a new villain in Kraven’s half-brother, the Chameleon. However, the most hotly anticipated of any teased villains is undoubtedly Carnage, whose build-up and clues leading up to his reveal in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s The Flame side quest were explicit and unabashed in how direct they were. Therefore, once the Flame appeared for the first time, Carnage fans were left without a shadow of a doubt as to what the Flame’s true identity would turn out to be.

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Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s Carnage Hid in Plain Sight

Every Clue Hinting That The Flame was Cletus Kasady aka Carnage

  • The Flame is introduced in the same game where the symbiote plays a role in the story, meaning the two could feasibly coincide for Cletus to pair with Carnage.
  • The Flame’s penchant for unbridled anarchy and chaos is expressed through violence and murder.
  • The Flame’s red hair, a trademark of Cletus Kasady in the comics.
  • The Flame’s graphic shirt, the most obvious of clues as its design literally illustrates Carnage’s red symbiote tendrils.
  • The Flame name-dropping “carnage.”

If fans are familiar with Carnage’s most popular host at all, the clues were all laid out plainly for them to see in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. It might’ve actually been a boon for Insomniac to have included the Flame’s side quest in the first game instead of in the sequel since fans might not have anticipated the symbiote connection that early on, but because the symbiote plays an integral role that is also a connection that could have been made early. Moreover, it was nice for The Flame side quest to continue Yuri’s story in a meaningful way, although having her suddenly donning a mask and being skilled with a sickle on the end of a chain was a drastic leap.

On a more literal and on-the-nose point, though, the Flame is a serial killer anarchist with red hair—the precise recipe for Cletus Kasady with nobody else coming close to representing that particular depiction. However, what is definitely hyperbolic is the graphic shirt the Flame wears that has a red tendril pattern on it, and the icing on that cake is the Flame saying “carnage” at the end of his questline as if it wasn’t already made evident in his appearance who he was.

Carnage is Now Setup to Be a Terrifying Threat in Marvel’s Spider-Man 3

Because Carnage’s host could have been anyone—Harry was Venom’s host, for instance—Cletus’ identity could’ve been a wonderful reveal if it wasn’t made clear in his character design who he was. The quest itself admittedly doles this information out in a gradual manner that maintains the surprise for a while, but because the Flame is obscured for so long it increases the suspense of who he is and heightens his importance as a result, similar to how Rio teases she’s seeing someone and then he’s not revealed until the game’s post-credits scene.

Even if the Carnage name-drop wasn’t enough, Yuri does mention that Cletus Kasady is one of the Flame’s aliases. Thankfully, this reveal isn’t stifled at all by its obvious clues since the side quest is highly unique and suspenseful, its character development for Yuri is satisfying after seeing her spiral in Marvel’s Spider-Man’s City That Never Sleeps DLC, and Carnage will likely be a horrifying threat for Spider-Man to come up against in a future entry now.