Carrion (comics)

Superherobox|

caption=Art by Keith Pollard.
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Carrion
real_name=- Miles Warren (clone of)
- Malcolm McBride
- William Allen
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut=(Warren)
"Spectacular Spider-Man" #25 (Dec 1978)
(McBride)
"Spectacular Spider-Man" #149 (Apr 1989)
(Allen)
"Spider-Man: Dead Man's Hand"
creators=Bill Mantlo
Jim Mooney
Frank Springer
alliances=(Allen)S.H.I.E.L.D.
aliases= (McBride):Miles Warren
powers=Telepathy
Levitation
Density control
Ability to disintegrate organic matter at a touch|

Carrion is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in the Marvel Comics universe, in which he is an enemy of Spider-Man. He first appeared in "Spectacular Spider-Man" (volume 1) #25.

Carrion emerged as part of a storyline that was a sequel to the original Clone Saga and as a result has one of the most complicated histories of any Spider-Man villain that has been retconned several times as successive writers changed the status of the various clones, the plans and motivations of Professor Miles Warren and other aspects from the stories. Often these changes took place in stories which did not directly involve Carrion, resulting in further stories trying to tie up gaps. No less than three separate incarnations have been encountered.

Fictional character biography

Miles Warren clone

The original Carrion first appeared seeking to destroy Spider-Man, somehow knowing that his secret identity was Peter Parker. He unsuccessfully approached the Maggia with a plan to kill Spider-Man. ["Spectacular Spider-Man" #25] He attacked Peter Parker, blaming him for the death of Gwen Stacy. ["Spectacular Spider-Man" #28-29]

Carrion sought to destroy Parker/Spider-Man several times before capturing Spider-Man and revealing to him that he was a decayed clone of Professor Miles Warren, also known as the Jackal. ["Spectacular Spider-Man" #30] Warren had created the clone and left it in a capsule to mature to full development; however Warren had then (seemingly) died and the clone was left developing in the capsule with artificially accelerated age. Something went wrong and the clone's body became like a living corpse. As Warren's clone, Carrion blamed Spider-Man for the deaths of both Warren and Gwen Stacy and sought to bring him to justice. Carrion captured Peter Parker and prepared to kill him with a giant "Spider-Amoeba" created by cloning cells from Parker. However Parker freed himself and became Spider-Man. In the subsequent fight a fire consumed the laboratory whilst the amoeba latched onto Carrion. The Spider-Amoeba suffocated Carrion, smothering him to death, and then unable to escape it perished in the fire. ["Spectacular Spider-Man" #31]

Malcolm McBride

Many years later Spider-Man learned from the High Evolutionary that Warren had not achieved cloning but had instead created a genetic virus that could transform existing human beings into seemingly genetic duplicates of them. This left Spider-Man wondering "What about Carrion?" As Peter Parker he searched Miles Warren's old lab and found a journal which seemingly answered many questions, though many years later the Evolutionary would shed further doubt on this. Parker was followed by his university research student rival Malcolm McBride who discovered a test tube containing a strange substance. When examining it, McBride discovered it was an advanced genetic creation that when exposed to air grew rapidly and consumed him, turning him into a second incarnation of Carrion, complete with all the knowledge and powers that the original had displayed. The new Carrion attacked Spider-Man, picking up his predecessor's cause. ["Spectacular Spider-Man" #149]

Initially this Carrion believed himself to be another clone of Warren but slowly found McBride's memories and personality trying to reassert itself. Carrion would fight against Spider-Man on several occasions. Carrion joined forces with the Hobgoblin against Spider-Man, and apparently sacrificed himself to save the mother of Malcolm McBride. ["Spectacular Spider-Man" #162-163] Carrion turned up alive again, and teamed up with Carnage, Doppelganger, Demogoblin and Shriek on the killing spree "Maximum Carnage" across New York City. The mentally unstable Shriek started looking upon Carrion and the others as hers and Carnage's "sons". The villains were defeated and confined to the Ravencroft mental institution. Later Shriek escaped and freed Carrion. She tried to dominate Carrion even further and encouraged him to destroy all aspects of McBride's life. However when they confronted Spider-Man in the McBride household, McBride's mother was able to reach her son's true identity. Mrs. McBride and Shriek fought over who was the true mother. Malcolm/Carrion was driven to despair by this and tried to turn the Carrion virus upon himself. In a moment of compassion Shriek cured him of the virus. Malcolm McBride returned to Ravencroft.

Later the mysterious Judas Traveller invaded Ravencroft and briefly transformed McBride back into Carrion during an encounter with Spider-Man. However at the end McBride was transformed back by Traveller and all his memories of Peter Parker as Spider-Man were wiped. Subsequently it was revealed that many of the powers displayed by Traveller were actually illusions, so it remains unclear what actually happened.

William Allen

Following the death of the Jackal his corpse was examined by agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Dr. William Allen ignored safety protocols and in the process was infected by a new, stronger version of the Carrion virus, transforming him into the third incarnation of the villain. The most deadly Carrion of all, he exhibited the further ability to use a "zombie plague" to control the minds of others but also found that both Warren and Allen's minds fought for control of the body. As Carrion sought to infect the city with the Red Dust plague, Spider-Man confronted the High Evolutionary who confirmed that he had deliberately sought to distort Warren's achievements by faking the journals and evidence to make it seem that Warren had never achieved true cloning. Spider-Man discovered Warren's old notes which were used to generate a cure, whilst he confronted Carrion. The latter now revealed that the original Carrion had indeed been a clone of Warren, created to incubate a virus to destroy mankind, but that it had been released too early and failed in its mission. Spider-Man subdued the new Carrion who was taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. The High Evolutionary provided data from Warren's journals that could potentially cure him. Carrion has not been seen since.

Powers and abilities

The creature called Carrion is created when a genetic replicator virus derived from the mutated DNA of Professor Miles Warren comes into contact with a human being. The original Carrion had superhuman strength and durability, and could reduce the density of his body to become virtually intangible. He could disintegrate organic matter to ash just by touching it. He also had the powers of telepathy, self-levitation, and telekinesis of organic matter.

Carrion also developed a chemical substance called Red Dust which can either render a victim unconscious, or act as a corrosive acid that can burn through flesh, metal, and other substances. Carrion has access to the scientific equipment used by Miles Warren in his "cloning" experiments.

Malcolm McBride, as Carrion apparently had access to the same set of powers as the original, but had not yet taken the time to explore and hone his powers to the extent of his predecessor. He had not yet demonstrated the ability to become intangible or use telekinesis, and merely has a sense of intuition bordering on telepathy.

References

External links

*http://marvel.com/universe/Carrion_%28Miles_Warren_clone%29
* [http://marvel.com/universe/Carrion Carrion on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki]
* [http://www.spiderfan.org/characters/carrion1.html SpiderFan.org: Carrion I]
* [http://www.spiderfan.org/characters/carrion2.html SpiderFan.org: Carrion II]
*http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix4/carrionwmallen.htm