Carnivac

Carnivac is the name of a fictional character in the Transformers universes.

Transformers: Generation 1

He is a Pretender Beast who transforms into a mechanical wolf and can don a wolf Pretender shell. He is a Decepticon but joined the Autobots in the Marvel U.K. comics.

Marvel Comics

Carnivac's debut was in the "Time Wars" story, alongside his comrade Catilla. He was presented as a mad dog warrior who enjoyed having a good fight, but with a code of honour underneath. He also has a darker side - when seeking vengeance, he proves relentless and quite vicious.

Introduced as leader of the Mayhem Attack Squad, the Decepticon equivalent of the Wreckers, he teamed up with Springer to take down Galvatron and end the Time Storm threatening the universe. Unknown to the Autobots, he had orders to kill any Wreckers still standing after the battle. The battle went extremely poorly - Galvatron turned out to be teamed up with Megatron, and together most of the combined Wreckers-Mayhems were killed. Because of how he and Springer worked together against such high odds, he found himself unable to kill his counterpart and instead saved his life.

His next appearance was the reprint of Marvel US #51's "The Machine In The Man". Decepticon leader Scorponok hired Carnivac, alongside another Decepticon called Snarler, to hunt down and kill Spike Witwicky; to assist them, he gave them (and Catilla) Pretender shells. While the mission failed, they got to keep the shells.

Aside from that one job, Carnivac and Catilla were isolated on Earth from the rest of the Decepticons as a result of his failure in the Time War. Realising the surviving Wreckers felt in a similar situation, he met up with them and proposed they form their own rogue group of Survivors. Snarler, having followed him, made it clear that if Carnivac & Catilla joined with Springer, they would be considered traitors to the Decepticons and would be hunted down; they went on to ignore this and helped the surviving Wreckers against Limbo demons. Following this and the retrieval of Skids, the "Survivors" was formed.

In a run of stories during the "Earthforce" period of Marvel UK, Carnivac & Catilla were marked for death by a new incarnation of Mayhems under Bludgeon. Carnivac had become tired of the Survivors only doing small time lifesaving instead of getting to have a proper fight, and he stormed off in a huff. This made him isolated and vulnerable to a full Mayhem attack, and he was hunted down across the Mexican desert to the point of near death and only escaped at one point by letting the Mayhems be distracted killing human soldiers. Finally deciding to stop running and fight rather than let other humans be killed, he was saved by the arrival of his comrades - but Bludgeon was able to kill Catilla, causing Carnivac to swear vengeance.

Many issues later, the "Cry Wolf/Wolf In The Fold/Where Wolf?" 3-parter saw Carnivac tracking the Mayhems down to their base. Using a combination of stealth, cunning and heavy violence, he killed Snarler, Needlenose and Spinister. When the Autobots arrived, he got them to arrest and lock up Bludgeon, Octopunch & Strangehold instead of killing them, as he felt that denying them a warrior's death in battle and humiliating them with captivity would be nastier than killing them. Despite declaring himself still a Decepticon at heart, he joined the Autobot's Earthforce along with the rest of the Survivors.

Issue #279 of the Marvel U.K. Transformers comic featured a story called "Divide and Conquer!" where Soundwave led the bulk of the Decepticon forces on Earth against the Autobot Earthforce headquarters while Starscream attacked an oil tanker. Sent into battle by Prowl, the Dinobots routed the main Decepticon forces while Springer led the Autobot Survivors Inferno, Skids, and Carnivac to defeat Starscream.

Dreamwave Productions

In Dreamwave's reimagining of the Transformers universe pre-Pretender Carnivac appeared in the "" series as a member of Starscream's Predacons faction. He was part of the party under Starscream who lost a shipment of Energon to Grimlock's Lightning Strike Coalition in the first issue of the second "" series, and appeared again attacking the peace conference between the Autobots, Decepticons and Ultracons in the third series.