Deadpool vs. Carnage #4
Carnage has had his entire world view thrown into question when Deadpool has proven able to see patterns in his seemingly random murder sprees. To get to the bottom of this, Carnage and Shriek have broken into the Carrington Cottage Psychiatric Hospital. There he questions the psychologists to find out if there is such a thing as chaos or if he is just a puppet. When each doctor is unable to give a satisfactory answer he kills them.
That’s when a sniper shot rings out and strikes Carnage right in the head. He survives, and immediately knows that somehow Deadpool is still alive and found him again.
Carnage had previously chopped Deadpool up into pieces in the Mercury Team’s headquarters. However, the Merc With a Mouth was put back together by the symbiotes that the Special Ops unit used to augment their abilities. Deadpool sends in the Lasher symbiote, which has taken on the form of a war dog. As Carnage gets back up he tells Deadpool to come and take him on face-to-face. He is surprised to see another symbiote when Lasher comes crashing in through the window. Deadpool then comes rushing in and attacks Deadpool at super-speed. Shirek is distracted by Lasher but after she blasts the dog she is shocked to see what appears to be two Carnages in the room. Both insist they are the real Carnage and to blast the other. Unfortunately, Shriek can’t bring herself to hurt the real Carnage and runs away.
That’s when Deadpool drops his disguise and the two begin trading blows. Deadpool keeps insisting that crazy can talk to crazy and that’s how he will always find him, because they are connected through their mutual insanity. Carnage refuses to believe this and eventually disembowels Deadpool. He then takes off while the mercenary is tucking his guts back into his body. Deadpool manages to find Shriek and ambushes her. Her screams are heard all over the facility.
Carnage meanwhile is looking for Deadpool and continuing to try and convince himself that chaos is real. He finds what he thinks is Deadpool but after attacking, it turns out it was actually Shriek sheathed in the symbiotes that are helping Deadpool. Horrified by what he had done, because the symbiotes tried to warn him and he attacked anyway. This once again makes him doubt his chaotic lifestyle and surprisingly he calls the authorities and locks himself in his own cell. Shriek is taken off to the hospital and the authorities can’t make any sense as to why Carnage just gave up and committed himself. Carnage mutters to himself that he is going to stay in his cell until he feels like he’s his own man again and then he is going to track down Deadpool and make him pay.
Meanwhile, Deadpool thanks Lasher — Mercury Team’s dog and lone survivor — for his help.[1] He has left the symbiotes with the dog and tells it to go back to its government masters since they will be better able to look after him. Heading for home, Deadpool is proud that he managed to break someone as psychotic as Carnage. Considering himself a psychologist for the super-powered lunatic set, Deadpool then starts thinking about who to go after next.
Recurring Characters
Deadpool, Carnage, Shriek, Lasher, Phage, Riot, Agony
Continuity Notes
Mercury Team was a Special Forces unit that used symbiotes to augment their abilities. They were killed by Carnage last issue, leaving only their faithful dog and symbiotes behind. For more on Mercury Team see Carnage USA #1-5.
Topical References
Deadpool specifically refers to himself as the Dr. Phil of the super-powered lunatic set. Phil is a television personality who was made popular on the Oprah Winfrey Show in the 90s. He started his own show, Dr. Phil in 2002. He is a “psychologist” in that he holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, but he hasn’t renewed his license to practice in 2006. On his TV show he usually shills the books and treatments of other psychologists and I’d personally call his work dubious at best. Anyway, he’s a real-world person hence why this is a topical reference because he’ll eventually retire his show and we’ll never have to see him again and he’ll fade into obscurity where he belongs.
