Spider-Tracer: Carry On Carryin’ On, Carrion!

When someone mentions Miles Warren, or his alter ego, the Jackal, one of the first things people associate with him are clones. And rightfully so! While the subject of this month’s Spider-Tracer has his ties to Warren’s cloning experiments, a series of retcons and retellings have made this character’s history a little tough to follow, which is why we’ll be tackling none other than, you guessed it,  the macabre Carrion!

The first Carrion appeared shortly after the first Clone Saga of the 1970’s in “Spectacular Spider-Man” Vol. 1, #25. Miles Warren had created a clone of himself just before his showdown with Spider-Man at Shea Stadium. Of course, as we later found out, the Warren who went off to battle Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #149 was also a clone. The real Warren had left behind a sinister legacy in his lab: Within a clone casket, a new Warren clone was left trapped, and something went horribly wrong. The clone within the casket began to rot and fester, becoming a living corpse with extra abilities which included levitation, telepathy, density control, and a touch of death. It turns out that this clone was to have incubated for five years before opening and unleashing a virus of Warren’s making, intending to destroy mankind with it. It was during the 90’s Clone Saga that the Jackal (later revealed to be another clone; noticing a pattern yet?) finally unleashed this virus on a small town as a test.

The living corpse of a clone remained concealed in the casket until an undergraduate by the name of Randy Vale discovered Miles Warren’s lab and accidentally released the clone early from its incubation process. Discovering his beloved creator had “died” in his battle with Spider-Man (he was a clone, remember?), the ghastly clone assumed the name Carrion and sought to destroy the Web-Head for not only Warren’s supposed death, but that of Gwen Stacy, as well. In the end, Carrion tried to kill Spider-Man with a spider-amoeba (you read that right) of his own making, but the blob of a creature ended up consuming him instead, thus ending the threat of the first Carrion forever before it, too, was killed in a fire.

Years later, the High Evolutionary, Warren’s mentor in genetics, convinced Spider-Man that his student had never truly cloned anyone, but created a genetic replicator virus. In truth, the High Evolutionary was lying, hoping to discredit Warren and his accomplishments in order to conceal his identity from the rest of mankind. As a result of these lies, Spider-Man came to believe that the original Carrion was a man who’d stumbled into Warren’s lab and became infected with the replicator virus in the form of a booby-trap, which had been programmed by Warren to recreate the original Carrion whom had perished. This virus that had created Carrion again went on to become known as the Carrion Virus. This is where things get confusing, as you can probably tell. When you get right down to it, the Jackal had created two forms of Carrion: Both the original clone of himself whose body had genetically aged until it became a living corpse, and the virus that could infect people, thus creating Carrion anew.

It was the Carrion Virus that had created the second Carrion whose name had formerly been Malcom McBride; his first appearance as Carrion came in “Spectacular Spider-Man” #149. Insanely jealous of Peter Parker, McBride followed Peter to Warren’s lab where he discovered the Carrion Virus.

While studying the virus to see what personal gain could be had from it, he became infected and Carrion lived again. At first, the new Carrion had the memories of the original Carrion until parts of McBride’s personality began to resurface. This new McBride Carrion went on to menace Spider-Man several times, including during a team-up with Carnage during the “Maximum Carnage” story-line.

The Carrion Virus was eventually absorbed from Malcom’s body by Shriek, his surrogate mother from his “Maximum Carnage” days which effectively cured him. It’s believed McBride is still serving out his sentence at Ravencroft due the crimes he committed as Carrion. Shriek later had the Carrion Virus stolen from her by the Jackal clone of the 90’s Clone Saga.

The third Carrion was a SHIELD scientist by the name of William Allen and first appeared in  the one shot issue “Spider-Man: Dead Man’s Hand”. Allen had been studying the Jackal’s body following his plummet from the Daily Bugle building (it was, as I had mentioned during the 90’s Clone Saga, just another clone, of course). This Jackal clone had apparently contained a booby-trap, and during the autopsy, Allen became infected with a new Carrion virus. Allen’s Carrion had the extra power of creating a zombie horde, and thus had a near-mindless grouping of citizens willing to do his bidding. However, there was the drawback of Warren’s voice in Allen’s head which was fighting for control of Allen’s body, promising only to give up vying for control after Allen eliminated Spider-Man; Warren still blamed Spidey for the death of Gwen Stacy, of course.

Years later, after the Jackal returned yet again following the whole Spider-Island affair, he recreated the Carrion virus, only this time, he recreated it in the form of a sentient virus. The virus was able to briefly take over the powerhouse known as Hyperion, however, when it went to try and take over Kaine as the Scarlet Spider, the Other that possessed him at that time stopped the new Carrion virus in its tracks. Aside from possessing people, it can form its own body which resembles previous Carrions, thus making it one of the most powerful Carrions to date, perhaps only rivaled in sheer power by the William Allen version of Carrion. This odd addition to the Carrion legacy first appeared in “Superior Spider-Man Team-Up” #1.

And there you have it, a rundown on one of the more confusing legacies in Spider-Man’s Rogues’ Gallery. Which Carrion was your favorite and why? Be sure to let me know in the comments below.