"Maximum Carnage" is a 14-part comic book crossover published in Marvel Comics' Spider-Man family of titles in 1993. It featured Spider-Man, Venom, and a host of other superheroes teaming up to face Venom's murderous offspring Carnage and his team of supervillains.

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"Maximum Carnage"
Cover of Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage  (2005), trade paperback collected edition
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Publication date	May – August 1993
Genre	Superhero Crossover
Title(s) The Amazing Spider-Man #378-380 Spider-Man #35-37 The Spectacular Spider-Man #201-203 Spider-Man Unlimited #1-2 Web of Spider-Man #101-103
Main character(s)	Spider-Man Venom Carnage Carrion Demogoblin Doppleganger Shriek Cloak and Dagger
Creative team
Writer(s)	Tom DeFalco J.M. DeMatteis Terry Kavanagh David Michelinie
Maximum Carnage	ISBN 0-7851-0987-0

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Since the alien symbiote to which he was bonded was destroyed during his capture,^[1] Cletus Kasady is presumed powerless and jailed at Ravencroft Asylum. However, the symbiote mutated his blood before its destruction, enabling Kasady to generate a copy of the symbiote and break out. During his escape, Kasady—again calling himself Carnage—frees fellow inmate Shriek.

Over the course of their ensuing killing spree through New York City, they recruit Doppelganger, Demogoblin, and Carrion. Carnage dubs himself their "father", but in fact, they all despise Carnage and stay with the group out of devotion to Shriek. As the death toll increases, Spider-Man, Venom, Captain America, the Black Cat, Nightwatch, Cloak and Dagger, Iron Fist, Deathlok, Morbius the Living Vampire, and Firestar all join the cause of stopping them, but the heroes are polarized between Venom's desire to stop Carnage at all costs and Spider-Man's refusal to use violent methods, and Spider-Man ultimately abandons Venom to Carnage's mercies. In addition, Shriek uses her psychic powers to turn the populace of New York City into a bloodthirsty rabble, allowing the killers to continue their rampage with impunity.

Carnage finally turns on the rest of his gang, and, in the ensuing battle, Shriek is distracted from using her psychic power. Taking advantage of the lull, the heroes acquire a device from Rand Corporation which projects feelings of love and hopes into the villains, overwhelming them. Carnage flees, faking his death by covering a victim in a mock symbiote costume, and the others are captured. Once the heroes are dispersed, Carnage ambushes Venom. The device has left Carnage frantic and confused, and Venom pounds him relentlessly before tackling him into an electrical generator. Carnage is knocked senseless and left to be incarcerated.