The Marvel universe is full of symbiote offspring of Venom and Carnage, including one known as Phage. There have been numerous events involving these symbiotes, including Absolute Carnage, the recent King in Black event, and the most recent Extreme Carnage. With so many appearances and different symbiotes, it is easy to lose track of them.
Phage is one of Venom’s numerous children, alongside Lasher, Agony, Scream, and Riot. These five came after Carnage, Venom’s first son. They were created by the Life Foundation – a survivalist society that tried to develop numerous survival communities and developments for the super-rich. Spider-Man faced off against the organization multiple times. Due to their creation by the Life Foundation, this particular group has come to be referred to as the Life Foundation symbiotes.
Early Appearances
First appearing in Venom: Lethal Protector #4 in 1993 alongside his siblings, Phage has since appeared a few more times with the group. He is orange, though in the older issues he appears in, he seems yellow. Carl Mach is Phage’s first host, though often he and the other Life Foundation symbiotes have been pulled together as a collective with different hosts.
The Life Foundation captures Eddie Brock and forcefully separates him from a portion of his other to create its own symbiote group, after seeing how Carnage was created. The first five hosts, including Carl Mach, are volunteers for the project. Early on they fight with Venom before eventually seeking him out to learn how to understand their symbiote partners in Venom: Separation Anxiety (1994). The Life Foundation symbiotes are eventually imprisoned for study, with their hosts – including Carl – dead after being murdered by Scream.
Alternate Forms
In later series, beginning with Venom: Along Came a Spider (1996), Phage and his four siblings merge into a single host – Scott Washington. This amalgamation goes by the name of Hybrid. Scott is later killed by Eddie Brock and each of the four Life Foundation symbiotes are separated once more. At this point, none of these symbiotes were officially named. They were distinguished predominantly by their coloration and hosts – though they aren’t shown in human form very much compared to Marvel’s more popular symbiotes, Carnage and Venom.
Phage and his siblings were officially given names in Carnage, U.S.A (2011). Within this series, he becomes a bio-weapon. He is assigned to Lieutenant Rico Axelson, who is a sniper on a special team designed to take out Carnage. When in symbiote form, Phage is similar to Carnage in ability, though he is less popular and murderous than his brother. He is an excellent pairing for a sniper because he enhances sensory awareness. He also has a healing factor, the same strength and speed boosts as other symbiotes, and the ability to camouflage. Like Carnage he can morph his own body into sharp weapons.
Current Whereabouts
Phage is part of a Hybrid collective following Carnage U.S.A. He eventually uses Deadpool as a hybrid host with his siblings, before re-merging with the dog who hosted Lasher. He then takes over a Coloradan family that travels to New York to join up with Knull – the god of the symbiotes. Phage later appears within King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes #1 which shows him as a Hybrid collective once more, targeting Dylan Brock and Normie Osborn. This version does not include Scream – who forcefully attacks her siblings, temporarily eliminating them as a threat though all four escape. Phage most recently returned as part of the July 2021 event Extreme Carnage, where he is seen assisting Carnage as he hunts down his wayward sibling, Scream in his own independent tie-in issue, Extreme Carnage: Phage #1.
