The following contains spoilers for Carnage #14, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
After separating from Carnage and embarking upon life as a new breed of symbiote (thanks to Iron Man's Extrembiote armor), it wasn't long before Cletus Kasady began discovering all the astonishing new powers at his disposal. Now, he has even begun distributing those powers among his hapless followers who are even less likely of fully understanding the full scope of their new powers. Thankfully, there is one man who knows exactly what every single piece of old Iron Man tech is capable of, and he is setting out to personally tear each one of them to pieces.
While New York City is caught in Cletus Kasady's blood-curdling grasp in Carnage #14 (by Alex Paknadel, Fran Galán, Federico Sabbatini, Erick Arciniega, and VC's Joe Sabino), the serial killer symbiote himself has embarked on a mission of spreading his message far and wide. To do so, Cletus has extended the reach granted to him by his near-total takeover of Stark Unlimited's vast resources and used it to begin amassing his own army of superpowered followers. Unfortunately, trying to put Tony Stark's creations to such vile use has only brought Cletus the attention of the man himself, and Iron Man might just be the one hero he has no chance of defeating.
Carnage is Iron Man's New Worst Enemy
Tony Stark and Cletus Kasady might not seem like an obvious choice of enemies, but their pairing has been in the works for years. In fact, it was Stark who first combined the powers of his technology with the Klyntar symbiotes. During Knull's invasion of Earth, Tony used a suit of Extremis armor to absorb and rewrite the genetic code of one of Knull's symbiote dragons, giving rise to the Extrembiote armor that Cletus used to expel the Carnage symbiote after stealing it for himself. Now that Cletus has gone on to attack the Stark legacy as a whole, Tony simply doesn't have any choice but to put him down firsthand, especially when that fight has come to define him in almost every way.
The idea of Tony Stark's resources and inventions falling into the wrong hands is nothing new. Tony famously spent years fighting against Obadiah Stane and Justin Hammer to keep his legacy from slipping into the wrong hands. Over the course of Jason Aaron's epic run on Avengers, it was revealed that the demon Mephisto's tendrils extended all the way to Tony's father, Howard Stark, whose infernal efforts would be but the latest stain on the Stark name. Even today, the heroic Avenger is locked in a bitter feud with Feilong, whose takeover of Stark Unlimited has set the stage for a new generation of Sentinels to be born. To top it all off, Cletus has now given Tony yet another reason to fight for what is his, and Stark has shown no sign of backing down.
Iron Man Stands a Good Chance of Defeating Cletus Kasady
When Cletus suffered a massive electric shock at the hands of Miles Morales, it very nearly destroyed the arc reactor that powers the Extrembiote suit that has joined with his body. It also revealed Cletus' inability to understand exactly what his body is now composed of, let alone the technology behind it or the nuances of its inner workings. In plumbing those depths, Cletus has grown stronger, but he has also shown an unwillingness to put any real effort into learning more about his new form and abilities. Tony, on the other hand, is acutely aware of the threat Cletus' poses, and presumably how to end it.
Cletus may have Stark tech supercharging him, but Tony has the knowledge to pick apart nearly everything that makes the former host of Carnage so powerful. As long as Cletus and his followers are using Stark tech, it is only a matter of time before Iron Man comes to show them exactly how it works - and how it can be soundly defeated.