Unveiling Knull: The God of the Symbiotes 🕸☠

By Arnold Salazar8 Items

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Unveiling Knull: The God of the Symbiotes 🕸☠

By Arnold Salazar8 Items

Knull (Earth-616)

Child...I am Knull. Lord of the Abyss. God of the symbiotes. The darkness inside of you? That darkness bows to me. I am the Void.

—Knull[src]

Knull was an eldritch god of darkness and the creator of the symbiotes. While residing in the primordial void that existed between the Sixth and Seventh Cosmoses,[19] he was awakened when the Celestials invaded his kingdom of darkness with light. Knull was chosen by the Celestials to serve as the King in Black but he rejected the responsibility.[20] With the first symbiote in the form of a sword, he decapitated one of them and used its severed head's divine power to refine the blade,[12] linking both Knull and the Necrosword to the fallen cosmic god.[21] Waging war against the Light to return the universe to the Void, Knull became a legendary figure of divine terror but eventually found himself stranded on a nameless planet after an inhabitant stole his blade and unwittingly followed in his footsteps. He experimented with his powers and discovered he could bond his living abyss with "lesser creatures" in the form of amorphous parasites that he could control.[12]

Establishing himself as the nexus of the Hive he created, Knull proceeded to conquer worlds and form a fleet of Symbiote Dragons. When two of his dragons arrived on Earth, the young God of Thunder Thor Odinson struck down one of them and severed Knull's connection to all of the other Symbiote Dragons, who dissipated into countless individual symbiotes, while the other would seemingly be killed by Thor in a mid-air battle, its body plummeting to the depths of the North Sea. Merging with the closest hosts they could find, the Hive was now infected with concepts of honor and nobility, so the symbiotes turned on Knull and trapped him at the core of the throneworld, rebranding themselves "Klyntar" out of their word for "cage."[12][22]

Reluctantly freed by Eddie Brock due to the actions of Carnage,[23] Knull would eventually arrive on Earth, came face-to-face with Earth's heroes, and killed Eddie. However, Knull's victory was undermined by many setbacks, such as Eddie's son Dylan Brock, who was born with symbiote powers, and the Valkyries severing Knull's connection to the Headless Celestial.[24][25] Finally, Eddie was revived by the God of Light, which gave Eddie the power to destroy Knull in the core of the Sun.[26]

Contents

History

Origins

Celestials and Knull (Earth-616) from Venom Vol 5 18 001
Attacking a Celestial after they offered him to be King in Black

Knull was an ancient, malevolent deity who purportedly ruled over the Abyss, the existential chasm that existed between the destruction of the Sixth Cosmos and the creation of the Seventh Cosmos.[19] While Knull drew his power from and claimed to be the incarnation of the primordial darkness, it existed long before even him.[14] Originally content to slumber in the Void, Knull was awakened when the Celestials began creating the universe.[12] The Celestials recruited Knull to be the King in Black, a cosmic caretaker for the new universe. However, Knull rejected the King in Black's responsibilities and lashed out.[20] Outraged that his kingdom of darkness was being despoiled, Knull created a sword of living darkness from his newly-cast shadow and decapitated one of them. Cast back into the void by the other Celestials, Knull used the slain Celestial's severed head as a forge to temper his sword in its cosmic energies, thus forging All-Black the Necrosword. Intent on reclaiming his kingdom of darkness, Knull manifested a symbiotic suit of armor from the eldritch darkness he commanded and embarked on a genocidal campaign against the other gods and life itself,[12] becoming a legendary figure of terror for divine beings even billions of years later.[27]

Symbiote Hive

Reign of Terror

Renegade King in Black

Hellbent on returning the cosmos to the Abyss, Knull created an artificial planet from the living darkness he controlled to serve as his throneworld and base of operations.[2] Experimenting with his ability to manifest life out of darkness itself, Knull began using the Exoteric Latitude as a dumping ground for his failed creations, which millennia later became known as the Exolon.[28] Among his early creations were proto-symbiotes such as Mister E - and presumably the other shadow realm entities like Shadow Man and Kaa,[29] as well as a horde of wyvern-like monsters. Establishing himself as the divine nexus of the abyssal entities' hive-mind, Knull sent them forth into the cosmos -- using them to conquer countless planets, devour civilizations and pantheons,[30][31] extinguish stars, and smother entire planets in eldritch darkness. The few gods that Knull spared were forcibly drafted into his army, enslaved to his will and transformed into monsters using the living abyss, placed as sentries to guard the worlds he'd conquered.[32][33]

God-Host of the Symbiote Hive

At some point during Knull's war against the Light, he encountered the time-displaced Silver Surfer when the former Herald of Galactus freed a world from Knull's control using the Power Cosmic.[32] After a brief but intense fight, Knull defeated the Silver Surfer and infected him with living abyss to turn him into the Void Knight. However, the Silver Surfer was freed by Ego the Living Planet, who helped Radd escape when Knull pursued him on a symbiote dragon.[2] Knull hunted the Silver Surfer down and dueled him, intent on reclaiming him for his army. Knull nearly succeeded in doing so, but was defeated when the Silver Surfer expended the last of his Power Cosmic to conjure a star right in front of him, bathing him in stellar plasma and blasting him across the cosmos. This defeat proved temporary, as Knull recovered and resumed his conquest of the cosmos.[34]

Fighting a god empowered by the Enigma Force

At some point afterward, Knull engaged an army of gold-armored gods empowered by the Light in combat and slaughtered all but one of them. Pursuing the survivor, Knull managed to impale him on All-Black but was himself impaled through the head by the enemy god's spear. Knull and the dying god crash-landed on a desolate planet, where All-Black left the incapacitated Knull for one of the indigenous inhabitants, Gorr.[27][14] Despite this setback, Knull chose to not hunt the thief down and reclaim All-Black, though he remained aware of Gorr unwittingly following in his footsteps as the God Butcher.[12] After recovering from his injuries over the course of a century, Knull began experimenting with his powers and discovered that he could manifest amorphous parasites called Symbiotes from the Living Abyss and bond them to lesser lifeforms, corrupting life rather than eradicating it.[9][19][35]

Downfall

Knull's reign of terror came to an end in the sixth century CE, when two symbiote dragons - one black and one red - arrived on Earth and were named the Grendel and Grendel's Mother by the Danes.[31][11] The Grendel's rampage was stopped by Thor, who blasted it with divine lightning and severed Knull's connection to the vast majority of symbiotes. As the symbiotes bonded to benevolent hosts, the hive-mind became tainted with notions of honor and nobility, leading to them rebelling against their god and imprisoning him at the heart of the throneworld, which they renamed Klyntar - their word for "cage". Forming an organization known as the Agents of the Cosmos, the symbiotes of Klyntar subsequently attempted to expunge their dark origins and redeem themselves by acting to protect the cosmos they'd once terrorized.[12][36]

While serving as a herald of Galactus, the Silver Surfer came across Klyntar and was devoured by it, its constituent symbiotes attempting to imprison him alongside Knull at the artificial planet's core. However, the Surfer was able to free himself and escape.[2]

Modern Times

Awakening

Centuries later, the Grendel symbiote dragon was unearthed by S.H.I.E.L.D. and its living abyss was used to create a super-soldier initiative called the Sym-Soldier Program.[37] Using the psychic link between himself and the Grendel, Knull began attempting to assert his influence over its offshoots, causing them to rampage and driving their hosts insane.[38][37]

Knull's avatar confronts Spider-Man and Venom

Decades later, Knull remote-piloted the symbiote dragon and broke it free of containment, reabsorbing four of its five offshoots. Knull sent the Grendel symbiote dragon on a rampage through downtown Manhattan, but it was stopped by the combined efforts of Venom - whose symbiote had been adversely affected by Knull's awakening - and Spider-Man.[39] Using the Grendel to manifest an avatar of his true form, Knull stripped the Venom symbiote from its host and attempted to purge it of the benevolence and compassion it had obtained during its time on Earth; intending to reconnect it to his hive mind and absorb it into the Grendel symbiote to become stronger.[1] When confronted by Eddie Brock, Knull showed him the true origins and history of the symbiotes; mocking him for believing the lies told to the Venom symbiote by the symbiotes and Agents of the Cosmos. Re-forming the Grendel around his avatar, Eddie, and Spider-Man; Knull flew into space and revealed his plan to obtain the missing pieces of the symbiote dragon, use it to free his true body from Klyntar, and resume his conquest of the universe - starting with Earth.[12]

Venom escaped with help from Spider-Man, but Knull chose not to pursue them and instead began hunting for the Tyrannosaurus symbiote - one of the remaining pieces of the Grendel symbiote dragon. When the Tyrannosaurus symbiote bonded to Venom and reconnected to the Hive Mind, Knull attacked using the Grendel symbiote and attempted to devour Venom. When the Grendel was destabilized by sonic grenades, Knull's manifestation engaged Venom in a brutal one-on-one battle, Venom's arsenal of high-tech weapons proving ineffective. Knull stripped Eddie of both symbiotes and began absorbing them, but his gloating was cut short when Eddie detonated the entire arsenal - the blast affecting Knull's real body at the core of Klyntar. Shaken and enraged, Knull coated his manifestation in the Grendel symbiote, but before he could attack the Tyrannosaurus symbiote coiled around his avatar and dragged it into the heart of a blast furnace - telling Venom to hold the door shut. Knull's avatar was subsequently immolated, his connection to the Grendel symbiote seemingly severed and his body remaining sealed at the heart of Klyntar.[10]

Freed by Carnage

A few months after the battle, an Earth-based cult dedicated to worshiping Knull - led by Scorn - obtained a sample of the Grendel symbiote and Cletus Kasady's corpse, intending to turn him into Knull's avatar and facilitate his awakening. When the sample of Grendel symbiote was bonded to Cletus, Knull reanimated and psychically communicated with the serial killer; though the nature of their conversation is unknown. When Knull attempted to seize control of Cletus through the symbiote, Cletus resisted Knull's control and their connection was severed when the Grendel symbiote absorbed the codex - trace remnants of living abyss left in former symbiote hosts - that the Carnage symbiote had left in Scorn's body. Cletus desired to communicate with Knull again and decided to help free him by collecting enough codices to reconnect the Grendel symbiote to the Hive Mind.[8] As his connection to his self-proclaimed apostle grew stronger, Knull began awakening and exerting his influence to corrupt both the symbiotes of Klyntar and those stranded on Earth -- namely the Riot, Agony, Phage, Lasher, and Scream symbiotes.[40][41][42]

Freed from Klyntar

After Dark Carnage was killed by Venom, who absorbed the Dark Carnage symbiote and remaining codices, Knull was reawakened and promptly destroyed Klyntar, coalescing its constituent symbiotes into a fleet of symbiote dragons. Manifesting his suit of draconic armor, Knull was confronted by Zak-Del, an Exolon-infected Kree. Initially bemused by Zak-Del accusing him of stealing his soul, Knull revealed the true origin of the Exolon as imperfect symbiotes and stripped Zak-Del of his, absorbing it into his armor before manifesting All-Black's Necrosword form anew.[28] Leaving Zak-Del for dead, Knull resumed his conquest of the cosmos; unknowingly hunted by his opposite - the God of Light.[28][23]

Conquest resumed

Using his living abyss to smother entire planets,[7] Knull also began communing with Eddie's "son" Dylan Brock - a human-symbiote hybrid spawned by the Venom symbiote - by appearing in his nightmares.[43][44] Blazing a swath of destruction across the Kree/Skrull Alliance's colonial territories en route to Earth, Knull laid traps to waylay ships sent to investigate; thereby claiming several prominent warriors from both species for his army.[45] Intent on settling his eons-old grudge against the Celestials, Knull hunted them down and infected them with living abyss.[19] Knull also sent symbiotes and symbiote-dragons to blaze a swath of destruction across numerous other spacefaring civilizations such as the Zn'rx.[46]

Invasion of Earth

Arriving at Earth, Knull and his horde easily ploughed through the minefield of derelict Kree and Skrull ships left over from the war against the Cotati. As his dragons rained down on the Earth and quickly overwhelmed the planet's superheroes, Knull emerged from one of the Celestials and declared his intent to destroy the planet - offering to make it quick and painless if given the human called Brock. Knull was attacked by the Sentry, who attempted to fly him into orbit and rip him in half, but easily broke free and reversed their positions. Knull tore the Sentry apart and seized control of the dark entity that had been indwelling him, absorbing it into himself. Growing bored of the conflict, Knull used symbiotes to seize control of the Avengers, X-Men, and many of the other heroes that had rallied to oppose him before encasing the Earth in a shell of living abyss. Out of desperation, Venom offered to serve Knull if Earth was spared, but Knull refused - remarking that the Brock he was interested in was Dylan - and ripped the Venom symbiote off Eddie before throwing him from the top of the Empire State Building,[19] satisfied that Eddie could no longer prove a pest to his plans once he succumbed to his wounds and his consciousness was trapped within the Hive-Mind as a codex.[17][47]

Arrival on Earth

Constructing a Spire at the tip of the Empire State Building, Knull began directing his invasion on multiple fronts by remote-piloting symbiote-dragons, indwelling symbiote-possessed heroes, and manifesting avatars.[48][49][50][51][21][52] Knull attempted to claim the Ebony Blade, Sword of Fu Xi, and Ghost-Spider's artificial symbiote for himself; but was thwarted and repeatedly taken aback by the number of heroes who possessed powers and weapons able to kill his dragons and damage - if not outright destroy - his avatars, as well as the willpower to partially resist his control.[48][4][51][46] Reaching backwards through time, Knull resurrected Mister E and sent him to either destroy the Ebony Blade in the past or use it facilitate his premature escape from Klyntar;[53] though Mister E repeatedly failed to do so and was ultimately destroyed.[54] Knull was stripped of a large amount of his power by the Valkyries, who severed his unwitting connection to the Headless Celestial from the afterlife.[25]

"Not so strong now, huh?"

When Dylan Brock entered the battlefield and began using his powers to free the people and heroes Knull had enslaved, Knull attempted to capture him but was attacked by Thor - who he recognized as the one who had almost killed the Grendel centuries prior. Furious, Knull confronted the God of Thunder, who was unimpressed and dismissed him as merely one of hundreds of gods of destruction he had vanquished. Knull overpowered Thor, but was attacked by Dylan. Casually subduing the boy and cocooning him in living abyss, Knull was distracted long enough for Thor to knock him off and rip his lower jaw off with a full-power blow from Mjolnir. Enraged, Knull activated the symbiote-controlled Celestials and ordered them to raze the planet. Before Thor could leave to confront them, Knull - forming a new lower jaw from living abyss - manifested All-Black from his symbiote-armor and impaled him from behind; sneering that he could sense Thor was already acquainted with the Necrosword and that he was its creator. Leaving Thor impaled, Knull turned to confront Dylan and voiced his intent to claim the boy as his son;[16] commanding the symbiotes he controlled within the Hive-Mind to imprison the symbiotes that Dylan and Thor had purged his influence from.[55] Unbeknownst to Knull, Eddie Brock was reunited with the codices of Flash Thompson and the Anti-Venom symbiote and Rex Strickland and the Tyrannosaurus symbiote.[56] They were able to take advantage of Dylan and Thor injuring Knull to infiltrate the core of the Hive-Mind, the God Hive. When Agent Anti-Venom's codex bonded to one of the symbiotes that Knull couldn't control and was reborn into the world of the living as a white symbiote dragon, Knull immediately realized what was going on and furiously hijacked the Tyrannosaurus symbiote, confronting Eddie again with the intent of killing him once-and-for-all.[55] However, Eddie managed to escape the Hive-Mind with help from the Venom symbiote and was chosen as the God of Light's new host.[57]

Knull destroyed by Venom

Confronted by the Silver Surfer once more, Knull prepared to resume their ancient duel but was interrupted by Eddie, now transformed into a cosmic version of Venom. Knull was unimpressed and mocked his ancient nemesis' choice of host until Eddie armed himself by merging Mjolnir and the Silver Surfer's Surfboard into a battle-ax shaped like Venom's spider-emblem. Knull attempted to flee while throwing everything he had at Eddie, but was overpowered and cornered at the top of the Empire State Building, stripped of his symbiote-armor, and thrown to the ground. Knull defiantly told Eddie that his death was inconsequential and that the Void's victory was inevitable, but Eddie rebuked Knull and flew him into the core of the Sun, destroying his body with the Uni-Power. Knull attempted to take over Dylan Brock's body, but Eddie used the Uni-Power to remove the living abyss from Dylan and destroy it, seemingly defeating the dark god once-and-for-all.[26]

Personality

Ha! You are a simple and trusting host, Edward Brock. I see why my child adores you so. But you have been lied to for so very long. What you think of as their homeworld, their planet... is nothing more than the largest horde of Symbiotes in the galaxy trying desperately to keep their greatest secret. An infinity of them churning and roiling endlessly around the one thing that binds them all... the hive mind they cannot do without. Do you see the shape of it now? Do you understand? There is no Planet of the Symbiotes. Klyntar is their word for cage. That is where I am right now, host. Where I have been sleeping for eons. I am there. Imprisoned. As I am here piloting this... what did your people call it? The Grendel? Thank you for releasing my other, Eddie Brock. Though I'm not sure how much you had to do with the choice... no doubt your symbiote has been reacting to my resurrection on late, no? I'm sure it all must be quite... overwhelming for you both... but all is well, child. Your God is awake. And God is coming. When this Grendel is complete... when I find its missing... parts... it will come for me. It will free me from my klyntar. From my cage. And then I will finish what I began. I will rid my dark kingdom of this invasive light once and for all... and I will start with Earth.

—Knull[src]

As King in Black, Knull was supposed to keep maintenance over the Celestials' creations, but he refused the work.[20] Knull despises the Celestials and their creations, attempting to carry out a genocide against them by corrupting and slaughtering all life. Revelling in bloodshed and destruction, Knull often sports a predatory grin when engaged in combat and fondly reminisced to Eddie Brock about the devastation he and All-Black wrought together. He is also arrogant and sadistic - regarding his conquest of the universe as being inevitable, mocking the Silver Surfer's attempt to fight him or escape as futile, and relishing the prospect of hunting the fleeing Surfer down and killing or corrupting him.[2] Knull's hubris is one of his greatest weaknesses, as he routinely underestimates opponents he sees as beneath himself - such as the Silver Surfer, Venom, and Thor - and rarely fights using the full extent of his own power, instead opting to let his symbiotes do the fighting for him.[12][16]

Through his symbiote army, Knull is responsible for the destruction and corruption of entire civilizations across the universe. When not engaged in combat, Knull appeared calm and condescending, often smiling in a sadistic fashion at sights such as Venom's berserk form, which he called beautiful. However, Knull possesses a volatile temper and is prone to reacting with extreme rage when denied what he wants, such as when Eddie tried to stop him from re-corrupting the Venom symbiote or when the Silver Surfer refused to serve him.[1][34] Knull was begrudgingly impressed by Eddie's determination to understand the eldritch truth behind the symbiotes' origins, but mocked him for being deceived by the symbiotes hive-mind. He considers the symbiotes who rebelled against and imprisoned him to be cowards, liars, and traitors; sneering at their desperate efforts to cover up their dark origins and keep themselves from relapsing. Despite his loathing respect for them - seeing them as his wayward children - he hates the Klyntar symbiotes for betraying him and eventually forcibly absorbed them back into his dark hive-mind.[12]

Attributes

Power Grid[87]

Powers

Divine Physiology: As a primordial god of darkness, Knull possesses superhuman attributes and powers which far exceed those of humans and even most other deities. As the creator of All-Black the Necrosword, he appears to possess the same powers it bestows upon its hosts but to a greater extent.[27][12][2] According to Brunnhilde, much of Knull's power and apparent invincibility comes from his metaphysical link to the undead corpse of the Celestial he used to refine All-Black, which feeds him power through the Necrosword and in exchange assimilates the souls of those he kills; serving as a grotesque afterlife.[21] This connection was severed by the Valkyries, thereby greatly weakening Knull,[25] though due to his origin and age, he still remained powerful enough to fight on-par with the likes of All-Father Thor.[14]

  • Living Abyss Manipulation: As the King in Black, Knull possesses the ability to create, control, and manipulate a fount of eldritch darkness—a manifestation of the primordial void that existed before the universe itself—that he calls the "living abyss".[12] Knull has spent billions of years experimenting with and honing his powers to create not only the parasitic symbiotes, but similar entities such as Mister E and the Exolon. His greatest creations have been All-Black, the Void Knight -- a powerful proto-symbiote created to enslave the Silver Surfer, and the symbiote dragons.[19] During his invasion of Earth, Knull was able to fuse hordes of Symbiote Dragons to engulf the entire Earth in a dome of living abyss, blocking out all light.[19]
    • Symbiote Creation: Knull first discovered his ability to create life from darkness itself when he manifested All-Black from his shadow in order to kill a Celestial. Experimenting with and honing this aspect of his powers over the eons, he formed a suit of symbiote-armor, constructed an artificial planet, and amassed a horde of wyvern-like monsters from the living abyss.[2][19] While he initially only infected gods and other cosmic beings with the living abyss;[58] when stranded on a desolate world he discovered he could also infect mortal creatures with the living abyss, creating an army of parasites to conquer the universe by corrupting life instead of simply exterminating it.[12][19] Knull's early experiments to hone this aspect of his powers resulted in what became known as the Exolon, imperfect symbiotes he discarded as failures.[28] He was also capable of creating symbiotes using his blood, though the only known symbiote created in this manner is Big Mother.[31]
    • Symbiote Domination: As the divine progenitor of the symbiotes and the nexus of their hive-mind, Knull is able to mentally influence and dominate symbiotes even while sealed away;[12] driving them insane with bloodlust and hunger.[39] He is also capable of remote-piloting them, enabling him to see through their eyes and directly control them; and can manipulate their biomasses even when not in direct contact with them, as demonstrated when he used an ancient dragon-like symbiote to attack Earth and manifest an avatar of his true form.[1] symbiotes infected by Knull's will usually have red spirals in place of their eyespots, and are more powerful than symbiotes disconnected from his dark hive-mind; sometimes even gaining new powers and abilities as a result of the connection.[6][59][60] Knull is also capable of forcibly removing symbiotes from their hosts either by psychically blasting them off or by ripping them off with his bare hands.[12][28] Being one of the primevals of darkness, Knull is also capable of dominating and psychically corrupting other non-symbiote dark entities, such as the Void,[19] Cloak,[61] and Moondragon.[62] Despite not being one of Knull's creations, Ghost-Spider's artificial symbiote was also vulnerable to his psychic corruption.[49]
  • Superhuman Strength: Knull is strong enough to decapitate a Celestial with a single blow, and singlehandedly slaughtered entire armies of gods augmented by the Uni-Power. At least some of Knull's immense strength is due to him wielding All-Black the Necrosword and his symbiote-armor,[12] which supply him with power from the first Celestial he'd killed.[21] Knull was able to easily manhandle the Silver Surfer - albeit after Norrin had exhausted the majority of his Power Cosmic,[32] and easily overpowered the Sentry - touted as one of Earth's strongest heroes - and effortlessly tore him in half.[19] Even after the Valkyries severed his metaphysical connection to the Headless Celestial, Knull was still strong enough to fight Thor Odinson - who possessed a small portion of the Power of the All-Father.[16] The avatars that Knull creates using his symbiotes possess only a fraction of his true power, but are nevertheless able to easily overpower the likes of Venom despite Eddie Brock being simultaneously bonded to both the Venom and Tyrannosaurus symbiotes.[63]
  • Superhuman Durability: Despite his gaunty appearance, Knull is durable enough to survive being blasted by Celestials; and was unharmed by a plunge from space through the atmosphere of a planet while engaged in combat with another deity, though he was left unconscious after being stabbed through the head.[27] While Silver Surfer's Power Cosmic was able to make Knull bleed and being blasted by Ego's psionic beams caused him pain, he was not severely injured by either.[2] Knull can also withstand being immersed in stellar plasma without permanent injury, though this caused him severe pain.[34] There are limits to this, as a full-force blow from Mjolnir wielded by All-Father Thor was enough to rip off Knull's lower jaw, yet this was all the damage that Knull obtain.[16]
  • Dark Energy Manipulation: Knull was capable of conjuring fiery purple energy; wreathing himself and All-Black in an aura of it, firing it from his hands in a beam powerful enough to incapacitate the Silver Surfer, or firing it as flak and homing projectiles from artillery constructs manifested from the Symbiote Throneworld.[2] He has also been shown to manifest red energy that he can fire from his hands.[17]
  • Nigh-Immortality: Knull is purportedly unable to be truly killed and has existed for over 13.7 billion years, having come into existence prior to the beginning of the seventh iteration of the universe.[64][19][65] However, he can be injured to the point of incapacitation: after being impaled through the head and falling from space to the surface of a planet, he required centuries to fully heal from his injuries.[12] Even after his body was completely disintegrated by Eddie Brock using the God of Light's power, Knull's consciousness attempted to take over Dylan Brock from within the Symbiote Hive-Mind before being foiled by Eddie and seemingly destroyed once-and-for-all.[26]
  • Self-Sustenance: Knull is capable of surviving in the vacuum of space unaided, and does not appear to need food, water, or sleep to survive.[12]
  • Shapeshifting: Knull is capable of transforming his mouth into a fanged maw with a prehensile serpentine tongue, a trait he passed down to the symbiotes.[1] When truly enraged, Knull's entire face transforms into one more closely resembling the symbiotes', with his nose, lips, and cheeks completely receding.[34]
  • Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite his immense durability, Knull is capable of being injured to the point of incapacitation.[27] However, he is able to not only survive injuries that would kill other gods but eventually recover from them.[12] After Thor blasted a hole in his hand, Knull regenerated within the space of a few seconds, though the loss of his lower jaw required the creation of a prosthesis.[16]
  • Flight: Knull can manifest a pair of large dragon-like wings that allow him to fly.[19]
  • Temporal Manipulation: Knull was able to reach backwards through the timestream to resurrect Mister E and create a barrier of living abyss around the sun.[53] He communicated through time with Mister E and restored his full power in a bid to prematurely free his past self from Klyntar using the Ebony Blade. Knull's past self was able to sense the barrier being destroyed, briefly rousing him from his imprisoned slumber.[54]

Abilities

Expert Combatant: Despite not possessing any formal training, Knull is a vicious warrior with billions of years' worth of combat experience, capable of slaughtering entire armies of gods augmented by the Uni-Power singlehandedly.[12]

Weaknesses

  • The Light: Despite his immense durability, Knull is particularly vulnerable to a force he refers to as "the Light", which came into being with the Big Bang and was first spread through the Abyss by the Celestials. "The Light" refers not only to the literal light of stars and other celestial objects, but to the various powers wielded by cosmic entities and deities - which when used offensively could cause him pain and even injure him;[19] concepts such as honor, benevolence, compassion, and nobility - which disrupted his control of the symbiotes and caused them to turn on him; and life itself.[12][2] Knull sought to destroy and corrupt the Light using his army of symbiotes, but his control over them was severed when the symbiote dragon he was indwelling was blasted by Thor's divine lightning. Centuries later, his avatar was temporarily destabilized by the totemic avatar Miles Morales' bioelectric Venom Blast,[66] and by sonic and energy grenades.[10]
  • Remote Piloting: When Knull is remote piloting a symbiote, any damage caused to it is also inflicted on him -- as seen when Thor blasted a hole through a symbiote-hand Knull had manifested to attack Dylan Brock, which caused a corresponding wound to appear on Knull's hand until he regenerated.[16]
  • Hive-Mind Infiltration: When a person or a metaphysical manifestation of a codex has freedom in Knull's hive-mind, they can fight against the symbiotes under his control and also cause him pain if not taken care of.[55]
  • Celestial Connection: Much of Knull's overwhelming power is supplied through the All-Black symbiote by the Headless Celestial, whose corpse he had used as a forge to create his Necrosword.[21] Knull remained oblivious to this until the moment the connection was severed by the Valkyries, thereby depriving him of a large amount of his power.[25] Despite this, Knull was still strong enough to overpower Thor Odinson - who had been augmented by the Power of the All-Father - in combat with relative ease.[16]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Symbiote Armor: After forging All-Black, Knull created a suit of symbiote-armor from the Living Abyss. The armor was originally solid black, but after he founded the Symbiote Imperium he emblazoned its chest and back with a red dragon emblem.[12] It is unknown exactly what abilities the armor possessed and conferred upon Knull, though it was capable of shapeshifting to manifest a cape, waistcloth, wing-like fins, and draconic helmet.[34] Given that its constituent matter was used to create the lesser symbiotes, it can be presumed to possess similar abilities; and despite presumably being vulnerable to intense heat and sonics it was capable of withstanding a plunge through the atmosphere of a planet and being immersed in stellar plasma without sustaining significant damage. Knull's symbiote armor was stripped from him following his imprisonment, as his physical body at the core of Klyntar has alternately been shown armored and naked;[12][10] though Knull's manifestation through the Grendel symbiote dragon also emulated this armor.[12] After Knull reawakened, he reformed his symbiote-armor, with a differently-shaped helmet adorned with horns.[23]

Weapons

Necrosword: In order to slay a Celestial, Knull manifested a black-and-red sword from his shadow; later refining it using the dead Celestial's cosmic power.[12] Using this weapon, which came to be known as All-Black, Knull attempted to carry out a genocide against his fellow gods, but it was stolen from him after he was wounded in battle.[27] When confronted by Wraith, Knull removed Zak-Del's Exolon symbiote and absorbed it into his symbiote-armor before reforming All-Black's Necrosword form.[28][67][21]

Transportation

In addition to using symbiote dragons as mounts,[2][45] Knull is capable of manifesting draconic wings from his symbiote for flight.[19]

Notes

Trivia

  • According to Donny Cates, Knull was the first "something" in the universe.[71]
  • As Knull predates the creation of the Seventh Cosmos, he is technically not from Earth-616 or any other dimension within the Marvel Multiverse. However, since multiple iterations of Knull exist in other media taking place throughout the Multiverse and this iteration seems specific to Earth-616, he is designated as belonging to it.
  • When asked what Knull would have done had he encountered Carnage or one of Venom's other offspring, Ryan Stegman replied that he would have "either [tried] to hurt them or re-consume them and bring them back to Klyntar."[72]
  • The foreword to Knull: Marvel Tales #1 states that Knull predates the First Firmament, but this is contradicted by Venom (Vol. 4) #4, Silver Surfer: Black, and the official timeline at the end of King in Black #1--which states that Knull originated in the Abyss between the destruction of the 6th cosmos and the creation of the 7th.
  • Several beings have - deliberately or unintentionally - emulated Knull:
  • When asked if King Thanos had managed to kill Knull in the future where he succeeded in killing everything, Donny Cates stated that he hadn't due to Knull being unkillable;[65] later elaborating that Knull was probably happy to reclaim his kingdom of darkness from the ruins King Thanos left in his wake.[82] It is currently unknown how Knull managed to survive when more powerful and equally unkillable Cosmic Entities such as Death herself, along with the other aspects of the "Cosmic Compass" were presumably killed.
  • Ryan Stegman's concept art for Knull depicts him with a cape rather than a waistcloth, and questions whether or not he should have eyes and hair.[83]
  • Despite Donny Cates' assertion on Twitter that "Nothing can kill Knull.", he was seemingly killed by Eddie Brock at the end of the King in Black event. However, Donny Cates later stated that despite the destruction of his physical form, Knull isn't truly dead.[84]

See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Venom (Vol. 4) #3
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Silver Surfer: Black #2
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Absolute Carnage: Immortal Hulk #1
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Daredevil (Vol. 6) #27
  5. ↑ Venom (Vol. 5) #3
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Venom (Vol. 4) #5
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Incoming #1
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Web of Venom: Carnage Born #1
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 5) #3
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Venom (Vol. 4) #6
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Venom (Vol. 4) #1
  12. ↑ 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 12.10 12.11 12.12 12.13 12.14 12.15 12.16 12.17 12.18 12.19 12.20 12.21 12.22 12.23 12.24 12.25 12.26 12.27 12.28 Venom (Vol. 4) #4
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 King Thor #1
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 King in Black #4
  15. ↑ Absolute Carnage: Weapon Plus #1
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 16.6 16.7 16.8 King in Black #3
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 King in Black #2
  18. ↑ Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #2
  19. ↑ 19.00 19.01 19.02 19.03 19.04 19.05 19.06 19.07 19.08 19.09 19.10 19.11 19.12 19.13 19.14 King in Black #1
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Venom (Vol. 5) #18
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 King in Black: Return of the Valkyries #2
  22. ↑ Scream: Curse of Carnage #5
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 Absolute Carnage #5
  24. ↑ King in Black #1–4
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 King in Black: Return of the Valkyries #4
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 King in Black #5
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 27.5 27.6 Thor: God of Thunder #6
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 28.4 28.5 Web of Venom: Wraith #1
  29. ↑ Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black #1–5
  30. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #2–4
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 Scream: Curse of Carnage #2
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 Silver Surfer: Black #1
  33. ↑ Cates, Donny (25 June 2019) DONNY CATES on Twitter: "No yeah, that's the necrosword. Why wouldn't it be?" Twitter. Retrieved on 25 June 2019.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 34.4 Silver Surfer: Black #5
  35. ↑ Silver Surfer: Black shows Knull having already created his horde prior to losing All-Black, and various issues state this to have occurred several billion to only 3000 years ago, leaving the exact timeline of these events unclear.
  36. ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 3) #23
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Web of Venom: Ve'Nam #1
  38. ↑ Venom (Vol. 3) #3
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Venom (Vol. 4) #1–2
  40. ↑ Absolute Carnage: Separation Anxiety #1
  41. ↑ Absolute Carnage: Scream #1
  42. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #18
  43. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #22
  44. ↑ Web of Venom: The Good Son #1
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 Web of Venom: Empyre's End #1
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 S.W.O.R.D. (Vol. 2) #3
  47. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #31–32
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 King in Black: Black Knight #1
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 49.2 King in Black: Gwenom vs. Carnage #1
  50. ↑ King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes #1
  51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 King in Black: Scream #1
  52. ↑ S.W.O.R.D. (Vol. 2) #1
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black #1
  54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black #5
  55. ↑ 55.0 55.1 55.2 Venom (Vol. 4) #33
  56. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #32
  57. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #34
  58. ↑ Silver Surfer: Black #1–2
  59. ↑ Cates, Donny (20 March 2019) DONNY CATES on Twitter: "New powers from contact with Knull." Twitter. Retrieved on 26 July 2019.
  60. ↑ Griffin Sheridan, Ryan Stegman (29 June 2019) VENOM BOIZ! w/Donny Cates: Venom #1 Q and A PodBean. Retrieved on 2 July 2019.
  61. ↑ King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes #3
  62. ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 6) #10
  63. ↑ Cates, Donny (19 June 2019) DONNY CATES on Twitter: "Haha. Yeah! WAY more powerful. Dude severed the head of a celestial. Knull is no joke." Twitter. Retrieved on 20 June 2019.
  64. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #10
  65. ↑ 65.0 65.1 Cates, Donny (21 April 2019) DONNY CATES on Twitter: "Nothing can kill Knull. #GodIsComing" Twitter. Retrieved on 22 April 2019.
  66. ↑ Venom (Vol. 4) #3–4
  67. ↑ King in Black #3–4
  68. ↑ Griffin Sheridan, Ryan Stegman (22 June 2019) VENOM BOIZ! w/Donny Cates: Venom (2018) #1 Director's Commentary PodBean. Retrieved on 26 June 2019.
  69. ↑ Defenders (Vol. 6) #5
  70. ↑ Cates, Donny (September 18, 2019) DONNY CATES on Twitter: "The part where "Knull resurrected him as a baby" is completely untrue. Remember, that "new origin" was being told to us by a deranged cult leader spinning their own new gospel. Ya gotta pay attention to all them little words next to the pictures sometimes, folks." Twitter. Retrieved on September 18, 2019.
  71. ↑ Cates, Donny (June 1, 2019) DONNY CATES on Twitter:"No. He was the first something." Twitter. Retrieved on June 1, 2019.
  72. ↑ Marvel Entertainment on Twitter: "Longtime "Venom" penciler @RyanStegman joins Marvel's #ThePullList podcast host @AgentM to answer reader questions about the one and only Venom! Watch: https://www.marvel.com/watch/digital-series/marvel-s-the-pull-list/here-s-what-you-don-t-know-about-venom-the-pull-list-mailbag?linkId=57510641" Twitter. Retrieved on October 3, 2018.
  73. ↑ Annihilation: Conquest - Wraith #2
  74. ↑ Thor: God of Thunder #24
  75. ↑ Mighty Thor #700
  76. ↑ Thor (Vol. 5) #6
  77. ↑ Thor (Vol. 5) #12
  78. ↑ Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8
  79. ↑ Domiguez, Noah (4 January 2019) Venom Writer Confirms Origin of Venom's Iconic White Spider Symbol CBR.com. Retrieved on 4 September 2019.
  80. ↑ War of the Realms #3–4
  81. ↑ Absolute Carnage #4
  82. ↑ Cates, Donny (5 May 2020) DONNY CATES on Twitter: "Well, thanks to Thanos killing everyone. He was probably enjoying his dead and burning black kingdom out there in the void" Twitter. Retrieved on 11 May 2020.
  83. ↑ Stegman, Ryan (19 April 2020) ryan "venom boy" stegman on Twitter: "For #Creators4Comics, I'll be auctioning off this, the original drawings of knull I did while talking to @doncates for the first time about our venom run! It's on 9x12. One of a kind. Bid in the comments below!" Twitter. Retrieved on 19 April 2020.
  84. ↑ Cates, Donny (2 May 2021) DONNY CATES on Twitter: " Darkness never dies " Twitter. Retrieved on 2 May 2021.
  85. ↑ Cates, Donny (26 July 2018) DONNY CATES on Twitter: "Yep! The severed celestial head in VENOM #4 would someday erode and decay and become Knowhere! Good catch!" Twitter. Retrieved on 26 July 2018.
  86. ↑ King in Black Handbook #1
  87. ↑ King in Black Handbook Vol 1 1

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Appearing in "Black: Two of Five"

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Synopsis for "Black: Two of Five"

Reflecting on his history of facilitating planetary genocide, the Silver Surfer recalls his first encounter with the Symbiotes. In the wake of one of Galactus' feasts, Norrin Radd had noticed a strange dark planet nearby and investigated, only to discover it wasn't a planet at all but an enormous mass of living darkness. Kneeling to inspect the eldritch world, he sensed something dark sealed deep inside its core. Before he can react, the dark "planet" made it clear that his presence was unwelcome by manifesting an enormous floral maw and devouring him. Taken to its core and suspended by tendrils of living abyss, the Silver Surfer finds himself gazing upon the sleeping visage of a primordial god of darkness, bound and imprisoned by the very creatures he'd created. Surrounded by countless symbiotes, the Silver Surfer senses that all of them hate and fear him with ineffable intensity, but cannot fathom why. Breaking free from the planet's depths, the Surfer flies to the surface and asks the symbiotes why they bear him such malice when he's done them no harm - but receives no answer in reply.

Displaced billions of years in the past, Norrin Radd now understands why the symbiotes hate him so intensely - he made their dark god, Knull, bleed. Evading a slash from Knull's symbiote-sword, the Silver Surfer blasts him with a beam of Power Cosmic. Knull retaliates by manifesting multiple-barrelled artillery from the Symbiote Throneworld's surface and firing a barrage of purple energy projectiles. Weaving through tendrils that erupt from the ground to chase him, the Silver Surfer blocks the flak with beams of cosmic energy. Enraged, Knull stabs his Necrosword into the ground and fires a massive torrent of purple energy at the Silver Surfer. Knocked from his board, the Silver Surfer is snared by tendrils of living abyss, thinking to himself that it's a fitting punishment for a destroyer of worlds to be devoured by one. As Knull clenches his fist, snarling that he is the God of the Dark and rightful ruler of all existence, the Silver Surfer is encased in living abyss. He struggles to resist, but the symbiote bonding to him overpowers his will; Knull sneering that resistance is futile, as no matter where the Silver Surfer flees to there will always be darkness. Dropping to the ground and transforming into a dark monstrous figure, the symbiote-corrupted Radd swears fealty to Knull, who dubs him the Void Knight.

Perusing Radd's memories through the symbiote hive-mind, Knull is impressed by Radd's history of planetary genocide. As the Void Knight manifests a Gigeresque board and says that the Light must die, he is suddenly engulfed by a beam of psionic energy, Knull recoiling in shock as a mysterious voice calls out, telling the Herald of Galactus to brace himself for intense pain. The beam of energy intensifies into a nuke-like blast that immolates the Void Knight symbiote and engulfs Knull. Engraged, the King in Black shields himself and bares his fangs, but Radd blasts him point-blank with the Power Cosmic. The mysterious voice tells Radd that he cannot defeat Knull on his own, urging him to flee and follow it. As the Silver Surfer takes off, feeling genuine terror for the first time since he became a Herald of Galactus, Knull lets out a scream of rage; the Symbiote Throneworld blossoming into a massive hand and reaching out for Radd as he streaks away into the nascent cosmos. Regaining his composure, Knull summons the trio of goddesses that Radd had briefly freed from his control. As they bow before their god-king, Knull states that he has a star to kill. The symbiote-infected goddesses volunteer to kill the Silver Surfer for Knull and bring him his head. Manifesting a symbiote-dragon from the Symbiote Throneworld's living abyss, Knull instructs them to stay and guard the throneworld, saying he's in the mood for a chase.

As Radd flies away from the Symbiote Throneworld, the mysterious voice urges him to move faster. The Silver Surfer replies that he's still weak, before asking how the voice knows who he is. The voice replies that it knows all about him and his sordid history as a Herald of Galactus, supporting his desire for redemption - and that it knows these things because it can see into Radd's mind. As Radd asks who it is, the voice suddenly warns him of oncoming danger. Turning, Radd sees Knull mounted on the symbiote dragon and closing in rapidly. Narrowly avoiding getting eaten, Radd conjures another star and fires it down the symbiote-dragon's throat - the darkness blackening his hand spreading to cover his arm. The symbiote-dragon explodes, leaving Knull dazed and adrift in space. Weakened, the Silver Surfer tells his board to follow the voice, glancing at his blackened arm and worrying that Knull's abyss has infected him and is corrupting him. The voice comforts him, saying that it will be his salvation. Arriving in the Black Galaxy, the Silver Surfer finds himself surrounded by eldritch life and face to face with Ego the Living Planet.

Solicit Synopsis

• Marooned across the cosmos!

• The Surfer will have to risk everything, to beat back the void that threatens to swallow the galaxy whole...

• ...including his very soul!

Notes

Continuity Notes

See Also

Links and References

References

Marvel Comics storyline

"King in Black" is a comic book event written by Donny Cates with art by Ryan Stegman, and was published from 2020 to 2021 by Marvel Comics. It is a continuation to 2019's "Absolute Carnage", also containing fallout from 2020's "Empyre". In the story, Knull and his symbiotes invade Earth, leaving Eddie Brock / Venom, the Avengers, the X-Men, and numerous other superheroes to protect it.

Plot

[edit]

Prelude

[edit]

At the time when the Guardians of the Galaxy were investigating the death of Zn'rx Emperor Stote during the Galactic Council's meeting at the Proscenium and find that the Chitauri Peacekeeper and the Elders of the Universe member Profiteer were responsible sometime after the events of the "Empyre" storyline, Zoralis Gupa of the planet Silnius takes an urgent call while mentioning to the person on the other side to warn all neighboring systems. He tells Victoria that it's the End of Everything as different planets are starting to die in the planets owned by the Shi'ar, the Kree/Skrull Alliance, and the Zn'rx while rendering the galactic economy fragile enough to go bankrupt. Knowing that she won't make a profit, the Profiteer teleports Peacekeeper and the bio-bomb away. While thanking Zoralis Gupa for fooling the Profiteer with the bluff, Zoralis Gupa states to Super-Skrull and everyone present that something darker than Galactus is destroying the worlds and its name is Knull.[1]

Emperor Hulkling dispatched Talos to investigate the Kree and Skrull bases that went dark with Av-Rom, Keeyah, M'lanz, Virtue, and Tarna. Two days later, a Kree/Skrull Alliance armada headed by General Kalamari finds Talos' escape pod. After recuperating in the sick bay, Talos recaps to Kalamari about what happened on his mission that involved an encounter with Knull. Talos then informs Kalamari that his distress beacon on his escape pod is a warning that Knull is coming. Outside the ship, Knull is riding a Symbiote Dragon as he swoops in for an attack.[2]

At Ravencroft, Alistair Smythe is visited by a figure who is borrowing the form of Spencer Smythe so that it can speak to him and proposes that it helps it out. In the Blue Area of the Moon, Uatu the Watcher comments to the readers about the Watchers' vow not to interfere as a blue fire hits him. After rescuing a boy, Spider-Man shifts the symbiote into his work clothes and goes to meet with J. Jonah Jameson. He assigns Peter to work with Ned Leeds on an assignment where Alistair Smythe claims to have found a cure for paralysis. Uatu finds himself in a memory-scanning machine operated by Kang the Conqueror who is trying to save the universe. When the machine causes Uatu to overload it with psychic energy upon it mentioning about Knull, Kang's ship is destroyed leaving him adrift in space. As Spider-Man and Ned visit Ravencroft, the entity possessing Alistair has already hooked up a tank to Ravencroft's ventilation system while having gotten a glimpse of the Shadow Realm. Upon his spider-senses going off upon entering Ravencroft and an eclipse happening in the sky, Peter calls out to Ned only to be confronted by the entity's slaves who identifies Ned as one of them. Dodging the slaves while changing into Spider-Man, he confronts Alistair Smythe who is now being controlled by the entity and accuses him of being behind this ck. The entity introduces itself as Mister E who calls the suit on Peter Parker its brother. As Spider-Man fights Mister E, he learns from it that he and the suit are from the same "father". During the fight, Mister E is confronted by Black Knight who stabs Mister E with his Ebony Blade. While cryptically revealing that uncreation is moving backwards, Mister E disappears. Both Spider-Man and Black Knight aren't sure what to do next. While drifting through space, Kang is picked up by a spaceship where he encounters Rocket Raccoon.[3]

Main plot

[edit]

While overlooking Manhattan's night life, Eddie Brock senses that Knull is coming to Earth. While transforming into Venom, Eddie contacts the Avengers to let them know about Knull's arrival. His son Dylan states that he can sense that Knull is coming. At Avengers Mountain, Captain America, Iron Man, She-Hulk, and Captain Marvel scan for Knull's approach as Iron Man turns the derelict Kree and Skrull warships left behind from their war with the Cotati into a minefield. When thousands of Symbiote Dragons start to arrive, Iron Man detonates the warships which kills half of the Symbiote Dragons. The Avengers and the Fantastic Four arrive to combat the Symbiote Dragons while Eddie places Dylan in the same bunker that was used by Ezekiel Sims which Spider-Man loaned to him. As Captain America tells Venom to go to Plan B, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four work with Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage into fighting the Symbiote Dragons while making use of lightning which weakens them. As Thor is unable to be reached, Professor X contacts the group stating that he has offered the aid of the X-Men and has dispatched Storm, Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Cable, and Magneto to Washington Square Park as Storm starts to blast lightning towards the Symbiote Dragon. After Eddie pays a visit to the ruins of the Spire that was used as Dark Carnage's lair, he notes that Knull will work to take control of the Venom symbiote again. Doctor Strange uses every method to call for reinforcements as one of the Symbiote Dragons swallows him. Breaking free from the Symbiote Hive, Eddie warns everyone that Knull is coming with the Symbiote-possessed Celestials Arishem the Judge and Tefral the Surveyor. Knull begins his search for the one called Brock. When Captain America gives the command to the other heavy hitter they enlisted, it turns out to be Sentry. He takes Knull into Earth's orbit and tried to do the same thing he once did to Carnage only for Knull to do a reversal upon being familiar with what happened to Carnage that time. Knull breaks Sentry and assimilates the Void into him upon it emerging from Sentry's body. Venom and Captain America react to this as Iron Man urges them to retreat. Knull then proceeds to have his Symbiote Dragon form a sphere around Earth to cut it off from the Sun and has the living abyss swallow some of the superheroes including Storm which Professor X reacts to. Eddie contacts Iron Man informing him that he and the Venom symbiote are going to try a hail mary plan so that he can buy Iron Man some time to come up with a plan to defeat Knull. As Venom, Eddie goes to confront Knull and offer his services to him. Knull grabs Venom as he recognizes Eddie as the one who killed Grendel, then he states to Eddie that the Brock he is looking for is Dylan Brock. When Eddie begs for Knull to take him instead, Knull rips the Venom symbiote off him and absorbs it into his body while planning to absorb Dylan into him as well. Eddie is then dropped by Knull into the symbiote-covered streets below as Captain America, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Ms. Marvel, Storm, and Thing are possessed by the Symbiotes.[4]

Eddie Brock slams onto a car, critically injuring himself. Spider-Man appears and tries to help him as the symbiote-possessed Avengers arrive. Human Torch shoots a fire blast and tells Spider-Man to take Eddie to the Fantastic Four lab so he can get treated. Spider-Man takes Eddie Brock to the Fantastic Four lab while Human Torch buys them time before being possessed. Valkyrie tells Spider-Man that Eddie Brock is barely alive and they need to do something quick. Spider-Man meets up with Dylan and tells him that his father is still alive but barely. The two of them go to the Fantastic Four lab where Blade is arguing with Professor X and Magneto while Black Panther is talking to Reed Richards, Sue Storm, and Jane Foster on what to do. They are even shown trying to reach Phil Coulson so that they can get aid from the Squadron Supreme. He even inquires about the locations of the Infinity Gems, the Cosmic Cube, and the Ultimate Nullifier. Namor arrives and agrees to help them much to the displeasure of Reed Richards. Iron Man tells the heroes that he has a plan which is to acquire a small part of a symbiote dragon, have Namor wake up the Black Tide (the ancient Atlantean warriors from Namor's teenage days) in the Mariana Trench, have Blade go to Chernobyl in Ukraine to persuade Dracula to help them, and persuade Mayor Wilson Fisk to hire villains to help defend New York City leading to Mayor Fisk to pay a visit to the Bar with No Name. Iron Man manages to take control of a Symbiote Dragon using Extremis and brings the symbiote to Fantastic Four to heal Eddie Brock, but the symbiote starts killing Eddie. Dylan uses his power to completely destroy the Symbiote. Reed Richards realizes that Dylan is his secret weapon. Just then, Eddie flatlines.[5]

Silver Surfer passes by the planets that have been attacked by Knull. Invisible Woman and Blade are being overwhelmed by symbiotes and Mister Fantastic wants Spider-Man and Wolverine to escort Dylan Brock out to free the rest of the symbiotes hordes. The three of them appear to help Invisible Woman and Dylan frees Captain America from his symbiote. Knull finds out where Dylan is and is about to get him when Thor arrives. Together, Thor and Dylan help free some of the possessed heroes. Thor and Knull fight and Thor gains the upper hand until Knull distracts Thor by bringing in his symbiote-possessed Celestials and stabs Thor in the back. Iron Man arrives to use his Extremis-infected Symbiote dragon in order to take control of the symbiote-possessed Celestials. Just before Dylan is about to taken away, Silver Surfer arrives after being summoned by Hugin and Munin.[6]

Knull plans to control Dylan since he has the Symbiote codex, but Dylan fights back freeing Cyclops, Invisible Woman, Dr. Strange, Black Cat and the Human Torch. Doctor Strange morphs into a stronger form and together the heroes fight back against the symbiotes. Namor, Thor and Storm deal heavy damage, while Jean Grey immobilizes Knull with her psychic powers. She sees Knull's past, and realizes that the God of Light (another name for the Enigma Force) is the one thing that can take down Knull before passing out. Silver Surfer arrives to where the Enigma Force is and frees it from the symbiotes. Knull reels in pain and Eddie Brock is chosen to be the new Captain Universe.[7]

As Silver Surfer faces off against him, Knull recalls his previous fight against him. Through the God of Light, Silver Surfer assumes a chrome form and turns his surfboard into a sword while Knull transforms his armor into one that would enable him to combat Silver Surfer. As Knull begins to fight Silver Surfer, the members of the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men charge towards Knull so that they can aid Silver Surfer. Just then, Venom appears having been transformed into Captain Universe stating that he'll handle Knull from here. As Knull claims that he has killed Venom many times, Venom manages to make use of Mjolnir and Silver Surfer's surfboard which he merged into a battle axe that is the shape of Venom's spider emblem. When Cyclops asks if he is hallucinating, Captain America and Captain Marvel advise Cyclops to get his head into the game as the Symbiote-controlled civilians are closing in on him. Using his battle axe, Venom starts to shred his way through the Symbiote Dragons upon noting that Knull has become afraid of him. Knull even unleashes a Symbiote-controlled Celestial to aid him as Venom beheads it. As Venom rips off Knull's armor, Knull states that the darkness is in Dylan. Venom then picks up Knull, flies into the air, and punches through the Symbiote barrier surrounding Earth where Knull states that the Void is eternal and the abyss has teeth. Venom then states he doesn't care if he's right as he plunges his hand into the sun and uses the Uni-Power to vaporize Knull. Then Eddie hears a lot of voices. The Uni-Power informs Eddie that the Symbiote Hive is celebrating their freedom from Knull. The vampires see that Blade is overpowered and try to attack only to be vanquished when sunlight hits them. With their weapons separated from the battle axe form, Thor and Silver Surfer noted that things will not be back to normal soon. Spider-Man gets confirmation from Eddie that Knull is no more as Dylan embraces him as Venom rips out the Symbiote within Dylan. The Uni-Power then leaves Eddie stating that he has become more than a human as the Venom Symbiote rebonds to Eddie. As Venom sprouts dragon-like wings and flies into the air, the hostless Symbiotes and Symbiote Dragons follow him. The Venom Symbiote translates the Symbiote language to Eddie stating that he is now the new Nexus of the Hive Mind, the new God of the Symbiotes, and the new King in Black.[8]

Subplots

[edit]

Eddie is in limbo talking with one of the Symbiotes and sees Flash Thompson in his Agent Anti-Venom appearance.[9] Flash reveals that even after he died, his Anti-Venom suit kept a codex of his conscious in the Symbiote hive mind. Flash and Eddie go see the heart of the Symbiote hive mind and Flash sacrifices himself to take control of the Symbiote mind. Knull feels pain, finds Eddie Brock, and grabs him by the throat.[10]

Doctor Doom confronts Iron Man during Knull's invasion at the time when Iron Man was bonded with an Extremis-powered Symbiote. They are attacked by what appears to be a Symbiote-possessed Santa Claus. When the attacks from Iron Man and Santa Claus collide, it purges the Symbiote and Iron Man discovers that Santa Claus is actually a man named Mike Dunworthy who owns a Christmas decoration store. Doctor Doom revealed that he came to Iron Man because he heard about the new armor he is wearing and wants to extrapolate it to improve his own armor only for Iron Man to turn him down. As Iron Man takes off advising him to not let go of the magic in the world, Doctor Doom is left to wonder if Santa Claus could be a Sorcerer Supreme.[11]

Mayor Wilson Fisk decides to put together his own team of superpowered operatives to beat back Knull's creatures and save the city. He secretly meets with eight of these operatives, all known criminals who have been working in the city without Kingpin's blessing: Taskmaster, Mister Fear, Batroc the Leaper, Rhino, Star, Ampere, and Snakehead. To pay Mayor Fisk back, these criminals must escort Star (current keeper of one of the Infinity Gems) into battle to kill Knull, but to do that they'll first need to make contact with a man Kingpin believes can help turn the tide against the god. The criminal Incendiary opts to take his chances in jail instead. When he's taken out of the boardroom by Mayor Fisk's guards, he's immediately shot. The remaining seven criminals then promptly agree to Mayor Fisk's plan. Despite objections, this team will be called "The Thunderbolts" (because Kingpin owns the copyright). The team sets out into the city and is promptly attacked by a giant Symbiote Dragon. Snakehead is devoured, but Mister Fear and Star are able to fell the Symbiote Dragon. The team learns that there's a limit to Star's cosmic powers (she's woozy after battle) and when Ampere exclaims that the team is doomed and he's leaving, Mister Fear murders him. Taskmaster, de facto team leader, scolds Mister Fear, but the team helps themselves to Ampere's electric gauntlets, giving Taskmaster and Batroc's abilities an extra kick. Taskmaster can't keep Rhino from walking away from the team. Then he shortly makes the call not to help the Manhattan Defenders battle more Symbiote creatures. As the dwindled team slinks away from the scene, they're attacked by a Symbiote creature that's possessed Ampere's corpse and, before they know it, are being chased by a hoard of ravenous Symbiotes. The team escapes to a fishing boat nearly leaving Batroc behind and finally reach their destination: Ravencroft Institute. Inside, they find the man Mayor Fisk believes can defeat Knull: notorious supervillain and former Thunderbolts leader Norman Osborn.[12] Norman Osborn and the Thunderbolts make their way through Ravencroft amidst the Symbiote attacks where they joined up with Figment, Foolkiller, Grizzly, Man-Bull, and Mister Hyde. While noting that Sentry would've been able to fight Knull, it was noted that Knull defeated him and absorbed Void.[13] Osborn then leads the Thunderbolts into retrieving Sentry's corpse so that it can be used as a nuke to destroy Knull's lair on top of the Empire State Building with it being a suicide mission. Foolkiller was taken over by one of the Symbiotes and was killed. Taskmaster used Figment's abilities to make it look like the Thunderbolts sacrificed their lives to pull off the mission. After Mayor Fisk broadcasts the Thunderbolts' sacrifice during the fight against the Symbiote invasion, the Thunderbolts arrive and blackmail him into raising their pay and giving them further missions once Knull is defeated.[14]

Spider-Man gets a panic attack from realizing that he was the reason why the Symbiotes are on Earth. While fighting a Symbiote Dragon, Spider-Man runs into Reptil in his Pteranodon form who is carrying an old woman named Mrs. Volkov who he is trying to get home. While helping Reptil to get Mrs. Volkov to Staten Island, Spider-Man is then attacked by a swarm of Symbiote Dragons. Spider-Man was able to web some of them up as he and Reptil near the Staten Island ferry. Reptil notes that he can't turn into anything big enough to combat a Symbiote Dragon as Spider-Man notes that his Tyrannosaurus form wouldn't work either. Spider-Man then gets an idea as he helps Mrs. Volkov onto the ferry while Reptil dives into the water and emerges as a Mosasaurus which bites into the Symbiote Dragon and drags it underwater. With help from Mrs. Volkov evacuating the passengers to the lifeboats, Spider-Man jury-rigs a harpoon from the ship's generators. When the Symbiote Dragon emerges, Spider-Man quotes Captain Ahab's last words from Moby-Dick and throws the electrified harpoon into the Symbiote Dragon's tongue enough to destabilize and be reduced to goo. Reptil makes it to the surface as Spider-Man states that they should work on saving people.[15]

Issues involved

[edit]

Prelude issues

[edit]

Title Issues Writer Artist Colorist Debut date Conclusion date
Atlantis Attacks 5 Greg Pak Ario Anindito Rachelle Rosenberg December 2, 2020[16]
Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black 1–5 Peter David Greg Land Frank D'Armata November 18, 2020[17] March 31, 2021[18]

Main series

[edit]

Title Issues Writer Artist Colorist Debut date Conclusion date
King in Black 1–5 Donny Cates Ryan Stegman Frank Martin December 2, 2020[19] April 7, 2021[20]

Tie-in issues

[edit]

Title Issues Writer(s) Artist(s) Colorist Debut date Conclusion date
Black Cat (vol. 2) 1–3 Jed Mackay C. F. Villa Brian Reber December 16, 2020[21] February 24, 2021[22]
Daredevil (vol. 6) 26–27 Chip Zdarsky Marco Checchetto
Mike Hawthorne 		Marcio Menyz January 27, 2021[23] February 10, 2021[24]
Deadpool (vol. 6) 10 Kelly Thompson Gerardo Sandoval Chris Sotomayor January 27, 2021[25]
Fantastic Four (vol. 6) 29–30 Dan Slott Zé Carlos Jesus Aburtov February 10, 2021[26] March 3, 2021[27]
Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 6) 10 Al Ewing Juann Cabal Federico Blee January 6, 2021[28]
King in Black: Black Knight 1 Simon Spurrier Jesus Saiz February 3, 2021[29]
King in Black: Black Panther Geoffrey Thorne Germán Peralta Jesus Aburtov February 10, 2021[30]
King in Black: Captain America Danny Lore Mirko Colak Erick Arciniega March 3, 2021[31]
King in Black: Ghost Rider Ed Brisson Juan Frigeri Jason Keith March 31, 2021[32]
King in Black: Gwenom vs. Carnage 1–3 Seanan McGuire Flaviano Rico Renzi January 13, 2021[33] March 3, 2021[34]
King in Black: The Immortal Hulk 1 Al Ewing Aaron Kuder Frank Martin
Erick Arciniega 		December 16, 2020[35]
King in Black: Iron Man/Doctor Doom Christopher Cantwell Salvador Larroca Guru-eFX December 30, 2020[36]
King in Black: Marauders Gerry Duggan Luke Ross Carlos Lopez February 3, 2021[37]
King in Black: Namor 1–5 Kurt Busiek Ben Dewey
Jonas Scharf 		Triona Tree Farrell December 9, 2020[38] March 3, 2021[39]
King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes 1–3 Clay McLeod Chapman
Frank Tieri
Marc Bernadin
Geoffrey Thorne 		Guiu Vilanova
Danilo Beyruth
Kyle Hotz
Jan Bazaldua 		Dean White
Rachelle Rosenberg 		January 13, 2021[40] March 10, 2021[41]
King in Black: Return of the Valkyries 1–4 Jason Aaron
Torunn Grønbekk 		Nina Vakueva Tamra Bonvillain January 6, 2021[42] March 31, 2021[43]
King in Black: Scream 1 Clay McLeod Chapman Garry Brown Rachelle Rosenberg March 24, 2021[44]
King in Black: Spider-Man Jed Mackay Michele Bandini Erick Arciniega
Rachelle Rosenberg 		March 17, 2021[45]
King in Black: Thunderbolts 1–3 Matthew Rosenberg Juan Ferreyra January 13, 2021[46] March 3, 2021[47]
King in Black: Wiccan and Hulkling 1 Tini Howard Luciano Vecchio Espen Grundetjern March 3, 2021[48]
King in Black Handbook Not applicable December 2, 2020[49][50]
Knull: Marvel Tales Donny Cates Ryan Stegman
Danilo Beyruth
Mark Bagley 		Frank Martin
Cris Peter
Miles Morales: Spider-Man 23 Saladin Ahmed Carmen Carnero David Curiel February 17, 2021[51]
Savage Avengers 17–19 Gerry Duggan Kev Walker Javier Tartaglia January 27, 2021[52] March 24, 2021[53]
Spider-Woman (vol. 7) 7–8 Karla Pacheco Pepe Pérez Frank D'Armata December 23, 2020[54] January 6, 2021[55]
S.W.O.R.D. (vol. 2) 2–4 Al Ewing Valerio Schiti Marte Gracia January 13, 2021[56] March 17, 2021[57]
The Union 1–2 Paul Grist Andrea Di Vito Nolan Woodard December 2, 2020[58] January 13, 2021[59]
Venom (vol. 4) 31–34 Donny Cates Iban Coello Jesus Aburtov December 9, 2020[60] March 24, 2021[61]

Critical reception

[edit]

The series so far has received positive reviews. According to Comic Book Roundup, the entire series has an average rating of 8.4 out of 10.[62][63][64][65][66]

Collected editions

[edit]

Title Material collected Published date ISBN
King in Black King in Black #1-5 July 2021 978-1302925468
King in Black: Avengers King in Black: Black Panther #1, King in Black: Captain America #1, King in Black: Ghost Rider #1, King in Black: The Immortal Hulk #1, King in Black: Iron Man/Doom #1, King in Black: Wiccan and Hulkling #1 July 2021 978-1302930349
King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes #1-3, King in Black: Black Knight #1 July 2021 978-1302928100
King in Black: Namor King in Black: Namor #1-5 August 2021 978-1302928131
King in Black: Thunderbolts King in Black: Thunderbolts #1-3, King in Black: Marauders #1 August 2021 978-1302928094
King in Black: Gwenom vs. Carnage King in Black: Gwenom vs. Carnage #1-3, King in Black: Scream #1, King in Black: Spider-Man #1 August 2021 978-1302928117
King in Black: Return of the Valkyries King in Black: Return of the Valkyries #1-4 July 2021 978-1302928087
King in Black: Atlantis Attacks Atlantis Attacks #1-5 July 2021 978-1302924560
Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black #1-5 July 2021 978-1302927578
Spider-Woman Vol. 2: King in Black Spider-Woman (vol. 7) #6-10 June 2021 978-1302927523
Black Cat Vol. 4: Queen in Black Black Cat (vol. 2) #1-4 and material from X-Men: To Serve and Protect #4 June 2021 978-1302927585
Venom by Donny Cates Vol. 6: King in Black Venom (vol. 4) #31-35 September 2021 978-1302926038
Savage Avengers Vol. 4: King in Black Savage Avengers #17-22 October 2021 978-1302926298

Marvel Omnibus

[edit]

Title Material collected Published date ISBN
King in Black Omnibus King in Black #1-5, King in Black: Black Panther #1, King in Black: Captain America #1, King in Black: Ghost Rider #1, King in Black: The Immortal Hulk #1, King in Black: Iron Man/Doom #1, King in Black: Wiccan and Hulkling #1, King In Black: Planet of the Symbiotes #1-3, King in Black: Black Knight #1, King in Black: Namor #1-5, King In Black: Thunderbolts #1-3, King in Black: Marauders #1, King In Black: Gwenom vs. Carnage #1-3, King in Black: Scream #1, King in Black: Spider-Man #1, King In Black: Return of the Valkyries #1-4, Symbiote Spider-Man: King In Black #1-5, Spider-Woman (vol. 7) #7-8, Black Cat (vol. 2) #1-3, Venom (vol. 4) #31-34, Savage Avengers #17-19, Daredevil (vol. 6) #26-27, Deadpool (vol. 8) #10, Fantastic Four (vol. 6) #29-30, Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 6) #10, Miles Morales: Spider-Man #23, S.W.O.R.D. (vol. 2) #2-4, The Union #1-2 and King in Black Handbook December 2022 978-1302946432
Venomnibus by Cates & Stegman King in Black #1-5 and Venom (vol. 4) #1-35, Annual #1, Web of Venom: Ve'Nam, Web of Venom: Carnage Born, Web of Venom: Wraith, Absolute Carnage #1-5; material from Free Comic Book Day 2019 (Spider-Man/Venom), Free Comic Book Day 2020 (Spider-Man/Venom), Incoming! #1 and Carnage: Black, White & Blood #2 December 2022 978-1302946418

[edit]

King in Black: Every Power Knull Has Used So Far

Knull King in Black

Knull, aka the King in Black, has quickly established himself as one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe, capable of enslaving Celestials and decimating even the most powerful heroes. His suite of powers is vast, but what exactly are they?

Created by writer Donny Cates and artist Ryan Stegman for their run on Venom, Knull is the god of the symbiotes, and he can create and control them - a significant power when the symbiotes themselves can control other life. This is part of a larger power that allows him to manipulate the Living Abyss, the embodiment of the darkness that existed before the universe. Being a god, Knull has super-human strength and durability, and he is incredibly hard to injure, although it can be done. There has been some speculation over whether Knull can truly be killed, as he has been hit with the Silver Surfer’s Power Cosmic and lived. The symbiotes he controls have shape-shifting powers, and Knull has this as well. Knull also brandishes the Necrosword, forged from the primordial darkness, and this sword has beheaded Celestials. In short, Knull is powerful, though he's also far from omnipotent.

Related: King in Black: Who Would Win Between Knull and Galactus?

Knull's powers have been on full display since his debut; one of his earliest appearances, Silver Surfer: Black (also written by Knull co-creator Donny Cates, with art by Tradd Moore) shows this. The Surfer encounters Knull at the dawn of time, and Knull instantly tries to enslave him, forcibly bonding him with a symbiote. To be able to do this to the Surfer is no small feat. Knull also demonstrates energy projection, combating the Surfer with a purple, flame-like aura, though this doesn't appear to be his go-to weapon. Once freed from Knull by a younger Ego the Living Planet, the Surfer hit him with the Power Cosmic, arguably one of the most powerful forces in the Marvel Universe, and while it did hurt Knull, it did not kill him, demonstrating his durability. Knull appears to have fully healed since, and has survived in space unaided, suggesting he has no need for traditional sustenance, and may not tire naturally.

After almost two years of build-up, Knull finally comes to Earth in King in Black #1. Many of the powers he displayed in Silver Surfer Black were seen here, such as symbiote control, shape-shifting and superhuman durability. Yet when the Sentry attacks, we get to see another power: Void manipulation. Deep inside the Sentry lives a being of pure darkness, and Knull was able to call it out, ripping the Sentry, one of Marvel’s most powerful characters, in two. Finally, Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic's exploration of Knull's Necrosword in Thor and King Thor has shown it alone can lend its wielder godlike strength and durability, though it also has a corrupting effect, similar to the bond between Sauron and the One Ring in Lord of the Rings.

In just the handful of appearances Knull has made, he has shown himself to be a truly powerful antagonist, able to kill Celestials with one blow and rip powerful post-humans to shreds. His power set makes true defeat highly unlikely, so watching the heroes figure out how to banish him will make for excellent reading.

Next:

Knull: Everything You Need to Know About Marvel's Symbiote God

Knull is depicted as the primordial deity of darkness and the creator of the Symbiotes, wielding immense power over them.
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INTERVIEW: King in Black's Donny Cates Teases Marvel's Epic Venom Crossover Event

Knull's arrival on Earth during the 'King in Black' event led to a massive confrontation with Earth's mightiest heroes.