Show pageOld revisionsBacklinksBack to top This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong. ====== Knull ====== ===== Part 1: The Dossier: An At-a-Glance Summary ===== * **Core Identity:** **Knull is a primordial deity of darkness and the void, the ancient progenitor and malevolent god-king of the entire symbiote race, known as the Klyntar.** * **Key Takeaways:** * **Role in the Universe:** Knull is a cosmic horror entity, a living abyss who existed in the darkness before the universe began. He views all light and life as an infestation of his perfect, silent kingdom and seeks to return the cosmos to that state of nothingness. He is the creator of both the [[symbiote]] race and their ultimate weapon, [[all_black_the_necrosword]]. * **Primary Impact:** Knull's most significant impact is the complete retcon of the symbiote origin story. He transformed them from a noble species of symbiotic partners (the Klyntar) into a ravenous hive-mind army, his personal weapons of conquest. His reawakening in the modern era triggered the universe-threatening [[king_in_black]] event, which nearly plunged Earth and the cosmos into eternal darkness. * **Key Incarnations:** In the primary comic universe (Earth-616), Knull is a fully realized character with a deep history and a central role in major events. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Knull himself has not appeared; however, his most famous creation, the All-Black the Necrosword, was the primary weapon of [[Gorr the God Butcher]] in //Thor: Love and Thunder//, though its origin was significantly altered to remove any direct connection to Knull or the symbiotes. ===== Part 2: Origin and Evolution ===== ==== Publication History and Creation ==== Knull is a relatively recent but profoundly impactful addition to the Marvel canon. His conceptual origins trace back to Jason Aaron and Esad Ribić's landmark run on //Thor: God of Thunder//. In issue #6 (March 2013), the villain [[Gorr the God Butcher]] wielded a mysterious, all-powerful weapon called "All-Black the Necrosword," which was described as having been born from the abyss. While the entity Knull was not named or shown, the seeds of his existence were planted. The character of Knull was fully conceived and introduced by writer Donny Cates and artist Ryan Stegman during their transformative run on the //Venom// title. Knull was first seen in a flashback in //Venom// Vol. 4 #3 (August 2018) and made his first full, present-day appearance in //Silver Surfer: Black// #1 (August 2019). Cates and Stegman built upon the foundation laid by Aaron, retroactively establishing that the "abyss" from which the Necrosword was born was, in fact, Knull himself. This creative stroke connected the lore of Thor to that of Venom, creating a terrifying, overarching cosmic villain who had been lurking in the shadows of the Marvel Universe for millennia. His subsequent role as the main antagonist in the events //Absolute Carnage// and //King in Black// cemented his status as a top-tier threat. ==== In-Universe Origin Story ==== The history of Knull is the history of darkness itself, a tale that predates the known universe and the gods who inhabit it. === Earth-616 (Prime Comic Universe) === Before the Big Bang, before light, before creation, there was only the Void—an endless, cold, silent darkness. And within this darkness, there was Knull. He slumbered peacefully in his kingdom of nothingness. This peace was shattered by the arrival of the Light of Creation and the godlike cosmic beings known as the [[celestials]], who began to shape the void into the universe we know today. Awakened and enraged by this intrusion, Knull retaliated. He reached into his own living darkness and from his shadow forged a weapon: a blade of endless night. This weapon was the first symbiote, **All-Black the Necrosword**. With it, Knull struck down one of the invading Celestials, decapitating the cosmic being. He then used the slain Celestial's head as a forge, tempering the Necrosword in its cosmic energies. This act of deicide marked the beginning of his ancient war against the light and life. For eons, Knull waged a solitary war against the fledgling gods and elder beings of the new universe, using the Necrosword to slaughter them and perfect his control over the living abyss. During this time, he discovered he could shape his living darkness into lesser creatures, parasitic beings he could bond to other organisms to corrupt and control them. These were the first symbiotes. He used them to create a vast army, a hive-mind connected directly to his will, and built a cosmic empire of darkness. His throne world was a planet shrouded in living darkness, which he named Gorr's homeworld in a moment of cruel irony, and his symbol—a red, swirling spiral—was burned into the minds of all who feared him. His conquest eventually brought him into conflict with other cosmic forces. In a battle against a traveler wielding the Enigma Force, Knull was separated from a piece of his symbiote army. This severed fragment, a dragon-like symbiote he called the Grendel, crashed onto the medieval Earth. There, it battled the Asgardian prince [[thor_odinson|Thor]], who defeated the creature with his divine lightning. The sonic and electrical shock of Thor's attack reverberated through the entire symbiote hive-mind, traveling across the galaxy back to Knull himself. This psychic assault severed Knull's absolute control over the majority of his symbiote creations. Freed from his malevolent will, the symbiotes who were bonded to noble hosts began to develop a conscience and a culture of their own. They rebelled against their dark creator, imprisoning him within a massive cage constructed from billions of their own bodies. This artificial planet of symbiotes, which they named Klyntar (their word for "cage"), was designed to hold Knull for eternity. The newly noble symbiotes then spread across the universe, seeking to atone for their dark past by bonding with worthy hosts, creating the legend of the heroic Klyntar race that was long believed to be their true origin. Knull remained dormant within Klyntar for millennia, a forgotten god in a living prison. However, his influence was never truly gone. The Grendel symbiote was eventually discovered by S.H.I.E.L.D. and its connection to Knull's hive began to reawaken him. Later, the events of //Absolute Carnage//, where [[carnage_cletus_kasady|Carnage]] collected the genetic codices of past symbiote hosts, further weakened his prison. Ultimately, Knull broke free, reasserted his control over the entire symbiote race, and launched a full-scale invasion of the universe with Earth as his primary target, kicking off the devastating //King in Black// event. === Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) === To be unequivocally clear: **Knull has not appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as of the latest releases.** The character and his direct backstory are exclusive to the comic books. However, a critical piece of his mythology was adapted and featured prominently in the film //Thor: Love and Thunder// (2022). The film's antagonist, [[gorr_the_god_butcher|Gorr the God Butcher]], wields the **Necrosword**. This adaptation, while visually and thematically similar in some respects, presents a fundamentally different origin and nature for the weapon. In the MCU, the Necrosword is depicted as an ancient, cursed blade with a malevolent will of its own. Its origin is not explicitly tied to a primordial god of darkness. Instead, it is presented as a weapon that corrupts its wielder, granting them the power to slay gods at the cost of their own life force, twisting their body and mind. It allows its user to manipulate shadows, travel through them, and summon monstrous "shadow creatures." **Key Differences from the Comic Canon:** * **Symbiote Connection Removed:** The most significant change is the complete removal of the Necrosword's identity as a symbiote. In the MCU, it is a demonic sword, not a living creature of darkness created by Knull. There is no mention of a hive-mind, a biological component, or a connection to the species that would eventually produce [[venom_eddie_brock|Venom]]. * **Origin:** The sword's origin in the film is left ambiguous. It calls to Gorr after he renounces his gods, implying it is an independent, sentient artifact of evil rather than the personal creation of a specific entity like Knull. * **Visual Design:** The red spiral symbol, Knull's iconic mark, is absent from the MCU's depiction of the sword and its effects. * **Weaknesses:** The sword in the film appears to drain its user's life, a weakness not explicitly present in the comic version. The shadow monsters it creates are also vulnerable to light and powerful divine energy, a classic "darkness vs. light" trope, but a simplified version of a symbiote's vulnerabilities. The likely reason for this adaptation was to streamline Gorr's backstory for the film. Introducing the entire cosmic history of Knull and the symbiotes would have been too complex for a single movie's narrative. By making the Necrosword a standalone cursed weapon, the filmmakers could focus entirely on Gorr's personal tragedy and crusade. This creative decision does not necessarily preclude Knull's future introduction into the MCU, but it would require a significant retcon to connect him to the already-established Necrosword. ===== Part 3: Abilities, Equipment & Personality ===== === Earth-616 (Prime Comic Universe) === As a primordial entity of the void, Knull's power is immense, rivaling that of cosmic beings like the Celestials and Galactus. His very existence is an affront to the natural order of the universe. ==== Powers & Abilities ==== * **Primordial Darkness/Void Manipulation:** Knull's primary ability is his absolute control over the "living abyss," the primordial darkness from which he was born. He can shape this substance into constructs, weapons, and creatures. He can plunge entire planets and star systems into total darkness. * **Symbiote Creation and Control (The Hive-Mind):** Knull is the sole creator of the symbiote race. He can generate an infinite number of them from his own body. He is the master of the symbiote hive-mind, able to control any and all symbiotes across the universe, overriding their hosts' will and forcing them to serve him. This control is absolute, though it can be challenged by powerful psychic forces or beings connected to the Enigma Force. * **Superhuman God-Tier Attributes:** Knull possesses superhuman strength, speed, durability, and reflexes on a cosmic scale. He has physically battled Thor, decapitated a Celestial, and effortlessly overpowered entire teams of Earth's most powerful heroes, including the [[avengers|Avengers]] and [[x-men|X-Men]]. * **Immortality and Regeneration:** As a being of the void, Knull is functionally immortal and does not age. He has existed since before time. He can rapidly regenerate from nearly any injury, including decapitation and immolation within the sun, as long as a piece of his darkness remains. * **Shapeshifting:** Knull can alter his form at will, though he typically favors a gaunt, vampiric humanoid appearance with elongated features, sharp teeth, and a flowing mane of black hair. He can also manifest wings for flight. * **Possession and Corruption:** By bonding his living abyss with other beings, Knull can corrupt and control them. He has demonstrated the ability to possess Celestials, the Silver Surfer, and countless heroes by infecting them with his symbiote matter. ==== Equipment ==== * **All-Black the Necrosword:** Knull's first and greatest creation. Forged from his own shadow, All-Black is the very first symbiote. It grants its wielder the power to slay gods and manipulate the living abyss. The blade has a corrupting influence, feeding on the wielder's negative emotions and amplifying their power. It has been wielded by Knull, Gorr the God Butcher, King Thor, and even Galactus. It is arguably one of the most powerful weapons in the entire Marvel Universe. * **Symbiote Armor:** Knull typically wears a suit of black armor that is part of his own body. The red spiral dragon symbol on his chest is his personal crest. * **Symbiote Dragons and Armies:** Knull commands vast legions of symbiotes, which he can shape into terrifying forms, most notably massive, space-faring dragons. During the //King in Black// event, he used these dragons to form a living sphere of darkness around the entire planet Earth. ==== Personality & Ideology ==== Knull is the personification of cosmic nihilism. He is arrogant, cruel, and utterly devoid of empathy or compassion. He views the universe's existence as a mistake, a "cacophony of life" that has infected his silent, perfect void. His ultimate goal is not conquest in the traditional sense, but obliteration. He wishes to extinguish all light and life, returning the cosmos to the state of absolute nothingness from which it came. He views his symbiote creations not as his children, but as his tools—extensions of his own will to be used and discarded. Any symbiote that develops individuality or a sense of morality, like Venom, is seen as a flaw and an abomination to be eradicated. === Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) === As Knull is not in the MCU, this section analyzes the attributes of his adapted creation, the Necrosword. ==== The Necrosword's Abilities ==== * **God-Slaying Power:** Its primary function is its ability to harm and kill even the most powerful divine beings. It easily cut through Thor's divine flesh and killed numerous gods across the cosmos. * **Shadow Manipulation:** The wielder can summon and control "shadow creatures," monstrous beings that fight on their behalf. The user can also melt into and travel through shadows, providing a form of teleportation. * **Corruption and Life Drain:** The Necrosword is a cursed artifact that has a symbiotic, yet parasitic, relationship with its user. It preys on their negative emotions (like Gorr's grief and rage) and amplifies them. In return for its power, it slowly drains the wielder's life force, physically sickening and eventually killing them. * **Weakness to Light/Divine Energy:** Unlike its comic counterpart, the MCU Necrosword and its creations display a distinct vulnerability to concentrated light and powerful divine energy, such as that wielded by Thor and Mighty Thor's electrified weapons. ===== Part 4: Key Relationships & Network ===== ==== Core Servants & Pawns ==== Knull does not form alliances; he dominates. His relationships are defined by mastery and control. * **The Symbiote Hive:** His most significant "allies" are the countless symbiotes he controls. He is their god and their king, the central consciousness of their hive-mind. Through this connection, he can see what they see and command them across galaxies. * **Symbiote Dragons (The Grendel):** These massive, powerful symbiote constructs serve as his vanguard and beasts of war. The original Grendel that fought Thor was one of his most powerful servants, and its defeat was a critical turning point in his ancient history. * **Dark Carnage:** During //Absolute Carnage//, Cletus Kasady was resurrected and bonded with the Grendel symbiote, becoming "Dark Carnage." He acted as Knull's herald and high priest, seeking to gather the symbiote codices necessary to free his god from Klyntar. ==== Arch-Enemies ==== * **[[venom_eddie_brock|Venom (Eddie Brock)]]:** Venom represents the ultimate defiance of Knull's will. The Venom symbiote is a descendant of the Klyntar who broke free and chose a path of heroism (or anti-heroism) with Eddie Brock. Knull views Venom as a disgusting perversion of his purpose. Their conflict is deeply personal and ideological, culminating in their final battle during //King in Black//, where Eddie, empowered by the Enigma Force, kills Knull and usurps his title. * **[[Dylan Brock]]:** Eddie Brock's son, who possesses unique abilities to sense and control symbiotes, represents the future of the species, free from Knull's darkness. As the new host of the Venom symbiote and the new "King in Black," Dylan stands for everything Knull sought to destroy: hope, connection, and the use of the hive-mind for good. * **The Forces of Light (Celestials, Thor, Silver Surfer):** Knull's eternal enemies are the beings who represent creation and light. His very first act was to kill a Celestial. He fought a young Thor in Earth's distant past, an encounter that led to his imprisonment. He later battled the Silver Surfer when the Surfer was flung back to the beginning of time, with the Surfer becoming one of the few beings to wound Knull in his prime. ==== Affiliations ==== * **The Symbiotes (Klyntar):** Knull's only affiliation is with the race he spawned. He is their creator, god, master, and warden. His entire identity is tied to being the **King in Black**, the lord of the living abyss and its parasitic children. ===== Part 5: Iconic Events & Storylines ===== ==== Venom: The Abyss (Retcons and Revelations) ==== In Donny Cates's //Venom// run (specifically issues #1-6), the long-established origin of the symbiotes as a noble race called the Klyntar was revealed to be a lie. Through the discovery of the Grendel symbiote dragon, Eddie Brock and Miles Morales learn the horrifying truth about Knull. This storyline single-handedly established Knull as the true creator of the symbiotes, retconning decades of lore and introducing the concept of the symbiote hive-mind as a prison for a dark god. It set the stage for all of Knull's future appearances and redefined the entire Venom mythology. ==== Absolute Carnage ==== While Knull remains largely off-panel for this event, his presence is the driving force behind the entire plot. Resurrected as Dark Carnage and serving as Knull's avatar, Cletus Kasady wages a campaign of terror to hunt down every person on Earth who has ever bonded with a symbiote. His goal is to extract the genetic "codex" left behind in their bodies. By collecting these codices and linking them to the Grendel symbiote's piece of the hive-mind, Carnage intends to create a psychic antenna powerful enough to breach Klyntar and finally awaken his slumbering god. The event culminates in Eddie Brock defeating Carnage but inadvertently freeing Knull in the process. ==== King in Black ==== This is Knull's magnum opus and the climax of his entire saga. Having been freed, Knull arrives at Earth with a colossal army of symbiote dragons, effortlessly overwhelming Earth's defenses. He encases the entire planet in a shell of living abyss, plunging it into darkness. Knull defeats the Avengers, X-Men, and nearly every other hero, possessing many of them to serve in his army. The conflict is a desperate, brutal war for the planet's soul. The ultimate victory is achieved when Eddie Brock is chosen as the new host for the Enigma Force (the "Captain Universe" power), transforming him into a cosmic-level being. In a final, cataclysmic battle, Venom kills Knull, shattering him into nothingness and freeing the symbiote hive from his control forever. Eddie then takes his place, not as a dark god, but as the new, benevolent King in Black. ===== Part 6: Variants and Alternative Versions ===== * **Cosmic Ghost Rider's Timeline (Earth-TRN666):** In this dark alternate future, Knull succeeded in his conquest, killing nearly all life in the universe. Only a hardened, ancient Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd) was left to oppose him. Frank Castle, the Cosmic Ghost Rider, traveled to this timeline and, after a long and brutal war, was eventually able to kill this version of Knull by using the power of a fallen Galactus and the might of a Mjolnir wielded by an Annihilus-controlled Silver Surfer. * **Video Game Adaptations:** Knull has become a popular and powerful character in several mobile games. In titles like //Marvel: Contest of Champions//, //Marvel Strike Force//, and //Marvel Future Fight//, he is typically a top-tier "boss" character. These versions adapt his core abilities—symbiote control, darkness manipulation, and overwhelming power—for a gameplay environment, often serving as the central antagonist of major in-game events. * **//Venomverse// and //Venomized//:** While Knull himself did not appear in these events (as they were published before his creation), the antagonists, the "Poisons," share a similar function as a hive-minded race that seeks to consume and assimilate symbiotes and their hosts. Knull's later creation can be seen as a more profound and historically-grounded version of this "anti-symbiote" concept. ===== See Also ===== * [[symbiote]] * [[venom_eddie_brock]] * [[carnage_cletus_kasady]] * [[gorr_the_god_butcher]] * [[all_black_the_necrosword]] * [[king_in_black]] ===== Notes and Trivia ===== ((Knull's creation represented a significant retcon of the symbiote origin story first established in the 1995 storyline "Planet of the Symbiotes," which introduced the Klyntar as a noble species that purged themselves of evil. Donny Cates's work posits that this noble identity was a "lie" the symbiotes told themselves after rebelling against Knull.)) ((Knull's iconic spiral symbol was designed by Ryan Stegman. In-universe, it was inspired by the first time Knull saw the light of creation. It later became the symbol that manifested on the foreheads of those controlled by him and was the visual representation of the symbiote codices.)) ((The name of Knull's symbiote dragon, "Grendel," is a direct reference to the monster from the Old English epic poem //Beowulf//. This ties into the story's themes of ancient monsters and legendary heroes, with Thor filling the Beowulf archetype.)) ((The first appearance of the Necrosword in //Thor: God of Thunder// #6 predates Knull's first appearance in //Venom// Vol. 4 #3 by over five years, making Knull a rare example of a character being created retroactively to explain the origins of a previously established artifact.)) ((In //Silver Surfer: Black//, it is revealed that after Knull was wounded by the Silver Surfer at the dawn of time, the Surfer's light and cosmic power infected the nascent universe. This act of "seeding" the universe with light and life is what allowed sentient beings to eventually evolve, making Knull's hatred for the Surfer deeply personal.))