Sony’s Spider-Man universe has been dropping hints about something massive coming. From Vulture’s appearance in Morbius to the spider webs in Kraven the Hunter’s trailer, and the hanging Spider-Men in Madame Web, these movies keep throwing in hooks to get you into theaters. But when they got tired of playing the same old game with Venom’s first two parts, they decided to go big. Really big. They introduced Knull.
But who exactly is Knull, and why should you care? Let me break down everything you need to know about Marvel’s most terrifying villain and why his introduction changes everything.
Who Is Knull in Marvel Comics?
To understand Knull’s significance, we need to go back to one of Marvel’s most devastating storylines. You might remember Gorr the God Butcher from Thor: Love and Thunder. This alien being watched his family starve while the gods ignored their prayers. When Gorr found two fallen gods – one wearing golden armor, the other black – he picked up the black god’s sword and gained incredible power to kill gods across the universe.
Here’s what the movie didn’t tell you: that weapon Gorr wielded, the All-Black Necrosword, is one of the most powerful weapons in the Marvel universe. And if the weapon is that dangerous, imagine how terrifying its creator must be.
That creator is Knull.
The Origin of Marvel’s Darkest God
Knull’s story begins billions of years before our current Marvel universe even existed. You see, Marvel comics operate on a cycle of creation and destruction. The universe gets created in a Big Bang, flourishes, then gets completely destroyed, only for a new universe to rise from that destruction.
Our current Marvel universe is actually the seventh iteration of this cycle. Six universes have already been destroyed and reborn.
Between the destruction of the sixth universe and the creation of the seventh, there was darkness. Pure, absolute darkness. And in that darkness lived a being who thrived in the void – Knull.
The Arrival of Light and Celestials
Knull was perfectly content in his darkness until something changed everything: light arrived. Not just any light, but the cosmic light that brought the Celestials with it. These massive cosmic beings disturbed Knull’s peaceful void, and he couldn’t stand it.
When the Celestials tried to stop him, Knull did something that should tell you exactly how powerful he is – he decapitated one of them with his bare hands.
That severed Celestial head? You know it today as Knowhere, the planet-sized skull that serves as a mining colony and Guardians of the Galaxy headquarters in the Marvel universe.
The Creation of the All-Black Necrosword
After killing that Celestial, Knull didn’t just walk away. He established a forge inside the dead Celestial’s head and created his signature weapon: the All-Black Necrosword. But that wasn’t all. He also created countless symbiotes, all connected to a hive mind that he controlled.
However, there was a twist. The very symbiotes Knull created to serve him eventually rebelled against their creator. They imprisoned him in a cage connected to their hive mind, a prison called the Klyntar. For billions of years, Knull remained trapped there while his symbiote children spread across the universe.
Knull’s Arrival on Earth: King in Black
When Knull finally breaks free from his prison, he sets his sights on Earth. Why? Because Eddie Brock’s son Dylan has Knull’s essence within him and can control symbiotes independently. This makes Dylan a massive threat to Knull’s control over the hive mind.
The Heroes Unite Against an Unstoppable Force
When Knull arrives on Earth, it’s not subtle. The moment his symbiote army crashes into the planet, everything changes. New York City, its buildings, streets, parks, rivers – everything gets covered in black symbiote matter. No sunlight, no moonlight, nothing. Complete darkness.
Every Marvel hero you can think of joins the fight:
- Captain America and the Avengers
- Iron Man with his technological arsenal
- The X-Men including Cyclops and Jean Grey
- The Fantastic Four
- Spider-Man and countless others
But here’s the terrifying part: none of them can even scratch Knull.
The Fall of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes
Tony Stark tries his usual genius approach. He rigs old Kree and Skrull ships in Earth’s orbit as bombs, destroying hundreds of symbiotes when they arrive. But as Eddie Brock warns him, “You killed a hundred, he’ll create thousands more.”
When Knull finally arrives with his full army, the situation becomes hopeless. He doesn’t just fight the heroes – he converts them. Cyclops, The Thing, even the Hulk get infected and turned into symbiotes under Knull’s control.
The situation gets so desperate that heroes have to team up with villains. Kingpin gathers his criminal network, Namor makes deals with banished species in the deepest ocean trenches, and Blade forms an alliance with Dracula. When heroes are teaming up with vampires, you know things are bad.
The Power That Makes Gods Tremble
Let me put Knull’s power level in perspective. When Captain America calls in Sentry – a hero with the power of a million exploding suns – Sentry manages to tear apart one of Knull’s Celestial servants and tries to drag Knull into space.
But Knull just looks at him and says, “You don’t need to do this, son. I remember what you did to my child Carnage.” Then he rips Sentry in half, just like Sentry once did to Carnage. Knull reveals that Sentry’s dark personality, the Void, is actually part of his own darkness. Wherever darkness exists in the universe, Knull has influence.
Even when Thor arrives – not regular Thor, but Thor with the Odin Force (now called Thor Force) and Mjolnir infused with the Mother Storm – he can barely give Knull a decent fight. Thor manages to break Knull’s jaw with Mjolnir, but Knull heals in seconds and stabs Thor with the Necrosword.
When Jean Grey, powered by the Phoenix Force, tries to manipulate Knull’s mind, she realizes she’s completely outmatched.
The Only Thing That Can Stop a God
So how do you defeat someone who effortlessly destroys Celestials, converts all of Earth’s heroes, and treats cosmic-level threats like minor annoyances?
The answer comes from an unlikely source: the opposite of everything Knull represents.
Remember that golden god who fought alongside the black one when Gorr found them? That golden being was a light-based symbiote – the exact opposite of Knull’s dark parasites. While dark symbiotes corrupt their hosts, this light symbiote empowers them for good.
Silver Surfer brings this light symbiote to Earth, and it chooses the most unlikely host: the dying Eddie Brock. This light is actually the Enigma Force, the same cosmic power that creates Captain Universe.
The Final Battle
With the Enigma Force flowing through him, Eddie Brock becomes powerful enough to steal Thor’s hammer right from the God of Thunder’s grasp, take Silver Surfer’s board, and fuse them into a cosmic axe capable of destroying Knull.
Even then, defeating Knull requires throwing him into the sun, because sunlight is the absolute opposite of his darkness-based powers.
Why Knull’s Introduction in Sony’s Universe Is Problematic
Here’s the thing that makes Knull’s introduction in Sony’s Spider-Man universe so concerning. In the comics, it took literally every major Marvel hero working together to barely defeat him:
- All the Avengers
- All the X-Men
- The Fantastic Four
- Jean Grey with Phoenix Force
- Silver Surfer
- Thor with Odin Force
- Plus an alliance with major villains
And even with all that firepower, they only won because Eddie Brock got powered up by a cosmic force specifically designed to counter Knull.
But Sony’s universe doesn’t have any of these heroes. No X-Men, no Avengers, no Fantastic Four, not even Spider-Man in most of their movies. So who’s going to stop a being that made cosmic entities look like weaklings? Morbius? Madame Web and her three spider-powered friends?
What This Means for Future Sony Movies
The introduction of Knull raises massive questions about how Sony plans to handle their Spider-Man universe going forward. You can’t just drop in a villain who required the entire Marvel universe to defeat and expect Venom alone to handle it.
This could either lead to:
- A massive team-up event bringing together all of Sony’s characters
- A significantly powered-down version of Knull
- The introduction of other cosmic-level heroes we haven’t seen yet
The Bottom Line on Knull
Knull isn’t just another villain – he’s a cosmic horror that represents the darkness before creation itself. His power level is so extreme that he makes Thanos look like a neighborhood bully. When a character can casually decapitate Celestials, convert cosmic-level heroes, and treat the Phoenix Force like an inconvenience, you’re dealing with something beyond traditional superhero threats.
Whether Sony can do justice to such an incredibly powerful character remains to be seen. But one thing’s certain: if they pull it off correctly, Knull could become the most terrifying villain ever put on screen.
What do you think? Can Sony’s universe handle a villain this powerful, or are they setting themselves up for disappointment? The King in Black is coming, and we’re about to find out if they’re ready for him.
