Knull shares the same origin story as the villain of this iconic video game

Sometimes it's incredibly common to find similitudes between different works of art. Maybe a song sounds a little too similar to another, or an overused narrative trope can be found in many stories. However, there are a few occasions in which those parallels are too big not to be acknowledged, and that's the case with Knull's backstory. The King in Black was introduced during the beloved Donny Cates' Venom (2018) comic book run, and in it, readers witnessed his origin story and eventual arrival on Earth. It's an epic tale of light versus darkness — one which can also be found in a newly-released video game.

Warning: Spoilers to follow for Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom villain has the same backstory as Knull

I know I'm a little late to the Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom train. However, now that I've gone over its whole campaign, it's impossible not to notice how its main villain is basically Nintendo's version of The King in Black. Let's start with the most obvious: the latest Zelda villain is called Null, which is a little too similar to the name of Marvel's symbiote god: Knull. Besides, the two entities have basically one goal in mind, which is to return their kingdoms to their former glory way before life invaded them.

Both Knull and Null existed before the creation of the universe itself. They were floating in an endless void filled with perpetual darkness. They found comfort in that nothingness, which is why they grew resentful once the gods of their respective realities created light, planets, and life. Since that moment, both entities bowed to consume everything in darkness once again; a goal that could only be accomplished by corrupting everyone who stood in their path.

Null, from The Legend of Zelda, opened huge rifts across the Kingdom of Hyrule, devouring people and animals along the way. From that point, it could create "echoes" (or evil copies) of all those beings and send them to the real world to do whatever it desired. Similarly, Knull — from the Marvel Universe — can corrupt all life forms through his creations: the symbiotes. These soldiers would be sent to every corner of the universe to destroy whole planets and traumatize the few survivors that were left.

Eventually, both Null and Knull would be defeated by their counterparts: ethereal beings made entirely of light. Tri and his friends opposed the former, while the Enigma Force bonded with Eddie Brock to fight the latter. Once these villains were finally taken out of the picture, everyone under their influence was suddenly freed — ending the nightmares once and for all. While I really think it's unlikely for Nintendo to purposefully copy the work of Donny Cates, it's undeniable both stories have major similitudes. What makes it all the more shocking is that The Legend of Zelda and Venom are two completely different franchises, so you'd expect them to tackle contrasting narratives.

But hey, at the end of the day, it's all about heroes going against villains. So I guess both properties are not too different after all.