Who is Knull explained: Everything to know before Venom: The Last Dance

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

Creation

In Marvel Comics, there's the Multiversal Cycle; endless iterations of a universe's birth and destruction coming one after another. After the sixth cosmos ended, there was a period of nothingness - an endless, perpetual void in which life was simply nonexistent...

Or at least, that's what we assumed.

Living in that darkness, was Knull - an "existential chasm" that followed the destruction of the previous universe and preceded the creation of the Seventh Cosmos. This primordial being lived comfortably in the shadows for eons until the Celestials stepped in and gave birth to the Marvel Universe as we know it. However, that act of creation did not sit well with the Lord of the Abyss, who was immediately disgusted by the light that invaded his kingdom:

"Those (Gods) saw my home as incomplete. As clay for their unwanted designs (...) they would come to call my kingdom 'space' as if it were an empty thing that needed to be filled. (...) The endlessness of my lands was not theirs to raze and reform and remake! No. The void breathes."

The King in Black took it upon himself to destroy all living beings and bring the perpetual darkness to its former glory. To accomplish that, he cut the head off of a Celestial off with one single strike and used its core to forge a weapon unlike any other. The Necrosword (or All Black) was a living blade designed to fight off the light. However, its creation wasn't without one major flaw: this blade, the very first symbiote to ever exist, grew scared of the fire of the forge and the loud sound of a hammer beating it into shape. Most symbiotes still "carry the scars of their progenitor" in them, which is why fire and loud noises are their only weaknesses.

Nonetheless, the imperfect weapon was more than enough in the hands of Knull to kill countless living beings. He spread his reign of terror without any remorse until, one day, he finally met his match in the form of an unnamed warrior.

Entraptment

With the birth of darkness, also came the creation of the light. Even if they are polar opposites, it's undeniable one cannot exist without the other. On that same page, Knull, who acts as the embodiment of the void itself, had an equal opposite: a god of light, a symbiote with unthinkable strength, an Enigma Force.

This light bonded with the warrior who finally managed to bring down Knull during the early years of the universe. Together, they both fell from outer space and crashed into an unnamed planet in which Gorr, the God Butcher, stole the Necrosword. Left alone to its own devices, Knull began to experiment with new ways of eradicating life until figuring out he could simply corrupt it when bonding to it. That's when the first symbiotes were created, and it wasn't long until an entire army was built. All these new aliens shared the same hivemind with Knull front and center.

The King in Black physically remained on the same planet, but his hordes of symbiotes extended to the farthest corners of the universe doing their lord's bidding. Entire civilizations were erased, and survivors were driven mad. It seemed like nothing could put a stop to this rapid-spreading virus until another god - one of lightning - finally intervened.

Thor struck Grendel (a dragon symbiote) with a bolt of lightning powerful enough to sever the hivemind and free all symbiotes from Knull's influence. At that moment, all the alien creatures rose and trapped their creator in what would come to be known as the planet Klyntar (which means 'cage') for centuries to come. There, the supervillain would be put on an endless sleep.

Escape

Knull "reached into the psychic darkness of his symbiotic creations, hoping to psychically connect with any receptive host" in an attempt to be awakened. Eventually, he finally found the perfect host thanks to the twisted mind of Cletus Kasady. When Carnage learns about the King in Black's existence, it becomes his personal mission to wake his god and trap the world in perpetual darkness. To do so, he hunts every single being who once bonded to a symbiote, ripped their spinal cord, and consumed their "codex".

A codex is a "cellular imprint" that every symbiote leaves on a host's DNA after the two part ways. It's a means to communicate key details about the host to the rest of the symbiote species in case another wants to bond with them. But why does Cletus Kasady need these codices? Well, not only does he grow more powerful the more he consumes them, but it also gets him closer to rejoining the hivemind and awakening the King In Black.

The Venom and Carnage symbiotes have been long disconnected from other members of their species. But if they absorb many codices, they would finally be able to communicate with the rest of the hivemind, including Knull. At one point, Cletus Kasady grows too powerful to be stopped, so the only solution is for Eddie to bond with the codices of heroes like Captain America and Wolverine and be as equally as strong.

The two archnemessis undergo a massive battle until Carnage gets ahold of Eddie Brock's son, Dylan. The unhinged villain explains that no matter the outcome of the battle, he already won. If Carnage gets ahold of Dylan's codex, then he would rejoin the hivemind and awaken Knull. However, if Eddie takes him down, then the Venom symbiote absorbs its offspring (and its codices) and the result is the exact same (except it's the Lethal Protector the one who would set the King in Black free).

Determined to save his son and get at least one victory, Venom kills his enemy, but by doing so he also condemns the whole world to a cosmic invasion down the line.

Invasion and death

At long last, Knull is awakened and arrives on Earth with an army of symbiotes by his side. The Lord of the Abyss tears the Sentry, the world's greatest hero, in half with his bare hands. As if it wasn't enough, he also brings with him corrupted Celestials who proceeded to light complete cities on fire. Earth's Mightiest Heroes along with the X-Men attempt to hold the line, but many of them are overtaken by the symbiotes in the process.

It all goes south pretty quickly as even Thor, the god of thunder, is defeated by Knull and his (new) Necrosword. Just when everything seemed to be lost, the Enigma Force arrived on Earth. Acting as a direct opposite to the King in Black, the god of light chose to bond with a deceased Eddie Brock to create a new iteration of Captain Universe and fight against the darkness. Venom then comes back to life and uses Thor's hammer and a piece of the Silver Surfer's board to beat Knull and finally defeat him by throwing him into the sun.

But even if Knull is no more, the symbiotes still need a "leader". It's then, that Eddie Brock becomes the new King in Black, and his son, Dylan, takes on the Venom mantle - a move that would set up the events of the ongoing Venom War (2024).

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