In Morbius, it was Vulture, Kraven the Hunter trailer has spiders, and there are web swinging people a la Spider Man in Madame Web, but let’s not forget, Madame Web is quite captivating as well. The point is, whenever a movie is in the works, or the trailer is being prepared for release, these guys have this very effective weapon, that is able to attract the attention of the audience, and it is usually connected with Spider Man, and this one is especially suited to this storyline. Having gotten over what they wrought on Venom in the last two parts of that film, they felt perhaps it’s time to raise the stakes and so introduced Knull.
Let us first examine Knull and his role in the Marvel Universe and why he is so Rocha: Knull is resting on a lower level. However, the backstory is imperative for us to appreciate the character out there. The plot is connected to Gor The god butcher comic, who was a foreigner on the planet who lost all of his family and loved ones to hunger during a famine. Even after many monolithic heads were beseeched in prayer, none provided assistance. Gorr breaks when he sees two gods battling it out; one in gold armor and the other clad in black. After this ritual, Gorr levels the black god and becomes filled with power and was transformed into the God Butcher – making it easier to slay gods in the most disturbing ways possible. Some parts of this were already shown in Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder, but later on, this story was not canon since the marvel comics corrected what the universe changed about that story revealing that the weapon Gorr wields- Wielding of Gorr: All: All-Black the necrosword’ is one of the most sought-on weapons in the universe; and which was made by Knull himself.
Knull’s narrative backdrop is set in billions of years before the current timeline of Marvel Comics. To fathom the importance of Knull, it is imperative to understand the cycle of birth and death through which the Marvel Universe goes. The Marvel universes follow a cycle of a Big Bang followed by flourishing then into another stage called destruction. The present day Marvel Universe is the 7th of its kind despite the fact that it has been destroyed six different times before.
There existed Knull before the seventh universe came to be in the void that is known as the dark between two universes made out of destruction and creation. He grew in the void and was satisfied without the necessity of any illumination. But then, with the arrival of the Celestials, light came in. This light with its gods in tow was something Knull thrived to loath. One of the Celestials, whom Knull killed is evidence of his great strength, as he beheaded one of them. The Celestial remains of the buried head later transformed into a known planet called ‘None’ in the cosmic universe of Monsters Inc. After Knull managed to slay the Celestial, from its body he created the All Black Necrosword, and started producing a race of amalgamated creatures, who were termed as symbiotes, to serve his potent will.
But, as it turned out, there were difficulties in implementing the plan. It was his very own creations, the symbiotes that captured him and locked him up in a cage called Klyntar where the symbiote’s collective consciousness was built. For billions of years, Knull remained a prisoner until the time line of Gorr, when Gorr came into the possession of a sword that belonged to Knull.
At last, Knull comes to our planet searching for Dylan, Eddie Brock’s son, as Dylan has a part of Knull inside him and thus is capable of controlling the symbiotes, which poses a threat to Knull. Eddie, tethered to Venom, hears Knull’s coming and informs the Avengers. The Avengers are not amused by this – Tony Stark eliminates threats from orbit and places bombs inside the wreckages of Kree and Skrull ships to use them for obliterating symbiotes. Yes, it is true that many of the symbiotes are eliminated, but doomsday does not come. Eddie will take action himself and will kill 100 of Knull’s symbiotes, he tells Tony, won’t make a difference. Knull has the ability to make thousands more.
Before they can react Knull appears at the scene with his troops. Dew of his symbiotes fell on New York city and black goo flowing around the buildings, streets and even rivers, engulfing the city and the entire world under the black goo. All Marvel superheroes starting from Captain America to Iron Man, all X-men including Cyclops, Jean Gray Four and even Spider-man all join forces against Knull fight.
Eddie, who is still part of the hive’s active consciousness, strives to control the symbiotes. The picture becomes even more grim when monsters, Celestials, who are covered in symbiotes and are controlled by Knull come to Earth. This is how dangerous Knull is, he does not only kill Celestials – he enslaves them and makes them fight for him.
Even with all their best, even Captain America and the other heroes can literally do nothing to Knull. Captain America’s desperate final attempt is to call forth Sentry, the one with two personalities – the Sentry and the Void. Void, the alter ego of Sentry comes with dire consequences – this was the same Void that once dismembered Carnage, also eliminating the strategy General Ares. When Sentry reaches the scene, he is able to tear apart a Celestial and toss Knull into orbit. But Knull simply states touchingly, his hands holding Sentry’s face, “There’s no need for this. I’m part of hive mind, and I know what you did to my son, Carnage.” Knull yells to Sentry among ruins of battle even as it rips Sentry in half, revealing Knull is dark side which even Sentry couldn’t suppress, just as Sentry did to Carnage.
Next, Knull makes a blanket of symbioses over the whole Earth, covering everything including sunlight. At last desperate, Eddie Brock goes on his knees and pleads Knull to come for him but leave Earth. Knull, who is unimpressed, decides to remove Venom from Eddie and tosses him off a skyscaper to the streets where Eddie sustains sever injuries with no hope of survival.
As it turns out, things get worse, Knull decides to brainwash marvels’ heroes, in order to create his army of symbiotes. Cyclops, Hulk, even the Thing turns into Knull’s puppet. The atmosphere is You Know It Is Bad When — even the bad guys need to team up with the superheroes. Kingpin brings together a fleet of his forces, Namor forms an alliance with dangerous bottom dwelling creatures in the mariana’s trench, and Blade accepts Dracula’s invitation for a truce. They have no option left but to join hands against Knull.
Despite these, they begin to get defeated. That is when a solution germinates into Tony Stark’s mind. Among his creation is a dragon like creature called Grendels, which Tony was able to plug the extremis into. He succeeds in dominating one of them to command a celestial but Knull is not deterred by this.
Let’s bring Thor into the equation. But, wait, this is not the Thor that you are all too acquainted with—this Thor possesses the Odin-Force, now called the Thor-Force, as well as a Goddess-infused Mjolnir and this makes Thor unbelievably powerful. Thor however stands his ground even against Knull and even manages to break Knull’s jaw on a lucky blow. But Knull has healed in seconds and he has pierced Thor’s chest with the Necrosword. Just when all seems lost, out of nowhere, enters the Silver Surfer.
Silver Surfer has previously been in battle with Knull and understands the kind of opponent that he is. But this time there is a change. That golden god Gorr fought was not a god slayer like Venom but a being of light. Silver Surfer in such a case comes back to Earth with the light that Knull had buried. The light searches for its host and finds the near-death Eddie Brock. Mister Fantastic recognizes this light as the Enigma Force, the energy-empowering Captain Universe, granting Eddie the power that allows him to take down Knull for good.
Eddie’s cometh! In their final stand-off, skin of Mjolnir and board of Silver Surfer merge into a cosmic axe and take on the final challenge posed by Knull by throwing him straight into the Sun which erases his powers since Knull’s darkness is opposed to the light of the sun. Knull is quite the menace, so much so that even Jean Grey with the Phoenix Force hasn’t managed to bend his will People like the Avengers, X-men, Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, and Thor had come together, and still, they couldn’t get the better of him. However, let’s not forget that this is Sony’s universe who has created him and asks how or rather who is going to kill him. Morbius? Madame Web with her three supporting characters? What we believe, how strange it may seem, is that based on everything we have accompanied in the past, we should expect something better. All I wanted was to show you why Knull should be introduced in the MCU as a big villain. He can even overshadow Thanos.
