5 Reasons Why Venom 3's Knull Is Marvel's Most Terrifying Villain Yet

"Venom: The Last Dance" looks like it will fulfill a tease going back to the 2018 original: a Symbiote invasion of Earth. Venom (Tom Hardy) told his host Eddie Brock (also Hardy) a bit about his homeworld, but viewers still haven't gotten a glimpse of planet Klyntar themselves.

The third "Venom" movie will also, it appears, go back to the very beginnings of the Symbiote race: their malevolent creator, the Marvel villain Knull, appears briefly in the film's trailer. Knull's cameo has been kept shrouded in mystery. "The Last Dance" director Kelly Marcel has promised this is only the beginning, so the going bet right now is that Knull will likely be the villain of Tom Holland's fourth "Spider-Man" film, which will finally bring Spidey and Venom together again onscreen. (But this remains unconfirmed for the moment.)

Let's cut through the PR; Knull does not have a storied comic history like previous Marvel silver screen big bad Thanos or the future archvillain Doctor Doom (as played by former Tony Stark actor Robert Downey Jr.). Knull was created by writer Donny Cates and artist Ryan Stegman in 2018, and was the primary villain of their 30-ish issue "Venom" run, culminating in the crossover "King in Black." (Cates also reused Knull as a villain in his and Tradd Moore's 2019 mini-series, "Silver Surfer: Black.") Like many recently-created Marvel/DC characters, Knull feels designed to be adapted for the movies, especially since he's a Venom enemy that needs no ties to Spider-Man. Not that Sony bothered to inform Knull's creators they were using him.

Cates and Stegman are both the children of edgy '90s comics. (The latter is currently channeling Jim Lee in his pencil work on Jed MacKay's "X-Men.") Knull's character feels rooted in the "X-treme" '90s tradition; he's super powerful, dressed all-in-black, related to Venom but even cooler than him, and he's even got a sword!

Knull's flowing white hair, an anime villain trademark, also feels so right; the '90s is when American comic artists started taking cues from manga. Donny Cates says he's never read a manga or watched an anime, but Knull looks right at home next to "Griffith" from "Berserk" or Vicious from "Cowboy Bebop." Heck, just call him "Symbiote Sephiroth." (Can we expect a "One-Winged Angel" needle-drop in "Venom: The Last Dance" or "Spider-Man 4"?)

In short, Cates and Stegman were trying to craft the most terrifying super-villain they could think of with Knull — and they did a pretty good job.

The "K" is silent — Knull's name is pronounced as in "and void." It's a significant name because Knull himself is a creature of nothingness. He's billions of years old, born in the vast darkness that came after the destruction of the previous universe (of which planet eater Galactus, once a scientist named Galen, was the only survivor) and the Big Bang that kickstarted ours.

Then, the Celestials brought forth light and Knull was repulsed. Whereas the Celestials saw the dark as emptiness they could remold, Knull saw them as invaders in his domain. His crusade of destruction is to return the universe to what it was.

This is why Knull fits as a villain in "Silver Surfer: Black." The Surfer's arc in the book is him brooding over his past as a herald of Galactus. Norrin Radd may be a kind soul, but to many worlds he was an agent of death. So, in "Silver Surfer: Black," while thrown back into the primordial past, the Surfer must face an unmaker like he once was. The book's conclusion is that: "You cannot defeat the dark, but you can find the light inside of you."

"King In Black" likewise ends with Knull thrown into the Sun and obliterated; naturally, darkness is snuffed out by the most powerful light of all. It's way too early to tell if the cinematic Knull will receive the same fate as the comic one.

Volume 1 of Cates and Stegman's "Venom" is titled "Rex" — Latin for "King," because that's what Knull is to the Symbiotes.

Originally, Venom and his ilk were presented as a naturally evolved race of liquid parasites, known in their own language as the "Klyntar." Cates and Stegman revised them into Knull's creations. Their power to possess other beings was a way for Knull to spread his influence across the cosmos, and in turn, the symbiotes have a hive mind because that hive is Knull's will disseminated.

In ancient times, the Symbiotes were unshackled from Knull's control (thanks to some help from Thor), so they overthrew and defeated their master. The Symbiotes' homeworld is in fact a prison with Knull at its core; "Klyntar" means "cage."

Every god needs followers, too, and for Knull that is the Church of New Darkness (sometimes called the Cult of Knull). A remnant of the Symbiotes invading Earth in medieval times, the Church has endured for centuries awaiting their master's return.

Venom is not the only Marvel villain to whom Knull has a deep connection. Gorr the God Butcher (who you might remember from Christian Bale's portrayal in "Thor: Love and Thunder) was born a mortal, but true to his name, he has the power to kill gods. How? The weapon he wields, the Necrosword.

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gorr's Necrosword is depicted as a shadow-casting longsword that bring forth monsters. In the comics, it is instead a shapeless black fluid flowing across Gorr's body that he can make into blades and tendrils.

Marvel Comics

Sound familiar? The Necrosword looks and acts a lot like a Symbiote, because it is the original one: "All-Black." Knull took his own shadow and made it into a sword to fight against the Celestials, forged with the power of one he'd already slain. Eons ago, Knull lost All-Black and Gorr found it, becoming the God Butcher.

This is a retcon; Gorr debuted in 2012, six years before Knull. His origin, first told in "Thor: God of Thunder" #6 by Jason Aaron and Butch Guice, depicts him finding the Necrosword from a slain, knight-like god in black armor. Cates and Stegman turned this unnamed god into Knull. Still, it's a nifty explanation that accounts for Gorr's Venom-ous powers and how his weapon corrupts his mind.

Speaking of God-slaying, you've already seen the Celestial who Knull slayed in the MCU!

Remember Knowhere from James Gunn's "Guardians of the Galaxy" films? It's the space station/city built into the decapitated head of a long-dead Celestial; the Guardians visit in the first film and are settled on it in the third. You may not have put much thought into how the Celestial died; even ancient beings pass, and Knowhere is just one more bit of weirdness in the MCU's most proudly weird films.

But there is a story; Knowhere was once the head of the unnamed Celestial who Knull killed. He decapitated it with his original Symbiote sword, then used its head as a refinery to upgrade his sword into All-Black. After Knull left it, the head drifted, attracting new settlers and becoming Knowhere. Like Gorr, Knowhere's new origin shows how Knull's backstory was woven into the Marvel Universe. (Both Knull and Knowhere are linked by the silent "K" too.)

If you're one of the 12 people who saw and liked "Eternals," then you'll remember lead Celestial Arishem the Judge (David Kaye), who dwarfed Earth itself. Anyone who can kill something that big deserves to be feared.

Eons ago, Knull created two Symbiotes in the shape of dragons, one black and one red, and sent them out on a path of destruction. When they came to Earth, the black one was named "Grendel" after the mythological monster, while the red one was dubbed his mother (see: "Beowulf"). Earth became Grendel's tomb, for he was defeated by Thor, but remnants of his presence (both physically and in the Church of New Darkness) survived.

Grendel awakens in the first issue of Cates and Stegman's "Venom," and winds up being a harbinger of his master's arrival. If Knull himself only has a cameo in "The Last Dance," perhaps Grendel could be a third act villain for "Venom 3." A Symbiote dragon is definitely a big-enough spectacle to cap off the trilogy. There's another reason to fear Grendel too; after his defeat in the comics, the Church of New Darkness uses his essence to resurrect Cletus Kassaday and Carnage. It always did seem odd how casually "Let There Be Carnage" killed off Venom's only (other) A-list adversary, so a revival and team-up with Knull could be in order.

"Venom: The Last Dance" oozes into theaters on October 25, 2024.