Venom 3's Knull Actor Has Been Revealed & It's A Marvel Veteran

This article contains minor spoilers for "Venom: The Last Dance."

As we inched closer to the release date for "Venom: The Last Dance," supposedly the final film in Sony's Marvel-adjacent "Venom" trilogy, the marketing began to play up an appearance by a villainous character named Knull. I'm only a casual comic book reader (and barely that), so I must confess I've never heard of this character until about two or three weeks ago. To me, the name Knull means nothing. But as it turns out, Knull is an established Marvel villain, although he hasn't actually been around very long. Knull first appeared as an unidentified character in the pages of "Thor: God of Thunder #6" in 2013 before making his first full appearance in "Venom vol. 4 #3" in 2018. An ancient deity, Knull is a very powerful bad guy, and "Venom: The Last Dance" marks his first big screen appearance. 

It's clear that Sony wants this Marvel baddie to be the next Thanos, and "Venom 3" will serve as the character's introduction. "This film introduces Knull, but it just touches the beginnings of his story," "Venom: The Last Dance" director Kelly Marcel told IGN. "Marvel's greatest film villains are developed over time. Here, Knull is the threat lurking behind the danger that tests the absolute limits of Eddie and Venom's partnership — but it's their relationship that remains the heart of this story." 

In other words, don't expect too much Knull in "Venom: The Last Dance." While Knull has briefly appeared in some marketing for the movie, the character has mostly been shrouded in secrecy. We didn't even know the name of the performer portraying the part. But we now know who is playing Knull in "Venom: The Last Dance," and it's a familiar actor who has a history with both Marvel and the "Venom" franchise.

As the end credits for "Venom: The Last Dance" confirm, Knull is played by Andy Serkis. Serkis is a well-established performer who will no doubt be familiar to most genre fans. He came to prominence for his motion capture acting as Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and parlayed that into motion capture acting in the rebooted "Planet of the Apes" prequel trilogy. He officially joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe by playing villain Ulysses Klaue in "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and "Black Panther." And in a bit of Marvel/DC cross-pollination, he also played Alfred in Matt Reeves' "The Batman." But of course, Serkis also has a direct connection to "Venom" — he directed the sequel "Venom: Let There Be Carnage." 

Director Kelly Marcel confirmed the casting and told The Hollywood Reporter, "We knew on 'Venom 2' that [Serkis] was going to be this [Knull] character, should we be able to bring the character into this movie." He was apparently the only person asked about the role and immediately agreed. "It felt like a full circle in a way," she continued, as Serkis famously directed "Venom: Let There Be Carnage." 

Will Knull have a bigger part to play in future movies? I'm sure that's what Sony is hoping for, but I have to say, even though Andy Serkis is a talented performer, Knull's big-screen debut could certainly have been bigger.

"Venom: The Last Dance" is now in theaters.