“Venom: The Last Dance” plays coy with its main villain, but the trailer shows symbiotes dropping down from Earth as fiery asteroid-like objects crashing on the planet. In a voiceover, Venom references his otherworldly home. While the result of the meteor crashes is likely the outbreak of attacking Xenophages, in the bigger picture, the alien’s arrivals may suggest an even darker force at play: Knull, the God of Symbiotes.
Debuting in “Venom” #3 (created by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman), Knull is Marvel’s King in Black, a primordial force birthed alongside the creation of the Seventh Cosmos, with the supervillain serving as the creator of symbiotes and the wielder of All-Black the Necrosword — the same weapon used by Gorr the God Butcher. Knull controlled symbiotes across the universe until his connection was eventually severed, as they rebelled against him and trapped him for thousands of years. He is reawakened in the present day, leading to an all-out assault on Earth during the “King in Black” event, sending his army of symbiotes at Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, successfully transforming several major characters, such as Cyclops and Doctor Strange, into his pawns. Knull is so powerful that when Sentry, arguably the strongest hero in the Multiverse, tries to kill him, he responds by ripping the Golden Guardian in half. It would take everything Eddie Brock had, including becoming the God of Light with a major cosmic upgrade, to stop him.
Introducing Knull would be a wild development for the third installment of the “Venom” franchise, but Sony has never shied away from deep-cut characters in the past. And considering its the final movie (for now) in the series, bringing Knull into the fold is exactly the kind of crazy swing that could lead to a satisfying and bombastic conclusion.
