Creation
Knull made his first appearance in Thor: God of Thunder #6, where he was unnamed and only seen in the aftermath of a cosmic struggle that led to him being rendered unconscious and his Necrosword finding its way into the hands of Gorr. He was first named in Venom #3, where he revealed himself to be the creator of the symbiotes.
Origin
Knull has been around since the dawn of the Marvel Universe. As a matter of fact, he lived when there was nothing. Then the Celestials came and shaped the universe, making ‘space’ as we call it. Knull wasn’t fond of this, as this was apparently his domain, or as he calls it, his kingdom. One would question this, since it was all empty anyways, however, he claims that his kingdom, his abyss, was never empty and dead.
Furthermore, he creates a living sword from his shadow. With this sword, he decapitates a Celestial. The other Celestials quickly banished him to the void. This was, however, not a smart idea because the void is where Knull thrives.
He forges a sword, the first race of the symbiotes. His living blade would be known as the All-Black/Necrosword.
Knull realises that he’s all on his own. Knull bonds his living abyss with lesser creatures, therefore he’s able to draw strength from them and control them. He’s now their God, or rather, he’s become their God-Host. He can see through their eyes and control them, even from across galaxies. These creatures would later become the alien race known as symbiotes. Knull would also create a planet to act as a throne-world for his conquests- what made it easier was that the planet itself was created out of his creatures, allowing him to corrupt any being that dared to enter his domain.
Expansion and Downfall
Knull’s army of symbiotes travelled far and wide, destroying countless planets and stars in the process. The more they took over, the more Knull found out about the universe- each host corrupted by his new creatures had their mind completely accessible by him, so he was able to learn more and more about how the universe functioned, and how the light had taken over most of the Abyss that he once owned.
During this age of conquest, a time displaced Sliver Surfer found himself in this time period, and was attacked by Knull. His powers weakened, Surfer was unable to fight back against him, and Knull attempted to use a symbiote to control Surfer as well. However, a infant Ego, sensing the pain of Surfer, managed to save him with a blast of heat, which kept the symbiote at bay. Knull attempted to catch Norrin using one of his symbiote-dragons, but he was able to outrun it. Ego later nursed him back to decent health, and they fought again, this time with Ego assisting him- however, Norrin admitted that Knull was far too powerful to be destroyed, and used the very last of his Power Cosmic to send Knull into a sun he himself created, and as a result sent Knull blasting through the cosmos. While this slowed him down however, it did not kill the warlord, and he continued his war against the light and the beings who embraced it.
During a battle with multiple gods, he crashed unto a barren and seemingly lifeless planet, where he was subdued and knocked out. During this, a weak and frail alien known by Gorr, who at that moment had been praying for his death as he was hungry and had been banished by his tribe, noticed the battle and where they had fallen, and managed to gain control over the All-Black itself, and killed one of the gods who had been injured by Knull’s attack in the process, vowing revenge on all of the gods for their refusal to save him or his son.
While Knull eventually recovered from this attack, he was never able to recover his blade back again: a event that arguably was a grim sign of things to come.
During the sixth century, one of Knull’s creatures made it to the planet known as Earth, and attempted to conquer it. The natives at the time dubbed it the Grendel- a creature of darkness itself. However, this creature had the unfortunate fate of encountering the mighty Thor, and they battled, with Thor hitting the creature with a massive divine lightning bolt. This blast was so violently painful that the impact severed the connection between Knull and most of his symbiotes, leaving them without a master controlling their thoughts and feelings. Having bonded to their hosts and established a emotional connection to them, many of Knull’s creatures were consumed by the idea of honor and respect, pushing the hive mind to turn against their god by trapping him within the planet of his own making. Unable to control them anymore, Knull was imprisoned within a living prison of his once loyal creatures- trapping him deep within their planet, now dubbed Klyntar, which was their word for “prison” consistently shifting around to ensure that Knull would never be able to break out again.
Ashamed by their actions while under the heel of their creator, Knull was removed from the minds of many symbiotes and they in turn established a new order for themselves, in which they’d be able to govern without a master controlling them. Knull vowed revenge on his traitorous children for what he considered their betrayal.
The Sliver Surfer would almost be trapped by the planet when he stopped by during his days as the herald of Galactus, as the symbiotes attempted to trap him with Knull, perhaps confusing him for their master. He was able to escape and flee after a short struggle.
Resurgence
However, Knull’s Grendel creature, while damaged by Thor, was not completely destroyed, and the remains of it would be later discovered by S.H.I.E.L.D., using the parts left over as a Weapon Plus project where they forcefully bonded the biomass of it to injured soldiers during the Vietnam War in a attempt to create super soldiers. While somewhat successful at first, the nature of the symbiotes meant that those bonded to them would eventually turn feral and be uncontrollable, making the project a overall failure: the existence of the project would be almost completely scrubbed from history, with only the Grendel existing as evidence that it ever happened at all.
Through this and other symbiote projects using the Grendel dragon, Knull would eventually gain enough control to project himself through the remains of the Grendel, using it to absorb parts of his biomass back, as well as attempt to reabsorb the Venom symbiote, which at the time was bonded to Eddie Brock. While successful at reintegrating a majority of his form, Knull was unsuccessful in controlling Venom, and retreated. Eddie would eventually destroy Knull’s avatar with the assistance of the bonded remains of the Grendel, sonic grenades, and the usage of a blast furnace.
Months later, a attempt by Carnage to establish connection with Knull by killing and then absorbing the genetic codex’s of symbiotes in order to connect to the hive mind: the result of this was Knull being able to control multiple creatures both on Earth and on Klyntar, and would reach a pinnacle when Eddie using the Venom symbiote would ultimately kill Carnage, which caused Knull to finally regain connection over all symbiotes on Klyntar, instantly destroying his prison and recreating his dragon army, eager to continue his desire for conquest.
Encountering Wraith
The Wraith, a being that as a child was taken over by the Exolon: parasites that give the user extraordinary powers in exchange for their soul: was attempting to encounter and destroy Knull for many years, due to the mythology behind the Exolon naming Knull himself as their creator. As Knull was contained and trapped within Klyntar (a fact that Wraith himself did not know) he was unable to do this. However, with Knull’s presence known by his rampages and current destruction, Wraith tracked him down and demanded answers about the Exolon. Knull, amused by Wraith’s headstrong nature, stated that he didn’t even remember what they even were. After having his memory jogged, Knull explained that the Exolon were mere failures at creating symbiotic life, and he had discarded them eons ago.
Angered by Knull’s words, Wraith would attempt to attack, but was easily stripped of his Exolon by Knull, and sent flying into space. Knull would use the Exolon to create a new Necrosword while Wraith, badly damaged, would die on Earth, having been ultimately disintegrated by using his faulty teleporter.
Modern Times
Awakening
Centuries later, the Grendel symbiote dragon was unearthed by S.H.I.E.L.D. and its living abyss was used to create a super-soldier initiative called the Sym-Soldier Program. Using the psychic link between himself and the Grendel, Knull began attempting to assert his influence over its offshoots, causing them to rampage and driving their hosts insane.
Decades later, Knull remote-piloted the symbiote dragon and broke it free of containment, reabsorbing four of its five offshoots. Knull sent the Grendel symbiote dragon on a rampage through downtown Manhattan, but it was stopped by the combined efforts of Venom – whose symbiote had been adversely affected by Knull’s awakening – and Spider-Man. Using the Grendel to manifest an avatar of his true form, Knull stripped the Venom symbiote from its host and attempted to purge it of the benevolence and compassion it had obtained during its time on Earth; intending to reconnect it to his hive mind and absorb it into the Grendel symbiote to become stronger. When confronted by Eddie Brock, Knull showed him the true origins and history of the symbiotes; mocking him for believing the lies told to the Venom symbiote by the Klyntar and Agents of the Cosmos. Re-forming the Grendel around his avatar, Eddie, and Spider-Man; Knull flew into space and revealed his plan to obtain the missing pieces of the symbiote dragon, use it to free his true body from Klyntar, and resume his conquest of the universe – starting with Earth.
Venom escaped with help from Spider-Man, but Knull chose not to pursue them and instead began hunting for the Tyrannosaurus symbiote – one of the remaining pieces of the Grendel symbiote dragon. When the Tyrannosaurus symbiote bonded to Venom and reconnected to the Hive Mind, Knull attacked using the Grendel symbiote and attempted to devour Venom. When the Grendel was destabilized by sonic grenades, Knull’s manifestation engaged Venom in a brutal one-on-one battle, Venom’s arsenal of high-tech weapons proving ineffective. Knull stripped Eddie of both symbiotes and began absorbing them, but his gloating was cut short when Eddie detonated the entire arsenal – the blast affecting Knull’s real body at the core of Klyntar. Shaken and enraged, Knull coated his manifestation in the Grendel symbiote, but before he could attack the Tyrannosaurus symbiote coiled around his avatar and dragged it into the heart of a blast furnace – telling Venom to hold the door shut. Knull’s avatar was subsequently immolated, his connection to the Grendel symbiote seemingly severed and his body remaining sealed at the heart of Klyntar.
Freed by Carnage
A few months after the battle, an Earth-based cult dedicated to worshiping Knull – led by Scorn – obtained a sample of the Grendel symbiote and Cletus Kasady’s corpse, intending to turn him into Knull’s avatar and facilitate his awakening. When the sample of Grendel symbiote was bonded to Cletus, Knull reanimated and psychically communicated with the serial killer; though the nature of their conversation is unknown. When Knull attempted to seize control of Cletus through the symbiote, Cletus resisted Knull’s control and their connection was severed when the Grendel symbiote absorbed the codex – trace remnants of living abyss left in former symbiote hosts – that the Carnage symbiote had left in Scorn’s body. Cletus desired to communicate with Knull again and decided to help free him by collecting enough codices to reconnect the Grendel symbiote to the Hive Mind. As his connection to his self-proclaimed apostle grew stronger, Knull began awakening and exerting his influence to corrupt both the symbiotes of Klyntar and those stranded on Earth — namely the Riot, Agony, Phage, Lasher, and Scream Symbiotes.
Freed from Klyntar.
After Dark Carnage was killed by Venom, who absorbed the Dark Carnage symbiote and remaining codices, Knull was reawakened and promptly destroyed Klyntar, coalescing its constituent symbiotes into a fleet of symbiote dragons. Manifesting his suit of draconic armor, Knull was confronted by Zak-Del, an Exolon-infected Kree. Initially bemused by Zak-Del accusing him of stealing his soul, Knull revealed the true origin of the Exolon as imperfect symbiotes and stripped Zak-Del of his, absorbing it into his armor before manifesting All-Black’s Necrosword form anew. Leaving Zak-Del for dead, Knull resumed his conquest of the cosmos; unknowingly hunted by his opposite – the God of Light.
Using his living abyss to smother entire planets, Knull also began communing with Eddie’s “son” Dylan Brock – a human-symbiote hybrid spawned by the Venom symbiote – by appearing in his nightmares. Blazing a swath of destruction across the Kree/Skrull Alliance’s colonial territories en route to Earth, Knull laid traps to waylay ships sent to investigate; thereby claiming several prominent warriors from both species for his army. Intent on settling his eons-old grudge against the Celestials, Knull hunted them down and infected them with living abyss. Knull also sent symbiotes and symbiote-dragons to blaze a swath of destruction across numerous other spacefaring civilizations such as the Zn’rx.
Invasion of Earth
Arriving at Earth, Knull and his horde easily ploughed through the minefield of derelict Kree and Skrull ships left over from the war against the Coatli. As his dragons rained down on the Earth and quickly overwhelmed the planet’s superheroes, Knull emerged from one of the Celestials and declared his intent to destroy the planet – offering to make it quick and painless if given the human called Brock. Knull was attacked by the Sentry, who attempted to fly him into orbit and rip him in half, but easily broke free and reversed their positions. Knull tore the Sentry apart and seized control of the dark entity that had been indwelling him, absorbing it into himself. Growing bored of the conflict, Knull used symbiotes to seize control of the Avengers, X-Men, and many of the other heroes that had rallied to oppose him before encasing the Earth in a shell of living abyss. Out of desperation, Venom offered to serve Knull if Earth was spared, but Knull refused – remarking that the Brock he was interested in was Dylan – and ripped the Venom symbiote off Eddie before throwing him from the top of the Empire State Building, satisfied that Eddie could no longer prove a pest to his plans once he succumbed to his wounds and his consciousness was trapped within the Hive-Mind as a codex.
Constructing a lair at the tip of the Empire State Building, Knull began directing his invasion on multiple fronts by remote-piloting symbiote-dragons, indwelling symbiote-possessed heroes, and manifesting avatars. Knull attempted to claim the Ebony Blade, Sword of Fu Xi, and Ghost-Spider’s artificial symbiote for himself; but was thwarted and repeatedly taken aback by the number of heroes who possessed powers and weapons able to kill his dragons and damage – if not outright destroy – his avatars, as well as the willpower to partially resist his control. Reaching backwards through time, Knull resurrected Mister E and sent him to either destroy the Ebony Blade or use it facilitate his premature escape from Klyntar; though Mister E repeatedly failed to do so and was ultimately destroyed. Knull was stripped of the majority of his power by the Valkyries, who severed his unwitting connection to the Headless Celestial from the afterlife.
When Dylan Brock entered the battlefield and began using his powers to free the people and heroes Knull had enslaved, Knull attempted to capture him but was attacked by Thor – who he recognized as the one who had almost killed the Grendel centuries prior. Furious, Knull confronted the God of Thunder, who was unimpressed and dismissed him as merely one of hundreds of gods of destruction he had vanquished. Knull overpowered Thor, but was attacked by Dylan. Casually subduing the boy and cocooning him in living abyss, Knull was distracted long enough for Thor to knock him off and rip his lower jaw off with a full-power blow from Mjolnir. Enraged, Knull activated the symbiote-controlled Celestials and ordered them to raze the planet. Before Thor could leave to confront them, Knull – forming a new lower jaw from living abyss – manifested a Necrosword from his symbiote-armor and impaled him from behind; sneering that he could sense Thor was already acquainted with All-Black and that he was its creator. Leaving Thor impaled, Knull turned to confront Dylan and voiced his intent to claim the boy as his son; commanding the symbiotes he controlled within the Hive-Mind to imprison the symbiotes that Dylan and Thor had purged his influence from. Unbeknowst to Knull, Eddie Brock was reunited with the codices of Agent Anti-Venom (Flash Thompson) and Tyrannosaurus (Rex Strickland) within the Hive-Mind, and were able to take advantage of Dylan and Thor injuring Knull to infiltrate the core of the Hive-Mind, the God Hive. When Agent Anti-Venom’s codex bonded to one of the symbiotes that Knull couldn’t control and was reborn into the world of the living as a white symbiote dragon, Knull immediately realized what was going on and furiously hijacked the Tyrannosaurus symbiote, confronting Eddie again with the intent of killing him once-and-for-all. However, Eddie managed to escape the Hive-Mind with help from the Venom symbiote and was chosen as the God of Light’s new host.
Confronted by the Silver Surfer once more, Knull prepared to resume their ancient duel but was interrupted by Eddie, now transformed into a cosmic version of Venom. Knull attempted to flee while throwing everything he had at Eddie, but was cornered at the top of the Empire State Building, stripped of his symbiote-armor, and thrown to the ground. Knull defiantly told Eddie that his death was inconsequential and that the Void’s victory was inevitable, but Eddie rebuked Knull and flew him into the Sun, destroying his body with the Uni-Power. Knull attempted to take over Dylan Brock’s body, but Eddie used the Uni-Power to remove the living abyss from Dylan and destroy it, seemingly defeating the dark god once-and-for-all.
Personality
- Ha! You are a simple and trusting host, Edward Brock. I see why my child adores you so. But you have been lied to for so very long. What you think of as their homeworld, their planet… is nothing more than the largest horde of symbiotes in the galaxy trying desperately to keep their greatest secret. An infinity of them churning and roiling endlessly around the one thing that binds them all… the hive mind they cannot do without. Do you see the shape of it now? Do you understand? There is no Planet of the Symbiotes. Klyntar is their word for cage. That is where I am right now, host. Where I have been sleeping for eons. I am there. Imprisoned. As I am here piloting this… what did your people call it? The Grendel? Thank you for releasing my other, Eddie Brock. Though I’m not sure how much you had to do with the choice… no doubt your symbiote has been reacting to my resurrection on late, no? I’m sure it all must be quite… overwhelming for you both… but all is well, child. Your God is awake. And God is coming. When this Grendel is complete… when I find its missing… parts… it will come for me. It will free me from my klyntar. From my cage. And then I will finish what I began. I will rid my dark kingdom of this invasive light once and for all… and I will start with Earth.
An ancient malevolent deity, Knull despises the Celestials and their creations, attempting to carry out a genocide against them by corrupting and slaughtering all life. Revelling in bloodshed and destruction, Knull often sports a predatory grin when engaged in combat and fondly reminisced to Eddie Brock about the devastation he and All-Black wrought together. He is also arrogant and sadistic – regarding his conquest of the universe as being inevitable, mocking the Silver Surfer’s attempt to fight him or escape as futile, and relishing the prospect of hunting the fleeing Surfer down and killing or corrupting him. Knull’s hubris is one of his greatest weaknesses, as he routinely underestimates opponents he sees as beneath himself – such as the Silver Surfer, Venom, and Thor – and rarely fights using the full extent of his power, instead opting to let his symbiotes do the fighting for him.
Through his symbiote army, Knull is responsible for the destruction and corruption of entire civilizations across the universe. When not engaged in combat, Knull appeared calm and condescending, often smiling in a sadistic fashion at sights such as Venom’s berserk form, which he called beautiful. However, Knull possesses a volatile temper and is prone to reacting with extreme rage when denied what he wants, such as when Eddie tried to stop him from re-corrupting the Venom symbiote or when the Silver Surfer refused to serve him. Knull was begrudgingly impressed by Eddie’s determination to understand the eldritch truth behind the symbiotes’ origins, but mocked him for being deceived by the Klyntar hive-mind. He considers the symbiotes who rebelled against and imprisoned him to be cowards, liars, and traitors; sneering at their desperate efforts to cover up their dark origins and keep themselves from relapsing. Despite his loathing respect for them – seeing them as his wayward children – he hates the Klyntar symbiotes for betraying him and eventually forcibly absorbed them back into his dark hive-mind.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Divine Physiology: A primordial god of darkness, Knull possesses superhuman attributes and powers far exceeding those of humans and even most other deities. As the creator of All-Black the Necrosword, he apparently possesses the same powers it bestows upon its hosts but to a greater extent. According to Brunnhilde, much of Knull’s power and apparent invincibility comes from his metaphysical link to the undead corpse of the Celestial he used to refine All-Black, which feeds him power through the Necrosword and in exchange assimilates the souls of those he kills; serving as a grotesque afterlife. This connection was severed by the Valkyries, thereby greatly weakening Knull, though he still remained powerful enough to fight on-par with the likes of All-Father Thor.
Living Abyss Manipulation: Knull possesses the ability to create, control, and manipulate a fount of eldritch darknessâa manifestation of the primordial void that existed before the universe itselfâthat he calls the “living abyss”. Knull has spent billions of years experimenting with and honing his powers to create not only the parasitic symbiotes, but similar entities such as Mister E and the Exolon. His greatest creations have been All-Black, the Void Knight — a powerful proto-symbiote created to enslave the Silver Surfer, and the symbiote dragons. During his invasion of Earth, Knull was able to engulf the entire Earth in a dome of living abyss, blocking out all light.
Symbiote Creation: Knull first discovered his ability to create life from darkness itself when he manifested All-Black from his shadow in order to kill a Celestial. Experimenting with and honing this aspect of his powers over the eons, he formed a suit of symbiote-armor, constructed an artificial planet, and amassed a horde of wyvern-like monsters from the living abyss. While he initially only infected gods and other cosmic beings with the living abyss; when stranded on a desolate world he discovered he could also infect mortal creatures with the living abyss, creating an army of parasites to conquer the universe by corrupting life instead of simply exterminating it. Knull’s early experiments to hone this aspect of his powers resulted in what became known as the Exolon, imperfect symbiotes he discarded as failures. He was also capable of creating symbiotes using his blood, though the only known symbiote created in this manner is Big Mother.
Symbiote Domination: As the divine progenitor of the symbiotes and the nexus of their hive-mind, Knull is able to mentally influence and dominate symbiotes even while sealed away; driving them insane with bloodlust and hunger. He is also capable of remote-piloting them, enabling him to see through their eyes and directly control them; and can manipulate their biomasses even when not in direct contact with them, as demonstrated when he used an ancient dragon-like symbiote to attack Earth and manifest an avatar of his true form. Symbiotes infected by Knull’s will usually have red spirals in place of their eyespots, and are more powerful than symbiotes disconnected from his dark hive-mind; sometimes even gaining new powers and abilities as a result of the connection. Knull is also capable of forcibly removing symbiotes from their hosts either by psychically blasting them off or by ripping them off with his bare hands. He is also capable of dominating other dark entities, such as the Void.
Superhuman Strength: Knull is strong enough to decapitate a Celestial with a single blow, and singlehandedly slaughtered entire armies of gods augmented by the Uni-Power. At least some of Knull’s immense strength is due to him wielding All-Black the Necrosword and his symbiote-armor, which supply him with power from the first Celestial he’d killed. Knull was able to easily manhandle the Silver Surfer – albeit after Norrin had exhausted the majority of his Power Cosmic, and easily overpowered the Sentry – touted as one of Earth’s strongest heroes – and effortlessly tore him in half. Even after the Valkyries severed his metaphysical connection to the Headless Celestial, Knull was still strong enough to overpower Thor Odinson – who possessed the Power of the All-Father – with relative ease. The avatars that Knull creates using his symbiotes possess only a fraction of his true power, but are nevertheless able to easily overpower the likes of Venom despite Eddie Brock being simultaneously bonded to both the Venom and Tyrannosaurus symbiotes.
Superhuman Durability: Knull is durable enough to survive being blasted by Celestials; and was unharmed by a plunge from space through the atmosphere of a planet while engaged in combat with another deity, though he was left unconscious after being stabbed through the head. While Silver Surfer’s Power Cosmic was able to make Knull bleed and being blasted by Ego’s psionic beams caused him pain, he was not severely injured by either. Knull can also withstand being immersed in stellar plasma without permanent injury, though this caused him severe pain. There are limits to this, as a full-force blow from Mjolnir wielded by All-Father Thor was enough to rip off Knull’s lower jaw.
Dark Energy Manipulation: Knull was capable of conjuring fiery purple energy; wreathing himself and All-Black in an aura of it, firing it from his hands in a beam powerful enough to incapacitate the Silver Surfer, or firing it as flak and homing projectiles from artillery constructs manifested from the SymbioteThroneworld. He has also been shown to manifest red energy that he can fire from his hands.
Amortality: Knull is purportedly unable to be truly killed and has existed for over 13.7 billion years, having come into existence prior to the beginning of the seventh iteration of the universe. However, he can be injured to the point of incapacitation: after being impaled through the head and falling from space to the surface of a planet, he required centuries to fully heal from his injuries. Even after his body was completely disintegrated by Eddie Brock using the God of Light’s power, Knull attempted to take over Dylan Brock before being foiled by Eddie and seemingly destroyed once-and-for-all. Despite this, however, he can not truly die as he is an avatar of Oblivion.
Self-Sustenance: Knull is capable of surviving in the vacuum of space unaided, and does not appear to need food, water, or sleep to survive.
Shapeshifting: Knull is capable of transforming his mouth into a fanged maw with a prehensile serpentine tongue, a trait he passed down to the symbiotes. When truly enraged, Knull’s entire face transforms into one more closely resembling the symbiotes’, with his nose, lips, and cheeks completely receding.
Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite his immense durability, Knull is capable of being injured to the point of incapacitation. However, he is able to not only survive injuries that would kill other gods, but eventually recover from them. After Thor blasted a hole in his hand, Knull regenerated within the space of a few seconds, though the loss of his lower jaw required the creation of a prosthesis.
Flight: Knull can manifest a pair of large dragon-like wings that allow him to fly.
Temporal Manipulation: Knull was able to reach backwards through the timestream to resurrect Mister E and create a barrier of living abyss around the sun; also communicating through time with Mister E and restoring his full power in a bid to prematurely free his past self from Klyntar using the Ebony Blade. Knull’s past self was able to sense the barrier being destroyed, briefly rousing him from his imprisoned slumber.