



Contents show]





History

Origins

Knull was an ancient malevolent deity whose existence predates the universe itself, and was originally content to drift through the endless abyss that existed before time began.[9] Bruce Banner theorized that Knull was merely an aspect of the One Below All, or a creature it somehow controls.[5]

When the Celestials began creating the universe, Knull was awakened by the "Light of the Creation" and outraged by his kingdom of darkness being despoiled. Knull retaliated by creating a sword of living darkness, the All-Black, from his newly-cast shadow, decapitating one of them. Cast back into the void by the other Celestials, Knull used the slain Celestial's severed head as a forge to temper his sword in its cosmic energies. Intent on devouring the divine light that had usurped his kingdom of darkness, Knull manifested a symbiotic suit of armor from the eldritch darkness he commanded and embarked on a genocidal campaign against the other gods,[9] becoming a legendary figure of terror for divine beings even billions of years later.[13]

Symbiote Hive

Knull created an artificial planet from the living abyss to serve as his throneworld and base of operations, manifested a horde of wyvern-like monsters made out of living abyss; and began conquering countless planets, devouring entire civilizations,[14] extinguishing stars, and smothering entire planets in eldritch darkness. The few gods Knull spared were forcibly drafted into his army; enslaved to his will and transformed into monsters using the living abyss, placed as sentries to guard the worlds he'd conquered.[15]

At some point during this stage of Knull's war against the Light, he encountered the time-displaced Silver Surfer when the former Herald of Galactus freed a world from Knull's control using the Power Cosmic.[15] After a brief but intense fight, Knull defeated the Silver Surfer and bonded him to a symbiote to enslave him. However, the Silver Surfer was freed by Ego the Living Planet, who helped Radd escape when Knull pursued him on a symbiote-dragon.[11] Knull hunted the Silver Surfer down and dueled him, intent on reclaiming him for his army. Knull nearly succeeded in doing so, but was defeated when the Silver Surfer expended the last of his Power Cosmic to conjure a star right in front of him, bathing him in stellar plasma and blasting him across the cosmos. This defeat proved temporary, as Knull recovered and resumed his conquest of the cosmos.[17]

At some point afterward, Knull engaged an army of gold-armored gods in combat and slaughtered all but one of them. Pursuing the survivor, Knull managed to impale him on All-Black but was himself impaled through the head by the enemy god's spear. Knull and the dying god crash-landed on a desolate planet, where All-Black left the incapacitated Knull for one of the indigenous inhabitants, Gorr.[13] Despite this setback, Knull chose to not hunt the thief down and reclaim All-Black, though he remained aware of Gorr unwittingly following in his footsteps as the God Butcher.[9] After recovering from his injuries over the course of a century, Knull began experimenting with his powers and discovered that he could manifest amorphous parasites called symbiotes from the Living Abyss symbiotes and bond them to lesser lifeforms.[6] During this time, Knull began using the Exoteric Latitude as a dumping ground for imperfect symbiotes and other failed experiments, which millennia later became known as the Exolon.[18]

Knull's reign of terror came to an end in the sixth century CE, when two symbiote dragons - one black and one red - arrived on Earth and were named the Grendel and Grendel's Mother by the Geats.[19][8] The Grendel's rampage was stopped by Thor, who blasted it with divine lightning and severed Knull's connection to the vast majority of symbiotes. As the symbiotes bonded to benevolent hosts, the hive-mind became tainted with notions of honor and nobility, leading to them rebelling against their god and imprisoning him at the heart of the throneworld, which they renamed Klyntar - their word for "cage". Forming an order known as the Agents of the Cosmos, the symbiotes of Klyntar subsequently attempted to expunge their dark origins and redeem themselves by acting to protect the cosmos they'd once terrorized.[9][20]

While serving as a herald of Galactus, the Silver Surfer came across Klyntar and was devoured by it, its constituent symbiotes attempting to imprison him alongside Knull at the artificial planet's core. However, the Surfer was able to free himself and escape.[11]

Modern Times

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.[21] Slowly awakening due to the psychic link between himself and the Grendel symbiote-dragon, Knull began attempting to assert his influence over its offshoots, causing them to rampage and driving their hosts insane.[22][21]

Decades later, Knull fully awakened and seized control of the symbiote-dragon, 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.[23] 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.[1] 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 hive-mind. 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.[9]

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 even 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.[7]

A few months after the battle, an Earth-based cult dedicated to worshipping Knull - led by Scorn - obtained a sample of the Grendel symbiote and Cletus Kasady's body, intending to turn him into Knull's avatar and facilitate his awakening. When the sample of Grendel symbiote was bonded to Cletus, Knull psychically communicated with the serial killer and attempted to seize control of him through the symbiote; though the nature of their conversation is unknown. 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 codexes to reconnect the Grendel symbiote to the Hive Mind.[4] 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.[24][25][26]

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 a 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, transforming it into a new Necrosword.[18] Leaving Zak-Del for dead, Knull resumed his conquest of the cosmos; unknowingly hunted by his opposite - a God of Light.[18][27] Using his living abyss to smother entire planets,[3] Knull also began communing with Eddie's "son" Dylan Brock - a human-symbiote hybrid spawned by the Venom symbiote - by appearing in his nightmares.[28][29]



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. --Knull[src]

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 sported a predatory grin when engaged in combat and fondly reminisced 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.[11]

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.[1][17] 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.[9]



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.[13][9][11]

Living Abyss Manipulation: Knull possesses the ability to create, control, and manipulate a fount of eldritch darkness—a manifestation of the primordial void that existed before the universe itself—that he calls the "living abyss".[9]

Symbiote Creation: Knull manifested the first symbiote from his shadow in order to kill a Celestial, and formed a suit of symbiote-armor when embarking on his deicidal crusade. [9] At some point, Knull constructed an artificial planet from the living abyss and possessed absolute control over it, being able to freely reshape it at will and manifest individual symbiotes and symbiote-dragons from it. [11] He was also capable of creating symbiotes using his blood. [19] While he initially only infected gods and other cosmic beings with the living abyss; [23] when stranded on a desolate world he discovered he could also infect "lesser creatures" with the living abyss, creating an army of symbiotes to conquer the universe. [9] He also created the Exolon, soul-eating parasites similar to the symbiotes. [6]

Knull manifested the first symbiote from his shadow in order to kill a Celestial, and formed a suit of symbiote-armor when embarking on his deicidal crusade. At some point, Knull constructed an artificial planet from the living abyss and possessed absolute control over it, being able to freely reshape it at will and manifest individual symbiotes and symbiote-dragons from it. He was also capable of creating symbiotes using his blood. 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 "lesser creatures" with the living abyss, creating an army of symbiotes to conquer the universe. He also created the Exolon, soul-eating parasites similar to the symbiotes. 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;[9] driving them insane with bloodlust and hunger.[23] 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.[1] 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.[2][31]

Superhuman Strength: Knull is strong enough to decapitate a Celestial with a single blow, and singlehandedly slaughtered entire armies of gods -- though it is possible that this immense strength is at least in part due to him wielding All-Black the Necrosword, and later his symbiote-armor.[9] Knull was able to easily manhandle the Silver Surfer - albeit after Norrin had exhausted the majority of his Power Cosmic.[15] The avatar that Knull created using the Grendel symbiote possessed only a fraction of his true power, but was nevertheless able to easily overpower 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.[13] 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.[11] Knull can also withstand being immersed in stellar plasma without permanent injury, though this caused him severe pain.[17]

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 Symbiote Throneworld.[11]

Amortality: Knull is unable to be truly killed and has existed for at least 13.7 billion years, having come into existence prior to the beginning of the universe itself - before the genesis of such concepts as life and death.[33] 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.[9]

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.[9]

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.[1] When truly enraged, Knull's entire face transforms into one more closely resembling the symbiotes', with his nose, lips, and cheeks completely receding.[17]

Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite his immense durability, Knull is capable of being injured to the point of incapacitation.[13] However, he is able to not only survive injuries that would kill other gods, but rapidly recover from them.[9]

Abilities

Expert Combatant: Despite not possessing any formal training, Knull is a vicious warrior with billions of years' worth of combat experience, capable of slaughtering entire armies of gods singlehandedly.[9]

Weaknesses

The Light: Despite his immense durability, Knull is particularly vulnerable to a force he refers to as "the Light", which came into being with the Big Bang and was first spread through the Abyss by the Celestials. "The Light" refers not only to the literal light of stars and other celestial objects, but to the various powers wielded by cosmic entities and deities - which when used offensively could cause him pain and even make him bleed; concepts such as honor, benevolence, compassion, and nobility - which disrupted his control of the symbiotes and caused them to turn on him; and life itself.[9][11] Knull sought to destroy and corrupt the Light using his army of symbiotes, but his control over them was severed when the symbiote-dragon he was indwelling was blasted by Thor's divine lightning. Centuries later, his avatar was temporarily destabilized by the totemic avatar Miles Morales' bioelectric Venom Blast,[14] and by sonic and energy grenades.[7]



Paraphernalia

Equipment

Symbiote Armor: After forging All-Black, Knull created a suit of symbiote-armor from the Living Abyss. The armor was originally solid black, but after he founded the Symbiote Imperium he emblazoned its chest and back with a red dragon emblem.[9] It is unknown exactly what abilities the armor possessed and conferred upon Knull, though it was capable of shapeshifting to manifest a cape, waistcloth, wing-like fins, and draconic helmet.[17] Given that its constituent matter was used to create the lesser symbiotes, it can be presumed to possess similar abilities; and despite presumably being vulnerable to intense heat and sonics it was capable of withstanding a plunge through the atmosphere of a planet and being immersed in stellar plasma without sustaining significant damage. Knull's symbiote armor was stripped from him following his imprisonment, as his physical body at the core of Klyntar has alternately been shown armored and naked;[9][7] though Knull's manifestation through the Grendel symbiote-dragon also emulated this armor.[9] After Knull reawakened, he reformed his symbiote-armor, with a differently-shaped helmet adorned with horns.[27]

Weapons

Necrosword: When confronted by Wraith, Knull removed Zak-Del's Exolon symbiote and integrated it into his hive-mind before transforming it into a new Necrosword to replace All-Black.[18]

Former Weapons All-Black Symbiote: In order to slay a Celestial, Knull manifested a black-and-red sword from his shadow; later refining it using the dead Celestial's cosmic power.[9] Using this weapon, Knull attempted to carry out a genocide against his fellow gods, but it was stolen from him after he was wounded in battle.[13]

Notes

Trivia

Discover and Discuss

Search this site for:



