ROAD TO KING IN BLACK
Prepare for Knull’s takeover with these prelude issues to KING IN BLACK! Trace the origins of the God of Symbiotes with these recommended storylines.
SUGGESTED PRELUDE READING
Symbiote Silver Surfer
In Silver Surfer: Black (2019) #1
SILVER SURFER: BLACK revealed that Norrin Radd, AKA the Silver Surfer, was retroactively the first Marvel hero to face Knull in battle. While trapped in the distant past, the Silver Surfer was briefly enslaved by Knull while forcibly bonded to a symbiote. Read this limited series in full, a cosmically trippy collaboration between Cates and Tradd Moore.
The God Butcher
In Thor: God of Thunder (2012) #6
Although his first full appearance was in VENOM (2018) #3, this issue featured the first glimpse of Knull, as he and a golden-armored god fell to a planet after seriously injuring each other. Knull’s symbiote blade, All-Black, was joined with Gorr, a being whose faith in gods had been shattered by tragedy.
Ve’Nam
In Web of Venom: Ve'nam (2018) #1
In this one-shot special, Nick Fury and Wolverine unknowingly encountered early signs of Knull. The U.S. military attempted to recreate their Captain America success with Sym-Soldiers, which were created by bonding ordinary men with symbiotes. One of those men was Rex Strickland…
Venom: Rex
In Venom (2018) #1
Read through issue #6! Until he knew about Knull, Eddie Brock: Venom believed that Klyntar was the home world of the symbiotes. But the truth was far more terrifying. Klyntar is the symbiote word for “cage,” and it was Knull’s prison for eons when his creations turned against him.
Absolute Carnage
In Absolute Carnage (2019) #1
In this gorefest, Cletus Kasady, AKA Carnage, realized that everyone who had ever been bonded with a symbiote retained a codex from the experience. Carnage theorized that if enough of the codices were brought together, Knull would be fully awakened and liberated from his Klyntar prison. He guessed right.
“Big Mother”
In Scream: Curse of Carnage (2019) #1
Some of Knull’s symbiote followers have been on Earth a very long time. Case in point: Big Mother. Best known as Grendel’s mother from the story of Beowulf, Big Mother re-emerged during the aftermath of ABSOLUTE CARNAGE. Big Mother tried to claim Scream as her surrogate daughter ahead of Knull’s return, but regardless of the link between them, the Scream symbiote sided with her new host, Andi Benton.