The first trailer for Venom: The Last Dance has arrived, and if it’s to be believed, this is the final time we’ll see Tom Hardy as struggling reporter-turned-kooky superhero Eddie Brock. But the Venom trilogy may have saved the best for last. The final act in this Marvel trilogy will delve deeper into the origins of the Venom symbiote, meaning the series has a chance to finally explore the most fascinating aspect of Venom’s mythology.
Has the time finally come to introduce the symbiote god Knull in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe? Let’s break down what we know and what it means that Eddie is finally coming face-to-face with the rest of his symbiote cousins.
Where Did the Venom Symbiote Come From?
The Venom symbiote is a member of an alien race known as the Klyntar. Like Venom itself, the Klyntar survive by seeking out biological hosts with which to bond. The symbiote enhances the host’s innate strength and abilities, while also amplifying their personality traits, for good or ill.
From what we know of Venom: The Last Dance, the Klyntar have traveled to Earth specifically to hunt the Venom symbiote, even as the military is gunning for Eddie. Sony’s official description teases, “Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.”
Why are the Klyntar so obsessed with hunting down one of their own? Traditionally, in the comics, the Venom symbiote has been portrayed as a bit of a misfit among its own kind. It’s an outcast, suffering from mental instability and rejected by the symbiote hive mind. 2015’s Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars actually suggests that Deadpool himself is the cause, as the symbiote briefly bonded with Wade Wilson and was corrupted by Wade’s deranged mind. Obviously, Sony won’t be able to get into that backstory here, but the point remains that Venom is an oddity that doesn’t fit in with its fellow symbiotes.
The Klyntar view themselves as the universe’s protectors, with many seeking out the most noble and benevolent hosts in order to create powerful heroes. They probably view the Venom/Eddie Brock alliance as a mockery of everything the Klyntar stand for, hence their apparent desire to collect Venom and return it to the symbiote collective. Venom 3 may well hinge on Eddie and his other half proving they can be worthy of the Klyntar’s ideals. Together, these two misfits are something greater.
Of course, the sad truth about the Klyntar is that they’re not truly the noble force for good they pretend to be. Their high-minded ideals hide a legacy of darkness and destruction. And it all goes back to one of the Marvel Universe’s oldest villains, the all-powerful Knull.
Will Venom 3 Introduce Knull?
Marvel’s 2018 Venom comic (written by Donny Cates and drawn primarily by Ryan Stegman) dramatically overhauled the mythology of the symbiotes by introducing Knull, their god and creator. As that series revealed, Knull is one of the oldest lifeforms in the Marvel Universe, existing in a time when everything was bathed in shadow and silence. But as light began creeping into the universe and the Celestials began their process of seeding life, Knull took this as a personal affront. He forged the very first symbiote in the form of a weapon, All-Black the Necrosword, and began killing the Celestials in retaliation.
After being banished into a remote corner of the universe by the Celestials, Knull used a severed Celestial head as a forge with which to create more symbiotes. This is where the symbiotes’ weakness to fire and sound comes from. It conjures up primal memories of the forge in which they were painfully hammered into being.
For eons, Knull used his symbiote army to conquer worlds and battle against the spread of life and light. Eventually, the symbiotes rebelled against their creator and imprisoned him inside an artificial world called Klyntar (the origin of their name). Since then, the Klyntar have done their best to atone for the destruction Knull wrought, but deep down, they always knew it was only a matter of time until Knull escapes and renews his war on existence. That’s where 2020’s King in Black comes in.
The Knull storyline was notable not just for greatly fleshing out the backstory of Venom and its kind, but also helping Venom to stand alone as a character apart from the Spider-Man franchise. The scope of Venom’s universe is far bigger than a rivalry with Peter Parker. Even Venom’s spider emblem (something we haven’t seen the character manifest in the movies) was revealed to actually be evoking one of Knull’s symbiote dragons.
Because of that, it’s always seemed like a simple matter of time until Sony’s Spider-Man universe delves headlong into the Knull storyline. These movies haven’t really acknowledged Spider-Man (outside of the post-credits scene in 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage), so why not lean into the villain who helped pull Venom outside of Spidey’s shadow?
With Venom: The Last Dance showing the Klyntar traveling to Earth and hunting the symbiote, the time may have finally come for the series to dig into this fascinating backstory. We may learn that the symbiotes are acting out of fear of Knull, seeking to unify the scattered Klyntar in order to make a united stand against a resurgent Knull. It’s worth pointing out that the trailer shows Venom battling a much bigger and more powerful symbiote atop a plane, so we may be seeing the film’s take on one of those symbiote dragons.
Could Knull appear in Venom: The Last Dance? Is he the true endgame threat of the third movie? Or is the goal more to tease the god of symbiotes and set him up for a future sequel? Sony clearly wants us to think that this is Hardy’s final outing as Eddie Brock, but even if so, that doesn’t have to mean the end of the series. Plenty of other Marvel characters have bonded with the Venom symbiote over the years, and the franchise could pivot to one of those other hosts in Venom 4.
Teasing Knull as the main villain of a future sequel may be the ideal play, rather than trying to squeeze a Knull vs. Venom conflict into the climax of Venom: The Last Dance. One option is to introduce Eddie’s son Dylan, making him the symbiote’s new host in the next phase of the series. That leaves Hardy free to continue reprising his character in more of a supporting role, as father and son reunite to face the ultimate symbiote evil.
But whether the Venom trilogy closes out with Knull or tees him up for the next one, the time has come to bring this imposing, fascinating villain to the big screen.
For more on Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, brush up on all the Spider-Man movies in development and learn why Nic Cage’s Spider-Man Noir isn’t the hero this universe needs.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
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