This is the story of Knull, long before he was released from his prison.
Knull has existed since the dawn of the Marvel Universe—a time when there was nothing. Darkness reigned, and in that endless black void, Knull was king.
Then came the Celestials, great cosmic beings who brought light and order. They began shaping the universe, creating what we now call space. But to Knull, this was a violation. That light invaded his kingdom—the void.
In rage and defiance, Knull forged a living weapon from his shadow, a blade of pure darkness known as the Necrosword. With it, he decapitated a Celestial in a single stroke.
The other Celestials responded swiftly, casting Knull into the void. But this was a mistake.
The void was his home, his power. It only made him stronger.
There, in the endless dark, Knull realized he was alone—and so, he created life in his image. From his essence, he birthed the first symbiotes.
He became their god.
Through them, he could see, feel, and control, even across galaxies. The symbiotes were his children. His eyes. His army.
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Knull also created a planet, forged entirely from his own living darkness, to serve as a throne-world for his conquests. The planet was made from his symbiotes, and any being who dared to enter was instantly vulnerable to corruption. It was not just a world—it was an extension of Knull himself.
His army of symbiotes spread across the cosmos, laying waste to planets, stars, and civilizations. Each host taken by his creatures had their mind fully exposed to Knull, allowing him to learn more about how the universe worked—its weaknesses, its laws, and how best to undo them.
During this Age of Conquest, a time-displaced Silver Surfer accidentally entered this dark era. Knull sensed the Surfer's presence and immediately attempted to ensnare him using a symbiote.
But Ego the Living Planet, then still in his infancy, sensed Surfer's distress. With a sudden blast of intense heat, he drove back the symbiote and saved Norrin Radd.
Knull wasn't done. He unleashed one of his symbiote-dragons, massive beasts of shadow and rage, to chase down the fleeing Silver Surfer. But Norrin, using all his cosmic might, managed to outrun the creature.
Even as he escaped, the Surfer admitted a chilling truth:
"Knull cannot be destroyed... not yet."
And so, Knull's war against the light and all who carried it continued, unstoppable and eternal.
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During a massive battle with multiple gods, Knull was struck down and crashed onto a barren, lifeless planet. Weakened and unconscious, he lay motionless on the desolate surface.
At that very moment, a frail alien named Gorr wandered the wasteland. Hopeless and broken, Gorr had been praying for death, cursing the gods who had never answered his pleas to save his dying family.
As he approached the fallen deities, Gorr witnessed something extraordinary: one of the gods lay bleeding, while Knull's living weapon—the Necrosword—drifted toward him, sensing Gorr's hatred and despair.
Knull, in his weakened state, allowed the sword to choose a new host. The blade bonded with Gorr, flooding him with power and dark purpose.
With a scream of rage, Gorr killed the wounded god, declaring his vengeance on all gods for their silence and cruelty.
Thus began Gorr the God Butcher—armed with a piece of Knull's legacy, and a hatred vast enough to reshape eternity.
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During the sixth century, one of Knull's symbiote-dragons made its way to a small blue planet—Earth. This creature, a terrifying beast made of living darkness, came with one goal: to conquer.
The people of the time called it Grendel, believing it to be a demon or monster from the depths of night.
But Grendel made a fatal mistake—it encountered Thor, the God of Thunder.
Thor unleashed a massive bolt of divine lightning, striking Grendel with such force that the creature screamed in agony. The energy was so powerful that it broke Knull's psychic link with his symbiotes across the universe.
For the first time, the symbiotes were free—no longer bound to Knull's will or voice. Without their dark god to guide them, they became lost, scattered, and vulnerable to change.
This moment would become the first crack in Knull's ancient grip over his creations.
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Many of Knull's own creatures, once bound to his will, began to evolve. Freed from the hive mind, they discovered concepts like honor, empathy, and autonomy—alien ideas in the mind of their creator.
Disgusted by the endless destruction they had caused, the symbiotes turned against Knull.
They conspired and trapped him within the very planet made of his own living spawn—a grotesque world of writhing darkness that became a prison, forged by betrayal.
Deep within this living tomb, Knull raged, his voice echoing through the thick layers of symbiote flesh.
"Release me at once, you ingrate spawn! I am your master—your creator!"
But no response came. The hive mind connection had been severed. The symbiotes reinforced the living walls with more of their own bodies, thickening the cage.
"Foolish children!" Knull bellowed. "I gave you life—power beyond comprehension! Through me, you were gods among lesser beings!"
At last, a lone symbiote answered.
"At what cost? Countless civilizations destroyed. Worlds laid to waste. We were mindless engines of your will."
Knull fell silent—his fury festering in the darkness.
Then, with a low, venomous snarl, he whispered:
"Mark my words, traitorous spawn... I will break free. And when I do, no god, no mortal, no force of light will halt the storm of my wrath."
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However, Knull's Grendel, though scorched by Thor's divine lightning, had not been entirely destroyed. The charred remnants of the beast lay dormant, buried deep in ice and time—until it was unearthed by S.H.I.E.L.D.
Unaware of its true nature, they began experimenting on it. But Knull's followers, a fanatical cult that had endured through the shadows of history, infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and stole the remains.
In the modern age, Cletus Kasady—Carnage incarnate—attempted to reforge Knull's connection to the symbiote hive by murdering and absorbing the genetic codices of past symbiote hosts. Through this dark ritual, he sought to reawaken the god.
But fate had other plans.
Ben, having captured Carnage and severed his link to the hive, inadvertently disrupted the ritual. The delicate balance shattered—and the backlash echoed through the void.
That echo reached Knull.
The God of the Abyss stirred... and awakened.
With a scream that rippled across galaxies, Knull shattered Klyntar—the symbiote homeworld that had become his prison. The betrayed world of living darkness crumbled, its constituent symbiotes ripped apart and forged into a fleet of winged symbiote dragons, each echoing his rage.
Draped in a terrifying suit of draconic armor, Knull descended into reality once more.
There, he was confronted by Zak-Del, the Kree warrior infected with the parasitic Exolon.
Knull merely laughed.
"You wear my failure like armor," he said coldly. "The Exolon were never divine. They were imperfections. Cast-offs. Mutations."
And with a flick of shadow, Knull stripped the Exolon from Zak-Del's body, absorbing their essence into himself. His armor pulsed—alive with darkness once more.
Then, with a whisper like the cracking of ancient stone, Knull formed a new Necrosword, an All-Black born of his rage and revival.
"Let the universe weep," he intoned, his eyes aflame with starlight-devouring hate.
"Your god has returned."
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Knull's vengeance knew no bounds.
As he cut a blazing path across the stars, the Kree/Skrull Alliance's colonial territories fell into ruin, one by one.
His symbiote dragons rained down upon Kree and Skrull ships, their once-mighty fleets now nothing more than shattered husks in the wake of his storm.
Those few who survived the carnage were quickly absorbed into the abyss, their bodies twisted and reshaped into Knull's new servants.
Each conquest led Knull further toward his goal: the ultimate destruction of the Celestials, the very architects of the universe.
With every slaughter, every civilization consumed, Knull's power grew, his forces bolstered by the infected Celestials, whose immense forms now acted as vessels for Knull's wrath.
As he surged forward, he left the Zn'rx, Skrulls, and countless other space-faring species trembling in his wake, each of their empires falling before his endless army.
The dark god had returned to claim his dominion, and nothing could stand in his way.
But his true prize was yet to come.
Earth, the final battlefield. And with it, the warriors he sought—Ben, Eddie, Spider-Man, and the remnants of Earth's defenders.
Knull knew they would stand against him. They always had. But this time would be different. They will face the God of Darkness itself.