Name: Knull
Origin: Knull is an ancient primordial being that was born between the destruction of the prior universe (referred to as the Sixth Cosmos) and the birth of the current one (the Seventh Cosmos).
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Naming himself as god of the endless void, Knull was content to live peacefully in the darkness until the immensely powerful cosmic beings known as the Celestials (allegedly the first beings to exist in the first ever universe) brought life and light to the cosmos. Disturbed and enraged by this unwanted change to his dark kingdom, Knull decapitated one of the Celestials with a living weapon he created called All Black the Necrosword.
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Banished far into space by the Celestials, Knull continued his plans to eradicate life and restore darkness to the universe. Combining the remaining energies of the severed head of the deceased Celestial with his symbiotic blade, Knull became supremely powerful and declared genocidal war against the gods of the universe (particularly the Enigma Force aka “the Light”). Knull became a sinister and legendary cosmic bogeyman who terrorized divine beings for billions of years. At some point he crash landed and was stranded on an unknown planet where All Black was stolen by the equally god hating Gorr the God-Butcher who embarked on a similar crusade. While stuck on this world, Knull discovered he could create living beings out of darkness that acted as parasites infecting other living beings. Seeing this as a means to strike against life in the universe (corrupting life instead of just slaughtering it), Knull created an entire planet of these symbiotes as part of a giant hive with himself as the center.
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Sending these parasites out into the cosmos to corrupt all of Creation, Knull was able to conquer worlds, destroy stars, and corrupt numerous lifeforms. On Earth in the sixth century, Thor defeated two symbiote dragons sent by Knull to conquer the planet and severely damaged the dark god’s connection to the majority of his creations. Without Knull’s guidance, the symbiotes were able to bond to honorable individuals and rebelled against Knull. The symbiotes on Knull’s artificial world rose up and trapped him in the center of the planet, renaming the planet Klyntar (a word meaning “cage”). They then took to bringing peace to a universe they once terrorized. When Earth-based law enforcement agency SHIELD began experimenting with using symbiote super soldiers, it attracted Knull’s attention. Creating an avatar of himself from one of his creations, Knull embarked on a quest to free himself and reignite his ancient war against life starting with Earth. He became an enemy of many the galaxy’s greatest heroes including Venom, Thor, and the Silver Surfer.
Powers/Abilities: As an ancient godlike being who existed before the dawn of the universe, Knull was older and more powerful than most beings in existence even including other divine beings. Much of his great power came from the connection between his living sword All-Black and the head of a Celestial. Even when this connection was severed by the Valkyrie, Knull was still powerful enough to challenge the Norse god Thor (who was at his most powerful). Knull could manipulate “eldritch darkness” to create, manipulate and control parasitic beings known as symbiotes of various kinds (as well as weapons forged of the same darkness). He could not only control symbiotes but also anyone who was bonded to one (if they didn’t have sufficient willpower to resist). Knull possessed sufficient physical strength to easily overpower Earth’s mightiest heroes such as Thor, Silver Surfer and the Sentry (each of whom can lift far, far in excess of 100 tons). He also possessed immensely high levels of invulnerability to harm (shrugging off attacks from the aforementioned Celestials, Thor, Silver Surfer, Sentry, as well as Ego the Living Planet or being immersed in the heat of stars). Though he could be hurt, it was extremely difficult though. Knull possessed vast energy manipulation powers allowing him to project devastating energy beams from his hands, surround himself in an energy field, or firing this energy as homing projectiles. Knull is considered to be immortal and has existed for over 13 billion years without aging, getting sick or dying from wounds inflicted by high level cosmic beings and though he can be wounded and even destroyed, he can’t truly die (as he is an avatar of the abstract entity Oblivion). Knull had no need of food, water, rest, or air and could survive in space unaided. In addition to his invulnerability and immortality, Knull was also possessed of a regenerative healing factor that allowed him to recover from most wounds in seconds (though he needed a prosthesis when Thor knocked his jaw off). He could also fly (via dragon-like wings), manipulate time (such as communicating with people in the past and reaching backwards in time to resurrect his servant Mister E), and shapeshift. Though he never received any known training, Knull was an experienced combatant with billions of years of experience fighting armies of gods and winning. Knull’s weaknesses included his own arrogance, being severed from his link to the decapitated head of a slain Celestial, backlash (while controlling a symbiote, he feels any pain it feels), and a force known as the Light. The Light is a cosmic force that came into being at the time of the Big Bang and exists in various forms: the light/heat of stars, positive emotional concepts (honor, compassion, benevolence, etc.) that weaken his control over his symbiotes, sonic attacks, electricity (such as Thor’s lightning or Miles Morales’ bioelectric blasts), etc. Knull wore a suit of living armor that increased his durability and his sword All-Black could cut through virtually anything.
Random Trivia: Knull launched a massive invasion of Earth that was only stopped by Eddie Brock (aka Venom) wielding the Uni-Power to destroy Knull’s physical form and seemingly essence as well.
