Warning, this article contains spoilers for King in Black #2.
The King in Black has dealt a crushing blow to the heroes of Marvel Comics. Knull’s arrival signaled the end of normal life on Earth as his darkness slithered to all corners of the globe. Like an anaconda, the darkness found weak prey and consumed it completely, converting it into energy to feed upon. The Earth, like many planets Knull, has come across during his galactic conquest, has become part of the hive and so have many of its heroes.
Knull’s symbiote creations did something much worse than kill the heroes of Earth: they bonded with those they had seemingly destroyed, creating super-powerful symbiote heroes controlled by The God of Symbiotes. Knull’s invasion just got a lot easier because of the many hosts now under his control. The A-team has fallen during the first battle when Knull and his army descended upon the planet. Now it’s time for backup.
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Iron Man was one of the few remaining Avengers left after the onslaught in King in Black #1. He was relying heavily on Eddie Brock to play a crucial role in the war against Knull because of his history with symbiotes but Venom’s other was stripped off and Eddie was discarded like trash. He fell several stories and was barely clinging to life when Spider-Man found him. With Venom in critical condition and many of Earth’s most powerful heroes, including Sentry, out of commission, Marvel’s heroes request aid from their reserves. In King in Black #2 by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman, some of Marvel’s mightiest decide that if heroes cannot stop Knull, maybe villains can.
Blade asks Dracula, king of all vampires to help stop Knull from absorbing everything into the abyss. Despite everything Blade has gone through because of vampires, he still decides to ask Dracula for help because of the severity of the situation. In a similar fashion, Namor The Submariner recruits the most unlikely of allies for this battle in the shadows. Namor calls upon The Black Tide, a group of savage Atlanteans known for enduring the ocean’s harshest conditions like extreme cold and darkness. Namor has had his difficulties with The Black Tide but desperate times call for desperate measures.
This is a huge moment for Marvel Comics because the lines between enemies and allies prior to Knull’s arrival have become blurred. Everyone on Earth is simply earthlings who have everything at stake during this invasion. The God of Symbiotes does not bargain or show mercy; he consumes. The only way any villain could join him is to become a mindless drone in his hive. Realizing this, the heroes have decided to put their judgments aside and swallow their pride. In the battle for the planet, every earthling can be a hero (whether they are human or not). Knull has snuffed out the light but can The King in Black handle those who were born in darkness?
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