Venom 3's Villain Is Way Too OP For 'The Last Dance' - But Perfect For The MCU

"Venom: The Last Dance" is set to introduce audiences to an all-timer of an antagonist. The movie's final trailer confirms the arrival of the franchise's most powerful Marvel villain yet: Knull, also known as the King in Black and the God of Symbiotes. On paper, it makes sense to wheel him out for the conclusion of a trilogy that revolves around Marvel's most famous symbiote antihero. On the other hand, Knull is a massively huge deal, to the point that he seems wasted in a "Venom" movie.

Entertaining as he may be, Tom Hardy and Tony Todd's Eddie Brock/Venom combo has a combat track record that consists largely of eating street-level baddies and fighting fellow symbiotes. Knull, on the other hand, is a primordial god of abyssal darkness who lives to conquer and destroy, and his endgame is to turn all existence into an unending void. He created his symbiote army for this very purpose, and Venom is merely one of his creations.

Knull, in other words, is far too overpowered for the live-action Venom. He also happens to be one of the strongest villains who haven't yet appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As such, the King in Black would be a far better fit for the MCU than he is for a "Venom" film. Let's explore the ways Knull could fit in the MCU — and whether there's any chance of him actually doing so.

As the God of Symbiotes, Knull is most clearly connected to various symbiote characters like Venom, Carnage, and the like. Fortunately, the MCU has already laid the groundwork for his potential appearance by sprinkling in symbiote references — including one that's a direct nod to Knull himself.

The post-credits scenes of "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" and "Spider-Man: No Way Home" tell the story of Venom getting hoisted into the MCU by Doctor Strange's (Benedict Cumberbatch) malfunctioning spell, just like many other multiversal Spider-Man characters. Fortunately for Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and his fellow Spider-Men, Eddie and his symbiote happen to be in a distant motel instead of New York City at the time. Unfortunately for the entire MCU, however, they leave a piece of the symbiote behind when they return to their own universe. With this, symbiotes are officially a part of the MCU, which gives Knull an opening to make his acquaintance with the cinematic universe.

If that's not enough, there's also Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), the antagonist of "Thor: Love and Thunder." Gorr wields All-Black the Necrosword, which happens to be the first-ever symbiote Knull creates in the comics. The big difference is that instead of taking the sword from the incapacitated Knull himself, Bale's Gorr acquires the All-Black from a dead store-brand villain called the Dark Shadow Lord, who found the sword instead of creating it. With the insertion of this middleman character, "Love and Thunder" was able to subtly sow the seeds of a connection between Knull and the MCU without actually mentioning the King in Black. Whether the MCU ever intends to explore these opportunities is anyone's guess, but the franchise can easily follow either trail of breadcrumbs to Knull if it so desires.

So, the MCU has already set up potential avenues for bringing Knull in as a future antagonist. But what are the chances of this happening if he's already facing Venom in "Venom: The Last Dance?"

The big question here is how "The Last Dance" intends to use Knull. One way to have the King in Black cake and eat it, too, would be to use him sparingly and have him either attack exclusively through minions or possess another character, perhaps one of the new symbiotes the film will introduce, to act as his avatar. This would allow Knull to remain mostly in the shadows, and the final movie in the "Venom" trilogy would have an excellent opportunity to introduce him with a slow burn that could potentially reap greater rewards in the future. But if that happens, why should the God of Symbiotes wander off to terrorize the MCU instead of becoming the unifying villain at the heart of the future of Sony's Spider-Man Universe?

The answer, of course, is money. An eventual face-off between Venom and Spider-Man has been in the cards for a while now, and since anyone can see that the MCU is far more successful and better established than the SSU, it would make sense to have said confrontation take place in the former. And since the SSU Venom is a protagonist, having Knull as the larger threat would allow him and Spider-Man to form a no-doubt deliciously uneasy alliance to take on the MCU's more villainous Venom. Besides, the MCU is getting pretty bloated, and Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom won't be able to antagonize everyone forever. Having another Big Bad waiting in the wings wouldn't be the worst move, and they simply don't get much bigger than Knull.