What is Marvel’s ‘King in Black’ event and how could it inform Sony’s ‘Venom 3?’

In recent years, Marvel fans have been treated to numerous great Venom storylines within the comics. One of the most memorable of these was King in Black, one of Marvel’s most dramatic and big scale crossovers that expanded upon the origins of the Venom symbiote and the Marvel universe as a whole. 

With it being one of the best comic storylines in a while, many would like to see it adapted for the big screen, so that begs the question, could the plot elements from King in Black inform the next installment of Sony’s Venom?

What is King in Black?

King is Black is the culmination of multiple ongoing plotlines, so it may be a bit confusing for some readers to just jump in. Eddie Brock has come a long way from simply being a news reporter infected with the symbiote parasite. Firstly, he has a son now, Dylan Brock, who is part symbiote, part human. Eddie is also allied with the Avengers as he prepares for the fight he knows is coming.

The event introduces us to Venom’s most powerful adversary yet, the God of the darkness and symbiotes, Knull. Knull existed before the birth of the cosmos in the void before he was awoken by the light. Enraged by the god and the universe it created, he swore to destroy it and its creations. He starts by decapitating a celestial with a sword made from his shadow (a proto-symbiote) and used the celestials head as a forge for the Necrosword, the same one used by Gorr the God Butcher.

Ultimately, Knull was imprisoned by his own symbiotes when the hive mind turned on him. The revelation that Knull was the originator of the symbiote race was quite the shock to many die-hard fans as it completely changed everything that was known about the Symbiotes. Despite this, many fans lauded the story as a great and well thought out plotline that worked well within the wider Marvel universe. We even learn why the symbiotes’ weakness is fire and sound.

Obviously it was inevitable that Knull would return at some point, and when he did, fans were treated to one of the greatest battles ever put to paper as it pitted the Avengers and Eddie Brock against a literal god. The Earth doesn’t fare well against him though as his army of symbiote dragons quickly brings Eddie and the Earth’s mightiest heroes to their knees. Venom is ultimately defeated and left for dead after their first encounter.

What’s most exciting about the King in Black event is how Venom and Eddie develop their strength. Eddie comes back even more powerful after his defeat at the hands of Knull, and by the end of the comic run he temporarily becomes one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel universe, which is truly a sight to behold. And if that doesn’t sell you on the awesomeness of the event, then Venom fusing Thor’s hammer and the Silver Surfer’s board to make a crazy powerful battle ax that makes the Necrosword look like a butter knife probably will.

The comic arc ends with Eddie and Venom becoming king of the symbiotes and taking Knull’s place. This allows them to control the entire symbiote race making them pretty unstoppable.

Would Sony ever think of adapting a story like this?

Now, the question remains as to whether we’ll be seeing any elements from this storyline in the third Venom film. Judging by the positive reaction to the story from fans, it’s very possible that Sony will be introducing the villain in some form. They have free reign to do as they wish since Sony’s Spider-Verse is mostly separate from the MCU.

After the events of Venom: Let there be Carnage where the multiverse is revealed to Eddie and Venom hints at the knowledge of the hive mind, it would be the perfect opportunity to bring a cosmic scale villain into the spotlight in the form of Knull. It would be much better than the alternative of having him fight another symbiote just like him which is all they’ve done for the last two movies.

It would be a wise move on the studios behalf to bring an adaptation of King in Black to the big screen due to the popularity of the story. After all, Sony needs a hit after so many predictable and terrible spin-offs. It would have to use a different set up for the event as there are characters and story elements that Sony would be unable to use for the film. One of the main differences would be Eddie’s son not being present. While the story of the comic pretty much revolves around Dylan Brock, as Knull is after him, it would be unlikely Sony would be able to have him be born and grow up and also introduce Knull all in one movie. Especially considering Eddie and Anne Weying aren’t even together in the films and they’re not even close, as Anne is getting married to someone else. 

On the other hand, we could see Eddie’s son be born in the third movie which could set up Knull to arrive in a later film (if they get that far). Sony would need to do a lot of setting up, maybe making Venom 3 into two parts if they really wanted to take their time. The King in Black event isn’t really something that could be done in a single movie, so two films would probably be the best option.

Of course, some elements will have to be changed in order to avoid stepping on Marvel’s toes. Unfortunately we won’t be seeing Venom teaming up with the Avengers due to Kevin Feige stating that Venom is not part of the MCU. It’s a sticky situation and certain elements of Knull’s back story might have to be cut back as he’s connected to the celestials and Gorr and Thor. All of which belong to Marvel studios and Disney.

Could we get two more Venom movies?

We also don’t know how long Tom Hardy will keep coming back for future films. Right now Venom and the Spider-Verse films are pretty much keeping Sony’s shared universe afloat, so it’s safe to say the company will want to milk it for everything they have. King in Black would have to happen near the end of Hardy’s time as Brock as Marvel have confirmed that his comic counterpart will never be Venom again after the current run. It makes sense; after all, where does a story go once the main character has literally become a god? The most they could do is one more movie, but it would need to introduce his son who would take Eddie’s place as Venom.