Now that Christian Bale is set to play as the main villain, Gorr, The God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder, here’s our theory on how the villain can also introduce one of the biggest villains in the MCU, The King in Black, Knull.
In Marvel Comics, Gorr is a mere mortal from another universe that's on the brink of starvation. In his world, he was taught to pray and trust the Gods but none of them ever answered his prayers. Gorr lost his entire family due to starvation which caused him to despise the Gods. While traveling through the desert, Gorr witnessed a brawl between a black God (Knull) and a purpled-skinned gold-armored God (Celestial). Gorr accidentally absorbed the Black God’s power, making him the wielder of the All Black Necrosword, which gave him Godlike abilities and abled him to murder multiple Celestials in the universe, gaining his titular title, The God Butcher.
If you think Thanos and Kang are insane villains, wait until you see Knull. Knull has existed more than the Celestials, and the Celestial's birth is actually what awakened his powers. When Celestials created the universe, this caused Knull to be furious and created the All-Black Necrosword to murder every Celestial that comes in his way. Knull’s powers have literally no limit and he was able to make a planet and creatures within his own powers. He created the symbiote hive, which means that Venom and Carnage is just a small amount of Knull’s Godlike powers.
Knull’s abilities are so vast that it easily makes him one of the strongest beings in the Marvel universe. Knull has divine physiology, Living abyss manipulation, symbiote creation, symbiote domination, temporal manipulation, dark energy manipulation, shapeshifting, flight, self-sustenance, and Godlike strength, speed, and durability.
In a cameo from Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Venom has teased the Multiversal Hive Mind, one of Knull’s power that ables Knull to intercept information from different symbiotes across the Multiverse. Aside from that, he can also control symbiotes remotely. And in The Guardians of the Galaxy film, we spotted a particular location tied to Knull, Knowhere, which is a severed head of an ancient celestial, who was murdered by the King in Black himself.
If the MCU follows a comically accurate origin of Gorr, Knull will certainly be mentioned in the MCU very soon. Also with recent reports from Thor: Love and Thunder revealing that Gorr will be wielding the All Black Necrosword, an extension of Knull's power, he will likely make an appearance in the future. But since the MCU is now focusing on the concept of the Multiverse for phase four, looks like he has to play a small cameo first. The multiverse storyline teases that Kang The Conqueror will be the next big bad. However with Knull's future, the villain can make a small cameo, maybe Marvel writers could set him up to be a post-Kang event.
Thor: Love and Thunder will premiere in theaters on July 8.
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