New trailer for Venom: The Last Dance unmasks the Spider-Man spin-off’s terrifying villain Knull, but his original creators aren’t happy about it

I believe this casting rumor is Knull and void

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The final trailer forVenom: The Last Dancehas been released online – and the online conversation is being dominated by one particular part: its villain.

WithVenom 3set to chomp its way into theaters on October 25,SonyPictures, in association withMarvelEntertainment, have left it later than usual to release theSpider-Manfilm franchise’s final teaser. That, though, appears to have been intentional, especially in light of the fact that the identity of the movie’s primary antagonist has been withheld until now. Way to increase the hype for Tom Hardy’s final outing as Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote buddy, Sony.

But I’m getting off-track. The near-three-minute trailer provides more details about the film’s plot, plus its full of new footage to pore over. And, yes, there’s more footage of theinfamous Venom-Horse first seen inThe Last Dance’s first trailer, as well as glimpses of other fauna that the extraterrestrial can bond to, including Venom-Fish.

As I said up top, however, it’sVenom 3’s villain who’s been a hot topic of discussion since the latest trailer debuted yesterday (September 12). So, who is he? That’ll be Knull, a relative newcomer to the Spider-Man comic book universe who’s not only an incredibly powerful being, but also someone that Brock and Venom might not be able to defeat.

Who is Knull? And is Norman Reedus really playing him?

While he was technically introduced in March 2013’sThor: God of Thunder#6, Knull didn’t make his full comic book debut until August 2018, with the incredibly dangerous villain’s true form being unveiled inVenomVol. 4 #3.

Alright, so who or what is he? Essentially, he’s the Marvel universe’s god of darkness. Oh, and he’s also the creator of the symbiotes, the race of parasitic extraterrestial lifeforms, which includes Venom, whose initial purpose was to strike out across the universe, infect powerful beings, and form the Symbiote Hive-Mind, which Knull would control.

Long story short, Knull’s army of symbiotes eventually rebelled and locked him away in a far corner of the cosmos known as Klyntar. Since then, the symbiotes have traveled the universe to not only atone for their destruction that their master wrought, but also seek out and bond to heroic individuals to aid them in their fight against the darkness.

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Interestingly, this isn’t the first time that Knull has played a part in a Marvel superhero film. Indeed, his main weapon – All-Black the Necrosword – was the blade used by Christian Bale’s tragic villain Gorr the God Butcher inThor: Love and Thunder. Knull also has a long-running feud with the Celestials – you know, those giant, cosmic beings we’ve seen inGuardians of the GalaxyandEternals– in the comics so, technically, he also has very tentative ties to these other Marvel-developed films, too.

Understandably, given Sony holds the cinematic rights to every Spider-Man character, Marvel Studios couldn’t use Knull in that Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film. Still, whilst Knull will make his big-screen debut inVenom: The Last Dance, it won’t be the first instance where the supervillain has been referenced in theaters.

Of equal intrigue is who’s reportedly playing Knull inVenom 3. Now, a Sony press release, which accompanied the new trailer’s arrival, didn’t disclose which actor would play Knull. However, two apparent industry insiders –Soulless CinemaandRejected Scooper– took to X/Twitter post-trailer release to claim thatThe Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus will portray the malicious entity. For some bizarre reason, fans have taken this as gospel, but these are unsubstantiated reports, so take this casting rumor with a massive pinch of salt for now.

I’ve reached out to Sony for comment and I’ll update this article when I hear back.

Why have Knull’s original creators reacted negatively to his Venom 3 appearance?

Yes, I did co-create knull. No, I didn’t know until today that he was gonna be in Venom: The Last Dance. Yes, I do expect to finally be able to afford that lazy river moat around my houseSeptember 12, 2024

Basically, they weren’t given prior warning that Knull was being used as the third Venom film’s central antagonist.

Taking to X/Twitter (see above) after the newest trailer dropped, co-creator Ryan Stegman revealed that he’d only found out about Knull’s inclusion alongside the rest of us. Based on the final sentence of his tweet, Stegman is clearly – and rightly – angling for some form of payment and/or future royalties for the character’s use in a live-action format.

lol pic.twitter.com/VLKtdhmG9NSeptember 12, 2024

Donny Cates, who created Knull with Stegman, also voiced his opinion on the same social media platform. Where Stegman wrote down his thoughts, however, Cates simply tweeted “lol” with a Venom logo-inspired image that replaced the word ‘Venom’ with ‘Money’. Clearly, Cates isn’t impressed about being compensated for Knull’s appearance, either.

As with reports about Reedus supposedly playing Knull, I’ve asked Sony for a response to Stegman' and Cates' tweets, and I’ll report back with any news.

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As TechRadar’s senior entertainment reporter, Tom covers all of the latest movies, TV shows, and streaming service news that you need to know about. You’ll regularly find him writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and many other topics of interest.

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