Very early in the term of Venom: The Last Dancethe villainous Knull (Andy Serkis) monologues about his origins to the audience, explaining that an ancient encounter with a god of light caused him to lose his iron grip on the symbiote species he created. The reference gave me one sensible chuckle: Without the random distribution of studio licenses, that line would absolutely have included a cameo from the MCU version of Thor – as well as a flash to the Beowulf epic.
In creating the film’s shadowy villain, director and co-writer Kelly Marcel drew on the heavy-metal style of Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman’s 2018 run on Marvel Comics’ Poisonin which Knull, the ancient and overthrown god of the symbiotes, was introduced as a slow-burn antagonist. We’ve already talked about Knull’s comic book origin story and his signature weapon, All-Black the Necrosword, in all its “airbrushed onto the side of a van” glory. But one of the ways Cates and Stegman really gave Knull a dose of comic book magic was by expertly incorporating him into some equally heavy metal Thor moments.
Take All-Black for example. Created in 2013 by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribić, the sword began its existence as the signature weapon of Thor villain Gorr the God Butcher. It was a movable blade that served as both a weapon and armor. In the story of Aaron and Ribić (later repeated in the beginning of the film). Thor: Love and thunder), Gorr wrested All-Black from the hands of an unconscious, nameless god. Cates and Stegman’s story revealed that the ancient, unknown god had been Knull.
But we’re here to talk specifically about Thor, and his crucial role in both the history of the Poisonseries symbiotes and the history of epic poetry. As told in Cates and Stegman’s very first arc PoisonKnull’s downfall began when he brought two enormous, monstrous symbiote forms to a 6th century mead hall in what is now Denmark to hunt the people there. Fortunately for those humans (and Knull’s symbiotes), he met a patron deity there who dealt him a blow so great that it severed the symbiote species from its mind control.
That’s what Knull is talking about Venom: The Last Dance when he says he met a god of light. But Sony Pictures lacks the rights to most of the properties used in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the Venom films (minus some credit scenes) are not set in that setting. So what Knull can’t name, and Last dance what I can’t prove is that the god of light was a young Thor.
It was Thor’s divine lightning that struck these two symbiote monsters so hard that it forced Knull to release the symbiote hive from his control, allowing them to freely bond with other sentient beings and develop the will to overthrow their creator. And according to Cates and Stegman’s PoisonThor’s resounding defeat of those two symbiote dragons – whom the Danes had named Grendel and Grendel’s mother – was, through retelling, transformed into the epic of Beowulf.
This may not seem particularly important Venom: The Last Dancein which Knull is used rather sparingly, as if saving him for a future film that may or may never happen. But on the other hand, what’s not to like? It’s the best kind of deep character interweaving that interconnected comic settings can provide. It’s a brief and epic moment of convergence: Thor, the young God of Thunder, laying the blow on an ancient god of the void while inadvertently creating a free symbiote species and a pillar of ancient human literature.
Venom: The Last Dance couldn’t have a Thor cameo, but now you know there’s one hidden in Knull’s comics, and it’s silly. It’s an operation. It’s metal as hell. It’s exactly the kind of comic book “fun fact” that will make you cross your eyes if you think about it for too long. And it deserves to be spray painted on the side of a van.