MCU: Why Knull Would Be A Better Phase 5 Villain Than Galactus

In the current Marvel Comics, Knull - aka The King in Black - has been wreaking constant havoc, setting himself up to be a choice candidate for the MCU's major Phase 5 villain. During his first appearance in Venom #3, Knull reveals that he is the lord of all symbiotes. Able to manifest these parasites, he emerges from a symbiotic dragon. As the ruler of the Abyss, Knull has the "All-Black" sword which was forged from the decapitation of his own shadow, along with his symbiotic armor crafted from the Living Abyss. Aside from being superhumanly strong and invulnerable, Knull can shape-shift, fly, regenerate, and is immortal.

Even though he's relatively new to Marvel Comics, Knull already eeked out a terrifying reputation for himself. As the proclaimed King in Black, he has already defeated many heroes, slain Celestials, destroyed countless planets, and killed billions in an epic crossover event. While Marvel currently tends to focus on more classic comic storylines to convert into films, using such a promising villain could be ideal given how difficult finding bigger and bigger villains could prove to be for the MCU.

Having conquered the current Earth-616 Marvel Universe, the King in Black could prove to be one such bigger villain for the MCU to bring to the big screen. However, many believe Phase 5's villain will instead be Galactus, and indeed there are clues that Galactus is being set up as an impending MCU villain. But while the Devourer of Worlds certainly isn't a cop-out choice for a future MCU antagonist, he's also perhaps not the ideal pick for Phase 5. After all, Thanos managed to destroy half of existence in one snap, which would, unfortunately, make the threat of individual planets being consumed one by one less intimidating. Similarly, where Galactus has been defeated various times throughout his extensive Marvel comics history, the King in Black has proved to be a far tougher adversary for them - arguably because he's a newer addition, but this would still provide an extra intimidation factor that could prove valuable.

There's also a practical level to this, however, as Knull has one entirely unexpected benefit: he's human-sized. It would be viscerally entertaining to watch Knull battle Marvel’s greatest heroes on the big screen, whereas Galactus’ MCU fight might be problematic due to his limitless size. It would make perfect sense if most of the fight, the audience would only be able to see portions of Galactus. This could be lacking when compared to the more intricate and climactic fights of past major villains when they go toe to toe with Marvel heroes.

With the Infinity Gems, Thanos was capable of erasing all of existence with the snap of a finger, but Knull doesn’t need such lofty goals, as his characterization as "the essence of evil" means he'd be likely just focused on creating as much mayhem as possible. As the main villain of Phase 5, this could create an interesting dynamic, as the majority of pre-existing MCU villains have embodied more complex themes. Ultron is a prime example of the consequences of technology and AI going unchecked. Malekith wished to impose the supremacy of his race upon the Asgardians while Hela personified revenge. During Infinity War, Thanos wanted to sacrifice the lives of some to supposedly save the lives of more. While a good villain motivation is always engaging, the likes of the Joker also make it clear that a more chaotic, less obviously motivated antagonist can still be incredibly interesting. As such, perhaps it's time for someone like Knull to step up to the plate with motivations that are the product of his selfish satisfaction of evil. The only vaguely worrying aspect of this is that if Knull does indeed become the center of events and the major villain of the MCU's Phase 5, then who could possibly surpass him?

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