Tom Hardy’s Venom Deserves to Be the “King in Black” of Sony’s Spider-Man Movies

The theatrical debut of Venom: The Last Dance is just around the corner, promising to deliver an epic new chapter in the story of Eddie Brock / Venom (Tom Hardy). The live-action take on the character has spanned two solo films and a confusing string of post-credit appearances since 2018, with fans all around the world becoming endeared to Hardy’s performance. While the actor has repeatedly stated that The Last Dance will be his final solo film as the character, there has still been the question of what his onscreen future holds, either in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe or through crossing back over into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As we wait to see what The Last Dance ultimately does for Eddie’s story, one prevailing theory has surrounded his connection to that film’s villain, Knull.

Created by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman, Knull is a primordial cosmic being with a wide-ranging impact across the Marvel Universe. Retroactively established as an instrumental part of Gorr the God Butcher’s debut in Thor, Knull was later properly introduced as the “King in Black”, who created and has domain over all symbiotes in the galaxy. He eventually became the central antagonist of the King in Black comic crossover, which saw nearly all of the Marvel Universe joining forces to fight him.

Those involved with The Last Dance have already hinted at Knull’s onscreen debut being the first chapter in a larger story, which has naturally led some to wonder if the specific character will eventually become a larger onscreen villain. But if that is not the case, what if Eddie ultimately takes his place?

This doesn’t necessarily mean Eddie would transform into a new version of Knull — although, admittedly, there would be some interesting narrative potential in seeing that corruption. If anything, there could be a fun (and as of late, comic-accurate) narrative in having Hardy’s Eddie succeed Knull as the King in Black. The honor (or burden, depending on how you look at it) was bestowed upon Eddie after he killed Knull at the end of the King in Black storyline, giving him access to the Nexus of the Hive Mind and other domain over the symbiotes. In the years since that event, Eddie has used the King in Black title to go through some convoluted evolutions and start a new superhero team, all while passing the proper mantle of Venom onto his son.

While we probably would not see aspects of that adapted onscreen following The Last Dance, bonding Hardy’s Eddie to the symbiotes of the universe would be a clever full-circle choice, given his reluctant journey with Venom over the years. And theoretically, if the live-action Spider-Man mythos were to reach the point of some sort of onscreen crossover event, it would be rather fitting to place Eddie Brock into the role of a franchise-spanning antagonist. Amid the highs and lows of Sony’s various movies about Spider-Man villains, the Venom franchise has remained their biggest stable success, grossing plenty of money at the box office and being well-received among fans. Turning the “face of your franchise” into its new greatest villain does have some interesting story potential, as evident by the MCU’s own casting for Doctor Doom.

No matter how notorious and meme-worthy Morbius and Madame Web have become, the prospect of seeing characters from those films join forces to fight a super-powerful Venom could very well be a draw for a big crossover movie, doubly so if any of Sony’s live-action Spider-Man portrayals were to somehow get involved. Hardy’s Venom becoming the next live-action King in Black would work, in part, because fans would truthfully have no idea what to expect, even amid the past few years of comic precedent. Amid the highs and lows of the superhero movie industry around him, Hardy’s take on Venom has become beloved for how wacky and maximalist it is — and what could be more wacky and maximalist than seeing him transform from an ordinary disgraced reporter to a full-blown cosmic deity?

Venom: The Last Dance will be released exclusively in theaters on Friday, October 25th.