Warning: contains spoilers for Venom #32The iconic Venom better watch out… Carnage is coming for the King in Black, and he is not playing around. Wielding a brand-new weapon, the seemingly all-powerful All-Blood the Necrospear, Carnage has evolved into a cosmic deity, capable of slaughtering a King in Black in a single move in Venom #32, something that took a truly ridiculous amount of effort when the heroes of Earth attempted to kill the horrendous Knull.
Eddie Brock has been on an exhausting journey as Earth-616’s newest King in Black, becoming unmoored from time and reality while battling his past and future selves within Meridius’ Garden of Time, but he has finally found a true path forward.
Unfortunately for Eddie, that path is now blocked by the genocidal Carnage, who has a murderous vendetta against his “father” Venom, and any King in Black. Venom #32, from writer Al Ewing and artist Ken Lashley, sees Carnage infiltrating the Garden of Time, and using the newly forged All-Blood to annihilate two Kings in Black – Finnegan and Bedlam – before destroying the Garden itself.
A King in Black is a primordial entity empowered by the Celestials to act as a dark balance to the Beyonders, or the Kings in White, maintaining the Multiverse through its connection to the Living Abyss. Knull was appointed the King in Black of Earth-616’s Seventh Cosmos cycle, but rebelled against the Celestials, attempting to end the world and creating the symbiotes of Klyntar. After being freed from imprisonment, Knull assaulted the universe and invaded Earth, using All-Black the Necrosword as his weapon, until Venom was able to kill Knull by unleashing the Uni-Power on him while in the center of Earth’s Sun.
Carnage created All-Blood the Necrospear with the help of the master dwarf smith Drorin Runehewer in the Godmaker forge, using Knull’s All-Black as a template for the bident. Imbued with much of Knull’s power, if not more, Carnage was able to slaughter Finnegan and Bedlam – both Kings in Black and temporal versions of Eddie Brock – before destroying the entire Garden of Time. These violent acts prove just how powerful All-Blood is since Knull was only able to be killed with the Uni-Power within a Sun, meaning All-Blood is more powerful than All-Black, as well as the Mjolnir-Silver Surfer board hybrid axe that Thor attempted to murder Knull with.
Carnage may seem all-powerful, but Venom has shown that Eddie Brock will eventually become the “Eventuality,” a final King in Black form that fully exists outside of time in space in the Un-Beyond. Just like Carnage, Eddie will gain true godlike powers, and Carnage should be very scared of this happening, even if he does wield the deadly All-Blood. Eddie killed Knull after the King in Black nearly murdered his son, Dylan, infecting him with a living abyss and attempting to claim him as his own “son.”
Carnage just recently “killed” Dylan – although Venom’s sacrifice and his encounter with the Eventuality have brought him back to life – and Eddie will now stop at nothing to avenge his son. Carnage’s terrifying new All-Blood the Necrospear can easily kill a King in Black, proving Carnage is most likely more powerful than Knull was, but it shouldn’t count Venom out just yet.
Venom #32 from Marvel Comics is available now in stores.