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" King in Black" is a comic book event written by Donny Cates with art by Ryan Stegman, and was published from 2020 to 2021 by Marvel Comics. It is a continuation to 2019's "Absolute Carnage", also containing fallout from 2020's "Empyre". In the story, Knull and his symbiotes invade Earth, leaving Eddie Brock / Venom, the Avengers, the X-Men, and numerous other superheroes to protect it. A sequel, "Queen in Black", will be published in 2026.
Emperor Hulkling dispatches Talos to investigate the Kree and Skrull bases that went dark with Av-Rom, Keeyah, M'lanz, Virtue, and Tarna. Two days later, a Kree/Skrull armada headed by General Kalamari finds Talos' escape pod. While recuperating in the sick bay, Talos tells Kalamari of his encounter Knull. Talos informs Kalamari that his distress beacon on his escape pod is a warning that Knull is coming. Outside the ship, Knull is riding a symbiote dragon as he swoops in for an attack. Web of Venom: Empyre's End #1. Marvel Comics.
Eddie Brock slams onto a car, critically injuring himself. Jane Foster tells Spider-Man that Eddie Brock is barely alive and they need to do something fast to save his life. Iron Man tells the heroes that he has a plan which is to acquire a small part of a symbiote dragon, have Namor wake up the Black Tide (the ancient Atlantean warriors from Namor's teenage days) in the Mariana Trench, have Blade persuade Dracula to help them, and persuade Mayor Wilson Fisk to hire villains to help defend New York City. Iron Man manages to take control of a symbiote dragon using Extremis and brings the symbiote to Fantastic Four to heal Eddie Brock, but the symbiote starts killing Eddie. Dylan uses his power to destroy the symbiote, but Eddie Asystole. King in Black #2. Marvel Comics.
Silver Surfer passes by the planets that have been attacked by Knull. Invisible Woman and Blade are being overwhelmed by symbiotes and Mister Fantastic wants Spider-Man and Wolverine to escort Dylan Brock out to free the symbiote hordes. The three of them appear to help Invisible Woman and Dylan frees Captain America from his symbiote. Knull finds out where Dylan is and is about to get him when Thor arrives. Together, Thor and Dylan help free some of the possessed heroes. Thor and Knull fight and Thor gains the upper hand until Knull distracts Thor by bringing in his symbiote-possessed Celestials and stabs Thor in the back. Iron Man arrives to use his Extremis-infected symbiote dragon in order to take control of the symbiote-possessed Celestials. Just before Dylan is about to taken away, Silver Surfer arrives after being summoned by Hugin and Munin. King in Black #3. Marvel Comics.
Knull plans to control Dylan since he has the symbiote codex, but Dylan fights back. Jean Grey immobilizes Knull with her psychic powers. She sees Knull's past, and realizes that the God of Light (another name for the Enigma Force) is the one thing that can take down Knull before passing out. Silver Surfer arrives to where the Enigma Force is and frees it from the symbiotes. Knull reels in pain and Eddie Brock is chosen to be the new Captain Universe. King in Black #4. Marvel Comics.
Through the God of Light, Silver Surfer assumes a chrome form and turns his surfboard into a sword. Using his battle axe, Venom starts to shred his way through the symbiote dragons. Venom then picks up Knull, flies into the air, and punches through the symbiote barrier surrounding Earth. Venom plunges his hand into the sun and uses the Uni-Power to vaporize Knull, freeing the symbiote hive from his influence. The Uni-Power leaves Eddie, stating that he has become more than a human as the Venom symbiote reunites with Eddie. As Venom sprouts dragon-like wings and flies into the air, a group of symbiotes and symbiote dragons follow him. The Venom symbiote tells Eddie that he has become the leader of the symbiotes and the new King in Black. King in Black #5. Marvel Comics.
Wilson Fisk decides to put together his own team of superpowered operatives to beat back Knull's creatures and save the city. He secretly meets with eight of these operatives, all known criminals who have been working in the city without Kingpin's blessing: Taskmaster, Mister Fear, Batroc the Leaper, Rhino, Star, Ampere, and Snakehead. To pay Fisk back, these criminals must escort Star (current keeper of one of the Infinity Gems) into battle to kill Knull, but to do that they wll first need to make contact with a man Kingpin believes can help turn the tide against the god. The seven agree to Fisk's plan. Despite objections, this team will be called the Thunderbolts because Kingpin owns the copyright. The team sets out into the city and is promptly attacked by a giant symbiote dragon. Snakehead is devoured, but Mister Fear and Star manage to kill the symbiote dragon. When Ampere exclaims that the team is doomed and he intends to leave, Mister Fear murders him. A symbiote possesses Ampere's corpse, with a horde of symbiotes chasing the Thunderbolts. The team escapes to a fishing boat nearly leaving Batroc behind and finally reach their destination: Ravencroft Institute. Inside, they find the man Fisk believes can defeat Knull: Norman Osborn. King In Black: Thunderbolts #1. Marvel Comics. Osborn leads the Thunderbolts into retrieving Sentry's corpse so that it can be used as a nuke to destroy Knull's lair. Taskmaster uses Figment's abilities to make it look like the Thunderbolts sacrificed their lives to pull off the mission. After Fisk broadcasts the Thunderbolts' sacrifice during the fight against the symbiote invasion, the Thunderbolts arrive and blackmail him into raising their pay and giving them further missions once Knull is defeated. King in Black: Thunderbolts #2. Marvel Comics.
Spider-Man gets a panic attack from realizing that he was the reason why the symbiotes are on Earth. While fighting a symbiote dragon, Spider-Man runs into Reptil in his Pteranodon form who is carrying an old woman named Mrs. Volkov who he is trying to get home. While helping Reptil to get Mrs. Volkov to Staten Island, Spider-Man is then attacked by a swarm of symbiote dragons. Spider-Man was able to web some of them up as he and Reptil near the Staten Island ferry. Reptil notes that he cannot turn into anything big enough to combat a symbiote dragon as Spider-Man notes that his Tyrannosaurus form would not work either. Spider-Man then gets an idea as he helps Mrs. Volkov onto the ferry while Reptil dives into the water and emerges as a Mosasaurus which bites into the symbiote dragon and drags it underwater. With help from Mrs. Volkov evacuating the passengers to the lifeboats, Spider-Man jury-rigs a harpoon from the ship's generators. When the symbiote dragon emerges, Spider-Man throws an electrified harpoon into the dragon's body, killing it. King in Black: Spider-Man #1. Marvel Comics.
| King in Black | 1–5 | Donny Cates | Ryan Stegman | Frank Martin | King in Black #1 | King in Black #5 |
| King In Black | King in Black #1–5 | TPB | 160 | 29 Jun 2021 | |
| King in Black: Avengers | King in Black: Black Panther #1, King in Black: Captain America #1, King in Black: Ghost Rider #1, King in Black: The Immortal Hulk #1, King in Black: Iron Man/Doom #1, King in Black: Wiccan and Hulkling #1 | TPB | 200 | 27 Jul 2021 | |
| King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes | King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes #1–3, King in Black: Black Knight #1 | TPB | 112 | 27 Jul 2021 | |
| King in Black: Namor | King in Black: Namor #1–5 | TPB | 112 | 20 Jul 2021 | |
| King in Black: Thunderbolts | King in Black: Thunderbolts #1–3, King in Black: Marauders #1 | TPB | 112 | 27 Jul 2021 | |
| King in Black: Gwenom vs. Carnage | King in Black: Gwenom vs. Carnage #1–3, King in Black: Scream #1, King in Black: Spider-Man #1 | TPB | 136 | 10 Aug 2021 | |
| King in Black: Return Of The Valkyries | King in Black: Return of the Valkyries #1–4 | TPB | 112 | 22 Jun 2021 | |
| King in Black: Atlantis Attacks | Atlantis Attacks #1–5 | TPB | 112 | 6 Jul 2021 | |
| #1–5 | TPB | 128 | 6 Jul 2021 | ||
| Spider-Woman Vol. 2: King in Black | Spider-Woman (vol. 7) #6-10 | TPB | 112 | 1 Jun 2021 | |
| Black Cat (vol. 2) #1–4 and material from X-Men: To Serve and Protect #4 | TPB | 112 | 8 Jun 2021 | ||
| Venom by Donny Cates Vol. 6: King in Black | Venom (vol. 4) #31–35 | TPB | 192 | 29 Aug 2021 | |
| Savage Avengers Vol. 4: King in Black | Savage Avengers #17–22 | TPB | 136 | 14 Sep 2021 | |
| King In Black Omnibus | King in Black (2020) #1–5; King in Black: The Immortal Hulk (2020) #1; King in Black: Iron Man/Doctor Doom (2020) #1; King in Black: Black Knight (2021) #1; King in Black: Marauders (2021) #1; King in Black: Black Panther (2021) #1; King in Black: Captain America (2021) #1; King in Black: Wiccan and Hulkling (2021) #1; King in Black: Spider-Man (2021) #1; King in Black: Scream (2021) #1; King in Black: Ghost Rider (2021) #1; King in Black: Gwenom vs. Carnage (2021) #1–3; King in Black: Namor (2021) #1–5; King in Black: Planet of the Symbiotes (2021) #1–3; King in Black: Return of the Valkyries (2021) #1–4; King in Black: Thunderbolts (2021) #1–3; Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black (2020) #1–5; Black Cat (2020) #1–3; Daredevil (2019) #26–27; Deadpool (2019) #10; Fantastic Four (2018) #29–30; Guardians of the Galaxy (2020) #10; Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2018) #23; S.W.O.R.D. (2020) #2–4; Savage Avengers (2019) #17–19; Spider-Woman (2020) #7–8; Union (2020) #1–2; Venom (2018) #31–34; King in Black Handbook (2021) #1 | Omnibus | 1,568 | Ryan Stegman Fall cover: | |
| Ryan Stegman Dawn DM cover: | |||||
| Venomnibus by Cates & Stegman | Venom (2018) #1–35, Annual (2018) #1; Web of Venom: Ve'Nam; Web of Venom: Carnage Born; Web of Venom: Wraith; Absolute Carnage #1–5; King in Black #1–5; material from FCBD 2019 ( Spider-Man/Venom), Free Comic Book Day 2020 ( Spider-Man/Venom), Incoming! #1, and Carnage Black, White & Blood #2 | Omnibus | 1,352 | Ryan Stegman King In Black cover: | |
| Ryan Stegman Rex DM cover: |
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