Venom 4: Knull Awaken
The silence of space isn’t empty; it is a hungry, living thing. For eons, the “Lord of the Abyss” lay dormant in the heart of a planetary prison, but the tether has been pulled. Tom Hardy returns as Eddie Brock in a story that shifts from street-level vigilantism to an intergalactic struggle for the soul of creation. Directed by Guillermo del Toro—bringing his legendary eye for monstrous beauty and gothic horror—Venom 4: Knull Awaken serves as a haunting exploration of the bond between father and son, creator and weapon.
I. The Genesis of the New Codex
The film opens with a microscopic journey through Eddie Brock’s bloodstream. The remains of the Venom symbiote, thought to be extinguished after the previous war, have done something unprecedented: they have fused with Eddie’s very DNA. This isn’t just a suit anymore; it is the Genesis Codex—a biological map of all symbiotic life, containing the power to either reboot the hive or destroy it.
In a quiet cabin in the Pacific Northwest, Eddie lives a life of isolation. He talks to himself, but the voice that answers is no longer just a rumble in his head; it’s a physical manifestation of his own shadows. Their bond is deeper, more telepathic, and terrifyingly unstable.
II. The Shadow Falls
The inciting incident occurs when an astronomical anomaly is detected heading toward Earth. It isn’t an asteroid; it is a Klyntar Spire, a spear-like vessel made of solidified darkness. When it strikes the moon, the shockwave is felt by every living thing on Earth.
Knull (portrayed by Bill Skarsgård) awakens. He does not walk; he glides through the vacuum of space, draped in a tattered cape of living shadows, wielding the All-Black Necrosword. He senses the Genesis Codex. To Knull, Eddie is a “thief” who has stolen a spark of the primordial fire. He sends his Grendel-Dragons—colossal, red-veined symbiote beasts—to fetch the “flesh-vessel.”
III. The Resistance of the Outcasts
As the world falls into a “Symbiote Winter,” Eddie is hunted by both Knull’s forces and a clandestine military group, Project Oversight, who believe the only way to stop Knull is to kill the host: Eddie.
Eddie finds an unlikely ally in Cletus Kasady’s “Ghost”—a psychic remnant of the Carnage symbiote trapped within the Hive-mind that only Eddie can see. This “inner demon” acts as a twisted advisor, pushing Eddie to embrace a darker, more primal version of Venom to survive.
The action moves from the dense forests of Oregon to the high-tech ruins of a hijacked space station. Eddie realizes that he cannot fight Knull as a man. He must transcend.
IV. The Revelation of the First God
In a pivotal sequence, Knull telepathically pulls Eddie into the “Time-Abyss.” Here, Eddie witnesses the birth of the universe. He sees Knull beheading a Celestial and using the god’s blood to temper the first symbiote.
Knull: “You call it a ‘bond.’ I call it a leash. You are a parasite on a parasite, Edward Brock. Return the spark, and I shall grant you the mercy of non-existence.”
Eddie: “We’ve spent our whole lives being told what we are. A loser. A monster. A host. But we’ve never been anyone’s property.”
This scene highlights the emotional core of the film: Eddie’s struggle for autonomy against a “father” who demands total submission.
V. The Climax: The Battle of the Two Hearts
The finale takes place at the “World’s End”—a location where the veil between the physical world and the Abyss is thinnest. Knull arrives on Earth, his presence causing the very ground to turn into black ichor.
The battle is a masterclass in scale. Venom grows to a monstrous size, fueled by the Genesis Codex, turning into a multi-limbed engine of war. The fight isn’t just physical; it’s a struggle for control over the black matter that makes up the environment. As Knull commands the shadows to swallow Eddie, Eddie commands the shadows to protect him, turning the battlefield into a shifting, kaleidoscopic nightmare of teeth and claws.
In the final moments, Eddie realizes he cannot kill a god of darkness with strength alone. He must “overwrite” the Hive. Using the Codex, he transmits a pulse of human emotion—pain, love, and the will to survive—into the Hive Mind. The sheer “humanity” of the signal acts like a virus to Knull’s cold, void-based consciousness.
VI. The Sacrifice and the New Dawn
Knull is cast back into the Abyss, but the effort shatters the Genesis Codex. Eddie survives, but the symbiote is gone—or so it seems.
The film ends with Eddie sitting on a beach at dawn. The black sludge has retreated. He looks at his reflection in the water. For a second, his shadow moves independently of him. It grins, showcasing a row of familiar, jagged teeth. They are no longer a “we” in the way they were before; they are something entirely new. A new species. A new protector.
The post-credits scene shows a silver streak flying across the galaxy—the Silver Surfer—heading toward Earth, whispering a single name: “Galactus.”
