WARNING: The following contains spoilers for King in Black: Namor #2 by Kurt Busiek, Benjamin Dewey, Tríona Farrel & VC's Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
King in Black #2 has left the Marvel heroes scrambling for a way to defeat Knull. Many of the Avengers and X-Men have been absorbed into Knull's symbiote army. The few remaining leaders reconnoitered at the home base of the Fantastic Four, weighing their options. They came to realize that they would have to enlist the aid of their worst enemies to stand a chance against Knull.
Namor, the king of Atlantis, barged in on the meeting and criticized how the land-dwellers have handled their battle against the darkness. He reminded them that his people have been "fighting in the freezing dark for millions of years." While the other good guys sought out the help of Dracula and the Kingpin, Namor dove to the depths of the Mariana Trench looking for a mysterious force called The Black Tide. As Namor swam down, he spoke over an intercom with Tony Stark, telling him that once the forces of The Black Tide are unleashed it is going to be "hell to banish them again." This dangerous wild card seems to be "the old great ones" and the horrific Cthulhu.
Issue two of King in Black: Namor details an ancient evil that once lived in the ocean depths. The old great ones were horrors from outer-space with near god-like powers. The legend said that "they enslaved the deeps for cold aeons of pain, of blood magic and insanity." These monsters built vast cities, such as the one named R'lyeh.
Many of H.P. Lovecraft's stories center on similar legends. In his novels, terrifying aliens landed on Earth before man-kind rose to dominance. Their presence still persists in certain areas of the world, such as in the depth of the ocean, polar ice fields and in old religious cults. The beings did not really die, they call to those who are sensitive to their magic, trying to draw power to them.
One of the most infamous of these beings is named Cthulhu. It is said that anyone who beholds his terrible form will have their sanity destroyed. Cthulhu is a giant who is vaguely human-shaped but with claws and a scaly body. His head is like a giant octopus with a face that seemed to be a mass of tentacles. Giant leathery wings protrude from his back, meaning that this nightmare can also fly.
"The Call of Cthulhu" claimed that Cthulhu's lost city of R'lyeh was in the Pacific Ocean, possibly near New Zealand. The Mariana Trench, where Namor was swimming, is located off of Asia but in the same general region of the ocean. It is the deepest part of the ocean where humans can only guess as to what lays in the icy darkness.
The Atlantians fought against these aliens, either killing them or imprisoning them in a magical rock called the Unforgotten Stone where they lived in a shadowy void. The stone was so full of evil that it had a mind of its own, disappearing or moving without help. It appears that this stone may be what Namor is seeking.
Lovecraft said that Cthulhu waited, dreaming in his house at R'lyeh, and Namor looks to awaken him and the other dark forces. This would lead to Cthulhu facing off against Knull for the fate of the planet, pitting ancient space creatures against each other. Yet even if the old great ones are victorious against the symbiote king, a different horror would be unleashed. Hopefully, the heroes are prepared for the aftermath.