WARNING: The following contains spoilers for King in Black #3, by Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, Frank Martin, and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
In Marvel's King in Black crossover, the symbiote god Knull has been completely dominating Earth's Mightiest Heroes since his arrival. From tearing Sentry in half to turning the likes of the X-Men and Captain America into part of his symbiotic army. There was little hope on the horizon as everyone else was forced to hide underground and wait for a miracle.
However, that miracle seemingly showed up in King in Black #3 as Thor entered the fight and went directly for Knull's head. And even though Thor didn't repeat the mistake he made while fighting Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, he still didn't win his battle.
Thor made his entrance by slamming a bolt of lightning through Knull's hand. The two titans started trading heavy blows shortly after, with each one landing vicious blows on the other. Thor and Knull couldn't' help but talk trash while exchanging blows. Knull and Thor may both be gods, but they don't respect each other as such. Knull calls Thor a "little god,' before pronouncing himself God of the Void and King of the Abyss. Thor responds with a simple "good for you" and proceeds to smash Knull's jaw completely off his face with a lighting-charged Mjolnir.
At the end of Infinity War, the MCU's Thor was broken after Thanos told him that he should've gone for a lethal headshot instead of driving Stormbreaker into his chest. While that was the cause of considerable consternation for Thor, this logic ultimately proved fallible against Knull. Thor broke Knull's jaw clean off his head, and the symbiote god shook it off like it was a slap to the face.
While Thor delivers the heaviest and bloodiest blow to Knull in some time, it doesn't matter at all. The headshot may have brought Knull to his knees, but his symbiote starts reforming his jaw almost immediately after it's shattered. Knull declares the Earth will burn and summons the rest of his symbiotic celestials to take Thor down. While Thor is distracted by the Celestials descending from Earth's atmosphere, Knull gets his revenge and drives a blade through Thor's chest.
The short-but-epic battle between Thor and Knull underscores just how powerful each of these gods is. Until Thor showed up, Earth's Mightiest Heroes didn't even get close enough to put a scratch on Knull. But it only took Thor a few moments to land a devastating blow to Knull. Still. Knull took Thor's best shot and stood right back up. This shows how bad this situation is for Earth. For the first two issues, it felt like everyone was just waiting for Thor to show up and save the day, but even the God of Thunder didn't bring enough firepower with him.
With each issue, Knull tightens his grip around Earth, and every grand plan that Iron Man has come up with so far has fallen short. Every time the so-called calvary arrives, Knull snuffs it out and barely has to raise a finger to do so. Each encounter with Knull only seems to make things worse for Earth. Now, only time will tell if the arrival of the Silver Surfer can truly turn the tides, even if Thor got handled by Knull fairly easily.
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