WARNING: The following contains spoilers for King in Black #1 by Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, Frank Martin and VC's Clayton Cowles.

For the past year, the evil god of the symbiotes Knull has been making his way to Earth alongside his army of symbiote dragons. Thankfully, the heroes of the Marvel Universe have known about the coming of this threat for some time now thanks to Eddie Brock. After the dark god was awakened in the Absolute Carnage crossover, Eddie warned the Avengers of Knull's coming, which gave Earth's Mightiest Heroes ample time to prepare for the arrival of the cosmic villain.

Now, in King in Black #1, Knull's attack on the planet begins, and the Avengers put their multi-layered plan to stop him into motion. There's just one problem: Knull blasts through all of their defenses with great ease. And when the heroes unleash Marvel's most powerful Avenger, the Sentry, Knull completely obliterates him without even breaking a sweat.

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An image of King in Black Sentry.

As soon as Knull's army arrives in the vicinity of Earth, the Avengers start to fight back. The Skrull/Kree armada that was left in orbit after the Empyre crossover is transformed into a minefield, but that doesn't even slow the army down. Next, a team of Avengers whose abilities are known to weaken symbiotes fight on the ground, while another team takes to the skies. Then, it's up to Eddie Brock to try and sever the connection between Knull and his army.

When all of this fails, and when Knull reveals his second wave -- a legion of symbiote-covered Celestials -- the Avengers then unleash their most powerful asset: the Sentry.

The Sentry, Robert Reynolds, is effectively Marvel's answer to Superman. He is a super-powered being who is indestructible, who flies and has the literal power of a million exploding suns. While he is a respected and honorable superhero, the Sentry also has a dark side inside him called the Void that has been at the heart of many of his stories. This Void is a dark entity that can corrupt the Sentry, and Robert constantly fights to keep it in check. Since the Void got the better of him in last year's Annihilation: Scourge crossover, the Sentry has been primarily stationed in the Negative Zone, keeping an eye on the untamed dimension.

Given his incredible might, it makes sense that the Avengers would consider Bob Reynolds their best bet against Knull and call him back to Earth. When given the order, the Sentry obeys and flies into battle, blasting right through the head of one of Knull's symbiote Celestials. Knull is momentarily surprised by this development, and he's blindsided when the Sentry grabs hold of him and starts flying out of the atmosphere.

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King in Black Sentry

However, Knull quickly proves his superiority. He grabs Bob by the throat, and he introduces himself by literally ripping the superhero in half, killing the hero who once did the same thing to Carnage. With the Sentry dead, the Void is set free, but not for long. Knull is the god of darkness, the literal and titular King in Black. Since the Void is also a creature of darkness, the god of the symbiotes absorbs it into himself, describing himself as "the one true void."

Despite "the power of a million exploding suns," the Sentry barely had the chance to put up a fight, and Knull killed him without even trying and he even claimed the Void for himself. This is undoubtedly a huge loss for the Avengers, considering they were likely hoping the Sentry would be a counter to Knull. But now, the heroes have to reconcile with the loss of one of their own, just as they realize the real might of the god of the symbiotes.

The Sentry has die before, and he was later resurrected, which means there's always a chance he will come back. But with the Void gone, that cycle may now change. The Sentry may be truly dead, or he may return as something else entirely. But if the damage of Knull's first attack is any indication, there might not be a Marvel Universe for the Sentry to come back to.

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