WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Venom #28, by Donny Cates, Juan Gedeon, Jesus Aburtov and VC's Clayton Cowles, available now.
Ever since the start of Donny Cates' run on Venom, Eddie Brock has learned about the insidious legacy of Knull, the dark god of the symbiotes. Knull's influence was felt constantly during last year's crossover event Absolute Carnage by Cates and Ryan Stegman, with the dark god awakening and setting his sights on Earth while the Silver Surfer encountered the deity at the dawn of time in last year's miniseries Silver Surfer: Black by Cates and Tradd Moore. And as Eddie and his young son Dylan find themselves on a twisted, alternate Earth, a shocking revelation could suggest Knull may be startlingly close to home.
The alternate world that Eddie and Dylan have arrived on has many of the Earth's familiar superheroes transformed into violent iterations of themselves after bonding to variations of the Venom symbiote. The mastermind behind the conquest of the heroes is revealed to be a villainous mastermind known as Codex. With a sinister mastery over the symbiotes, Codex has effectively taken over the world with only a brave resistance movement opposing him. Visually, the most immediately striking thing about Codex is how much he looks like Knull, complete with long, white hair, a pale complexion and pitch black armor around his torso. And as Codex learns from Virus that Eddie and Dylan are on his world, Codex drops the ultimate bombshell: He is this world's Dylan Brock.
Since arriving in Eddie's life, Dylan has shown his own deep connection to symbiotes, able to command them to his will, even at such a young age. This power what Dylan a target for both Carnage and Maker, the evil Reed Richards from the Ultimate Universe. While this ability is likely linked to Dylan being conceived after Eddie had bonded with the Venom symbiote, the revelation of Codex's true identity suggests that Dylan's powers could either have a strong connection to Knull or that the Dylan from this parallel world was able to use his powers to defeat Knull and claim the dark god's immense power for himself.
Whatever the link between Knull and Dylan/Codex, the alternate universe villain is determined to track down his Marvel Universe counterpart. Now with Virus revealed as Scorpion, upgraded and his service, Codex has the perfect servant to track down Eddie and Dylan as they go deeper into hiding with the resistance led by Agent Venom. And with Agent Venom revealed to be Eddie's wife and Dylan's mother Anne Weying, the inevitable showdown is quickly shaping up to be a family affair for the Brocks as they know best: Full of fire and fury.
It was assumed all along that Knull was coming to Earth for Eddie Brock, after he had gained the accumulated power of the symbiotes that Carnage had recovered during Absolute Carnage. However, it appears that maybe Knull's true target is actually Dylan and his innate ability to control symbiotes. This December's King in Black crossover event will finally have Knull make landfall, with the Marvel Universe scrambling to stop the god from plunge their world into eternal darkness. And as Knull approaches, Dylan Brock could be the one to save the entire universe from Knull's clutches...or rise up to become the latest God of the Symbiotes and damn all of creation. Either way, one thing is certain: God is coming.