King in Black (2020)

[JTHM]

My problem with Knull is that he tries to be too much at once. A VENOM villain who is on a scale higher than the Celestials is overkill. So on one side you have this eldritch horror that is pretty much the same as Chaos King. And does anyone remember the Chaos King after Chaos War?

Cates has tried too hard to make Knull the most badass in the universe, with characters remarking "He's worse than Galactus" or killing Sentry effortlessly. But his motivations are simple. He wants to destroy everything because ... he is evil. Nothing else.

It's the "Generic Doomsday Villain" syndrome. He is practically unusable.

Sometimes it's fine to have a villain who is just a force of nature and out-and-about bad guy. This is the kind of villain that can carry this type of event after all. Sure, Knull in that sense is kind of simple, but I don't think he needs more. Any kind of elaborate motivation would just ruin the point of him being an elder god who is a jerk and wants everyone dead. There is no need for more depth than that in this particular case.

Besides that, I think he is fine. Sure, he is certainly powerful, but he was not created to be a villain Venom could beat by himself in an alley. He was meant specifically for an event like this, and if he comes back it will be in equally high stuff too. Nothing wrong with that either.

[ARkadelphia]

black bolt's voice is a trigger to activate the most extreme form of his electron field disruption, which he generally controls precisely by firing beams from his antenna and giving himself flight and super strength, it's not a loud sound, it's not a sonic attack like banshee, but it's obviously interpreted as such because it's an effect caused by black bolt talking, and because marvel does not know their own characters, nonsense like dazzler absorbing an electron shockwave because the writer thinks it's a sound and editors don't exist becomes commonplace, and you get stuff like cates thinking that slitting black bolt's throat shuts off his powers completely and that if he could slowly speak again, it would start by rupturing people's eardrums

Thank you so much for the detailed explanation!

[ARkadelphia]

His powers are not really sonic, even if it's triggered by his voice: it's particle manipulation. He can manipulate electron and anti-electron, and it's so powerful that he can destroys worlds or even fight Celestials and gods. His powers are difficult to control but they are maybe as powerful in raw power than "High gods" like Galactus, Celestials, Kronos...



I think you're being hard on Cates, in this case. Black Bolt's powers are so ill-defined that it's entirely possible that cutting his vocal cords would cut off his access to his powers. As for blowing up the eardrums, that could be a side effect of the electron manipulation. Anyway, it's not a big mistake, if it is...

Thank you as well

[useridgoeshere]

But he says it talking about "Send the X-Men". I understand that he means sending mutants to New York, not evacuating people to Krakoa.

In any case, each human needs a mutant by their side so that Krakoa (the island, not the nation) will let them pass, they cannot open the portals for humans to pass. So, to evacuate 500 people, you would need 500 mutants (Or that each mutant made several trips).

And that presumes that Krakoa the Mutant would even permit that. As Jean explained in the very first issue, Mutants have to ask Krakoa's permission to bring humans. Krakoa isn't an island. It's a sentient being that can decide what it wants to do with its body.

[Ferro]

Mutants have finaly said "It's above me now" and im so happy for them, you go ! <3

[Riv86672]

Another example of bad writing/mutants acting in villainous ways.

[Ferro]

Another example of bad writing/mutants acting in villainous ways.

Not really, just smart and pragmatic, idiotic heroism costed them 2 omega mutants already

[ARkadelphia]

Another example of bad writing/mutants acting in villainous ways.

No, that’s good writing

[Kurolegacy]

Mutants have finaly said "It's above me now" and im so happy for them, you go ! <3

So you’re happy for them being stupid in this scenario then? There is no “It’s above me” in this situation. Knull’s goal is the destruction of everything, not just Earth. Blade was right in his calling out Xavier and Magneto; in this situation, there is no mutants and humans, it’s us vs him because if Knull isn’t stopped, everything ends. Hell, there are even street level heroes out there fighting and they have nowhere near the X-Men’s force. In fact, it’s kinda funny that you cheer on this being “It’s above us”, yet X of Swords, another case which would be the end of the world if they lost was right up their alley to take on alone despite it ending with all out war anyway.

[Tony Stark]

So you’re happy for them being stupid in this scenario then? There is no “It’s above me” in this situation. Knull’s goal is the destruction of everything, not just Earth. Blade was right in his calling out Xavier and Magneto; in this situation, there is no mutants and humans, it’s us vs him because if Knull isn’t stopped, everything ends. Hell, there are even street level heroes out there fighting and they have nowhere near the X-Men’s force. In fact, it’s kinda funny that you cheer on this being “It’s above us”, yet X of Swords, another case which would be the end of the world if they lost was right up their alley to take on alone despite it ending with all out war anyway.

Quoted for absolute truth!! This is an all hands on deck situation.

[PlatinumThorns]

I'm bored so I'd thought I'd point this out. I'm sure a lot of you are aware that Hulk was shown on the cover of King in Black #1; there was a podcast a couples months or so ago Donny Cates was apart of where he hinted Hulk's involvement in the event that was something like him being amongst the last line of defense and he would've battled Knull directly. This part was snuffed out due to the current events/storyline in Al Ewing's Immortal Hulk. Obviously this could be changed in later issues of the King in Black event but I exspect something even more minor than his cameo in Absolute Carnage.

Just something interesting I noticed, Cates' is usually the one who changes other comic runs to suit his main gig.

[Ferro]

So you’re happy for them being stupid in this scenario then? There is no “It’s above me” in this situation. Knull’s goal is the destruction of everything, not just Earth. Blade was right in his calling out Xavier and Magneto; in this situation, there is no mutants and humans, it’s us vs him because if Knull isn’t stopped, everything ends. Hell, there are even street level heroes out there fighting and they have nowhere near the X-Men’s force. In fact, it’s kinda funny that you cheer on this being “It’s above us”, yet X of Swords, another case which would be the end of the world if they lost was right up their alley to take on alone despite it ending with all out war anyway.

the x-men won that war tho, pretty sucessfully too, arakko homecoming next wendsday <3!
give it up to Arakko <3 #stanapocalypse #stangenesis #mutantsdoitbetta #captainbetsyforthewin #Avalon'smutant


and mutants did help, but blade is asking for the leaders of a nation to put said nation on the burner just to give knull more firepower, it's above all a stupid plan and the gates arent made for mass evacuation of humans either.

[The_Last_Czarnian]

Dunno how true this is but I have seen it pop up on one or two sites:

"The Sentry not being in his dark form in King in Black #1 is a continuity error owing to Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman not having been aware of his fusion with the Void at the time the issue was written and illustrated, and Marvel's editorial department not correcting it prior to publication."

Sigh.

[nandes]

and mutants did help, but blade is asking for the leaders of a nation to put said nation on the burner just to give knull more firepower, it's above all a stupid plan and the gates arent made for mass evacuation of humans either.

Yeah the main thing that shows here is that Cates has no idea how the gates actually work. It's not a simple off and on thing, it's an actual piece of Krakoa, a living being

[Riv86672]

No, that’s good writing

I thought about it and, you’re right, in that it captures exactly what’s been wrong w. Hickman’s X-Men.

They’re no longer heroes.