The Moment Everything Changed: Venom #250
Hela declared herself the Queen in Black in Venom #250, a milestone issue by writers Al Ewing and Charles Soule and artists Terry Dodson, Carlos Gomez, and Todd Nauck, with Knull resurfacing as a helpless prisoner of the Asgardian goddess. It was a genuinely stunning turn. Knull, the god who once made the Avengers, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four look small, reduced to a captive in a cage.
The announcement of this development came during a packed “Spider-Man and His Venomous Friends” panel at NYCC 2025, previewing a major summer 2026 event. It arrived on the heels of the Death Spiral crossover that would rock the worlds of Spider-Man and Venom starting in early 2026. The seeds were planted deliberately, quietly, across multiple series before the full picture came into view.
Who Is Knull, and Why Does His Throne Matter?
Knull is depicted as an evil deity who created the weapon known as All-Black the Necrosword and the alien races known as the Klyntar (Symbiotes) and Exolons, reigning over them as the King in Black. His history stretches back before the Marvel universe itself existed.
Knull is an entity older than time, created after the destruction of the sixth iteration of the cosmos. When the Celestials created the seventh iteration, they offered him the title of “King in Black,” tasked with watching over their new creations. However, when the Light of Creation came through, it devoured his kingdom of Eldritch Darkness, and Knull rebelled. From that act of rebellion, the entire symbiote race was born.
When Knull attacked Earth in 2020’s King in Black crossover event, it took Venom, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men together to defeat him. It was Venom who gave Knull the killing blow, becoming the new King of the Symbiotes as a result. The throne Hela now sits on is the same one that once required all of Earth’s heroes to pry away from its original owner.
How Hela Seized the Symbiote Throne
Preview art for Knull #1 shows a weakened Knull trapped in a cage, dangling in Hela’s throne room. As his Asgardian captor goads and approaches him, Knull recoils as Hela prepares to strike. The image is deliberately unsettling. This is not a villain we’ve seen humiliated before.
With her magics, the Queen in Black claims the King in Black’s power for herself and sets her sights on his throne. By seizing the Onyx Throne, Hela merged Asgardian death magic with the primordial darkness of the hive mind, creating a “Hel on Earth” scenario that threatens both the living and the dead. The fusion of two mythological power systems into one is exactly the kind of escalation that changes the rules.
The Thor Connection: Why Hela Moved Now
The ongoing Thor (2025) plotline, where Thor is dead and Midgard has forgotten that the Norse Gods ever walked the Earth outside of the myths, gave Hela a golden opportunity to take the realm of Midgard for herself. She went all in by stealing the power of the returned Knull, King in Black, which collides directly with Venom (2025). Timing, as always, is everything in politics, cosmic or otherwise.
According to writer Al Ewing, this event serves as a leveling up for Hela, pitting her classic 1960s villainy against the modern cosmic horror of Knull. The contrast is intentional. Hela is one of Marvel’s oldest heavies, and placing her against Knull, a villain created only in 2018, creates a fascinating collision of eras. Old mythology meets new mythology, and the older one wins.
Knull’s Response: Claiming the Lightforce
The King in Black was set to escape and reclaim his throne in Knull (2026), a five-issue limited series written by Al Ewing and Tom Waltz and drawn by Juanan Ramirez. Defeat, for Knull, has always been temporary. His history with Thor, the Silver Surfer, and Eddie Brock taught him that.
Hela has taken Knull’s throne and now commands an army of symbiotes as the Queen in Black. At the same time, Knull has claimed the Lightforce Dimension and returns as the God of the Void, wielding new power. With both forces on a collision course, Earth becomes the battleground. A god of darkness seizing dominion over light is a conceptual twist that changes everything we thought we knew about his nature.
Preview art shown at NYCC even depicted Knull killing Celestials, proving that he’s as dangerous as ever. He may have lost his throne, but he hasn’t lost his appetite for destruction.
The Queen in Black Event: Scale and Structure
Queen in Black is a new crossover event spinning out of Al Ewing and Carlos Gómez’s Venom run and the Knull limited series by Ewing, Tom Waltz, and Juanan Ramírez, with the story unfolding across a five-issue main series by Ewing and Iban Coello, supported by a range of tie-in series and one-shots. The event launches July 1, 2026, with Queen in Black #1.
Essential event tie-ins include Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark, a limited series following two groups of heroes assembled by Iron Man and Beta Ray Bill; Queen in Black: Hela and Queen in Black: Thor, dual one-shots centered around Asgard; Queen in Black: Venom Unchained, starring Eddie Brock escaping prison; and upcoming issues of Venom covering key developments for Venom, Dylan Brock, and Mary Jane. It’s a full ecosystem of interconnected stories, not just a single main event.
Mary Jane Watson as Venom: A New Dynamic Under Pressure
Eddie Brock lost control of the Venom symbiote at the end of 2024’s crossover Venom War, resulting in Mary Jane Watson becoming its new host. That shift placed MJ at the center of the most consequential symbiote story in years, with no time to settle in before Hela arrives.
Ahead of Queen in Black’s official announcement, Marvel revealed key developments for the event, including an all-new costume for Mary Jane Watson, cementing her bond with the Venom symbiote. Spinning out of Peter, MJ, and Venom’s confrontation in Venom #258, Mary Jane’s new costume debuts in Venom #259. In the aftermath of Death Spiral, Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker face some unfinished business. The timing makes her arc one of the most emotionally loaded threads in the entire event.
Eddie Brock Behind Bars: Queen in Black: Venom Unchained
In Venom #256, Carnage abandoned Eddie Brock in favor of a new host during the Death Spiral crossover. Eddie finds himself behind bars after his failed bond with Carnage, just as the Queen in Black’s threat closes in. He wants to return to Venom, but without a symbiote, escape will not come easy. It’s a brutal situation for a character who has already been through so much.
Marvel revealed Queen in Black: Venom Unchained, a three-issue tie-in that tracks Eddie’s journey from prison to the frontlines. The series is written by Charles Soule, who previously explored Eddie’s time as Carnage, with art by Juanan Ramírez. While Queen in Black would presumably see him become Venom once more, the press release hints that he will “perhaps find a new symbiote to claim.”
Dylan Brock and the Dark Future Already Set in Motion
Months ago, Dylan Brock was killed by Carnage and granted an audience with the Eventuality, the ultimate iteration of his father. He asked five questions and was given five answers, a hint of a dark future waiting for him. Now that future is here. Dylan’s arc has been building toward something heavy, and Queen in Black appears to be its arrival point.
Dylan Brock was killed by Carnage and granted an audience with the Eventuality, the ultimate iteration of his father. He asked five questions and was given five answers, hints at a dark future waiting for him. The Eventuality, Eddie’s most powerful future self, has already handed Dylan the roadmap. Whether Dylan follows it or fights it is one of the event’s most compelling open questions.
What the Queen in Black Means for the Future of the Venom Mythology
Queen in Black spins directly out of Al Ewing’s acclaimed work on Venom (2025) as well as the Knull (2026) limited series, where Hela’s seizure of Knull’s throne forces the God of the Void to claim a new power. Their conflict erupts across the cosmos, coming to a head on Earth where Marvel’s heroes stand in the way of the world being torn asunder by the forces of Light and Dark.
After Knull’s defeat in the 2020 King in Black event, Eddie Brock had ascended to the throne, but recent developments saw the Asgardian Goddess of Death, Hela, capitalize on the power vacuum. The Venom lineage, from Knull to Eddie to Mary Jane, has never been so fractured or so fascinating. Three different people and one ancient god have all held a version of this power, and now a Norse death goddess is rewriting the rules for all of them.
Beyond Spider-Man, Ewing has confirmed some significant roles for Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wolverine, and various other Avengers. Cloak and Dagger fans in particular will want to check out Defenders of Light and Dark, which contains major beats for those characters. The Queen in Black isn’t just a Venom story anymore. It’s shaping up to be the defining Marvel cosmic event of 2026.
What started as Knull’s ancient war against the light has turned into something far stranger: a goddess with a death wish sitting on a symbiote throne, a god of darkness wielding light as a weapon, and the Brock family caught somewhere in the wreckage. The mythology keeps expanding, and the further it goes, the harder it becomes to predict where the throne ends up next.