Although Venom believes his son Dylan is the key to defeating Knull, an unlikely source could prove to be the deciding factor of “King in Black.”
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Venom #30 by Donny Cates, Luke Ross, Jesus Aburtov and VC’s Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
When Codex, an alternate form of Dylan Brock was first introduced, it was obvious that he had deep ties to Knull, with even his appearance mirroring the King in Black. But following his defeat and redemption in Venom #30, it may be possible that Codex is more than just a warning of what the main universe’s Dylan Brock could become if he isn’t careful. Codex may actually be the key to defeating Knull once and for all.
Codex’s mother Annie recounted how, when he began his conquest of Earth-1051, he bonded with symbiotes like any other host. But over time his powers evolved from merely hosting symbiotes to controlling and destroying them with his mind, turning him into a hivemind entity. This was attributed to his connection to Knull from a young age, but unlike the main universe’s Dylan Brock, Codex’s family was unable to free him from Knull’s control. Since then he has been a slave to Knull’s influence, but Venom revealed that Codex may not actually understand the true nature of his powers.
While examining the interdimensional intruders, Codex became vaguely aware of Knull’s presence, sensing that his power was growing and that he was coming to Earth, just not Codex’s Earth. This reveals that while Codex does have a connection to Knull, it is one that spans across dimensions, hinting that Knull is an entity that occupies one reality, but has pawns in several others. But Codex’s lack of knowledge regarding the origins of his new powers indicates that he doesn’t entirely understand why he took over the world in the first place.
Before he could further explore these strange visions of a dark god he was attacked by his father and mother. Eager for a fight, Codex tried to battle Venom one on one. But Eddie Brock had no intention of fighting his son, deciding to use all that he had learned about the symbiotes to save him. Restraining Codex, he had Dylan merge his memories with Codex’s, creating a shared foundation of love for Codex to finally free him from Knull’s control. With Codex free of his influence, the other symbiotes that infected the world left their hosts.