In the latest issue of Savage Avengers, one of the team gains a new power that may have the ability to halt Knull’s symbiote army.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Savage Avengers #18 by Gerry Duggan, Kev Walker, Java Tartaglia, and VC’s Travis Lanham, on sale now.
Marvel’s King in Black has seen the world overrun with Knull’s living darkness, primarily taking the form of massive symbiote dragons. Nowhere has been safe from the horrors that have been brought upon the Earth, not even prison, as Conan and Deadpool have just discovered. Of course, this isn’t the first time that Conan has come into contact with symbiotes, since he wielded a symbiote sword earlier in the series.
And in Savage Avengers #18, Conan’s symbiote makes it clear that they remember him and wants to get the old team back together. Teaming up with the most ancient evil in existence might sound like a bad idea on the surface, but it’s given Conan the edge that literally every other hero wishes they had right now.
After their gruesome escape from inside of Ryker’s Island Penitentiary, Conan, Deadpool, and the Night Flyer are all confronted with the horror show that has become the outside world. Symbiote dragons rain down from above, and Conan is caught within the maw of the living darkness. Part of the symbiote reaches out to Conan, reminding him of their time together in the Savage Land fighting against the evil sorcerer Kulan Gath. They both suffered at the evil sorcerer’s hand, and they both want to put an end to him once and for all. The symbiote offers Conan a chance to come together once more, promising to go their separate ways when the deed is done. Wary but willing, the Cimmerian agrees to the terms, and he emerges from within the belly of the beast stronger than ever before.
Conan tears his way free from the symbiote mass wielding his own blade of living darkness, much to the delight of his impromptu teammates. Two symbiote dragons tower over the group ready to strike, but Conan lifts his hand to them and orders them back. He tells the creatures that they don’t want to fight, but if they insist, then he will surely kill them both.
Through gritted teeth, the dragons hiss back at the Cimmerian before taking to the skies and flying away without objection. Deadpool points out that Conan’s new sword seems to give him some control over the dragons before the three continue on, but he doesn’t understand just how incredible what happened here really is.
Knull’s symbiote dragons have been at the front and center of King in Black since it even began, and for just as long, they’ve been one of the scariest parts of the entire story. Dragons might be most commonly associated with high fantasy, but Marvel’s dark god has reshaped them into beings of pure horror, ones that are responsible for some of the most gruesome deaths the Marvel Universe has ever seen. The dragons are also the source of the dome that has encompassed the entire globe.
While heroes such as Iron Man and Flash Thompson have already proven that it’s possible to bend the symbiote dragons to someone else’s will, no one else has simply commanded them without putting up a serious fight. Conan certainly isn’t anyone’s first pick for taking down Knull, but from the way things look, he might be on the short list of people who can get to him without dying along the way.
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