Knull has brought the Marvel Universe to its knees over the course of King in Black. His pale iron grip isn't just tight around our world, but also the steely blade of living darkness known as All-Black the Necrosword.
This twisted weapon is more than an instrument of conventional destruction, it also happens to be the very first symbiote. Born of Knull's own first shadow in order to strike down a mighty Celestial, All-Black has a history almost as long as its maker and has changed hands more than a few times.
Before all other things, the Marvel Universe was an endless void. In that void, Knull drifted along aimlessly in a state of absolute peace. Then came the Celestials, and with them the light of creation itself. This disturbed Knull's slumber, driving him into a bloodthirsty rage. Upon seeing his newly cast shadow, Knull reached into it and pulled out All-Black. With his new blade in hand, Knull decapitated the Celestial whose head became Knowhere. The Celestial's head became Knull's first sanctum, acting as a forge where he could hone his craft of giving form to the living darkness.
As Knull's campaign of deicide continued, the souls of those slain by All-Black found themselves trapped within the lost corpse of Knowhere, creating a cycle wherein the sword and slain Celestial would feed on one another. When Knull fell in battle the first time, All-Black didn't let that stop the carnage it had grown so accustomed to and sought out a new host.
Born on an unnamed planet, constantly on the edge of starvation, and raised with an unyielding faith in the gods who never seemed to hear anyone's prayers, Gorr was the next in line to wield All-Black. First Gorr lost his parents, then some of his children, then his wife, and soon enough he was the only one left. Gorr's last prayer was for an end to his suffering, but once again there was no god to answer him. Suddenly, Knull crashed down onto Gorr's desolate world, along with a shining god in gilded armor.
Knull had been defeated, but the alien god still had a chance to survive if only someone would help. Unfortunately, the god's own prayers fell on the ears of the one person least sympathetic to them. Taking up the fallen Knull's blade as his own, Gorr murdered the golden god in what would become the first in a long line of deaths during his own deicidal crusade.
One of the many gods that Gorr would come face to face with during his time as the God Butcher was none other than the Mighty Thor himself. When they first encountered one another in the late ninth century, Gorr captured and tortured Thor for days on end before the God of Thunder's followers could free him. Their help bought him some time, but it wasn't enough to prevent Gorr's minions from capturing him once again. This time, Thor was dragged into a faraway future where Gorr had made All-Black into a citadel prison for enslaved gods.
Thor's far future self remained free to fight the God Butcher, who had spent his time creating a weapon capable of eradicating all gods throughout space and time. A third Thor from the Avengers era who had also been brought to this future was able to stop the Godbomb from being set off by bonding with All-Black and finally revealing its true name.
The Thor of the far future found himself face to face with All-Black once more after Gorr's defeat. Once his past selves had been returned to their correct points in time, the elder Thor began making regular visits to the now lifeless Earth to mourn all that had been lost. When Galactus arrived intent on devouring the planet's remains, he easily tossed the God of Thunder aside.
Unwilling to let go of his past, Thor retrieved and bonded to All-Black in the hopes that it would give him the edge he needed to stop the Devourer of Worlds. This proved to be true even if Odin was beaten to a pulp while corrupted by the Necrosword. Thor's blood on the soil gave birth to new life on the planet, while All-Black was believed to have been destroyed in battle.
When he was defeated by Thor, Galactus was given an opportunity to leave and consume Mars instead of Earth. The Devourer of Worlds took the offer, but during the process, All-Black manifested itself from within him, and the Butcher of Worlds was born. This new, corrupted Galactus wrought terror throughout the Marvel Universe, destroying and devouring countless worlds before finally coming across the one meal he couldn't stomach.
During Galactus' ravenous rampage throughout the universe, the Butcher of Worlds consumed two worlds which were the unfortunate grandchildren of Ego the Living Planet. These atrocities would not go unpunished, and so Ego sought out Galactus for revenge. During their battle, Galactus impaled Ego through the mouth, nearly killing him before the Living Planet took the opportunity to bite down hard on his enemy's arm. This act led to Ego bonding with All-Black himself, giving rise to the Necroworld. In his new form, Ego devoured Galactus before doing the same to anyone and everyone who could not challenge him. As has been the case up until now, there is always one, and Ego found his soon enough.
The Loki of this twisted future had lived through it all, and all of it had ruined him. Between being stalked and tormented by an older version of himself and witnessing the destruction of the universe itself, this Loki was set on attaining ownership of All-Black as soon as his timeline was restored. Loki took the form of a worm, small enough that Ego would never find the little thing whispering madness into his ears.
After nearly a hundred years of constant chattering, Ego relinquished All-Black to the God of Lies and was immediately slain for his troubles. Loki the All-Butcher went on to hunt down his brother Thor and resurrect a deceased Gorr, the latter of which was his own undoing. Once more bonded to All-Black, Gorr bonded to the universe itself. Gorr was only stopped when Thor destroyed All-Black completely, after which Loki sacrificed himself to reignite the sun.
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