Gorr the God Butcher vs. Knull, King of Symbiotes: Who Would Win?

Marvel Comics has, indeed, given us a plethora of intriguing characters over the years. Most of them have been heroes, but Marvel has also created and published some pretty iconic supervillains, two of which are going to be the topic of this comparison. The first one is Gorr, the God Butcher and one of Thor’s most dangerous foes; the other one is Knull, the King of Symbiotes. In this comparison, we are going to tell you who would win in a fight – Gorr the God Butcher or Knull, the King of Symbiotes!

In their strongest forms, Gorr would be able to defeat Knull. Knull would win against some of Gorr’s weaker forms, but in his End of Time form, Gorr would be able to win against Knull and with relative easy. Gorr’s full potential is absolutely amazing and since Knull is technically a deity, Gorr would certainly be able to gain the upper hand.

The rest of this article will further elaborate on the above-given answer, as we are going to compare Gorr and Knull in more detail. Through several categories, you are going to see who the stronger of the two is and why our answer is like it is, i.e., why Gorr the God Buther would ultimately defeat Knull, the King of Symbiotes, in a fight.

Strength

Gorr has a strength that is at least comparable to Thor’s, if not greater. He was able to best young Thor, current Thor, and Almighty Thor all at the same time, and has single-handedly defeated millions of gods in open combat, including one who supposedly “fought black holes for fun”. He is also capable of traversing planets and even stars effortlessly using the All Black.

Knull is strong enough to decapitate a Celestial with a single blow and single-handedly dealt with entire armies of gods, though it’s possible this immense strength was due at least in part to his wielding All-Black the Necrosword and more. later his armor-symbiote. Knull was able to easily manhandle the Silver Surfer, though after Norrin had drained most of the Power Cosmic from him.

The avatar that Knull created using the Grendel symbiote possessed only a fraction of his true power, but he was nonetheless able to easily defeat Venom despite Eddie Brock being simultaneously bonded to both the Venom and Tyrannosaurus symbiotes. Knull was able to easily overpower the Sentry, touted as one of Earth’s strongest heroes, and effortlessly snap him in half, and was also able to overpower Thor Odinson, who possessed the Power of the Allfather, with relative ease.

Since both of them actually managed to defeat Thor and have demonstrated to be stronger than the God of Thunder, we cannot really determine the layers of strength between them, which is why we are splitting the points in this category.

Points: Gorr 1, Knull 1

Durability

Gorr is extremely resistant to all manner of trauma and can survive either a massive bolt of lightning summoned by Thor or Father Thor’s Thor-Force blast, which propelled him several light-years away in a matter of seconds.

Knull is tough enough to survive attacks from the Celestials; and he was unharmed by a fall from space through a planet’s atmosphere while he was in combat with another deity, although he was rendered unconscious after being stabbed in the head. While Silver Surfer’s Power Cosmic was able to make Knull bleed and being blasted by Ego’s psionic bolts caused him pain, he was also not seriously injured.

Knull can also withstand immersion in stellar plasma without permanent damage, though this caused him severe pain. There are limits to this, as a full force blow from Mjolnir wielded by Almighty Father Thor was enough to rip Knull’s lower jaw off.

It seems that Gorr’s durability is somewhat better than Knull’s in comparison, which is why we have decided to award this point to Gorr.

Points: Gorr 2, Knull 1

Energy and matter manipulation

Gorr can use the living abyss that All-Black comprises to create a variety of constructs, such as wings, weapons, armor, and a cape; though All-Black’s preferred form is a sword. Gorr was also capable of creating semi-sentient offspring of All-Black, dubbed Black Berserkers, to do his bidding.

Knull possesses the ability to create, control and manipulate a source of supernatural darkness, a manifestation of the primordial void that existed before the universe itself, which he calls the “living abyss”. Knull was capable of conjuring fiery violet energy; wrapping himself and All-Black in an aura of it, firing it from his hands in a beam powerful enough to incapacitate the Silver Surfer, or firing it as anti-aircraft and homing shells from artillery constructs manifested from the Symbiote Throneworld.

The two are quite similar in this category, and they seem to have similar skills when it comes to energy and matter manipulation. This is why we have decided to split the points once more.

Points: Gorr 3, Knull 2

Weaknesses

Although All-Black is ostensibly vulnerable to heat and sonic vibrations, Gorr has endured immersion in lava and stellar plasma without injury. Gorr’s power relies entirely on his symbiote, which in turn relies on the blood of the gods for his power. The more gods the Necroblade or its constructs kill, the more power it can provide to its user; though this power must be replenished as it is depleted.

Despite his immense durability, Knull is particularly vulnerable to a force he refers to as “the Light”, which arose with the Big Bang and was first spread across the Abyss by the Celestials. “The Light” refers not only to the literal light of stars and other celestial objects, but to the various powers wielded by cosmic entities and deities, which when used offensively could cause him pain and even injure him; concepts such as honor, benevolence, compassion, and nobility, which disrupted his control over the symbiotes and caused them to turn against him; and life itself.

Knull attempted to destroy and corrupt the Light using his symbiote army, but his control over them was severed when the symbiote dragon he inhabited was attacked by Thor’s divine lightning. Centuries later, his avatar was temporarily destabilized by the totemic avatar Miles Morales’ bioelectric poison blast, and by sonic and energy grenades.

It doesn’t seem like either of the two could actually do something against the other in this aspect, which is why we think that it is necessary for us to simply split the points here as well.

Points: Gorr 4, Knull 3

Gorr vs Knull: Who would win?

And now for the most important and interesting section of our article – the analysis. Here, we are going to use what we have found out about these two characters and analyze how all these facts would (or would not) help them in a fight against each other. Let us continue.

The numbers have confirmed our suspicions and we can confirm that Gorr, in his most powerful form, would be able to defeat Knull. Why? Well, the two of them are very similar in terms of powers and abilities, but Gorr has two advantages. The first one is his experience with extremely tough opponents, as he was able to hold his own against two Thors, something that Knull was not able to do at any point.

The other thing is Gorr’s experience with butchering gods. Namely, Knull is a deity and he has the physiology of a deity. His being a god gives Gorr the advantage, because the God Butcher would certainly know how to approach Knull and outwit him in a battle. Since the Necrosword is not a symbiote that can be easily controlled, Knull wouldn’t really stand a chance against such a powerful iteration of Gorr in the very end.

Having said all of this, Gorr the God Butcher is the clear winner in this case and we have the numbers to prove it as well.