Venom: The Last Dance trailer shocked fans with the reveal that the character of Knull, known as the King in Black and also the god of the Symbiotes, would appear in the third Tom Hardy Venom movie. Two people who were also surprised to see Knull in the trailer are Knulls’ creators, Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman. The duo only found out when the trailer hit, and they all but confirmed that they had not been properly compensated for their creation’s inclusion in the film.
Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman took to X, formerly Twitter, to comment on Knull’s inclusion in the Venom: The Last Dance trailer. Stegman made a clear jab at Marvel for not paying him with a joke about how he will “finally be able to afford that lazy river moat around” his house.
Meanwhile, Cates was more direct, responding with a simple “lol” and a picture of the word “Money” done up in the Venom movie font, all but spelling out that Marvel and Sony didn’t properly compensate him for his character being part of Venom: The Last Dance.
Knull was first introduced in Venom Vol. 4 #3 back in August 2018, retconned to be a previously unnamed character from Jason Aaron’s Thor: God of Thunder run in 2013. See the creators’ original post below:
Marvel’s Past Treatment of Comic Creators Has Not Been Kind
Despite Marvel movies generally being big money makers at the box office, the comic publisher has often been accused of not properly compensating creators. Marvel’s typical excuse is that the artists and writers were paid as independent contractors on commission for the original creation, so they aren’t legally required to compensate the artists or writers since they own the creations.
While they will sometimes make a small payment, it’s become hard to ignore how little the creators of these iconic characters who star in multi-million dollar blockbusters are often rewarded. It is up to individual publishers and their contract terms to decide whether someone will receive money when a character is adapted into other media, but there are plenty of stories of creators calling out Marvel’s poor compensation program.
Ed Brubaker, one of the most influential writers in the history of Captain America comics, took the character of Bucky Barnes and made him into the Winter Soldier, a character Marvel Studios has made into a pop culture icon with lead roles in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and the upcoming Thunderbolts*. However, Brubaker has often been denied any creative credit over The Winter Soldier, getting only a “Thank You” credit in Captain America: The Winter Soldier because Marvel claims that the original character, Bucky Barnes, is not Brubaker’s creation and The Winter Soldier is an addition to a pre-existing Marvel hero. Brubaker received more money from residuals for his brief cameo role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier than he has for creating The Winter Soldier himself.
This is far from the only time a creator has spoken about Marvel Comics’ poor compensation. In 2017, Jim Starlin confirmed he got paid more by DC and Warner Bros. for the character of KGBeast appearing as a henchman in Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice than he did by Marvel and Disney for creations like Thanos, Gamora, and Drax being in Guardians of the Galaxy. Despite America Chavez being a main character in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, a movie that grossed $955 million at the worldwide box office, her co-creator Joe Casey described what Marvel offered him as a “pittance” and said:
“For me, it’s not about money. It’s not even about the respect. I would never expect to be respected by a corporation. If I’m in a position where I can afford not to take their insult of an offer, and be able to talk about it, maybe the next guy — where that kind of money could change their life — would get a fair shot of receiving that money. I’m a happy guy. I’m not disgruntled. I’m not bitter. Because I know this is how this goes. I also know, this is how you change things, by talking about it.”
Venom: The Last Dance
opens in theaters on October 25, 2024.