Swedish Fans Are Laughing At Latest Marvel Villain’s Name
For superhero films, as with the comics they are based on, silly names are par for the course. That’s why most of us didn’t bat an eye at the trailer for Venom: The Last Dance revealing that the Big Bad is a god of symbiotes named Knull, a familiar Marvel comics villain. But the character’s name has fans in Sweden giggling for the silliest reason: over there, the word “knull” means “f***.”
Swedish People Can’t Take The Venom Villain Seriously
Knull is, of course, someone Marvel wants to be seen as a frightening villain…that’s a large part of why he was chosen to be the heavy in this third and final Venom movie. And he will almost certainly look scary in the character’s inevitable CGI slugfests with Tom Hardy’s lethal protector. But because Knull’s name means f*** in Sweden, many fans simply can’t take the villain seriously and took to the internet to crack some hilarious jokes at Marvel’s expense.
The Swedes Had Plenty Of Jokes
For example, one person wrote on Moviezine’s Facebook page “I need to watch it in a theater just to see everyone’s reactions when [Knull’s] name is mentioned,” arguing that seeing Marvel fans’ reactions “will be worth the money.” Another person made a vulgar joke in speculating what the character’s powers might be based on what his name translates to in Sweden. “Maybe his special power is to f*** his enemies to death.”
Another fan incredulously asked a good question: “They changed the name of Donald Duck… but we are keeping Knull?” He is referring to the fact that in Sweden, Disney’s iconic angry duck is known as Kalle Anka. Donald Duck is also insanely popular in that country, with a huge chunk of Sweden watching this character’s holiday special every Christmas Eve at 3:00 pm.
Step Aside, Morbius
One of our favorite gags about this villain came from a fan who suggested Knull’s name could become an ironic new catchphrase for Marvel’s writers. “IT’S KNULLING TIME,” he wrote, a reference to the frequently memed joke that the vampiric character Morbius should use “it’s Morbin’ time” as a catchphrase. Of course, Morbius was a major box office failure, so we don’t see Sony giving this new villain such a tongue-in-cheek phrase anytime soon.
Why Didn’t They Change His Name?
Beyond the jokes about Knull, some fans settled for openly asking why the heck Marvel didn’t do their homework before deciding to release this particular trailer in Sweden. “Why didn’t the comic book creators google the name first,” one fan asked before potentially answering his own question. “Or maybe they didn’t care?”
It’s worth pointing out that the actual creators of the characters likely weren’t thinking specifically about Swedish audiences at the time. Knull was created by Marvel veterans Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman, and the character made his first appearance back in 2013.
The two scribes were writing for a predominately American audience and would have had no way of knowing their creation would be headlining a Venom film over a decade later, to the amused delight of Swedish fans everywhere.
Knull Makes His On Screen Debut This October
Will Knull be a fearsome enough Marvel villain to make us stop giggling at his name, or will this naughty translation be the best thing about an otherwise middle-of-the-road Sony superhero film? We won’t know until Venom: The Last Dance hits theaters on October 25. Here’s hoping that the studio has a tasty treat for us and won’t be handing audiences a nasty trick right before Halloween.
Source: Moviezine
