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Knull (character)

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Not to be confused withKull of AtlantisorNull the Living Darkness.
Knull
Knull, as featuring in the variant cover fromVenom (Vol. 4) #5 (Aug 22, 2018)
Art bySkan Srisuwan
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThor: God of Thunder#6
(March 2013; identity unrevealed)
Venomvol. 4 #3
(August 2018; full appearance)
Created byDonny Cates
Ryan Stegman
In-story information
SpeciesElder God[1]
Place of originPrimordial void
Team affiliationsSymbiote Imperium
Notable aliasesGod of the Symbiotes
Lord of the Abyss
God-Host
Grendel (avatar)
Exolon God
King in Black
Abilities
  • Superhuman strength, speed, and durability
  • Constituent-Matter generation and manipulation
  • Dark energy manipulation
  • Supreme umbrakinesis
  • Symbiote domination
  • Symbiote creation
  • Healing factor
  • Shapeshifting
  • Immortality
  • Flight
  • Skilled hand-to-hand combatant

Knullis afictionalsupervillainappearing inAmerican comic bookspublished byMarvel Comics,commonly in association withVenomandCarnage.He was later retroactively established as an unseen enemy ofThorand theSilver Surfer,as he was behindGorr the God Butcher's mission to hunt down and kill various deities, in addition to having come into conflict with the Silver Surfer via a temporalblack holethrough time. The character is depicted as an evil deity who created the weapon known asAll-Black the Necroswordand the alien races known as theKlyntar/Symbiotesand Exolons. The character would go on to play a more important role in theMarvel Universe.

Knull has been described as one of Marvel's most notable and powerful supervillains.[2][3][4][5][6]

Knull will make his cinematic debut in theSony's Spider-Man UniversefilmVenom: The Last Dance.The character was also loosely adapted as the Dark Shadow Lord in theMarvel Cinematic UniversefilmThor: Love and Thunder,portrayed by an uncredited extra. In the animated seriesSpider-Man,Knull is voiced byBen Pronsky.In the video gameMarvel's Spider-Man 2,Knull's character is merged with the game's Venom symbiote, voiced byTony Todd.

Publication history

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The character was first introduced inVenomvol. 4 #3 (Aug 2018), giving a nod to a nameless being appearing inThor: God of Thunder#6.[7]The character would be mentioned in various issues ofWeb of Venom,Guardians of the Galaxyand "War of the Realms".After that, Knull was the main antagonist inDonny Cates’Silver Surfer:Black#1.

Knull returned inKing in Blackas the main antagonist, which centers on his attack on Earth with his symbiote army.

Fictional character biography

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Origin

[edit]

Knull is a primordial deity that came into being following the destruction of the sixth iteration of the cosmos.[8]He was originally content to drift through "the endless void" until theCelestialsarrived and began creating the 7th iteration of cosmos – the Marvel Universe. The Celestials offered Knull the position of "King in Black," whose purpose was to look after the Celestials' creations,[9]but awakened by the "Light of Creation" and outraged by his kingdom of darkness being despoiled, Knull retaliated by creatingAll-Black the Necrosword– which he used to eliminate one of the Celestials.[10]Seeing this, the other Celestials banished Knull and the severed celestial head deeper into the Void. He then used the celestial head to forge thesymbioteand combined it with the cosmic energies of the head, which would eventually becomeKnowhere.[11]In doing so, he unintentionally gave the symbiotes their weaknesses to high sonic frequencies and fire. He created a symbiote armor and, with All-Black, started killing the other deities, until he crash-landed on an unnamed planet whereGorrtook All-Black from the incapacitated Knull.[12]

Knull eventually reawakened and discovered he could bond his living abyss to "lesser creatures" and control their new forms as vessels. He created an army of symbiotes with himself in the center of the hive mind and used them to spread across the universe, thus establishing the Symbiote Hive and killing the "light and creation" in the process. He continued killing gods, while also enslaving others. At some point, he was approached by the time-displacedSilver Surferwho had been weakened after Silver Surfer had created a little star to free a world from Knull's control. After a brief fight, Knull was able to bond a symbiote to Silver Surfer, but the latter was saved byEgo, the Living Planet.[13]When Knull reached Silver Surfer, he tried to defeat him and re-infect Silver Surfer with his abyss, but Silver Surfer, who had gathered the energy of the cosmos, created a star which was enough to defeat Knull.[14]

When one dragon-like symbiote arrived on medieval Earth to claim the planet as part of the Symbiote Hive, the youngThorarrived in aid of the Viking villagers and defeated the dragon, which the villagers called "Grendel",causing the connection between Knull and the symbiote hive mind to break. The symbiotes that were scattered over the universe, now free from Knull's control, began bonding to benevolent hosts and learning about theLight.The symbiotes rebelled against their god and trapped him inside an artificial planet formed of billions of symbiotes, which they called Klyntar — "cage" in their language.[10]

Meeting Eddie Brock

[edit]

After thousands of years,S.H.I.E.L.D.discovered the body of the Grendel and bonded the pieces of the dragon to soldiers to create Super-Soldiers to fight in theVietnam War.The procedure was dubbed theSym-Soldier program.This reawakened Knull, allowing him to take control of the Sym-soldiers who went rogue before being captured byNick FuryandLogan,except one piece, named Rex, which escaped Knull's control.[15]Years later,Eddie Brock(Venom) unknowingly freed the dragon and, after a battle against Eddie andSpider-Man,the dragon began searching for Rex to free Knull.[16]However, Venom merged with Rex and eventually trapped the Grendel in a blast furnace, incinerating it and Rex both.[17]Afterward, theMakerand Project Oversight retrieve the Grendel's codex from the furnace.[18]

Freed by Carnage

[edit]

InCarnage Born,afterScornjoined a cult worshiping Knull, they stole the Grendel's codex andCletus Kasady's deceased body, and after implanting the codex inside Cletus, theCarnagesymbiote's codex was absorbed by Grendel, causing Grendel to become god-like. After the contact with Knull, Cletus decided to free Knull by collecting every codex of every host who had at some point bonded to symbiotes to overload the symbiote hive mind and scatter the Klyntar.[19]After Cletus reunited withDoppelgangerandShriek,they reformed the cult dedicated to worshipping Knull. They then returned to Doverton, Colorado, where they got the codices from citizens and animals who were infected by Carnage duringCarnage USA.[20]

During "Absolute Carnage",as Carnage grew stronger, so did the connection between Knull and the symbiotes, as witnessed whenPhage,Agony,Lasher,RiotandScreamalso became corrupt.[21][22]Knull was finally reawakened after Dark Carnage tricked Eddie into killing him after claiming the remaining codices. Knull promptly destroyed Klyntar, manifesting a suit of draconic armor and coalescing its constituent symbiotes into a fleet of symbiote-dragons. Meanwhile, Knull was tracked down byWraithwho wanted Knull to remove the Exolon (parasites that attach to a host while feeding on their soul) from his body.[23]Knull revealed to Wraith that Exolons were just his failed experiments on symbiotes and he dumped that "trash" in The Exoteric Latitude, he stripped the Exolon from Wraith's body turning it into his sword and kicked off Wraith into the space.[24]Soon, he resumed his campaign against the light all the while journeying to Earth,[25]using his living abyss to claim entire planets to his cause,[26]while haunting Eddie with pointed nightmares,[27]and briefly imposed his influence over Dylan Brock to ensure that he would pledge allegiance to the Symbiote Imperium.[28][29]

Conquering Earth and death

[edit]

At the time when theGuardians of the Galaxywere investigating the death of Zn'rx Emperor Stote during the Galactic Council's meeting at the Proscenium and find that theChitauriPeacekeeper and the Profiteer were responsible sometime after the events of the "Empyre"storyline, Zoralis Gupa of the planet Silnius takes an urgent call while mentioning to the person on the other side to warn all neighboring systems. He tells Victoria that it's the End of Everything as different planets are starting to die in the planets owned by the Shi'ar, the Kree/Skrull Alliance, and the Zn'rx while rendering the galactic economy fragile enough to go bankrupt. Knowing that she won't make a profit, the Profiteer teleports Peacekeeper and the bio-bomb away. While thanking Zoralis Gupa for fooling the Profiteer with the bluff, Zoralis Gupa states to Super-Skrull and everyone present that something darker thanGalactusis destroying the worlds and its name is Knull.[30]EmperorHulklingdispatchedTalosto investigate the Kree and Skrull bases that went dark with Av-Rom, Keeyah, M'lanz, Virtue, and Tarna. Two days later, a Kree/Skrull Alliance armada headed by General Kalamari finds Talos' escape pod. After recuperating in the sick bay, Talos recaps to Kalamari about what happened on his mission that involved an encounter with Knull. Talos then informs Kalamari that his distress beacon on his escape pod is a warning that Knull is coming. Outside the ship, Knull is riding a Symbiote Dragon as he swoops in for an attack.[31]

Sensing Knull coming at the start of the "King in Black"storyline, Eddie Brock alerts the Avengers. Knull unleashes the Symbiote Dragons on Earth as theAvengers,theFantastic Four,and theX-Menfight them even when Knull is shown to haveCelestialsArishem the Judgeand Tefral the Surveyor possessed by his symbiotes. WhenCaptain Americagives the command to the other heavy hitter they enlisted, it turns out to be theSentry.He takes Knull into Earth's orbit and tried to do the same thing he once did to Carnage only for Knull to do a reversal upon being familiar with what happened to Carnage that time. Knull breaks Sentry and assimilates the Void into him upon it emerging from Sentry's body. Venom and Captain America react to this asIron Manurges them to retreat. Knull then proceeds to have his Symbiote Dragons form a sphere around Earth to cut it off from the Sun and has the living abyss swallow some of the superheroes includingStormwhichProfessor Xreacts to. As Venom, Eddie goes to confront Knull and offer his services to him. Knull grabs Venom as he recognizes Eddie as the one who killed Grendel, then he states to Eddie that the Brock he is looking for is Dylan Brock. When Eddie begs for Knull to take him instead, Knull rips the Venom symbiote off him and absorbs it into his body while planning to absorb Dylan into him as well. Eddie is then dropped by Knull into the symbiote-covered streets below.[8]Knull finds out where Dylan is and is about to get him when Thor arrives. Together, Thor and Dylan help free some of the infected heroes including theHulk.Thor and Knull fight and Thor gains the upper hand until Knull distracts Thor by bringing in his symbiote-possessed Celestials and stabs Thor in the back.[32]Knull plans to control Dylan since the latter has the Symbiote codex, but Dylan fights back freeingCyclops,Invisible Woman,Doctor Strange,Black Cat,and theHuman Torch.Doctor Strange morphs into a stronger form and together the heroes fight back against the symbiotes.Namor,Thor and Storm deal heavy damage whileJean Grey's psychic powers immobilize Knull, seeing Knull's past and realizing that the God of Light (another name for the Enigma Force) is the one thing that can take down Knull before passing out. Silver Surfer arrives to where the Enigma Force is and frees it from the Symbiotes. Knull reels in pain and Eddie is chosen to be the newCaptain Universe.[33]As Silver Surfer faces off against him, Knull recalls his previous fight against him. Through the God of Light, Silver Surfer assumes a chrome form and turns his surfboard into a sword while Knull transforms his armor into one that would enable him to combat Silver Surfer. As Knull begins to fight Silver Surfer, the members of the Avengers, Fantastic Four and X-Men charge towards Knull so that they can aid Silver Surfer. Just then, Venom appears having been transformed into Captain Universe stating that he'll handle Knull from here. As Knull claims that he has killed Venom many times, Venom manages to make use of Mjolnir and Silver Surfer's surfboard which he then merged into a battle axe that is in the shape of Venom's spider emblem. Using his battle axe, Venom starts to shred his way through the Symbiote Dragons upon noting that Knull has become afraid of him. Knull even unleashes a Symbiote-controlled Celestial to aid him, only for Venom to behead it. As Venom rips off Knull's armor, Knull states that the darkness is in Dylan. Venom then picks up Knull, flies into the air, and punches through the Symbiote barrier surrounding Earth, where Knull states that the Void is eternal and the abyss has teeth. Venom then states he doesn't care if he is right as he plunges his hand into the sun and uses the Uni-Power to vaporize Knull. As a result of Knull's death, the Venom Symbiote translates to Eddie the language of the hostless Symbiotes and the Symbiote Dragons that he has become the new God of the Symbiotes now that they are free of Knull's control.[34]

The King in Black's true purpose

[edit]

As the new King in Black, Eddie learns from his future self that the Kings in Black are picked by the Celestials to serve the same purpose as theBeyonders—maintaining the multiverse—but they work from the inside instead of the outside. Knull had refused the work and rebelled against the Celestials.[9]

Powers and abilities

[edit]
Further information:Symbiote (comics) § Powers and abilities

Knull possesses superhuman strength and durability.[8][35][36]He is depicted as an immortal being.[37][6]He is able to generate and manipulate eldritch darkness, as he can manifest darkness to create weapons and living creatures, whom he calls the "Living abyss."[10][35][38][39]He is able to forge different types of symbiotes with various abilities, such as dragon-like symbiotes.[40][41]He can remotely influence and control the symbiotes he creates.[10]Knull is also a shapeshifter, being able to turn his human-like mouth into fanged jaws with an elongated tongue — a feature passed on to the symbiotes.[14]With his regenerative healing factor, Knull can recover quickly from injuries.[10]Knull also has the ability to fly.[8]

He is an expert combatant, utilizing All-Black to killCelestialsand other gods, while wearing an armor made from symbiote-matter. Knull's armor is decorated with a red dragon and spiral emblem, which was based on Spiral ofCarcosafromTrue Detective.[42]

Despite his severed connection to the symbiotes, his influence can still be observed as whenGorr,Old Galactus,[43]Ego,[44]andKing Loki,[45]after being infected by All-Black, continued Knull's crusade to annihilate all existence. WhenMalekithbonded with the Venom symbiote he called himself the Butcher of Thor.[46][47]Venom formed a similar emblem with mixed design of Knull's emblem and the Spider-Woman emblem worn byJulia Carpenter.[48][49]Similarly, the Nameless, a group ofKreeexplorers, after being infected by the Exolons, had their skin slowly fade with their outward appearance now resembling Knull.[50]

Reception

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Critical reception

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Ian Cardona ofCBRreferred to Knull as a "cross between Marvel'sDraculaand the main villain behindSpider-Verse,Morlun,"writing," There is an ethereal, wraith-like quality to his demeanor. He's got the appropriately haunting build, with his broad shoulders and chest covered by armor that makes him appear both regal and powerful. He has terrifyingly sharp teeth, and the signature symbiote tongue. "[51]Bradley Prom ofScreen Rantcalled Knull one of Marvel's "memorable antagonists," saying, "It took all of Earth's heroes, along with intergalactic heroes such as the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Kree-Skrull alliance to finally stop him. However, before they all teamed up, Knull beat Silver Surfer, the Avengers, the X-Men, and more, forcing the ultimate team-up to stop one of the most powerful Marvel Comics villains in history."[3]

Knull received particular attention in Sweden and Norway, due to the wordknullbeing the noun form of "fuck" (referring to copulation), in Swedish and Norwegian.[52][53][54]

Accolades

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  • In 2015,Screen Rantincluded Knull in their "20 Most Powerful Marvel Villains" list.[3]
  • In 2018,IGNincluded Knull in their "Marvel's most powerful symbiotes" list.[2]
  • In 2020,CBRranked Knull 2nd in their "10 Marvel Gods With The Highest Kill Count" list[4]and 9th in their "19 Most Powerful Cosmic Marvel Characters Ranked" list.[55]
  • In 2020,CBRincluded Knull in their "Spider-Man: The Best New Villains of the Century" list.[56]
  • In 2021,Screen Rantincluded Knull in their "16 Most Powerful Cosmic Characters In Marvel Comics" list[39]and in their "Marvel: Venom’s Main Comic Book Villains Ranked From Most Laughable To Coolest" list.[57]
  • In 2022,Bustleincluded Knull in their "50 Most Powerful Characters In The Marvel Universe" list.[5]
  • In 2022,Colliderranked Knull 2nd in their "9 Most Powerful Symbiotes In the Marvel Universe" list.[38]
  • In 2022,Screen Rantincluded Knull in their "Marvel Comics: 13 Most Powerful Symbiotes" list,[58]in their "10 Best Cosmic Villains Not Yet In The MCU" list,[59]and in their "10 Marvel Comics Gods Who Should Join The MCU Next" list.[60]
  • In 2022,CBRranked Knull 1st in their "Black Knight's 10 Strongest Villains" list[61]and 1st in their "Venom: The 20 Most Powerful Symbiotes" list.[62]

In other media

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Television

[edit]

Knull appears in theSpider-Manpromo "The Secret History of Venom", voiced byBen Pronsky.This version created theKlyntarto serve as living weapons in his crusade against theCelestialsbefore eventually abandoning the former after deeming his initial creations, the Symbiote Sisters, useless to him.

Film

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Video games

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^Spider-Man/Venom Free Comic Book Day#1. Marvel Comics.
  2. ^abSchedeen, Jesse (19 October 2018)."Marvel's most powerful symbiotes".IGN.Archivedfrom the original on 20 May 2019.Retrieved5 January2023.
  3. ^abcDyce, Andrew (2015-07-25)."20 Most Powerful Marvel Villains".ScreenRant.Retrieved2022-11-20.
  4. ^abEngland, Matthew (2020-06-28)."10 Marvel Gods With The Highest Kill Count, Ranked".CBR.Retrieved2022-11-10.
  5. ^ab"The 50 Most Powerful Characters In The Marvel Universe, Ranked".Bustle.30 September 2022.Retrieved2022-11-20.
  6. ^abLlewellyn, Michael; Huston, Gabrielle (2018-10-16)."Venom: The 15 Strongest Symbiotes".TheGamer.Retrieved2022-11-20.
  7. ^DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019).The Marvel Encyclopedia.DK Publishing. p. 205.ISBN978-1-4654-7890-0.
  8. ^abcdKing in Black#1. Marvel Comics.
  9. ^abVenomvol. 5 #18. Marvel Comics.
  10. ^abcdeVenomvol. 4 #4. Marvel Comics.
  11. ^Cates, Donny (26 July 2018)."Yep! The severed celestial head in VENOM #4 would someday erode and decay and become Knowhere! Good catch!".twitter.Twitter.Retrieved27 July2018.
  12. ^Thor: God of Thunder#6. Marvel Comics.
  13. ^Silver Surfer: Black#1-2. Marvel Comics.
  14. ^abSilver Surfer: Black#5. Marvel Comics.
  15. ^Web of Venom Ve'nam#1. Marvel Comics.
  16. ^Venomvol. 4 #1-3. Marvel Comics.
  17. ^Venomvol. 4 #5-6. Marvel Comics.
  18. ^Venomvol. 4 #7. Marvel Comics.
  19. ^Web of Venom Carnage Born#1. Marvel Comics.
  20. ^Web of Venom Cult of Carnage#1. Marvel Comics.
  21. ^Absolute Carnage: Separation Anxiety#1. Marvel Comics
  22. ^Absolute Carnage: Scream#1. Marvel Comics
  23. ^Guardians of Galaxyvol. 5 #3. Marvel Comics.
  24. ^Web of Venom: Wraith#1
  25. ^Absolute Carnage#5. Marvel Comics.
  26. ^Incoming#1. Marvel Comics.
  27. ^Venomvol. 4 #21. Marvel Comics.
  28. ^Venomvol. 4 #22
  29. ^Web of Venom: The Good Son#1. Marvel Comics.
  30. ^Guardians of the Galaxyvol. 6 #8. Marvel Comics.
  31. ^Web of Venom: Empyre's End#1. Marvel Comics.
  32. ^King in Black#3. Marvel Comics.
  33. ^King in Black#4. Marvel Comics.
  34. ^King in Black#5. Marvel Comics.
  35. ^abSilver Surfer: Black#2
  36. ^Corley, Shaun (2020-12-07)."King in Black: Every Power Knull Has Used So Far".ScreenRant.Retrieved2022-11-20.
  37. ^VenomVol 4 #10
  38. ^abOddo, Marco Vito (2021-10-16)."9 Most Powerful Symbiotes In the Marvel Universe, Ranked".Collider.Retrieved2022-11-20.
  39. ^abHarn, Darby (2021-05-16)."The 16 Most Powerful Cosmic Characters In Marvel Comics, Ranked".ScreenRant.Retrieved2022-11-20.
  40. ^VenomVol 4 #2
  41. ^Dodge, John (2020-11-14)."Venom Just Became Marvel's Game of Thrones in Space - Complete With Dragons".CBR.Retrieved2022-11-20.
  42. ^"VENOM BOIZ! w/Donny Cates: Venom (2018) #1 Director's Commentary".22 June 2019.
  43. ^Thor: God of Thunder#24. Marvel Comics.
  44. ^The Mighty Thor#700. Marvel Comics.
  45. ^Thorvol. 5 #6-12. Marvel Comics.
  46. ^War of the Realms#6. Marvel Comics.
  47. ^Thorvol. 5 #14. Marvel Comics.
  48. ^Secret Wars#8. Marvel Comics.
  49. ^"Venom Writer Confirms Origin of Venom's Iconic White Spider Symbol".Comic Book Resources.4 January 2019.Archivedfrom the original on 28 April 2019.Retrieved28 April2019.
  50. ^Annihilation Conquest: Wraith#2. Marvel Comics.
  51. ^Cardona, Ian (2018-06-27)."Venom: Marvel Begins to Reveal Everything About the God of the Symbiotes".CBR.Retrieved2022-11-20.
  52. ^Johnston, Rich (2018-06-30)."The Rather Sweary True Meaning of Knull".Bleeding Cool.Archivedfrom the original on 2020-07-02.Retrieved2023-01-05.
  53. ^Dahlskog, Noréa (2020-07-02).""Knull is coming" – akta er för Marvel Comics superbov "[ "Knull is coming" – watch out for the Marvel Comics supervillain].Expressen(in Swedish).Archivedfrom the original on 2020-07-02.Retrieved2023-01-05.
  54. ^Støre, Maria (2020-07-03)."Marvel Comics:" Knull is coming – 2020 "".Verdens Gang(in Norwegian Bokmål).Retrieved2023-01-05.
  55. ^Dunphey, Charles (2020-07-08)."Ranking The 19 Most Powerful Marvel Cosmic Characters".CBR.Retrieved2022-11-20.
  56. ^Zachary, Brandon (2020-04-30)."Spider-Man: The Best New Villains of the Century (So Far)".CBR.Retrieved2022-11-07.
  57. ^Atchison, Drew (2021-06-29)."Marvel: Venom's Main Comic Book Villains Ranked From Most Laughable To Coolest".ScreenRant.Retrieved2022-11-20.
  58. ^Beaty, Drew (2021-06-10)."Marvel Comics: 13 Most Powerful Symbiotes".ScreenRant.Retrieved2022-11-20.
  59. ^"10 Best Cosmic Villains Not Yet In The MCU".ScreenRant.2022-11-18.Retrieved2022-11-20.
  60. ^Prom, Bradley (2022-07-19)."10 Marvel Comics Gods Who Should Join The MCU Next".ScreenRant.Retrieved2022-10-24.
  61. ^Gaudreau, Jared (2022-01-09)."The Black Knight's 10 Strongest Villains".CBR.Retrieved2022-10-24.
  62. ^Draven, Derek (2021-04-01)."Venom: The 20 Most Powerful Symbiotes, Ranked".CBR.Retrieved2022-11-20.
  63. ^Cite error: The named referenceKnullwas invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).
  64. ^Piecing Together Marvel Puzzle Quest: Knull (King in Black)
  65. ^Coolest Comic Book References In Marvel's Spider-Man 2
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