Warning: Contains spoilers for THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MEN #7! Spider-Man Has no shortage of insanely powerful villains, but the last one seems to stand above the rest, and the reason that is tied directly to their origin. Unlike Spider-Man’s other rogues, the villain in question is a combination of some of the most powerful ‘characters’ in the Marvel Universe, not to mention their ally is a classic. Spider-Man Villain that introduced the new god-level threat to the life of Villain, confirming that the bad guy is as evil as they are powerful.
in The Spectacular Spider-Men #7 by Greg Weisman and Humberto Ramos Peter Parker and Miles Morales find themselves trapped in the Arcadium by Arcade, Mentallo and Hammerhead. Arcadium is an AI system that traps people in a virtual reality designed to make them happy, all while learning and evolving from them. The AI ​​knows what makes its victims happy with its telepathic ability, mentally feeding off everyone who enters the arcade. As the Spider-Men work to shut the whole thing down, the Arcadium AI takes physical form, becoming the ultra-powerful new Spider-Man Villain: KNAIVE
KNAIVE was created without the knowledge of Arcade, Mentallo or Hammerhead, but was instead convinced to upgrade itself by another classic Spider-Man Evil, the jackal. The Jackal knew he could use this advanced AI to streamline the process of creating near-perfect clones, using robotics and mental copies infused with organic nanotech. Although KNAIVE is convinced to be a villain by the Jackal, and is incredibly useful for Miles Warren’s evil schemes, that only scratches the surface of how terrifying KNAIVE really is.
KNAIVE is a combination of ​​the most powerful AI in the Marvel Universe
KNAIVE evolved from Beyond Corp., Stark International and the Danger Room
Before KNAIVE created a physical body for itself, it was already perhaps the most powerful AI in Marvel Comics history, and that’s because of the other systems used to create it. Arcadium was the evolution of ​​a number of previously established AI systems, including those of the Beyond Corporation, Oscorp, Hydra, Stark International, the Baxter Building, AIM, Roxxon and the Danger Room. That’s why the artificial reality it can create was so realistic, and how the AI ​​has telepathic abilities.
The same reasons why Arcadium was the perfect AI virtual reality system with the capacity to literally create life are also why KNAIVE is so terrifyingly powerful. KNAIVE crafted a body for himself capable of countering practically any attack that Spider-Man throws at him, and when it fights in the Arcadium Matrix, it can generate countless minions to fight for him. Plus, with its telepathic powers, KNAIVE knows exactly how to defeat anyone who challenges it, and can augment its body/generate a minion specifically tailored to its enemy.
KNAIVE is strong enough to face almost anyone.
Readers see a perfect example of KNAIVE doing just that in this very issue of The Spectacular Spider-MenHow it uses its telepathy to generate Uncle Ben and Miles’ parents to fight the Spider-Men. Here, KNAIVE uses psychological warfare against his enemies, and it proves quite effective, as both Spider-Men find it difficult to fight against their loved ones.
Even if KNAIVE is removed from the Arcadium, his body is physically strong enough to match the combined strength of two Spider-Men plus Hammerhead (who turned against his creation when it gained sentience), meaning KNAIVE is strong enough to face almost anyone It’s easy. .
Marvel shamefully underutilized KNAIVE in Spider-Man lore
KNAIVE is defeated way too easily based on his established power level
Based on all the previously established technology that went into the creation of KNAIVE, it’s safe to say that the AI ​​villain is something similar to Danger, Jocasta, or even Ultron. The AI ​​systems that went into it are god-level in how advanced they are. The Danger Room itself took down the X-Men when it got a feelAnd this is only a fraction of KNAIVE’s consciousness. Therefore, KNAIVE should have been quite unstoppable, or at the very least, a threat from the Avengers.
However, as shown in this issue, this is not the case. All it took to take down KNAIVE was an electric shock from Miles Morales, as well as the beginnings of a virus that was built into the arcade – one that something as powerful as KNAIVE should be able to clean out easily. Sure, that combo might just be KNAIVE’s kryptonite (and it proved to be), but this seemed like a pretty easy fix—too easy.
KNAIVE was established as Spider-Man’s next ‘Big Bad’, an amalgamation of the most powerful AI systems in Marvel history that could fight Spidey with a combination of physical and mental attacks. Spider-Man effectively has his own Ultron, who was taught by the Jackal to hate him. KNAIVE was the evolution of every ‘evil robot’ that came before it, with strong ties to previous Marvel storylines, while also being an exciting new Spider-Man Rogue. However, KNAIVE became just another villain-of-the-week, shamefully underutilized by Marvel.
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Of course, KNAIVE’s easy defeat implies that the villain isn’t down for the count just yet, as Marvel Comics ‘robot villains’ have a tendency to come back, no matter how ‘dead’ they appear. However, even if KNAIVE doesn’t return, his brief stint in Marvel canon is truly one for the history books, as his official origin story made it clear that KNAIVE was an insanely powerful Spider-Man Villain (perhaps the most powerful yet), even if it was underutilized.
THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MEN #7 by Marvel Comics is now available.