I'd buy his figure over Knull's.

I see him every once in a while in the Contest of Champions game, but I haven't read a ton of books with symbiote god Knull: I do know he's coming back in the next Venom anniversary issue, which feels like a misstep, since Knull is nowhere near as loathed as Paul. Good lord...I know there's a Marvel Legends Knull, but I may have shrieked in terror at the notion of getting roped into getting a Paul figure. (Shudder!) Anyway, today we've got Venom vs. another eldritch terror, not those two: from 1995, Rune vs. Venom #1, "Rune-Venom" Written by Chris Ulm, pencils by Greg Luzniak, Mark Pacella, and Gabriel (Gecko) Hardman; inks by Bruce McCorkindale and Art Thibert.

In New York City, as three thugs assault a young woman, she thinks she's saved when a familiar toothy monster appears, but it isn't Venom: it's Rune, in a symbiote! As he sucks the juices out of the woman (in a relatively PG fashion, his teeth and jaw could have decapitated her) Rune announces himself as "the Dark God," with wings and an extra set of arms. With "Venom" left scrawled in blood at assorted crime scenes; the press, public opinion, and S.H.I.E.L.D. turn on the original Venom pretty quickly, believing him to have gone bad again--or worse--after the "Planet of the Symbiotes" event. A squad of Mandroids attack Eddie in the sewer, which is the first he--they!--hear of the accusations against them. (Venom does still kill at least some of the Mandroid pilots, though!) Meanwhile, Ann is worried about her ex, but also having nightmares about him. She gets kidnapped by Rune, but it scarcely looks like he needed to, as Rune later jumps Venom and puts the bite on him--maybe? The storytelling is a little murky here: either the biter reveals herself as a symbiote-covered Ann controlled by Rune, or Venom is tripping balls from the poison in the bite. Maybe it's the latter, since we see Ann as a more traditional damsel in distress later. (I do kinda like the "KRUNCH!" as Rune spikes Venom like a volleyball; Venom should maybe always have old-school SFX! It reminds me of his "Owtch!" from his Darkhawk guest-spot.)

Rune tells Ann, he had been pulled through a stargate (not that one, this looks like a Temu copy) by a symbiote prior to their invasion, which did free him from the prison Annihilus had put him in. Grateful, Rune kills the symbiote's xenomorph-looking host, and becomes the new host: this saved the symbiote from dying with the rest of his race at "Venom's betrayal," and they wanted revenge. With S.H.I.E.L.D. after him, Venom tracks Rune through the DNA in the poison, and the ensuing fight shows there were two of them. A S.H.I.E.L.D. sonic blast removes the symbiote from Rune, and the vampire turns on it, feeding on it and taking a new, bald form. (He seems to feel like it's an improvement, but...?) The fight with Venom goes on, since now Rune "has a taste for your skin," just like KFC! But it's a short one, as Ann tries to help, and distracts Rune just enough for Venom to throw him back through the Temugate, then break it.

With Dum Dum Dugan there to call Rune the real killer, S.H.I.E.L.D. stands down: Dum Dum is, as usual, sort of the friendlier face of the agency. G.W. Bridge or Maria Hill would've been yay, we get to kill two monsters today; Nick Fury could go either way. Ann wonders about Eddie, who assures her he would always be there to protect her from "monsters." And Rune is returned, seemingly in Egypt through another stargate, to the Ultraverse. The toys back in their boxes, although that Rune-Venom might have made a good one.