Moon Knight

The Creation

Moon Knight was created by writer Doug Moench and artist Don Perlin and debuted in Werewolf by Night Volume 1 issue 32 in 1975.

He first appeared as the antagonist of the titular character in a two-issue storey arc. However, Moon Knight proved to be so popular that he returned to guest star in Marvel Spotlight, Spectacular Spider-Man, Marvel Two-In-One, and The Defenders, which helped define his background before gaining his own solo strip as a backup feature in Hulk! magazine before finally being awarded with his own solo comic book series in 1980.

Origins.

Marc Spector was born in Chicago, Illinois, the rebellious son of an academic Jewish rabbi whose family had fled Europe in the 1930s to avoid the Holocaust. Marc couldn't understand why his father refused to fight against his people's persecution and became disgusted with his pacifism, viewing him as a coward.

Marc, who rejected his father's faith, began his career as a heavyweight boxer before joining the United States Marine Corps, where he was trained as a commando. Soon after, his abilities landed him a job with the Central Intelligence Agency. He collaborated with William Cross (later Crossfire) and his own brother, Randall Spector. 

Randall, on the other hand, had betrayed the CIA and was secretly smuggling and selling weapons. Randall brutally murdered Marc's lover with a meat cleaver after she discovered this and tried to turn him in. Marc pursued Randall in retaliation, but Randall was apparently killed by an exploding grenade during the fight.

Marc, fed up with the CIA, went independent and became a fearless soldier of fortune, renowned for his willingness to do anything as long as the pay was good enough. In Africa, he met Jean-Paul "Frenchie" DuChamp, a French mercenary who would become one of Marc's closest friends and his pilot.

Major Story Arcs.

The Hero of the Night Rises

Marc returned to the United States with Marlene and Frenchie, as well as the Khonshu statue, after defeating Bushman. He decided to continue his work to fight a war against evil and invested his savings from his mercenary days, turning them into a small fortune with which he proceeded to finance and support his private war and set up shop in New York City.

Marc created the persona of Steven Grant, a millionaire entrepreneur and high roller whose jet set personality allowed him to walk among the high rollers and elite of New York City, in an effort to distance himself from his mercenary days. Marc decided to create a persona for lower level contacts and invented the identity of Jake Lockley, a New York cab driver, realising the value of these contacts as criminal activities are frequently plotted and planned at cocktail parties and boardrooms. Through Lockley, he was able to make several "on the streets" contacts, including Bertrand Crawley and Gena Landers, as well as her sons Ricky and Ray.

Soon after developing his costume and weapons, as well as a customised helicopter known as the "Mooncopter," Frenchie, posing as a French businessman, made contact with a group of aristocrats known as "The Committee" who had plans to capture and retrieve Jack Russell, the Werewolf By Night, whom they intended to use as a weapon to fulfil their desire to rule the city. As the go-between, Frenchie presented the Committee members with Marc Spector as a mercenary and ostentatiously revealed the Moon Knight costume and weapons that Frenchie claimed he had created to battle Russell.

Although Marc was successful in defeating Russell, his suspicions were confirmed when he discovered the Committee's goals and proceeded to release Jack and defeat "The Committee," earning him their enmity and establishing Moon Knight as a respected vigilante.

Moon Knight briefly joined the superhero team The Defenders to fight the Life Model Decoys of a villain group called Zodiac after thwarting a man calling himself Conquer-Lord. He then went on to fight Cyclone alongside Spider-Man, Crossfire alongside The Thing, and some solo missions against a terrorist group led by a man named Lupinar, as well as his own brother, Randall, who had survived their previous encounter and had become a psychotic axe killer targeting women.

After that, Moon Knight encountered villains who would become part of his own rogues gallery, such as the Midnight Man, Morpheus, Stained Glass Scarlet, and Black Spectre, to name a few, and teamed up with Spider-Man as well as other heroes such as Daredevil, Iron Man, Power Man, and Iron Fist a few more times.

The Silver Avenger

When the West Coast Avengers were trapped in ancient Egypt, Hawkeye made a pact with Khonshu and created a collection of weapons that Khonshu would mystically improve and then give to Marc Spector in the twentieth century.

In exchange, Khonshu informed his avatar, Marc Spector, of their situation, allowing Moon Knight to assist in their rescue and the return of the Avengers to the present. Moon Knight then became the team's 24th Avenger. He had a rather turbulent tenure as a member, despite playing a critical role in defeating Dominus and later, the Examiner of the Silg race; he frequently had a habit of playing fast and loose with the rules, such as his pursuit of Cornelius Van Lunt, which may have driven the man to his death, and possessed less-than-stellar teamwork due to his longtime career as a loner. His tenure was further complicated by a romantic relationship with fellow Avenger Tigra.

Marc Spector: Moon Knight

After the fallout from Khonshu's possession, Marc returned to New York to seek out Marlene and re-establish his ties with Frenchie, despite the fact that he was no longer certain he wanted to continue as Moon Knight. The reappearance of his old foe Bushman, who kidnaps Marlene, prompts him to resurrect as the Crescent Crusader.

Spector, on the other hand, was much more psychologically stable without Khonshu's supernatural influence and did not revert to his previous identities of Jake Lockley or Steven Grant. Instead, he refocused his financial empire and founded SpectorCorp, devoting himself to more urban street crimefighting rather than the more cosmic, supernatural evil that he previously battled under Khonshu's influence.

Infinity War and Crusade

When the Magus, the evil incarnation of Adam Warlock, plotted his ascension to absolute power, he created evil doppelgangers of both heroes and villains on Earth. Moon Knight had to confront his own evil self, Moonshade, whom he defeated. Following the War, the Goddess, the good incarnation of Adam Warlock, recruited many spiritual, religious heroes who had near-death experiences. Because of Moon Knight's close relationship with the moon god and his first resurrection to serve as the avatar of vengeance, the Goddess enlisted Moon Knight to defend her as she purges the universe of evil. When the Goddess was defeated by the combined efforts of Adam Warlock, Thanos, and Professor X, Moon Knight was restored to normalcy.

House of M

Prior to Magneto's reign of mutant supremacy, he was a CIA operative in the House of M reality. He went from being a wanted human on the run for "war crimes" against mutants to becoming a vigilante in New York. Marc Spector joined Luke Cage's Avengers alongside Iron Fist when Luke and Hawkeye were recruiting to fight the House of M. He first appeared without his costume when he was a member of the Human Resistance Movement, but he wears it again when he joins the Avengers.

Superpowers and Skills

Moon Knight has formidable psychic resistance as a result of his multiple personalities, and most telepathic or mental attacks are less effective on him. Several people have also noted that Moon Knight has an extraordinary level of pain tolerance and has casually ignored debilitating wounds and major injuries in order to continue fighting.

Moon Knight has a diverse set of skills and abilities from his varied careers as a boxer, marine, commando, and CIA agent, including military strategy and tactics, infiltration and stealth techniques, military interrogation and torture techniques, driver evasion techniques, and is a competent pilot who can fly most types of aircraft. With a marksman rating, he is an expert in a wide range of military firearms, including pistols, sniper rifles, and machine guns. His military training and background makes him not only an unconventional hero, he can and will use drastic means and extreme violence to stop criminals. 

Moon Knight is also a highly skilled combatant who is equally adept in both unarmed and armed fighting techniques; he is a former heavyweight boxing champion who is well-versed in the human body's weak points. Moon Knight's fighting style is brutal and direct, combining techniques from Krav Maga, Dambe, Savate, Silat, and FMA (Filipino Martial Arts) to dispatch his opponents as quickly and painfully as possible. He is also an Olympic-class athlete, acrobat, and gymnast with advanced Judo and Kung Fu skills.

Moon Knight gained superhuman powers derived from the moon when he became the Fist of Khonshu and was possessed by Khonshu. During this time, Moon Knight had increased strength, stamina, and reflexes based on the lunar phase. He was at his strongest during a full moon, when he could lift 2 tonnes, and at his weakest during a no moon, when he could lift around 700 pounds. He could also see magical beings that normal humans couldn't, and he had night vision. Moon Knight could also become invisible in shadows and possessed a "healing factor" that allowed his wounds to heal quickly when exposed to moonlight.

Moon Knight appears to have lost most of his powers following Khonshu's exorcism from his body, but there is speculation that he may or may not retain some of them. He still appears to have prophetic visions and a connection to Khonshu, but it is unclear how much of this is due to Khonshu's influence and how much is due to Marc Spector's own mental hallucinations.

Moon Knight has also demonstrated his ability to be resurrected by Khonshu. This could prove Moon Knight's near-immortality.

Weapons

Despite his ability to use almost any weapon ever devised, Moon Knight has a clear fondness for certain lunar-themed objects that he refers to as his toys. Among the weapons he has used are throwing darts, nunchaku, and a truncheon.

Moon Knight typically wields a truncheon, which he can transform into a long staff. As a result, he only used his staff, which was now made of adamantium. This handy tool can be used as a club, nunchaku, or grappling hook. It can be used as a blunt instrument or thrown on its own. It splits into two shorter clubs (connected by a chain) to entangle a weapon or limb, or to increase the club's arc of travel and thus its strength.

He also uses the cape of his suit to float in air currents. He frequently employs darts in the shape of a crescent moon. These are hidden in his costume and function in the same way as shuriken. On the outside of his belt, on either side of the buckle, he keeps a stash of these darts.

Although he normally uses crescent moons as a ranged weapon, he also uses them in close combat. These darts' visual design (inspired by Khonshu) is meant to resemble the shape of the gibbous moon. He resumed using these darts after abandoning them for his Egyptian arsenal.

He also used other weapons, depending on the period. While infiltrating the Committee, he wore silver armbands on each forearm; these were fitted with spikes, presumably in anticipation of his fight with the Werewolf. After meeting the priests of Khonshu, he obtained an Ankh (an Egyptian cross) which he used as a club. He also used an ax, a boomerang, iron darts, and bolas.

Other Media

An image of Moon Knight is shown as one of the potential candidates for Avengers membership in the Avengers Assemble episode "Avengers World." He finally appears in full in the fourth season episode "Beyond," voiced by Gideon Emery. He meets the Avengers after the pyramid he is guarding ends up in the Battleworld region of Egyptia.

Moon Knight, dressed in his modern costume, appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "The Moon Knight Before Christmas." Moon Knight is voiced by Diedrich Bader, who used to voice Batman in The Brave and the Bold, as a nod to the frequent accusation that he is a rip-off of Batman.

Moon Knight is voiced by Peter Giles in the two-part Marvel's Spider-Man episode "Vengeance of Venom." Following the death of a loved one, this version of Marc Spector has abandoned the Moon Knight identity and become a crazed survivalist living in New York's sewers. However, an encounter with May Parker leads to him resuming his role as Moon Knight to aid in the battle against the army of Venom symbiotes.

Marc Spector is mentioned in the Blade TV series. He is said to be an expert on werewolves, a reference to his first appearance in the Werewolf by Night comic book series.

In 2019, it was announced that a live-action TV series for the Disney+ streaming service was in the works, and that the series would be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Oscar Isaac will play the hero in Moon Knight, which is set to premiere on March 30, 2022.

Video Games

• In the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, during a race against the Human Torch, Spider-Man can be heard saying, "Moon Knight is faster than you!"
• Moon Knight is a playable character in Marvel Ultimate Alliance (a mod is available to download him for the PC version). In the game, he has 3 costumes and a modded 4th costume for PC: Classic (His normal cape and hood), Ultimate (His Ultimate Universe counterpart), Khonshu (showing gold highlights on parts of his Classic costume), and modded Retro (displaying more black in his Classic costume). He is voiced by Phil LaMarr.
• Moon Knight appears in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, voiced by Robin Atkin Downes.
• Moon Knight appears in ending in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 as a member of his West Coast Avengers.
• Moon Knight has a table in the Virtue and Vengeance pack for Pinball FX 2.
• Moon Knight is a playable character in the online MMO Marvel Heroes.
• Moon Knight appears as playable character in the video game Lego Marvel Super Heroes.
• Moon Knight is a playable fighter in Marvel Contest of Champions.
• Moon Knight is a playable character in Lego Marvel's The Avengers video game.
• Moon Knight appears in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order as part of the Marvel Knights: Curse of the Vampire DLC pack. He is voiced by Gideon Emery.

Merchandise

• Moon Knight was featured in the Marvel's Gold series from ToyBiz.
• Bowen Designs released a Moon Knight statue and bust.
• Diamond Select released a Moon Knight statue.
• Moon Knight was featured in The Classic Marvel Figurine Collection from Eaglemoss Publications.
• Diamond Select included Moon Knight in the Marvel Select line.
• Moon Knight was featured in Diamond Select's Minimates line.
• Funko released a Moon Knight bobblehead as a Walgreens exclusive.
• ToyBiz released a Moon Knight figure for Marvel Legends line in M.O.D.O.K. series.
• Hasbro released a Moon Knight figure for Marvel Universe line.
• Hasbro released a modern Moon Knight figure for the Marvel Legends Vulture series.
• Another Marvel Legends Moon Knight figure was released by Hasbro as a Walgreens exclusive.