The origins of the Moon Knight
The story of the Moon Knight begins in the worst way imaginable and in the hardest moments of Humanity in the 20th century, since World War II caused old friends to clash in Czechoslovakia. That happened to the father of our protagonist, a Jew who discovers that one of his friends is dedicated during the Nazi occupation to persecute and murder others like him, in full witch hunt against those who profess that religion. The problem came when Marc Spector (the name behind Moon Knight) sees it and is discovered, which will cause them to have to leave the country in a hurry in the direction of the US.
That event will mark the history of our hero because it will be the trigger for that dissociative personality disorder that will cause the appearance of the two beings that inhabit his body: on the one hand Steven Grant and on the other Jake Lockley. Marc’s father, aware of the problem, will have no better idea than take him to a psychiatric hospital to admit him, which will cause their ills to become even more accentuated. On top of that, if we add to that the visions of a supposed parent who are not such, but a personification of the Egyptian god of the Moon, Khonshu, then we get a highly flammable cocktail.
Obviously Marc Spector will not last long in the psychiatric hospital since he will flee to enlist in the Navy and, later, in the CIA. Some pretty radical changes for someone with those issues, though nothing compared to what’s coming next: two stages, one as a mercenary and another as a boxer which will bring us to the stage one of the key characters in his life, Jean Paul Duchamp. Do you think the carambola is over? Well no. Raoul Brushman crosses into her life to offer her an irrefutable plan: loot the tomb of a pharaoh that Marlene Alraune and her father, Dr. Alraune, have just discovered.
The expedition ends like the Rosario de la Aurora with the scientist killed at the hands of Brushman, who wants to take everything, and Marc Spector confronting him. as you can imagine our protagonist will come out badly and will be practically dead inside the tomb. But it will not be like that, because in a last attempt to survive he will crawl to one of the rooms where the pharaoh rests and, there, he will see a statue of Khonshu. The god of the Moon will offer him a deal: save his life in exchange for making him his avatar on Earth. He evidently accepts and suddenly comes back to life, in the blink of an eye, without a single scratch and in his own apartment.
A Tony Stark of life?
Although it seems that we are telling the story of someone who has nowhere to fall dead, or who goes through life stumbling, in reality it is not like that and in the original stories he manages to accumulate a small fortune working as a mercenary who invests in his coming out as a superhero. Theatricality is important (as someone from DC said) and that is why he will buy land to build his headquarters, accumulate weapons and, above all, devise his clothing to face the threats that lie in wait for the world.
Now, unlike Batman who climbs to the top of buildings to see what happens when night falls. Marc Spector turns to his worldly side, like any other citizen who steps on the street, to detect dangerous situations, although he will not go from one place to another on foot but by car. Jake Lockley will officially be that alter ego that Moon Knight needs and for that he will become a taxi driver, a job that comes and goes around the city and that he can hear many of the people who get in and out of his car.
By the way, we forgot. Do you know who Mr. Knight is? Well, write him down because he is another personality more to add to the list of names that live in Marc Spector’s head, although in this case it is a light version, less wild of the superhero, dressed in a pristine white gala suit and a white cloth mask. The great ability of this personality? His strong point is being a detective with exceptional deduction and analysis skills.
The most famous comics
Moon Knight is not one of the most veteran heroes of the Marvel factory, but he is not from the day before yesterday. Created by the duo composed of Doug Moench as writer and Don Perlin as artist, the stories of this character are born in 1975 and, as happened in many other cases, it did not have its own series of comics, but rather it was sighting in the collection Werewolf by Night #32. In fact, at first, he was conceived as an enemy of the Werewolf, but he was so popular among readers that, after appearing in collections such as the Marvel Spotlightit was decided to give his own collection of comics.
The comics of this character have the peculiarity that they are the ones that delve into the mystical-monstrous side of the Marvel universe; It is not uncommon for him to face werewolves, mummies or vampires. Also, it’s also not uncommon in his stories for him to do crossovers with other characters such as Spider-Man or Doctor Strange. If we think about it, it makes quite a bit of sense because in the latter case the mirror dimensions or alternate realities seem to be quite connected.
Despite this small popularity, We can’t consider the Moon Knight comics a resounding success either., and proof of this is that Marvel canceled them with just 38 issues on newsstands. Of course, over the years new stories have been added that have helped relaunch the character that now, with the Disney + series, seems to have definitely touched the sky.
By the way, as a curious fact it must be said that Moon Knight had a comic, the Marvel two-in-one #52, whose comic was scripted by the writer Steven Grant (that’s right, it has the same name as one of the character’s alternate personalities), so we could think that one of the creatures that only exists in Marc Spector’s mind was capable to mark the path of his own master.
Does he have supernatural powers?
The abilities of this character, at its root, are not very different from those of an ordinary human being. He is an expert detective and combatant in all kinds of martial arts.. In addition, he is also very good with the use of bladed and firearms. Also, in relation to his disorder, he has a monstrous resistance to attacks and torture of a telepathic nature, being very difficult to enter his mind by characters that dominate the mystical arts such as Professor X, so he is very good in missions where reality goes. to jump through the air at the first change.
Now if as a man you’re already rocky enough, imagine if we add to that the blessing (or curse) of Khonshu, which has injected him with a whole string of statistics that would kill him in an RPG: improved strength and a more powerful healing factor than that of the average human being, although without reaching the levels of Spider-Man or Wolverine. It is so spectacular that there are those who believe that this type of miraculous healing is still pure hallucination of Marc. Are you sure?
With all of the above put together, they make Moon Knight a hero with a lot of power to face all kinds of threats and there are those who see in him a fairly strong conceptual resemblance to Batman. Surely they are big words but it is true that in tormented behavior and personality (batman is a clear example) are on a par and in a direct comparison we are not very clear which would come out the winner.
Moon Knight’s Enemies
A Marvel hero without a collection of villains is like walking out onto a football field and not having a team in front of you. He not only loses grace but your mission as spuerhero ceases to make sense. Luckily, Moon Knight’s parents devised a whole legion of adversaries that he has been facing throughout his life as an avatar of the god Khonshu on Earth, such as Black Specter. Behind this character we find Carson Knowles, an ex-military man who, after being despised by the city he swore to protect in the war, decides to run for mayor while at the same time committing all kinds of misdeeds that end with someone dead and with a Moon symbol imprinted on her body. Detail that seeks, precisely, to incriminate Moon Knight artificially.
Another one of the toughest villains Moon Knight has faced is Randall Spector. Specter? Yes Specter! It is the brother of our protagonistprofessional mercenary, who ends the life of Marc’s partner, an event that will cause a confrontation that will end with his chache imbued with the power of the goddess Nephthys. This will give him powers, also supernatural, such as colossal skin resistance to blows and superhuman strength. Randall will become a kind of nemesis that, as we tell you, will be a real toothache for Marc.
Although the previous two names are relevant within Moon Knight’s biography, Bushman is the one who takes the cake. The culprit of his curse will continue to distill evil in all his actions, although luckily the comics tell us the story of how Marc was able to neutralize him (that is, kill him) before he consummated his revenge against Dr. Alraune’s daughter, Marlene Alraune.
The loves of Marc Spector
We have already dropped some data that comes to corroborate that Marc Spector has had a partner on occasion, and if you have read carefully, surely you already know the name of the lucky one (or not). Indeed, in the comics, love will arise from his relationship with Marlene Arlaune, who has practically been by our hero’s side from the beginning.
However, over time the comics show a deterioration in the relationship due to Marc’s mental problems and that attempt by the god Khonshu to take control of his body. Although they will go through times of crisis and better times, the great news is that the writers of the comics wanted this love story not to end badlyand the two could live peacefully… if that is possible in the life of a Marvel superhero.
Moon Knight teams up with who?
As a good Marvel character, that acting alone is very good, but it’s even cooler if you can team up with others to form a team. In this case Moon Knight can review in his resume that he has been part of the Secret Avengers initiative along with Captain America, Nova or Valkyrie, among others.
But there is more. As if it were a branch, Moon Knight also participated in the so-called West Coast Avengerswhere he shares a campus with other characters from the Marvel factory such as Hawkeye or Los Defensores, where we have such renowned vigilantes as Daredevil, Ironfist, etc.
Finally, He also participated in the Midnight Sons, a group of heroes made up entirely of monstrous and supernatural characters, most notably Morbius, the Werewolf, and Blade. A curious fact related to Moon Knight’s equipment is that he is one of the few heroes who during the Civil War of the Marvel universe was not directly part of any side, because Steven Rogers considered that “he should have a shirt on.” force”. The truth is Iron Man only wanted him as a confidant in case he crossed paths with Captain America again. Things of destiny.
Do you think Moon Knight will appear by surprise in Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? And in some future installment of The Avengers? At the moment in the series they warn that it is not part of the MCU but we are close to knowing the truth. Don’t you think?
