Moon Knight is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Doug Moench and artist Don Perlin, the character first appeared in Werewolf by Night #32 (August 1975) as a mercenary antagonist before being recast as a superhero in subsequent appearances.[1] Moon Knight is typically portrayed as a street-level vigilante with minimal superhuman abilities, relying instead on his athletic conditioning, expert hand-to-hand combat training, and detective skills to fight crime.
The Jewish-American son of a rabbi, Marc Spector served as a Force Recon Marine before becoming a mercenary alongside his friend Jean-Paul "Frenchie" DuChamp. He is killed by the mercenary Raoul Bushman, but the Egyptian moon god Khonshu resurrects him as his avatar. Returning to the United States, Spector becomes the crimefighter Moon Knight, aided by Frenchie and archaeologist Marlene Alraune, who becomes his lover. In addition to his costumed identity, he maintains three other personas: billionaire businessman Steven Grant and taxicab driver Jake Lockley, both used to gather information, and Mr. Knight, a suited detective who consults openly with law enforcement. Multiple storylines depict Moon Knight as having dissociative identity disorder, with the Grant and Lockley alters traced back to his childhood, though other accounts attribute his multiple personalities to physical alterations made to his mind by Khonshu rather than a clinical condition.[2]
Moon Knight received his first ongoing series in 1980, with Moench and artist Bill Sienkiewicz as the main creative team. The character has since headlined nine ongoing series and numerous limited series spanning over four decades, with notable runs by writers including Charlie Huston, Warren Ellis, Jeff Lemire, and Jed MacKay. He has also been a recurring member of teams including the West Coast Avengers and the Secret Avengers.
The character has made appearances in various media outside of comics, including animated series and video games. Oscar Isaac portrays the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series Moon Knight (2022). Moon Knight has long been regarded as a cult favorite among superhero comics readers, and commentators have frequently compared him to Batman given shared traits such as wealth, detective skills, and the use of multiple identities, though writers and critics have consistently argued that his psychological complexity, Egyptian mythology, and mercenary background distinguish him as a substantially different character.
Development
In an interview, Doug Moench recalled the character's genesis: "Somebody mentioned in the office and suggested using The Committee, and that I should bring The Committee back, and then I found out who The Committee were and thought, well they're really boring, I don't wanna use them. And then I thought, well wait a minute, how about if The Committee hires a mercenary to kill the Werewolf. And I thought, yeah that's a good idea, then I create this new character and it won't be these boring guys in business suits, it would be a flashy character. So, I said who is best to kill the Werewolf? Well, someone who uses silver weapons because silver hurts the Werewolf. And tied to the night, because the Werewolf only comes out at night, and I'll base this character on the Moon, because the Moon makes the Werewolf change, and this is going to be the opposite of the Werewolf, and as soon as I said the Moon I said, ooh I'll have a costume that's just like the Moon, just black and white, jet and silver, no color on the costume."[3]
Don Perlin also commented on the creation of the character, "We were told we needed a costumed character in the book. So Doug and I created Moon Knight. I wanted the costume to be just black and white. Since he'd be on a color page, that would make him a little bit different. He had a silver baton he could use when he battled werewolves. See, he was hired to track down to kill the Werewolf."[4]
Publication history
The character debuted in Werewolf by Night #32 (August 1975), written by Doug Moench with art by Don Perlin and Al Milgrom, as a mercenary hired by the Committee to capture the title character. The creative team gave Moon Knight moon-related symbols and silver weapons (a metal poisonous to a werewolf) to mark him as a suitable antagonist for the werewolf hero. The two-part story continues into #33,[5] when Moon Knight realizes Russell is a victim rather than a monster and decides to help him. A demonic vision of Moon Knight then appeared in Werewolf by Night #37 (March 1976).
Editors Marv Wolfman and Len Wein liked the character and decided to give him a solo story in Marvel Spotlight #28–29 (June/August 1976),[6] again written by Doug Moench with art by Don Perlin. The story, along with
Fictional character biography
Origin
Born in Chicago, Marc Spector is the Jewish-American son of Elias Spector, a rabbi who survived Nazi persecution. In the Othervoid, a realm outside of normal time and space, the entity Khonshu (once worshipped as a moon god by the people of Ancient Egypt) becomes interested in Marc. Khonshu and those like him cannot leave the Othervoid without great difficulty but can create psychic connections with hosts and avatars in the physical universe of Earth. Believing Marc Spector to have a "weak mind" that makes him vulnerable to psychic connection, Khonshu chooses the boy to one day act as his knight and avatar. After Khonshu chooses Marc, the boy discovers by chance that Rabbi Yitz Perlman, a close friend of his family, is really a Nazi named Ernst who continues to target and murder Jews. Marc fights Perlman and escapes. Perlman then disappears without a trace.[26]
Soon afterward, Marc Spector begins showing signs of dissociative identity disorder. Marc believes he meets and befriends a boy named Steven Grant, not realizing he himself is acting as Steven at times.[21] In a vision, Marc sees Khonshu promising to one day heal the boy's mind.
Powers and abilities
Skills and training
Moon Knight is an Olympic-level athlete and a skilled acrobat who excels at combat strategy. Spector is a superb driver and can pilot a helicopter. Thanks to his life experience and training as a U.S. Marine, boxer, and mercenary, Marc Spector became an expert at hand-to-hand combat, marksmanship, boxing,[99] kung fu, eskrima, judo,[100] karate, ninjutsu, savate,[101] and Muay Thai. Moon Knight's fighting style combines elements of various combat techniques and relies heavily on adaptability, using the environment to his advantage, intimidating his opponents, and accepting a certain level of pain and injury. The villain and mercenary Taskmaster, who can perfectly replicate fighting styles, has stated he prefers not to copy Moon Knight since the hero would sometimes rather take a punch than block or dodge it.
Supporting characters
Allies
Throughout his different stories, certain supporting characters frequently help Marc Spector in his activities as Moon Knight. Marlene Alraune is an archaeologist whose father is murdered by Raoul Bushman, the same encounter through which she first meets Marc Spector. She becomes a long-term ally, advisor, and romantic partner to Spector, and later the mother of his daughter, Diatrice Alraune. Despite initially doubting the existence of Khonshu, she comes to accept his reality over time, though she consistently encourages Spector to abandon violence. The two separate on multiple occasions throughout the series.[36] Greer Grant Nelson, known as Tigra, is a superhero and member of the Avengers who enters into a romantic relationship with Spector during his time in Los Angeles. Maya Lopez, known as Echo, is a deaf superhero and skilled martial artist who becomes romantically involved with Spector during Brian Michael Bendis's run on the character.
Jean-Paul DuChamp, known as Frenchie, is Moon Knight's helicopter pilot and closest friend, having met Spector after he left the Marines. Though a mercenary by trade, DuChamp is portrayed as principled and becomes a consistent supporter of Spector's activities as Moon Knight. His husband, Rob Silverman, also appears as a supporting character. Bertrand Crawley, a homeless former textbook salesman, and Gena Landers, a diner manager, both serve as street-level informants, primarily in Spector's Jake Lockley identity.
Cultural impact and reception
Critical response
Matt Attanasio of ComicsVerse referred to Moon Knight as the "excellent example of how anyone can suffer from a mental illness and manage to overcome such an illness," writing, "When you look at Moon Knight's story as a whole, it appears to be more and more of a story about perseverance, endurance, and coming to grips with who you are. That's an extremely universal story. That's something anyone can relate to, in one way or another. It's a call to believe in yourself, and to never give up. And, really, that's one of the most heroic tales you can get."[146] Syfy called Moon Knight an "unusual fan favorite," saying, "For decades, some fans have affectionately called Moon Knight "Marvel's Batman." But that's not a strictly accurate way to describe the Fist of Khonshu, who's his own man. [...] While Spector's public cover as a millionaire is definitely Bruce Wayne-lite, what separates the Moon Knight from the Dark Knight is that he has three secret identities.[147] Chase Magnett of ComicBook.com stated, "Ever since Moon Knight premiered in the pages of Werewolf by Night in 1975, he has been a cult favorite among superhero fans. It took until 1980 for the complicated hero and his many personalities to get their own ongoing series. It was a hit from the very start with two of the great talents of the era doing career-defining work (we'll get to who).
In other media
Television
- According to author Doug Moench, a Moon Knight series was licensed by Toei for production in Japan,[180] but was instead serialized as a manga from 1979–1980.
- Moon Knight appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "The Moon Knight Before Christmas", voiced by Diedrich Bader.[181][182] This version follows the Moon's advice.
- Moon Knight appears in Avengers Assemble, voiced by
Collected editions
External links
- Moon Knight at Marvel.com
- Comic Foundry – The Conversation: Doug Moench + Charlie Huston
- Moon Knight at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016.
- Marc Spector at Marvel Wiki
References
- Tom DeFalco, Peter Sanderson, Tom Brevoort, Michael Teitelbaum, Daniel Wallace, Andrew Darling, Matt Forbeck, Alan Cowsill. The Marvel Encyclopedia DK Publishing, 2019^
- Moon Knight (vol. 4) #1 (Marvel Comics, 2014).^
- RETROSPECTIVE: Doug Moench Interview (June 2019) YouTube, January 2, 2021^