Moon Knight
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.
The son of a rabbi, Marc Spector served as a Force Recon Marine and briefly as a CIA operative before becoming a mercenary alongside his friend Jean-Paul "Frenchie" DuChamp. He is killed by Raoul Bushman, but the god Khonshu resurrects him as his avatar. After returning to the United States, Spector becomes the crimefighter Moon Knight, aided by Frenchie and Marlene Alraune, who becomes his lover. Along with his costumed alter ego, he uses three other identities to gain information: billionaire businessman Steven Grant, taxicab driver Jake Lockley, and suited detective and police consultant Mr. Knight. It is later revealed Moon Knight has dissociative identity disorder and that the Grant and Lockley alters emerged during his childhood.
In most depictions, Moon Knight has no abilities beyond his athleticism and detective skills. For a time, he had superhuman strength and durability derived from the phases of the moon, but this ability later vanished.
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.
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."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."
Publication history
The character debuted in Werewolf by Night #32, 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 to mark him as a suitable antagonist for the werewolf hero. The two-part story continues into #33, 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.Editors Marv Wolfman and Len Wein liked the character and decided to give him a solo story in Marvel Spotlight #28–29, again written by Doug Moench with art by Don Perlin. The story, along with Spectacular Spider-Man #22–23 written by Bill Mantlo, recast Moon Knight as a more heroic character. His association with the evil Committee during his first appearance was retconned to be an undercover mission he undertook to learn more about the villains. Moon Knight acted as a hero again in Marvel Two-in-One #52, written by Steven Grant with art by Jim Craig. In The Defenders #47–51, Moon Knight briefly joined the Defenders during their war against the Zodiac Cartel.
Moon Knight appeared in recurring backup stories in Hulk! Magazine #11–15, #17–18, and #20, as well as a black and white story in the magazine publication Marvel Preview #21, all written by Doug Moench. Artist Bill Sienkiewicz drew Moon Knight in Hulk! Magazine issues #13–15, 17–18, and #20, creating a new look for the character heavily influenced by the art of Neal Adams, who at that time was most popular for his work on Batman and Green Lantern/Green Arrow for DC Comics. This, along with Moon Knight's methods and the atmosphere of his stories, cemented a perception among some readers that he was Marvel's version of Batman. The Hulk backups and Marvel Preview issue provided Moon Knight with a partial origin story and introduced his brother, recurring villain Randall Spector.
Volume 1
Moon Knight received his first ongoing series in 1980, with Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz as its main creative team. The character received an expanded origin story in issue #1, including Spector's "resurrection" in the tomb of Khonshu, suggested by editor Denny O'Neil), which also introduced several supporting characters as well as recurring enemy Bushman. Though many characters doubted the moon god Khonshu was real and believed Marc Spector only experienced a hallucination while near death, it was never explained why others, such as Spector's lover Marlene, concluded this when there was no other explanation for Marc's spontaneous recovery from his wounds and a death-like state.After early sales were good, Marvel made the Moon Knight series a flagship title available in comic shops starting with issue #15. The companion mini-series Moon Knight: Special Edition reprinted the Hulk and Marvel Preview Moon Knight stories in color and standard comic format, adapted from their original magazine format. Sienkiewicz stopped penciling the series after issue #30, though he continued to contribute covers until the series ended with issue #38.
Volume 2
In 1985, Marvel retooled the character with a new 6-issue mini-series Moon Knight by Alan Zelenetz and Chris Warner. The mini-series was titled "Fist of Khonshu". Only the first 4 issues were written by Zelenetz, the final two issues were each written by a different author. Along with giving Moon Knight new Egyptian-themed weaponry, this mini-series reveals that Marc Spector's strength now increases in accordance to the phases of the moon.Marvel Fanfare and West Coast Avengers
Following the "Fist of Khonshu" mini-series, Moon Knight appeared in Marvel Fanfare for two issues and became a regular cast member in West Coast Avengers, written by Steve Englehart. When John Byrne became the series writer, Moon Knight was written out of the West Coast Avengers team.Marc Spector: Moon Knight
After a guest spot in Punisher Annual #2, the character was given a new ongoing title in 1989, Marc Spector: Moon Knight, originally under the direction of writer Chuck Dixon. Two one-shots, Marc Spector: Moon Knight – Special Edition #1 and Moon Knight: Divided We Fall, were published during the run of the title. Dixon then left the series after issue #24, leaving several storylines unresolved such as the fate of Moon Knight's errant sidekick, the second Midnight, who was seemingly killed by the terrorist organization known as the Secret Empire. Midnight II's fate and plotline were later resolved in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #353–358, written by Al Milgrom.Marc Spector: Moon Knight ended with #60. Marc Spector seemingly dies in the issue, sacrificing himself while battling a villain called Seth the Immortal. His body is recovered and then buried by his allies. The final storyline was written by Terry Kavanagh and with art by Stephen Platt, who was then hired by Image Comics based on the strength of his work during several of the series' final issues.