Hello and welcome to another great character spotlight, right here in Marvel Snapshot! In this edition, we’ll be looking at one of Marvel’s heroes who has not only a unique personality shall we say, but also a really crazy life and circumstances surrounding his afflictions. Moon Knight is the subject we’ll be discussing, and I can’t wait! The character debuted in Werewolf by Night #32 (1975), and was created by Doug Moench and Don Perlin!
Marc Spector, the son of a Rabbi, has been a boxer and a mercenary. It is the latter profession that is the link to his legacy, however. Marc was working for a man named Raoul Bushman, and on a job in Egypt they discovered an archaeological expedition, when Bushman decided to kill the man in charge and loot the site. Spector disagrees with Bushman, and the two fight. Bushman nearly kills him, though, and leaves him for dead. A group of cultists find him, and take him to their temple. As he’s on the precipice of death, he’s confronted by Khonshu, an Egyptian god. He restores life to Spector, but on the bargain that he will be his willing servant for whatever he decides. Thus, Moon Knight is born!
Spector changes his life to include several identities. This way, he’ll be able to keep his underworld contacts, and also seem legitimate to the public eye. He uses the money he gained while being a mercenary to build up a decent fortune, and becomes the masked crime fighter Moon Knight! In his first appearance, he battles the savage Werewolf by Night, Jack Russell. With his abilities, and the use of silver, he defeats the monster, and takes him to the organization that hired him. He then turns on the criminal organization, and also battles the monster once more. Khonshu then possesses the body of Spector.
Later on, he joins the West Coast Avengers. He begins a relationship with Tigra, and they go on a mission to the past. Then the WCA must help in a fight where Seth is invading Asgard, and Khonshu leaves Spector’s body to fight Seth. At this point, Spector quits the team, because he didn’t want to join in the first place, but Khonshu forced him to do it. Afterwards, Spector actually dies, but Khonshu resurrects him to keep serving as his avatar.
Further adventures include working with the Punisher, a part in the crossover “Acts of Vengeance,” a battle with his brother, Randal, more team-ups with the Avengers, nearly killing the Black Panther, and even donning a suit made of adamantium at one point! Even later still, Moon Knight is caught in the crossfire of Civil War, and he deteriorates mentally even further than what he had before. Whether fighting crime or his multiple personalities are fighting each other, Marc Spector is definitely a character to keep an eye on moving forward!
As usual, check out my recommended reading list, along with some great pics of Moonie in action! See you next time!
Recommended Reading
Essential Moon Knight vol. 1 & 2 (Tpb)
Avengers West Coast Omnibus vol. 2 (HC)
Moon Knight (1998) #1-4
Moon Knight (1999) #1-4
Secret Avengers (various appearances)
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
Moon Knight is one of those characters that I REALLY wanted to like but it seems as if I just couldn’t get into him for too long. Some of the stories were just blah after a while but then he’d be involved in something freakin’ great and I’d miss it!
Oh, and that first pic up there if AWESOME!
I love his mental instability…not trying to be mean about it, but it just makes the character a lot more interesting. Bill Sienkiewicz was the man when it came to Moonie!
I know his condition was a huge plot device in his newest series but I needed something more. Hopefully his upcoming series will be a bit more enjoyable