Name

Current Alias

Aliases

Let's establish some parameters. I'm notSpider-Man. And I'm not thePunisher. They represent theextreme ends of the same costumed spectrum. I'mMoon Knight. Andyou all know that meansone thing. No one inthis bar--myself included--knows preciselywhat I am capable of. I beat theAvengers.Imagine what I could do toany one ofyou.

Early Life[]

Marc Spector was born inChicago,Illinois, the son of a rabbi who as a child had managed to escapeNazi persecution afterHitler invadedCzechoslovakia. Marc grew up on the poor side of the city, where his fatherElias was the target of discrimination; Marc couldn't understand why his father would never fight back against persecution.^[48] He grew up with his younger brotherRandall. His father would walk his kids to school every day, but him being a Rabbi caused Randall to be bullied, but Marc was there to defend him.^[49] His father was disappointed with his boys' violent nature and their obsession with war; he believed that they should concentrate on their education, but his wife dismissed this as boys being boys.^[50]

During the last years of his childhood, Marc discovered by chance that a close friend of his family,Rabbi Yitz Perlman, was in reality a Nazi deserter and secretly a serial killer of Jews named Ernst. Marc's fighting instinct kicked off for the first time when he fended off against Perlman to escape his grasp. Perlman later disappeared without a trace. This traumatic event also caused Marc to develop adissociative identity disorder.^[51] The first alters developed by Marc were Steven Grant and Jake Lockley. Shortly before Elias decided to intern Marc at thePutnam Psychiatric Hospital, Marc was approached for the first time by the Egyptian deityKhonshu, claiming to be Marc's true progenitor.^[52] After his father's death, Marc was allowed to leave the hospital temporarily to attend the funeral and a late luncheon, but, after hearing Khonshu's voice, he ran away. After his death Marc resented his father, believing that Elias was embarrassed by him.^[36]

Knightly Origins[]

Marc enlisted in theU.S. Marine Corps and served for three years. On his second tour inIraq, his superiors caught notice of Marc's bizarre behavior. After his past was dug up, Marc was dishonorably discharged.^[36] He later joined theCIA, and worked with several people who would later interact with Moon Knight, includingWilliam Cross,Amos Lardner, and his own brother, Randall Spector. Randall killed Spector's girlfriendLisa with a hatchet to keep her from exposing a gun-running scheme; Spector retaliated with a grenade and assumed Randall was dead.^[53]

Once he left the CIA, Spector enrolled in illegal fights, where he befriended"Frenchie" Duchamp and both became soldiers-for-hire.^[54] They took on several assignments, mainly inAfrica andSouth America. Spector later went to trial for assassinating the president ofBosqueverde, a South American country.^[55][36]

During this time, Spector and Frenchie sometimes did missions as part of theKarnak Cowboys, and Spector eventually became romantically involved with their colleagueLayla El-Faouly. After an escape gone wrong, however, Layla apparently lost her life, a loss that eventually led Spector to meetRaoul Bushman,^[56] inEgypt.^[54] Together, they travelled toNorth Sudan, near the Egyptian border,^[57][30] for a raid on an archaeological site. When Bushman killed the lead archaeologist,Peter Alraune, to find an Egyptian pharaoh's tomb, Spector punched Bushman to protect Alraune's daughter,Marlene. Furious, Bushman mortally wounded him in the desert, killing everyone in the place except for Marlene, Frenchie and a villager willing to tell him the secrets of the tomb. Spector managed to reach the tomb before he collapsed, and Marlene and the crew laid him beneath anidol of Khonshu. His spirit had an encounter with Khonshu, who promised to save his life in exchange for his service. Spector agreed, although he later considered this encounter a hallucination. Restored to life, he punished Bushman's men, while Bushman himself escaped.^[19][58]

Phases of the Moon[]

Having finally found a purpose in life, Spector applied himself fully. He moved toNew York with Frenchie and Marlene (now his lover), and developed the costume, equipment, and persona of Moon Knight. With a fortune made from gambling, in addition to support his new career of fighting crime, he began using his Steven Grant persona as a financier and Jake Lockley as a cab driver whose purpose was to gather information at street level. His original persona, with its multiple facets, faded into the background. Still, leading four separate lives put great mental stress on Spector. Lockley developed a network of informants, including the homelessBertrand Crawley,diner ownerGena Landers, and her two sons,Ricky andRay.^[37][59]

Werewolf by Night[]

Since the criminal fraternity had yet to hear of Moon Knight, Spector used his anonymity to spy on theLos Angeles-based crime cartel known as theCommittee. Frenchie, as "Monsieur LeBlanc," infiltrated the group to investigate their underworld financial dealings. When the Committee became interested in capturing the werewolfJack Russell, Frenchie, a French industrialist, recommended they hire Spector for his mercenary skills. He outfitted Spector as Moon Knight, an identity "LeBlanc" falsely claimed to have devised, with a silver battle suit resembling Khonshu's statue.^[60] Posing as a villain, Spector was asked to prove his loyalty by capturing the so-called Werewolf by Night. Armed with silver weapons, Moon Knight fought the Werewolf for hours^[2][61][62] until dawn transformed him into the more easily defeated Jack. Moon Knight brought Russell, his loverTopaz, and his sisterLissa to the Committee. A sympathetic Spector ultimately betrayed the Committee by freeing Russell and rescuing Topaz and Lissa when he realized Jack's humanity and learned the Committee intended to turn Russell into an assassin under their control and hoped Lissa would become a werewolf as well. Russell's ferocious alter ego helped Moon Knight destroy the Committee and brought a temporary halt to the Committee's operations.^[1]

Continued Work[]

Spector facedConquer-Lord on his own^[63] before briefly joining theDefenders to battle aLife Model Decoy version of theZodiac.^[64] The first skeleton from Spector's closet to bedevil Moon Knight was William Cross (now the villain Crossfire), from whom Spector rescued theThing.^[65] He metSpider-Man for the first time when they teamed up against theMasked Marauder, who at the time called himself "Big M" and employed the originalCyclone.^[66]

Moon Knight had reached the big time and encountered super-villains with more frequency. Very early on, he had to face a serial killer dubbed the Hatchet-Man, who claimed to be his brother Randall.^[67] Later on, Spector investigated the death of Amos Lardner when his body arrived in a crate on Spector's doorstep. He learned that Amos' brotherJames had become a test subject in a CIA experiment (one that Spector himself had participated in), and when Amos investigated, he was forced to undergo the same treatment and committed suicide as a result.^[68]

Spector faced other menaces: some super-powered, some insane, some simply ambitious, but all dangerous. He confronted theSlasher, a man slaying homeless people in an effort to find his father. He tracked down Bushman and sent him to jail,^[19] but Bushman struck back by havingMidnight Man (a more recent foe)^[69] destroy Spector's idol of Khonshu. By this time Spector was convinced that Khonshu had given him his powers, as well as a focus in life. His precarious self-control broke down until Marlene produced another idol, which she claimed was the original.^[70]

Moon Knight's next major foe,Morpheus, turned out to be a patient of Doctor Peter Alraune, Marlene's brother.^[71] The idol of Khonshu sustained Spector again when he first encountered theBlack Spectre, who tried to terrorize people into supporting his bid for mayor. Nobody, including Dr. Alraune, believed Spector when he claimed that Knowles was the Black Spectre, but Khonshu gave him the strength to prevail.^[72]

A battle with theFly left Spector unable to walk, but he quickly recovered.^[73] To stop an ancient Egyptian curse, Spector briefly hosted the spirit of a priest of Khonshu, which helped to integrate his personalities,^[74] but later Spector suffered another serious mental breakdown and decided to abandon all of his alternate identities to settle down with Marlene; by reconciling with his father's legacy, though, he found a measure of peace and decided to retire from crime-fighting.^[75]

Night of the Jackal[]

As part of his new life, Spector gave up his Grant identity and sold the idol at a gallery inParis. He had a vision, however, telling him that "the image is delivered up to evil." Called back to action as Moon Knight, he learned that Marlene could no longer tolerate his schizophrenic behavior, and she left him. In the EgyptianValley of the Kings, Spector met three ancient priests of Khonshu, who told him that Khonshu had chosen him as an earthly champion and gave him new weapons. Only later did Spector realize that Khonshu himself was influencing him subconsciously.^[16]

West Coast Avengers[]

Spector joined theWest Coast Avengers for a time after rescuing some of their members who had been time-shifted to Pharaonic Egypt.Hawkeye got help from Khonshu, in exchange for designing Moon Knight's new weaponry. Khonshu alerted Spector in the present day, who helped the Avengers return home safely.^[38]

While an Avenger, Spector became romantically involved withTigra,^[76][77], who he'd met some time before on a visit to theAvengers Mansion.^[78] After a while, there was a controversy amongst the team upon the discovery that Hawkeye's wifeMockingbird had allowed thePhantom Rider (who had sexually assaulted her) to die while cast away in time. Spector, Tigra, and Mockingbird left the team as a splinter group. Together withBill Foster they daunted theHigh Evolutionary, and they also fought theNight Shift. When they consulted withHellstorm about Phantom Rider's ghost haunting Mockingbird, Spector learned of Khonshu's presence in his own psyche, and Hellstorm convinced theMoon god to depart.^[79]

New Warriors[]

Back in New York, Spector reunited with Marlene and went back to less-cosmic crime-fighting.^[80] He soon learned thatJeff Wilde, the son of his old foe Midnight Man, had tried to take his place during his time on the West Coast and now wanted to become an ally as Midnight. The new Midnight fought crime for some time together with Spector, until Midnight was seemingly disintegrated during battle with theSecret Empire. Wilde had survived, however, and was turned into a cyborg soldier by the Secret Empire, told that Moon Knight had been responsible for his father's death. These difficulties with the Empire drew Spector (as well asDarkhawk,New WarriorsNight Thrasher andNova, thePunisher, and Spider-Man) into a near war.^[81] At the end of the climactic battle, Wilde again seemingly perished, this time crushed by debris when the Empire's headquarters collapsed around him.^{[citation needed]}

Shadowknight[]

Spector underwent another near-death experience.^[32] He then found that his brother, Randall had survived, and in addition had been trying to take his place as Khonshu's champion. Randall (as Shadowknight) succeeded in usurping Spector's powers temporarily. With the Punisher's help, Spector defeated Shadowknight.^[82] The power levels of his foes kept increasing, so Spector continually upgraded his own equipment. He retooled his Kevlar armor and steelcrescent darts withAdamantium and his public persona with a firm namedSpectorCorp.^{[citation needed]}

Infinity War and Infinity Crusade[]

During theInfinity War, Spector had to contend withMoon Shade, an evil twin of himself created by theMagus (himself an evil twin ofAdam Warlock). Luckily, Moon Shade suffered from the same blunted focus caused by Spector's multiple personalities, while Moon Shade's threat had the effect of sharpening Spector's own focus. Moon Shade also had an Achilles' heel: the adamantium in Spector's new weapons.^[83][84] During another cosmic event, theInfinity Crusade, theGoddess (another aspect of Warlock) selected Spector as one of the most spiritual beings on Earth, thanks to his near-death experiences and his devotion to Khonshu.^[85][86][87]

The Final Phase[]

Seth Phalkon attacked SpectorCorp with a computer virus. Rather than let it destroy the entire conglomerate and his employees, Spector quarantined it in his own building, Shadowkeep, along with himself. He died in the ensuing meltdown.^[33]

Resurrection War[]

Khonshu resurrected Spector again to counter another plot by Seth, who had recruited Spector's old foes Bushman, the Black Spectre, and Morpheus. Using an idol ofSeth, they tried to break up a peace conference at the UN. Spector foiled the plot by destroying the idol.^[88]

Marvel Knights[]

Despite his mistrust of teams, Spector joined a group that tried to bring in the Punisher for his excessive vigilantism, and he put up the funds for a headquarters.Zaran wounded Spector severely, and the team's building exploded in the same attack. Drained of money, health, and enthusiasm, Spector retired again.^[89]

The Bottom[]

Spector finally exorcised one of his demons after a brutal rooftop battle, when he killed Bushman and used the sharp end of his crescent dart to carve off Bushman's face, unaware that the battle had been set up by a new generation of the Committee.^[90] Moon Knight survived, albeit with damaged knees. Crippled and despondent, he turned to pills and alcohol for a time after pushing away his loved ones and keeping himself isolated.^[15] After Frenchie was severely beaten right after meeting with Marc and coming out of the closet to him, Marc tracked down his assailant and then returned to his role as Moon Knight.^[91] These events forced Spector to shake off his lethargy, at the price of some of his psychological stability.^{[citation needed]}

Marc still believed that he was Khonshu's champion, but in his mind Khonshu wore the mutilated face of Bushman as well as appearing as others from Spector's past.^[92] The Committee sentTaskmaster to kill Spector but was shot out of a window instead with help from Marlene andSamuels. After returning home Spector had his wounds bandaged and, despite his injuries, dressed in his costume and flew one of hisMoon-copters into theirManhattan office building and resumed his fight with Taskmaster.^[93] After defeating a terrified Taskmaster he left the destroyed office with the Committee's file on him and cleaned up his life including going to physical therapy. Despite this he didn't feel ready to fully act as Moon Knight again and in an argument with the Bushman hallucination, Khonshu revealed that he had planted the seeds of vengeance in the minds of the New Committee and subtly manipulated them so Marc would pray to him, believe in him more and become more vengeful.^[94]

Civil War and Midnight Sun[]

TheCivil War mostly passed him by, althoughCaptain America told him to stay on the sidelines because he thought Spector belonged in a straitjacket,^[95] andTony Stark approached him shortly before the final battle in theSuperhuman Registration Act conflict, knowing that Captain America had contacted him and requested that he tell him if he heard from him again.^[96]

Around this time he also went up against the new Midnight who was obsessed with him and wanted to be his arch enemy, killing people to get his attention until Moon Knight ultimately killed him after being freed byLynn Church who believed Midnight was going too far after he began trying to remove Moon Knight's vertebra from his back with a pair of pliers instead of allowing him to kill them as they actually wanted.^[97]

Soon after, with the Civil War now over, Marc made the decision to register with the government to ensure that no one would be trying to arrest him while he was 'working'. He used information gathered byProfile on the Doctor who was going to perform his interview to frighten, intimidate and essentially blackmail him into passing his application, as he knew the authorities would initially try to arrest and or commit him otherwise. Spector was registered as an independent with little oversight as he had aimed for.^[22]

Moon Knight had to fake his own death whenOsborn sent hisThunderbolts to kill him. After that, he fled toMexico using the name Jake Lockley for a while.^[98] He eventually met up with the Punisher and theZapata Brothers to help saveCarmen Alcantara fromher father's drug cartel.^[99]

Shock and Awe[]

Sometime after, Moon Knight returned to New York with the intention of being a hero but still struggled against his violent nature and was hounded by a small imaginary Khonshu. While trying to walk the path of good, he made a bold return by stopping a bank robbery without killing any of the robbers.^[100] Much to Norman Osborn's disdain, Moon Knight was now a hero and not a murderous vigilante, so he summoned theHood and Profile to take care of him.^[101] The Hood supernaturally revived Bushman and recruited him as part of his force to combat Moon Knight.^[49] When investigating a warehouse at the docks, Moon Knight was ambushed and shot by Bushman. The two engaged in a violent fight and Bushman ended up impaled by a machine gun. As Moon Knight was about to carve off Bushman's face once more, a vision of Khonshu appeared, yelling at Moon Knight to obey him. Bushman then pleaded for Moon Knight not to take his face off, and Moon Knight reluctantly did not.^[102]

Secret Avengers[]

When Steve Rogers took the reins ofAmerica's superhuman infrastructure from the disgraced Norman Osborn, he set to rebuilding the Avengers.^[103] Moon Knight's renewed integrity won him membership in Rogers'sSecret Avengers espionage squad.^[104] TheBlack Widow andValkyrie discovered an evil aliencrown in aRoxxon facility inDubai, one of three crowns that could tap into the power of the evil cosmicDark Children. Rogers sent Nova to investigate a Roxxon drilling facility onMars controlled by the sinisterShadow Council, a subversive organization allied with the Dark Children and led by rogueMax Fury, an experimental self-aware LMD with Nick Fury's memories and training; apparently ageless Civil War veteranAloysius Thorndrake;^[39] and super-durable super-soldierJohn Steele, a former comrade of Rogers's duringWorld War II. This group sought to free the Dark Children and their unidentified father from a side-reality prison, presumably to gain power.^[105] Max and his Shadow Council agents were brought into conflict with the Secret Avengers when Max infiltrated the Avengers' airborne headquarters to retrieve another previously uncovered crown. When Nova encountered theCrown of Thorns and was possessed by it,^[39] Rogers led the rest of the Secret Avengers to Mars to rescue Nova and stop Roxxon's drilling.^[106] There they were aided by theArchon, an ancient alien guardian of the crowns, and the collectiveXandarian Worldmind,^[105] which empowered Rogers with theNova Force to enable him to defeat Nova. The Secret Avengers freed Nova, who subsequently received a deep-space distress signal and departed.^[107]

The Secret Avengers next rescued a hijacked oil tanker fromCaptain Barracuda and hisBlack Mast pirates. Despite Barracuda's mysticalGlove of Asteria, which allowed him to generate deadly air currents, and his monster-summoningProteus Horn, the Avengers rescued the crew and retreated while Barracuda apparently sank to a watery grave.^[108] When the Chaos KingAmatsu-Mikaboshi laid siege to the supernatural realms, he invaded theDream Dimension, where he destroyed its master,Nightmare, usurping his power over dreams; with Nightmare's powers added to his own, the Chaos King invaded the minds of many mortal heroes, including Moon Knight, and cast them into comas.^[109] After the Chaos King's defeat,Hercules used his temporary omnipotence to reverse the damage inflicted by the Chaos King, essentially rebuilding reality and resurrecting the slain.^[110] Later, Deadpool found himself the newest member of the Secret Avengers along withSteve Rogers,Black Widow, andMoon Knight.^[111] However, unbeknownst to Deadpool, the team was not actually the Secret Avengers but imperfect genetic clones created by the evil geniusDoctor Bong to steal weapons of mass destruction for profit on the black market. When the actual Secret Avengers finally arrived, the real Steve and Deadpool battled until Bong destroyed the entire building.^[112] The heroes were captured but liberated by Deadpool. Freed, Moon Knight scouted Bong's warehouse, joining Rogers and Widow in battling Deadpool-uniformed clones. He snapped a regenerating impostor's neck, chased Bong after the latter's truck exploded, and helped Deadpool restrain the villain once Wade sliced off Bong's hand.^[113]

Shadowland[]

WhenDaredevil took leadership of theHand ninja clan,^[114] he became corrupted by the clan's patron demon,the Beast, erectingShadowland—an imposing, castle-like fortress inHell's Kitchen.^[115] From there, he ordered his ninjas onto the streets of his domain. Daredevil anticipated Moon Knight would become a threat; to neutralize him, he recruited Spector's enemy, the Profile, to find Spector's brother, Randall, and convince him Khonshu had chosen Randall as his new avatar. Meanwhile, Steve Rogers recruited Spector to infiltrate Shadowland as a civilian prisoner.^[50][116] Marlene became pregnant, but Randall returned, again intent on supplanting Marc, and beat Marlene, killing her fetus.^[50] Fellow heroes confronted Daredevil in Shadowland, hoping to persuade him to turn back from his dark path. However, the encounter descended into open conflict.^[116][117] Elsewhere, theKingpin performed a ritual to conjure up theGhost Rider, sending him to lay siege to Shadowland. The Rider did so and freed the prisoners of Shadowland, including Spector,^[116] who joined the fray as Moon Knight.^[118] To overcome Randall, Moon Knight agreed to serve Khonshu again and obtained intelligence on theSapphire Crescent, a mystical Egyptian weapon capable of slaying the Beast.^[119] He tracked it toNew Orleans and purchased it, but Randall had followed him. To prevent Randall from killing hundreds of Mardi Gras festivalgoers with a suicide bomb, Moon Knight seemingly slew him with the Crescent, losing both his brother's body and the artifact in theGulf of Mexico. Again reconciled to Khonshu, Moon Knight resumed his Marc Spector persona.^[120]

The One-Man Avenger[]

Following his brief stint as a member of Steve Rogers's Secret Avengers, Moon Knight relocated toCalifornia and became a TV producer, establishing a new base of operations in Los Angeles; his multiple personalities also changed, developing three new personalities based on the forms of Spider-Man,Wolverine, and Captain America. For a time, Jake Lockley had been the hero's dominant personality, but Marc Spector was now back in control. He appeared confident and self-assured, riding high after producing a TV show called "Legend of Khonshu." Spector still suffered from a dissociative identity disorder, but he now used it to his advantage, leveraging his multiple personalities to help Moon Knight fight crime.^[121] While the assassinDaken was helpingFBI agentDonna Kiel investigate a case of someone with claws murdering young stars around L.A., the two were separated, and Daken was attacked by Moon Knight, who believed Daken was in fact the Claws Killer.^[122] Moon Knight and Donna Kiel worked together to discover if Daken had really been the killer all along untilMarcus Roston, the real murderer,^[123] manipulated Donna into convincing Moon Knight to abandon his search.^[124] Later, convinced he was Spider-Man, Marc confronted a nightclub operated bySnapdragon.^[14]

Snapdragon, employed by Los Angeles' new kingpin of crime, was running a blackmailing operation with strippers. Marc attempted to shut the operation down but got knocked out. Fortunately, he was saved by the deaf heroEcho, who was working undercover and had traveled to the West Coast to investigate a mysterious new Kingpin of Crime. In retaliation, Snapdragon put together a team to take out the adventurers with her employer's permission.^[14] The Shift were hired by Snapdragon to capture Moon Knight,^[13] but the vigilante defeated them.^[125] For their failure, the super-poweredCount Nefaria, revealed to be the secret crime Kingpin of Los Angeles, incinerated them, burningTatterdemalion and his allies to ashes.^[126] The Count's reign of evil was eventually brought to an end when he was taken down by the Avengers and a half-crazed Moon Knight who used the strategies of his personas to successfully defeat him after they discovered his identity^[127]—but, tragically, not before the Count killed Echo with an optic blast, vaporizing her heart.^[128] Once again, jail beckoned for Nefaria. TheUltron head they had been fighting over was given to Tony Stark before Spector returned to New York. Three months later, "Legend of Khonshu" was canceled.^[127]

From the Dead[]

After leaving the West Coast, Marc Spector returned to New York with a stack of laundered cash, plus new technology and weapons. Rededicated to being the protector of night travelers, he adopted an enhanced costume and high-tech equipment. But the troubled hero's persona remained fractured, and when a homicidalslasher began terrorizing the city, he investigated the case as the mysterious Mister Knight. Clad in a white suit and hood, Mister Knight learned details about the attack fromDetective Flint of theNYPD'sFreak Beat Task Force. Using his detective skills, Knight entered the city's tunnels and tracked his quarry to an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. base. The killer turned out to be a psychotic former agent who had been injured in a bomb blast and was using body parts from his victims to improve himself. Knight injured the murderer before killing him in self-defense as he was fired upon. As he returned to his rundown mansion, Spector reflected on recent developments in his life. In the past, he'd felt that his multiple personalities stemmed from dissociative identity disorder. However, he'd recently learned that this was untrue. In fact, on first becoming Moon Knight, his brain had been colonized by Khonshu—Egyptian God of Vengeance. Despite this,his psychologist had concluded that Spector was actually suffering from brain damage, and his ongoing multiple personality issues were diagnosed as his mind struggling to reconcile the recently revealed and shifting states of Khonshu's four different aspects: Pathfinder, Embracer, Defender, and Watcher of Overnight Travelers.^[3]

Spector tackled his next cases as Moon Knight: tracking a sniper killing former special operations agents turnedWall Street financiers,^[129] attempting to tackle the ghosts of a street gang,^[130] and revealing a dead body producing spores when called in byDoctor Skelton.^[131] After saving a little girl from kidnappers,^[132] Spector faced a more traditional adversary: OfficerRyan Trent, a colleague of Detective Flint turned Black Spectre, whose plan was to defeat Moon Knight and then reveal his true identity in the hope of gaining recognition. As Moon Knight confronted him, Trent was blown up by one of his own devices. The vigilante explained to the badly wounded Trent that his mistake was in wanting people to love him—whereas Moon Knight always triumphed because he had no such need.^[133] WhenGeneral Aliman Lor, a rebel leader fromAkima, came toAmerica to address the United Nations, a hitman tracked him, but Mister Knight intercepted him. As Lor fled, the hitman activated a drone EMP, blacking out the city. Marc subdued him, only to discover that his psychologist, Dr. Elisa Warsame, had orchestrated the hit.^[134] A hostage crisis subsequently unfolded at the World Trade Center. Moon Knight, summoned by Detective Flint, disarmed the bomb-wielding terrorist, but a leaked video caused controversy, leading to Flint's dismissal.^[135] Warsame hypnotized her patient and convinced Khonshu to leave Spector. Losing his powers and multiple personalities,^[136] Marc was captured after thwarting another attack^[137] but escaped custody.^[138] Khonshu ultimately returned, helping him stop Warsame from assassinating Lor.^[139]

In the nocturnal shadows of his rundown mansion, ghosts materialized around Marc Spector. Khonshu commanded him to forget his personal demons and to let the anguished souls guide him to the source of their sorrow. Following a trail of bloody footprints to a disused slaughterhouse, Moon Knight observed a gang using enhanced gloves to entrap ghosts as golden trophies. He launched a merciless assault, releasing the spirits from their orbs but rejected their thanks, declaring they should disappear before dawn.^[140] That night, a high-class restaurant was overrun by a pack of dogs, and, as the wealthy diners cowered in shock, the canines leapt at them, eager to tear at their flesh. Although badly injured, Moon Knight managed to follow the dogs to a scrapyard. Its owner confessed to loathing the city's moneyed elite and to training the animals to attack them.^[141] Defying Khonshu's instructions, Moon Knight battled a bogeyman terrorizing children. He obliterated the supernatural beast, whose stammering last words indicated Khonshu was its god too.^[142] Manhattan fell prey to another evil when residents began to be plucked from the streets by flyers ferrying them aloft. Using his Angel Wing glider, Moon Knight intercepted them. At their base, Moon Knight found a cult worshiping the goddess Raptor and freed the prisoners.^[143] Infiltrating a sect, he was shown human sacrifices to Khonshu. Their leader claimed they were pledged to serve Khonshu together. A violent battle ensued. One perished and one survived—Moon Knight. He and his god had made their peace.^[144]

Lunatic[]

When Marc Spector woke to find himself in a sanatorium, he had no recollection of how he had gotten there.^[145] An old patient revealed plans for a breakout. Joining them would be three other patients whom Spector vaguely recognized.^[146] Arriving in New York, they found it a deserted, sand-choked place now filled with pyramids.^[147] Regaining consciousness, Marlene felt drawn to the largest pyramid, and Spector followed. But then a figure dressed as Moon Knight^[148] dragged her inside. Spector came upon Seth, chained and enslaved. Seth blamed Khonshu for everything, and when Spector caught up with the mystery Moon Knight, he was revealed as Khonshu. The god admitted that the invasion was his doing. All he wanted was one last favor—to inhabit Spector's body so he could be born into his new world as its ruler. Spector refused and leapt from the pyramid in an apparent act of suicide. The next thing he knew, he was waking up as Steven Grant. And as he looked out of the window, he saw that New York was back to normal. But was this real life or just another fantasy?^[149] In reality, everything that had happened took place in Marc's head or as an abstraction.^[150] After a confrontation with his alternate identities, in which they seemed to disappear for good, Marc realized that, to become whole again, he must kill Khonshu.^[151] After returning to the hospital, he crushed an illusory Khonshu's head^[152] and thus reconciled his illness, leaving Marc able to reappropriate Khonshu.^[150]

Crazy Runs in the Family[]

Marc Spector finally reached peace, crafting an accord with the other personalities in his head. But that all came crashing down when a psychotic criminal and escaped mental patient with powers over fire who believed himself an aspect ofRa aimed to tear Moon Knight's world apart. Calling himselfSun King, he enlisted Marc's old nemesis Bushman^[153] to hit Marc where it really hurt by forcing his former lover Marlene to draw him into an ambush. The Sun King discovered one of Marc's personalities Jake Lockley had a child with Marc's former flame Marlene. Caught off guard as he was, Marc was even more shocked to learn about his young daughterDiatrice.^[154] Marc Spector fought through a gauntlet of enemies old and new as the Sun King joined with Bushman andthe Truth to attempt to destroy Moon Knight and everything he held dear, including the daughter he never knew he had. The villains kidnapped Marlene to lure Marc toIsle Ra.^[62] Marc left his newly discovered daughter with Frenchie and followed them. Once on the island, Marc and the Sun King engaged in a battle of wills wherein the Sun King broke Marc's spirit and made him doubt everything he thought he knew. Now a new day dawned, and a ritual was being prepared—a ritual to destroy Khonshu, Marc, and everything they ever loved in the all-powerful flames of Ra's risen sun.^[155] Spector overcame the odds and defeated the Sun King but now faced an even greater challenge: fatherhood.^[156]

Discovering he had a daughter caused Marc to undergo intense self-reflection. He opened up to Frenchie about his childhood trauma with a sadistic Nazi named Ernst. He talked with his daughter Diatrice about his mental illness. Marc Spector, once a man of war, was now trying to make peace—with his inner voices, his mental illness, and his past.^[51] Anambitious scientist attempted to get a group of misfits to combine mind, body, and soul, but his experiment went horribly wrong and created a mass of flesh and brains calling itselfthe Collective. Moon Knight arrived on the scene and tried to fight it but ended up being absorbed into the creature, finding all his personalities trapped within the shared mindscape—the Collective's unconscious.^[157] TheSociété des Sadiques, a secret group of uber-sadists, was holding its biannual feast for new inductees. Moon Knight infiltrated them, having discovered their sinister leader as none other than his "Uncle Ernst." But Ernst expected Marc to find him one day, and now he could follow through on his ultimate plan.^[158] Ernst put Marc through a gauntlet wherein he defeated the elite inner circle of the Société but was pushed to the very edge. But Ernst didn't want to kill him: he wanted Marc to see things his way.^[159] Marc fought his way back, defeated Ernst, and found his freedom—only to come face-to-face with his old nemesis Sun King.^[160] Marc joined forces with Sun King to take out Ernst's acolytes before they killed Diatrice.^[161]

Contagion[]

A deadly fungus escaped fromK'un-Lun and wound up in the subway tunnels beneathYancy Street, home of theFantastic Four. The fungus—called theUrchin—infected a young girl namedRuby and her friendAnton. Using Ruby as its host, the Urchin began to consume Manhattan.^[162] The city's heroes fought back, but nearly all of them—including theAvengers and three of the Fantastic Four—fell victim to the fungus. The Urchin absorbed the heroes' powers, making itself stronger and leaving them in comatose states.^[163] The rest of the Avengers were advised to stay away for fear of what the Urchin could do if it possessed their powers as well.^[164] Iron Man visited theSanctum Sanctorum, where the infected were being held for observation, to take samples of the fungus in hopes of finding a way to defeat the Urchin.^[165] After a week of failed attempts to stop the Urchin, only a handful of heroes remained:Iron Fist,Jessica Jones, Moon Knight, the Thing,Sparrow,Señor Mágico,Pei, andPiledriver. Moon Knight came up with a plan—one so crazy it might work. The plan? Let the Urchin infect him so he can get inside the monster's head and free the victims' minds. Out of time and out of options, the heroes returned to the street—where they faced an army of infected heroes commanded by the Urchin.^[166] By infecting himself with the virus, it allowed him to free other heroes like Pei who then liberated the other victims.^[167]

Serpent War[]

Marc then investigated a prophetic dream by order of Khonshu and ended up time traveling back to the late 1500sEngland after encountering the cult of Set theElder God. Across time, Marc Spector, the Moon Knight;Solomon Kane, the Paladin;Agnes, the Fighter; andConan, the Adventurer, were observed byJames Allison, a dying, bedridden man invalid with the unique ability to see his past heroic lives. James, guided by a mysterious and powerful force, transported Agnes to Conan's side in theKarpash Mountains in the ancientHyborian Age and Moon Knight, avatar of the Moon God Khonshu, to Solomon Kane in 1500sEurope. Now these unlikely allies would face an evil far greater than they could ever imagine.^[168] They were then tasked with destroying relics of magical power in an effort to weaken the serpent god Set. As the heroes faced off against Set's fanatical followers, including the priestessSatyne, little did they realize that they and James were being manipulated by theWyrm, an evil entity with a secret agenda all its own and making its own bid for power.^[169] As the truth began to dawn, Moon Knight and Conan were transported to anunearthly realm where Khonshu and Set were locked in battle. At last, Agnes, Kane, and Moon Knight joined Conan in the Hyborian Age for the final showdown.^[170] They all realized they were being manipulated by Wyrm the whole time and fought him. Khonshu then gave Marc the ability to return to his time.^[171]

The Age of Khonshu[]

After the Egyptian moon god Khonshu had a terrifying vision of a future ruled by Mephisto,^[17] his avatar Moon Knight set out to prevent it from occurring—at all costs. Moon Knight betrayed his former comrades, the Avengers, attacking and defeating the members of the Avengers one by one while stealing their powers and weaponry for reasons only known to him and Khonshu.^[172] Moon Knight used them to slay Mephisto and reshape the world with Khonshu as its ruler. The remaining Avengers became branded as fugitives in the Moon God's twisted new world order, with Iron Man andCaptain Marvel safeguarding the last needed piece of Moon Knight and Khonshu's plot—the infant inheritor of the Starbrand power.^[17] The Avengers fought back while protecting the infant from Khonshu.^[173] While Khonshu's madness increased, Moon Knight visited the moon, andthe Unseen encouraged him to seek out another power. Just asBlack Panther managed to overpower him, Moon Knight reached out to an even higher power and summoned the fiery cosmic force known as thePhoenix—becoming its new host.^[6] Allying once more with the Avengers, he used his new power to betray Khonshu and free the world. The Phoenix Force departed in search of a new host while Moon Knight remained convinced that the threat of Mephisto was never truly over.^[174] Black Panther invited him to join the Avengers to avoid the prophesized future, but he refused since they had intervened when he tried to stop Mephisto in the first place.^[175]

The Midnight Mission[]

Following his rejection of Khonshu as an object of worship, Spector appropriated his former master's mission, that of protecting night travelers. Remaining in Manhattan, he claimed a portion of the city as his territory and brutally protected anybody within it. He also established a congregation named theMidnight Mission whose doors were open to anybody who needed his help.^[30]

In this neighborhood, youngReese and other locals were forcedly turned into vampires by theStructure, a vampiric pyramid scheme cult. Moon Knight killed their "recruiters," but spared Reese and the others when she explained they had been turned against their will. Reese then became his first recruit, beginning to work at the Midnight Mission as a receptionist.^[30]

This attracted the attention ofBadr, a fellow Fist of Khonshu who called himself Hunter's Moon. Before long, he confronted Moon Knight, chastising him for taking in enemies of Khonshu, and being determined to "correct" him. Badr beat Moon Knight and invaded the Midnight Mission to kill Reese and other vampires, but Spector recovered and knocked him unconscious after attacking him from behind. Dragging Badr outside his building, Moon Knight warned him about crossing him again.^[176]

WhenZodiac moved against Moon Knight,^[177] Reese reached Hunter's Moon and begged him to help Spector. Impressed by her bravery in approaching him, Badr realized Spector couldn't be such a bad person if he could inspire such loyalty and decided to help him.^[178]

Then, Tigra, who had visited Marc occasionally to keep an eye on him on behalf of the Black Panther,^[179] found herself growing increasingly closer to him over time, finally deciding to flip on the Avengers for him. Eventually, the two started dating.^[12]

The Last Days of Moon Knight[]

Going after the newBlack Spectre, Moon Knight and Hunter's Moon learned fromVibro's mind that Spectre was working withSarnak to transform Manhattan's underground into a gigantic resonator, which they sought to use in maddening all of the citizens.^[180] Having uncovered Black Spectre's plan, Moon Knight and the Midnight Mission broke inside his base, fighting through Black Spectre's forces, only for Moon Knight to be left alone wounded.^[181]

As the Midnight Mission fought the villain's forces, Moon Knight confronted the one he thought to be the Black Spectre. After defeating Ryan Trent, Moon Knight was met with the actual Black Spectre, his former ally Robert Plesko who fatally shot him and left him to die.^[182] Despite nearing his death, Moon Knight gathered up all of his remaining strength to make his way towards the "killsound" broadcaster, intending to blow it up. Before setting it to explode, Moon Knight recited the Shema. He then sacrificed himself and destroyed the resonator, thwarting Plesko's evil plan and saving Manhattan.^[34]

Weeks passed until Hunter's Moon and Tigra got to put their plan in motion to resurrect Spector. DuringVarnae's vampiric takeover of the Earth, they gotClea to send them to Asgard, where Khonshu was imprisoned, to get his help in the fight. With the aid of theWrecker, they freed Khonshu from his prison and, with the god free, Tigra patiently waiting for Spector's resurrection, dreading the possibility he would return as a zombie. But Khonshu reassured her he would not fail his son, and soon Spector and Tigra were reunited, sharing a loving kiss. Then, each of them led a cadre of warriors to battle the vampiric army.^[35][183]

Moon Knight can be best characterized by his relationship with Khonshu, and whether that is derived from his own mental illness or from actual divine inspiration. When Marc Spector first awakened at the foot of Khonshu's statue, it was ambiguous whether his survival was truly Khonshu's doing or if Spector merely attributed it to the Moon God.^[19] Later stories introduced Khonshu as an undeniably real god, employing Moon Knight as his agent.^[16][185] Subsequent takes on Moon Knight would attempt to "walk back" the revelation that Khonshu was real, once again questioning whether the drive to be "the moon's knight of vengeance" was all in Spector's head.^[186][187]

Presently, it seems as if Marc Spector is both mentally ill and an agent of a higher power. Khonshu does exist, and has chosen Marc as his avatar, but Marc's mental illness sometimes causes him to experience conversations with a Khonshu that is only in his mind, not with the actual god. There are also discrepancies over whether Marc Spector was already schizophrenic or dissociative from an early age (making him a convenient host for Khonshu)^[52] or if Khonshu imposed this mental condition upon Marc.^[3] Khonshu is a god of multiple facets, and Marc Spector has taken on multiple identities in the past in order to properly represent all aspects of his god. This includes his original alter egos of Steven Grant, Jake Lockley, and Moon Knight,^[19] the representations of Captain America, Wolverine, and Spider-Man communicating with him,^[121] or his recent set of identities and attire like Mr. Knight.^[3]

Enhanced Brain Function: After being brought back to life by the moon godKhonshu, Marc's brain structure was fundamentally changed, due to being in brain-to-brain contact with him.^[30] He states that his brain was "rebuilt as a god's weapon". While the full extent of the changes to Marc's mind are unknown, he has displayed a mental resistance to telepathic attacks. WhenHawley entered Moon Knight's mind, he was instantly overwhelmed due to its supernatural nature. Moon Knight had complete control over his mindscape and was able to attack and smother Hawley, leaving him catatonic in the real world.^[189]

Immortality: Marc Spector's pact with Khonshu comes with the advantages of retroactive eternal life. Moon Knight has died and beenbrought back to life by Khonshu on numerous occasions, three to be precise.^[30] Fatal wounds that would end any other mortal superhero arerestored by his patron divinity to full health, allowing Marc to continue his vengeful spree.^[190]

Over the course of his life as a boxer, U.S. Marine, mercenary, and costumed superhero, Marc Spector has become an expert at hand-to-hand combat techniques and various martial arts. He is an Olympic-levelathlete and a skilledacrobat andgymnast, and excels as a combatstrategist.^[193]

Expert Pilot: He is an excellent pilot and aviator due to his years as a U.S. Marine and a mercenary.^[190][192]

Expert Detective: Spector is a good detective/private investigator with broad skills, knowledge, and understanding of the criminal underworld. He also knows many of the streets of New York very well due to being a cab driver in the alias of Jake Lockley.^[190]

Interrogation Expert: He is an expert at interrogation often employing military secret police methods of torture.^[190]

Master Marksman: He is capable of hurling all types of projectiles with great aim and pin point accuracy as well as an excellent sharpshooter/marksman. He is able to slice a bullet in half with a crescent disc.^[129]

Weapons Master: Spector is adept with nearly every weapon ever invented ranging from many typesswords, combat knives, batons, chains, brass knuckles,thrown projectiles such as shuriken, longbows, bolos, boomerangs to use of all types of firearms such as pistols, sniper rifles, automatic assault rifles, submachine guns, machine guns, grenade launchers, anti-tank bazooka, and even electronic remote firing stations such as 20/30mm anti-aircraft full auto chain guns, Gatling cannons, mechanized mortars, missile launchers, etc.^[190]

Master Martial Artist: Spector is a former heavyweight boxing champion who underwent intense training as a commando, intelligence operative and mercenary. He is skilled in armed and unarmed combat with training in Boxing, Judo, Krav Maga, Silat, Dambe, Savate, Escrima, Karate, Muay Thai, and Kung Fu; his knowledge is extensive enough that it has been shown that he can use pressure points against his opponents, striking nerve clusters to stun or even instantly incapacitate. On more than one occasion without powers, he has fought thePunisher to a stand still.^[190]

Multilingual: In addition toEnglish, Spector is fluent inSymkarian^[194] andArabic.^[195]

Pain Resistance: Insanity, torture, spiritually gifted, or simply numb from all the years of damage to his body, Moon Knight has an incredibly high tolerance and strong threshold for pain.^[196]

Moon Knight's Suit: Spector's original costume included Kevlar armor. It had a built-in two-way radio system so that Spector could summon du Champ, who typically provided backup in a helicopter. Spector later upgraded the Kevlar toAdamantium, and du Champ added dart launchers to the gauntlets.^[199] More recently, he added a flashlight so he could explore dark places, like the subway.^[153]

• Glider Cloak: Although Spector cannot fly, he can spread his cloak and slow his descent from great heights. To a slight extent he can steer his fall. Because it must be flexible, the cloak is not armored. Duchamp created the cloak.^[190]
• Carbonadium Armored Vestment: Before he moved to the West Coast to operate there, he was wearing a costume that was made of carbonadium which he claimed was almost as tough as adamantium but more flexible. The suit had several features identified: Crescent Dart Launchers in his wrist, Crescent Cable line used for swinging or for grappling, jump jets, laser cutting torch, and a few other features.^[190]

Although he has mastered almost every weapon ever invented, Moon Knight displays an obvious fondness for certain moon-themed objects referred to as his toys. These include throwing darts, nunchaku, and a truncheon.^[193]

Crescent Darts: Most likely his favorite weapon, these symmetrical throwing blades function as "calling cards" as well as weapons. Spector keeps a dozen of them in protective holsters spaced around his belt.^{[citation needed]}

Truncheon: This ingenious device functions as a simple club, nunchaku, and a grappling hook. By itself, it can be wielded as a blunt instrument or thrown. It separates into two shorter clubs (linked by a chain) to entangle a weapon or limb, or to lengthen the club's arc of travel and thus its force. The hook springs forth from one end and, with a cable attached, allows Moon Knight to climb to, descend from, or swing around a fixed point. It weighs 12 pounds (5.5 kg) and is 12 inches (30 cm) long. When not in use, it fits into a holster on his left calf. Later improvements include upgrading the stainless steel to adamantium, incorporating the cable with the hook, and adding the option to extend to 8 feet (242 cm) long.^{[citation needed]}

Crescent Launcher Pistols: He also used 2 pistols which fired crescent darts with cables that allowed him to grapple, trip or pin his enemies to surfaces. These had enough force to push a man back into a wall and pin him there.^{[citation needed]}

Energy Shield: Buck Lime built him an energy shield similar to Captain America's Vibranium shield.^{[citation needed]}

Web-Shooters/Wolverine's Claws: Buck Lime created a pair of bracers which can be used as Web-Shooters (like Spider-Man's) or metal claws (like Wolverine's).^{[citation needed]}

Silver Cestus: On his first mission as Moon Knight (bringing in the Werewolf By Night for the Committee), Spector wore two silver cesti on his arms.^{[citation needed]}

During his time as the Fist of Khonshu, Spector used another set of weapons, keeping them in a leather pouch or on his person.^[192]

Ankhs: This Egyptian symbol made of gold lit up in the face of imminent danger. Like the truncheon above, it could serve as a thrown or hand-held club. It weighed 12 pounds (5.5 kg) and was 12 inches (30 cm) long.^[16] Moon Knight then used some Divine Ankhs which allowed Moon Knight to absorb the heroes mystical powers and containing them in individual ankhs.^[172]

Other Weapons: Moon Knight also used other weapons such as scarab darts, an ivoryboomerang, grappling hook and lariat, bola, san-setsu-kon (three-piece staff), and a truncheon with built-in taser.^[16]

Flying drone (As Moon Knight), Modified limousine (As Mr. Knight); formerlyMoon Knight's Helicopter,Avengers Quinjet,Angel Wing

• TheOfficial Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Avengers 2004 #1 erroneously listsWest Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #21 as the issue in which Moon Knight joined theWest Coast Avengers.^[200] SubsequentOHOTMU errata corrected the record, clarifying that Moon Knight instead joined inWest Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #33.^[201][202]
• TheTrading Card Variant Cover forMoon Knight (Vol. 8) #188 lists Marc as a member of theMarvel Knights fromMarvel Knights #5 to15.^[203] In continuity, however, he actually joins at the end ofissue #4^[204] and leaves the team inissue #14 following severe injuries.^[205]
• DuringDamnation, Moon Knight appeared to lift Mjolnir just asThor recalled it.^[206] Co-writerDonny Cates later clarified on Twitter that Moon Knight was not worthy: the hammer had already begun its return to Thor, and Moon Knight merely caught it mid-flight.^[207]

• Tom Brevoort has suggested that Moon Knight's alternate ego Steven Grant was named by co-creatorDoug Moench in honor of real-life writerSteven Grant before the latter had entered the comics industry, though Brevoort acknowledged that it may have simply been a coincidence.^[208]
• During the development of the 2010Shadowland crossover, there was an internal push to makeDaredevil an out-and-out villain. This stemmed from 20th Century Fox holding the character's media rights at the time with no immediate prospect of their return, leading to interest in beginning to build up Moon Knight as a similar player that could be exploited across other media^[209] with the hopes that the property could eventually be turned into a television series. At the time, there was also talk about launching a second Moon Knight series byJeph Loeb, but that didn't wind up happening—though Jeph andEd McGuinness did use Spector in a couple of issues of theirHulk run.^[210] The Daredevil editor at the time,Stephen Wacker, carefully and quietly worked to ensure Matt Murdock never crossed any irredeemable lines, a precaution that paid off when the rights reverted to Marvel within a couple of years—clearing the way for the creation of the three-seasonNetflix series andThe Defenders without the need for any character rehabilitation.^[209]

• According toWarren Ellis, he invented the "white suit" visual of Moon Knight with artistMichael Lark on an issue ofSecret Avengers, which he later redeveloped into the "Mr. Knight" persona with a look evolved byDeclan Shalvey andJordie Bellaire on their2016Moon Knight run (the series actually began in 2014). Incidentally, on that run, Bellaire took all the color off Moon Knight himself.^[211]
• When asked in a Reddit AMA about his humorous depiction of Moon Knight in theDamnation miniseries compared to the character's more serious portrayals in previous runs,Donny Cates explained that he portrayed Mister Knight to reflect the tone ofMax Bemis's then-ongoingMoon Knight series. Cates emphasized that he avoided reinterpreting characters he did not write, preferring to align with the current writer's vision, and noted that he wanted his version to look and sound like Bemis's book.^[212]
• Moon Knight's origin inMoon Knight (Vol. 8) #194 might—or might not—have been inspired by Max Bemis's personal experiences disguised as a Marvel comic book.^[213]
• Moon Knight is an avatar ofKhonshu, receiving only a fraction of the god's power, similar toSilver Surfer as a herald ofGalactus. In contrast, a host relationship, likeStorm withEternity, involves the entity merging entirely with the host, granting its full power.^[214]

• Fantasy
• Sci-fi
• Marvel