He is one of Marvel's
vigilante heroes. He is a billionaire, a cab driver and a soldier of
fortune. Created by Doug Moench and Don Perlin originally doing the
art. Originally conceived as an enemy of Jack Russell (Werewolf By
Night), appearing in Werewolf By Night #32. He proved to be a popular
character and was awarded his own series.
It was in the first issue
of his own series that his true origin tale was explained. Marc
Spector was working as a mercenary with Raoul Bushman and Jean-Paul
“Frenchie” DuChamp. Bushman killed an archaeologist and Spector
felt guilty, he helped the archaeologist's daughter to escape.
Bushman was annoyed and beat Spector, leaving him to die in the
desert. From here, Marc Spector crawled to a tomb and Marlene put him
under the statue of Khonshu, Ancient Egyptian god of the moon and
vengeance. Spector died, but suddenly came back to life believing Khonshu had brought him back to life.
From here he
gave himself three identities. Jake Lockley (cab driver), Steven
Grant (billionaire) and Marc Spector (ex soldier of fortune). Making
these three personalities, Moon Knight would use these to gather any
information he needed when tracking down a villain. Although this
ended up causing a problem with Marc Spector, he developed
dissociative identity disorder.
Early on in Moon Knight's
professional career both he and his friends questioned his sanity.
This was explored in depth when Charlie Huston took over the
character. He killed Raoul Bushman, carving off his face, as well as
killing a number of other small time villains. He even flew his
Mooncopter into a building. Moon Knight lost his chances with his old
flame Marlene Alraune and even his most loyal friend, Frenchie left
him. During the Civil War, Steve Rogers did not want him because of
his violent methods and Tony Stark did not want him because of his
mental instability. Spider-Man even referred to him as "loony moony". After staging the death
of his Marc Spector identity, Jake Lockley took over as his dominant
identity. Later he returned loud and proud as a reformed hero.
Suppressing his violent nature and impressing the heroes and
civilians of America alike. He was approached by Steve Rogers to join
the Secret Avengers and for now wanting to seek redemption, he
accepted the offer. During Shadowland however, Moon Knight once again
gave into his violent tendencies with the possibility he may go back
to the way he was. After the events of Shadowland, Moon Knight also
became an active member of the Heroes For Hire team.
Moon Knight however, does
not have much of a rogue's gallery. It does include Morpheus (a dream
demon), Black Spectre (a man angry with but inspired by Moon Knight),
Raoul Bushman (a former mercenary who worked with Marc Spector) and
The Committee (an organisation who had it out for Jack Russell). This
could possibly be because for a number of years he dropped in
popularity and was barely active.
With a new series
starting written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Alex Maleev, I
truly hope Moon Knight will be a character that is taken more
seriously and given more notice as he is actually my favourite comic
book character.
From here he
gave himself three identities. Jake Lockley (cab driver), Steven
Grant (billionaire) and Marc Spector (ex soldier of fortune). Making
these three personalities, Moon Knight would use these to gather any
information he needed when tracking down a villain. Although this
ended up causing a problem with Marc Spector, he developed
dissociative identity disorder.