Moon Knight (Marc Spector) is a fictional character 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).[1]
The son of a rabbi, Marc Spector was a former Marine and CIA operative who became a mercenary, despite his conflicted feelings about violence and morality. During a job in Sudan, Spector was appalled when ruthless fellow mercenary Raoul Bushman attacked and killed archeologist Dr. Alraune. After saving the archeologist's daughter and colleague, Marlene Alraune, Spector was then mortally wounded by Bushman before finding himself drawn to a recently unearthed tomb for shelter and placed before a statue of the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Spector dies, but is then suddenly revived, fully healed. He claims Khonshu wants him to be the moon's knight, redeeming his life of violence by now protecting and avenging the innocent. While early stories imply Spector is merely insane, it is later revealed Khonshu is real, one of several entities from the Othervoid (a dimension outside normal time and space) who were worshipped as gods by ancient Earth people. On his return to the United States, Spector invests his mercenary profits into becoming the crimefighter Moon Knight, aided by his colleague Jean-Paul Frenchie DuChamp and Marlene Alraune, who becomes his lover and eventual mother of his daughter. Along with his costumed alter ego, he primarily uses three other identities to gain information from different social circles: billionaire businessman Steven Grant, taxicab driver Jake Lockley and suited consultant Mr. Knight.
It is later revealed Moon Knight has dissociative identity disorder (incorrectly referred to as schizophrenia in some stories) and that the alters known as Grant and Lockley originally manifested during his childhood, subsequent identities (including an unnamed red-haired little girl and astronaut) emerging during his adulthood. It is debated in different stories whether Spector's mental disorder is due to childhood trauma or the result of brain damage caused by his psychic connection to Khonshu, a connection compelling Moon Knight's personality to shift between the four major aspects of the moon god's multi-faceted nature (the traveler, the pathfinder, the embracer, and the defender of those who travel at night). Khonshu claims he created a psychic connection with Moon Knight when the latter was a young boy, decades before he was ready to be fully recruited as his avatar on Earth, the left Fist of Khonshu.[2]
In most of his stories, Moon Knight has no supernatural abilities beyond occasional visions of mystical insight. He relies on athletic ability, intelligence, advanced technology, and expert combat skills. Since becoming Moon Knight, there have been multiple occasions when the character has died only to then be resurrected by Khonshu, although how many times he may be resurrected is unknown. For a time, Moon Knight's strength and resiliency to injury could reach superhuman levels depending on the phases of the moon, but this ability later vanished.[3]
The character has appeared in numerous forms of media, such as animated television shows and video games. Moon Knight will make his live-action debut in his eponymous series, on Disney+ set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Oscar Isaac playing the character
