Moon Knight Marc Spector first debuted in Marvel’s panels in August of 1975 in Werewolf
by Night issue 32.
Often described as a what would happen if Batman were to suffer multiple personality
disorder, Moon Knight makes for one of the publisher’s most complex and fascinating
individuals who has yet to bust out into the mainstream success that some of their other
heroes have, particularly ones who have appeared in the MCU.
So with a reputation like that, some of you less familiar with the character might be
wondering, what exactly can Moon Knight do?
Well today, on Top 10 Nerd, we’re counting down the top 10 super powers you never knew
Moon Knight had!
10 Moon Based Powers Moon Knight, similar to Batman, is a rich
dude with a whole lot of training and will power.
But unlike the Caped Crusader, when Moon Knight first hit the scene, he actually had super
powers.
The character has been susceptible to a lot of changes over the years thanks to new creative
teams taking on his solo title.
For example, in 1985 in a six part mini series, Moon Knight became known as the Fist of Khonshu,
Khonshu being the ancient Egyptian God of the moon.
This increased his strength, speed and endurance, but was based on the lunar cycle.
This meant that the fuller the moon was, the stronger Moon Knight was, capable of lifting
several hundred pounds.
This is where things get a little messy though.
He was last seen using these lunar powers while on the West Coast Avengers team; a team
he left in 1989.
But it wasn’t until 2007 in the Midnight Sun story arc that is was confirmed he no
longer has those powers; apparently, they were taken away from him as a punishment for
his disobedience.
9 Resistant to Psychic Attacks Spector has proven to have immunity to psychic
attacks over the years.
This is largely owed to his multiple personalities, and he’s been known in the past to even
receive prophetic visions.
In addition to that, in Moon Knight issue 12, Moon Knight finds himself going up against
The Profile, who is an unethical profiler-for-hire who is believed to have mutant abilities that
allow him to analyze and predict the actions of anyone he observes.
Scary right?
But that didn’t bother Moon Knight.
Profiler claimed that his abilities had no effect on Moon Knight, with him being physically
painful for the antagonist to look at; his abilities don’t work on those with supernatural
powers, yet Moon Knight at this time did not have powers.
Profiler believes that the only explanation for this is that Khonshu is actually real
or that Marc was so insane that his belief in the Egyptian god is tantamount to magic
and therefore disrupts Profiler’s abilities.
8 Mercenary Skills Before becoming a superhero, Marc Spector
was a mercenary for hire, employed by the CIA.
And prior to that, he was a heavyweight boxer before becoming a US Marine.
After his time in the military, he jumped over to mercenary work, with the CIA hiring
him as freelance.
After a botched mission in Egypt, he ends up being beaten to near death by a peer named
Raoul Bushman, and left to die in the sub-zero temperatures of the Egyptian desert at night.
He’s found by Egyptians who worship the ancient gods, brought to Khonshu’s temple,
and his heart stops; he then sees a vision of Khonshu who offers him a second chance
if he becomes the god’s avatar on Earth.
Spectre agrees, wakes up, goes after Bushman and becomes Moon Knight.Because of his previous
training, he has olympic level athlete skills and is an expert in fighting styles the likes
of karate, ninjutsu, savate, judo, Muay Thai, boxing, kung fu and more.
He also knows how to pilot the hell out of an aircraft, too.
7 Werewolf Hunter In Moon Knight’s very first appearance,
he was brought in as a werewolf hunter and supernatural expert.
And he was actually a villain, attempting to capture Werewolf by Night Jack Russell
in a two part story for the Committee, an LA based secret criminal cabal of businessmen
who would later become an opponent of Moon Knight’s.
That’s because Spectre learns that the Committee is trying to use him as a weapon, so he helps
Werewolf escape and fights alongside him.
Weirdly enough, a handful of issues late in Werewolf at Night issue 37, Moon Knight returned
but as a demonic apparition that fought against Werewolf.
6 Visibility Okay so this isn’t REALLY a power, but it’s
a technique that Spector imploys that helps him be more intimidating, and to throw his
opponents off.
Unlike the DC vigilante he’s constantly compared to, Marc actively wears a full white
costume so that he CAN be seen.
He wants to be seen.
This was something that was addressed in Warren Ellis’ 2014 run on the character’s solo
title; Moon Knight chooses to wear white because he doesn’t have any interest in using stealth
techniques.
He wants to be seen; it’s his brand of fear.
5 10 Different Personalities Marc Spector has dissociative identity disorder;
it’s one of his most defining traits in the comics.
Over the years though, some of the creative teams who have worked on Moon Knight have
attempted to retcon his mental illness as being parts of Khonshu’s personality.
Regardless, we’ve seen at least ten unique personalities emerge from Spector in the comics,
which include the wealthy businessman Steven Grant, a cab driver named Jake Lockley who
has an uncanny ability of gaining street intel on criminals and their activities, and even
a personality known as Mr Knight, an official detective for the NYPD while he still operated
as the vigilante Moon Knight.
Even more interestingly, during the 2011 Moon Knight series, Marc manifests personalities
for that iteration of Avengers at the time; one for Wolverine, Captain America, Spider-Man,
Iron Man and Echo, all of which give him advice, and he ends up using variations of their signature
weapons and moves.
So how is this a power?
Well, it’s more so shifting perspectives that have aided Spector in one way or another
over the years with each of these personalities unique skill sets.
It’s also been a coping mechanism; Steven Grant was largely created in order to help
Marc subconsciously deal with his very violent past.
4 His Tech Moon Knight has had a whole lot of expensive
and effective gear over the years.
He uses some impressive tech that rivals what DC’s Batman has been known to bust out.
He’s also rich, which helps.
He’s got an advanced truncheon that can split into two separate combat clubs (and
can also be tethered together like nunchucks), an adamantium grappling hook, crescent darts
that are kind of like this hero’s version of batarangs, and of course, his coolest piece
of tech, the Mooncopter.
This bad boy is a sophisticated hovering aircraft that has vertical take off and landing abilities,
20 mm cannons, stealth and combat equipment, and much more.
Plus, he’s also got a remote controller crescent shaped glider, and a remote controlled
limousine.
He’s owned suits made out of adamantium, and during the Dark Reign story event, he
gets the Tinkerer to upgrade his gear, giving him a suit of armour that is made of carbonadium.
It also has joint locking functions with allows him to support a whole lot of extra weight
than what's humanly possible.
Speaking of tech, that brings us to our next number-
3 The Shadow Cabinet The Shadow Cabinet is something that Marc
Spector assembled as a network of informants and agents whose advice he often requires;
it's a sophisticated computer network.
For the most part, many of those agents were unaware of who they were speaking to, having
been recruited anonymously with promise of financial payment, or with the use of blackmail,
deception, trading favours, or just flat out due to the kindness of their hearts.
It’s a piece of tech that uses holo projection rings with one way communicators that lets
Marc see those he’s speaking to, but only lets them hear his voice on the other end.
Marc would first use it in Marc Spector Moon Knight issue 38 in 1992 when he attempted
to track the movements of his serial killer brother Randall Spector.
2 His Durability Spectre has an almost superhuman tolerance
for pain.
He uses a very specific fighting style, which consists of him enduring any blows he takes
in battle.
In the 2006 run on Moon Knight, we saw the title character go up against villain Task
Master, who has the ability to mimic the fighting style of any individual.
Except he won’t mimic Moon Knight’s; that’s because Marc never blocks incoming attacks.
As he puts it, it’s never about speed or slick moves or reflexes that make you the
best fighter ever.
It’s all about what you can take.
Because of this, he’s got a crazy high pain tolerance, making him almost super human in
durability.
Task Master shot him in the shoulder with a crossbow, and it barely affected Marc.
But when you consider another skill of his that’s in at our next number, taking this
many hits is no biggie.
That brings us to our number one spot-
1 Resurrection Moon Knight has died and then resurrected
on several occasions, including in his origin story; as we mentioned, his heart stopped,
and that’s when he encountered Khonshu for the first time after he was essentially killed
by Raoul Bushman.
Then, in Marc Spector Moon Knight issue 28, he was literally stabbed in the back, and
his soul drifted out of his body.
Khonshu revived him.
And it kept happening thanks to the Egyptian moon god; Marc, in that same series, would
receive another fatal injury, this time thanks to an explosion caused by Marc quarantining
himself with a computer virus.
So in other words, he can handle being dealt fatal blows since he’s got a get out of
death card in the form of Khonshu saving his butt.
There we have it friends!
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