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Given the sheer scope of the Marvel Universe and all of its characters, it’s inevitable that some of them will be more prone to acting alone and stay fairly separated from the rest of the universe’s heroes and villains.
While it isn’t always the case with this particular character, it is definitely more common than not for him to be surrounded by his own split personalities rather than actual other characters. It’s not hard for any well-versed Marvel fan to know that I’m talking about a certain character called Moon Knight.
Moon Knight, real name Mark Spector, is a bit of a strange character in Marvel’s roster with a fairly convoluted history. Originally introduced in 1975 in a comic book called Werewolf By Night, Moon Knight would get his own comic run a few years later in the 1980s which was written by his original creator, Doug Moench.
Although the character’s origins always has him as a mercenary who got shot dead near an Egyptian tomb and supposedly revived by an Egyptian moon god named Khonshu, the original run of Moon Knight was not overly focused on supernatural elements to the extent that later interpretations of the character would be.
Early on in his publication history, he was something of Marvel’s answer to DC’s Batman in that he was a somewhat more grounded hero without particular special abilities who used a variety of weapons and gadgets that he was able to equip himself with due to his notable wealth from his earlier work as a mercenary.
His fighting style would also be relatively similar to what you’d expect from Batman. He employs a truncheon which can be used as a grappling hook, a bo staff or a baton, he has a cape which lets him glide and also crescent blades that are moon-shaped which he throws as projectiles or cuts his opponent with.
It wouldn’t be hard to make an interesting moveset of all the various gadgets and tools Moon Knight has employed throughout the years and on top of that some of the character’s history includes him powering up through the phases of the moon thanks to the powers imbued in him by the moon god Khonshu.
While the presence of Khonshu was always felt throughout the series, many of his supporting cast suspected it was simply delusions or hallucinations of Mark’s, though later runs on the character would make it a much more central point to focus on the ambiguous nature of who or what Khonshu exactly was and how strong his influence over his avatar Moon Knight’s psyche actually was.
As the series progressed, Mark Spector would start developing separate personalities who at times seemed unaware of each other including socialite Steven Grant and taxicab driver Jake Lockley and sometimes developing even more personalities, temporary or more permanently, as the series went on.
Each of the personalities would interact differently with the characters and world around him, though they were all essentially tools to carry out Moon Knight’s work of punishing criminals and enacting vengeance and justice towards evildoers.
Because of him harnessing different personalities along with constantly talking to a vicious god-like being, or at least believing himself to be doing so, it led to Moon Knight often being a much more brutal and violent character than you’d usually expect from Marvel’s superheroes.
Although he has at times been a member of various groups such as The Avengers, Moon Knight is frequently at odds with other heroes because his singular missions tends to remain as doing Khonshu’s bidding (or sometimes actively battling against his influence).
Basically, he tends to talk more with the voices inside of his head rather than the actual people around him, so it’s not exactly a surprise that he tends to not play very well with others.
While it’s common that Marvel Comics publications vary in theme and tone based on who’s writing them at the time, none of them feel quite as split as Moon Knight’s different story runs which ironically fits perfectly given the character’s own conflicted identity issues.
In recent years, Moon Knight has received much more attention from Marvel Comics as a whole, usually having active ongoing comic runs throughout most of the 2010s until now. In total, Moon Knight is approaching 250 comic book issues to his name, though the publication has sometimes had alternate titles like “Vengeance of the Moon Knight” and “Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu.”
The higher focus on consistent publication for Moon Knight as a character has also led to much more cross-promotion for the character. In 2022, he debuted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his own TV show which was one of the more well-received of the Disney+ streaming shows Marvel put out.
He also joined the launch roster of the highly successful Marvel Rivals, further showcasing that Marvel’s interest in the character has grown much higher in the last decade or so than it was during his early years in the 1980s.
As a personality, Moon Knight definitely fills a different niche than most other Marvel characters. Although he’s basically as mentally unwell as a character like Deadpool might also be, it’s generally not played for laughs but rather analyzing the deeply unwell psyche of such a broken man and what motivates him to keep fighting.
When it comes to fighting games and Marvel vs. Capcom specifically, Moon Knight really wasn’t too popular or focused on during their developments so the timing has never been great for him.
Given the heavy emphasis that Marvel have placed on him in the last decade or so, though, any future project would probably have to look at him more than twice when deciding the roster.
Although developers never seem to have mentioned Moon Knight in particular for early games, his die-hard fanbase has always existed in the shadows.
Unofficial polls held on large gaming forums like GameFAQs back in the day had Moon Knight reach 5th place among Marvel characters when asked who they wanted to see join the fray for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
Even in Japan, he placed 21st in a poll which totaled over 35,000 votes asking which characters they wanted to see in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
Moon Knight may have been a niche character for his first two decades or so, but now he’s become one of Marvel’s more present and appreciated characters. If we were to get a new fighting game featuring characters from the USA’s largest comic book publisher, he feels like a shoo-in.
“}]] Given the sheer scope of the Marvel Universe and all of its characters, it’s inevitable that some of them will be more prone to acting alone and stay fairly separated from the rest of the universe’s heroes and … Read More