Marvel has been around for a long time. Since they opened their doors in the 1940s, the company has released innumerable comics featuring a seemingly limitless roster. With so many to choose from you may not being familiar with some of their more obscure properties. Those forgotten heroes may not be shelved for much longer, however. The ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe has breathed new life into otherwise unknown characters. With the franchise now in its fourth phase, even more of these individuals are going to start to show up.

One of the first among them is Moon Knight, who has a series in the works coming to Disney+. He is relatively unknown to most fans he is relatively. In an effort to get you up to speed before his show arrives, here are a few fun facts you may not now about the lunar themed anti-hero. Before we get started, it is worth noting that Moon Knight has been around for quite a long time. While many things stay the same across different iterations, some writers take liberties with the character and change certain aspects about him.

He Started Out As A Mercenary

Like most characters in comics, Marc Spector had a less than ideal early start. A rough home life marred by a series of traumatic events caused Marc to quickly seek an escape. For a time, he pursued his life-long dream and trained as a heavyweight boxer. He was content in this role for a time, but his thirst for action led him to join the Marine Corps, where he served for many tours before retiring. Albeit a step in the right direction, the life of a Marine did not suit him. He decided to use his training to become a mercenary. Marc was highly effective as a soldier of fortune, and the venture proved quite lucrative until disaster struck.

Divine Intervention

At the height of his career, a job gone wrong left Marc in dire straits. After being hired to protect a professor in Egypt, Marc and his band of comrades set off into the desert. They finally arrived at a long-forgotten temple devoted to the moon god Khonshu. The treasure trove entombed within was too enticing for one member of the group, who then decided to take the riches for himself. The professor objected and was killed by the greedy thief. Marc tried to save him, but the resulting melee left him on death's door before the statue of Khonshu. In his final moments, Marc was visited by a vision of the moon god, who offered him a second chance at life if he chose to serve him. Thus the Moon Knight was born!

He Had Multiple Secret Identities

After resolving his affairs in Egypt, Marc returned to the United States to resume his new vocation as the avatar of Khonshu’s justice. Like most crime fighters, Marc’s quest needed an alter ego. Ever the multifaceted individual, Marc settled on not one, but two additional alter egos. First was the cab driver Jake Lockley, who served as a set of eyes in the city’s seedy underbelly. Then we have his preferred identity, the wealthy businessman Steven Grant. In addition to serving as his primary persona, this guise funded his vigilante ventures.

He Was Very Rich

Marc’s lifestyle as a mercenary, on top of his earnings as a pro boxer, left him with quite the substantial fortune. Upon returning home he pooled his earnings into business investments under the assumed name of Steven Grant. They paid out in spades, putting Grant’s net worth in the billions, and placing him among some of the richest characters in the marvel universe. With more than enough funding to go around, Grant began diverting funds into his research and developing assets. He would begin to produce cutting-edge technology and weapons to aid his war on crime.

He Employed Moon-Themed Gadgets

Like a certain vigilante based out of Gotham City, Moon Knight certainly understood the value of brand recognition. As such, his tools kept to a lunar design philosophy. These ranged from simpler tools like his crescent moon boomerangs, all the way to the more extravagant like his crescent moon helicopter. Aside from being based around the moon, all of his vast collection of toys and his uniform were white in color to match their namesake’s pale glow.

There Was A Reason He Wore White

A moon-themed motif was certainly appropriate for a servant of a moon god, but the accompanying color palette seemed out of place for a nocturnal vigilante. Against a dark cityscape and skyline, white stuck out like a sore thumb. As it turned out this was exactly why Moon Knight chose the color for his gear. He had no interest in stealth. He wanted his enemies to know he was coming. As his infamous reputation spread through the criminal element, they would all learn to fear his pale form.

He Had A Unique Fighting Style

Marc’s time as a boxer led him to favor a direct approach when engaging his enemies. As Moon Knight, he married his boxing talents with the benefits endowed by Khonshu to develop a unique fighting style. While most fighters made use of blocks and evasive maneuvers, Moon Knight opted to simply let his opponent’s attacks hit him. Equally insane and admittedly inspired, he took advantage of his supernatural durability and high threshold for pain to take whatever his opponent dished out. In addition to its ease of use, it also had the benefit of terrifying his foes.

He Gained Powers From The Moon

A new lease on life was not the only thing Marc gained from his pact with Khonshu. As his new acolyte, Marc gained a vast array of enhanced abilities under the light of the moon. These included enhanced durability and strength, night vision, the ability to view the mystical plane, and an accelerated healing factor. All of his new powers came with a caveat, however. Their effectiveness corresponded with the phases of the moon. As the moon waxed and waned his abilities would rise and fall. They would vanish completely in the absence of the moon, or during the day. That being said, there were some stories where the writers forgo these abilities in favor of Moon Knight having no supernatural powers whatsoever.

He Was An Avenger

For most of his career, Moon Knight preferred to fly solo, and rarely seek help outside his circle of close friends. However, there were times in his long history where he teamed up with other heroes across the Marvel universe. At one point he even joined the Avengers and was later hand- picked by Captain America to serve as a secret Avenger. Outside of the various Avengers teams he had also served as a member of the Marvel Knights, the Defenders, and the Heroes for Hire.

His Mental Instability

As previously stated, Moon Knight had gone through many changes over the years. The most prominent of which would have to be his mental state. This key character trait had taken many forms and painted many aspects of his lifestyle in distinctive ways. Everything from his powers to his life pre–Moon Knight were affected by it in some way. Some comics suggested that even his powers, and by extension Khonshu himself, were by-products of delusions. In his earlier stories it was rarely, if ever, a part of his character. However, most modern storylines now attributed some form of mental illness to Moon Knight. The most common one was dissociative identity disorder, which added another layer of depth and context to his many alter egos.

Sources: YouTube, Marvel, Marvel Database, Screen Rant

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Fun Facts You May Not Know About Moon Knight