A member of the super-hero team the
Avengers published by
Marvel Comics.
Marc Spector is the real name of the super-hero Moon Knight.
The son of a rabbi, Marc rejected his father's faith and
peaceful ways, becoming a mercenary. During a mission in
Egypt, Spector was ambushed and left for dead in the tomb of
Khonshu, the Egyptian god of vengence and the moon.
Marc recovered and believed himself to be resurrected by
Knonshu. Taking up the cloak that was wrapped around the statue
of the Egyptian god, Spector vowed to battle evil and hence became
Moon Knight.
Spector returned to the New York City and established a number
of new identities for himself. Apart from the mercenary Marc
Spector and his costumed identity, Spector also became Jake
Lockley, a New York cab driver and Steven Grant, a rich
playboy. Along with his girlfriend Marlene Alraune and
friend and partner Jean-Paul DuChamps (also called "Frenchie"),
Moon Knight battled the forces of evil.
For a time, Spector quit being Moon Knight, but was often dragged
back into his life as a super-hero by forces beyond his control.
For a time, Moon Knight's strength would increase or decrease
according to the phase of the moon.
Moon Knight joined the west coast branch of the super-hero team the
Avengers for a short time.
Moon Knight had an up-and-down career as a super-hero and though having
great potential, was never more than a second-rate
knockoff of
Batman. The writing of his solo series went through a number
of
writers, some of who did well by the character, while others
tried to handle him with typical super-hero tactics.
One of the worst handlings of Moon Knight was during his time with
the Avengers. Though in the solo series, it was hinted that
Spector might not have been completely stable mentally from
juggling multiple identities, in his Avengers adventure, Spector
had a full-blown case of multiple personalities.
Finally, Moon Knight was also saddled with the worst assistant
in history. Frenchie was a one-dimensional character with a
bad accent who flew his helicopter. Sadly, rather than fleshing
out the character, the writers chose to leave him as a bad
stereotype.