MOONSHADE
Real Name: Inapplicable
Identity/Class: Duplicate from the Dimension of Manifestations
Occupation: Would-be conqueror, former servant of Magus
Group Membership: Infinite War Doppelgangers
Affiliations: Former ally of Franklin Richards Doppelganger, thrall of the Magus
Enemies: Franklin Richards; Moon Knight and other dimensional counterparts of theirs, including Crescent Moon, Dark Moon, Dino-Knight, Grey Wing, Moon Spirit and Ivory, Moon-Fang, Moon Ghost, Moon Man and Moon Boy, and Moon Maid, .
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Multiversal, formerly New York City of Earth-616
First Appearance: Infinity War#3 (August, 1992)
Powers: In common with most duplicates created by the Magus, Moon Shade had abilities approximating those of his template. He could also absorb the original Moon Knight into his body and extend tentacles from his body. After he stole energy from Franklin Richards and his Doppelganger, he gained vast psychic powers similar to Franklin's dream-self abilities. He could travel between alternate Earths and absorb the essences of Moon Knight's counterparts there. He had a special vulnerability to adamantium, however.
History: (Infinity War#3-4)- Created by the Magus during the Infinity War, Moonshade possessed the guile of Marc Spector's mercenary past. He was dispatched to Four Freedoms Plaza with other Doppelgangers the Magus had created in the Dimension of Manifestations to use his powers on Moon Knight, absorbing him.
(Marc Spector: Moon Knight#41)- During the raid, Moonshade pursued his own agenda. He formed an alliance with a Doppelganger of Franklin Richards.
The Franklin Doppelganger's aura allowed them to slip past the security net before the Magus realized that they had left the others. However, the true Moon Knight saw them break away, and managed to nick Moonshade with adamantium throwing crescents. Following the trail of Moon Shade's blood, Moon Knight found the twisted duplicates in Franklin Richards' room. He saw Moonshade holding Alicia Masters captive. The Richards double meanwhile used a device called a psi-phon (taken from the Magus) to drain the true Franklin's life essence. Moon Knight freed Alicia, and engaged Moonshade in battle. Realizing he had to save Franklin's life, he threw his bo-stick at the Richards-double-- although that left Moon Knight vulnerable to an attack by Moonshade. Still, this did stop the twisted Franklin double from completely draining his template's life essence, as the bo-stick hurled him to the floor. Moon Knight removed the psi-phon from Franklin Richards' head and tossed it away.
However, Moonshade grabbed the psi-phon, absorbing the power it had leached from Franklin. He turned on his ally, absorbing its life-essence for power. Together, this invigorated Moonshade, and he immediately began to absorb Moon Knight entities from throughout the multiverse. This feeding left Moonshade more powerful than before.
(Marc Spector: Moon Knight#42)- However, the interference of Moon Knight prevented Moonshade from absorbing those Moon Knight counterparts whose determination mirrored his own, enabling them to resist Moonshade's psychic assault. Moonshade dragged Moon Knight along as he set out to absorb the remaining Moon Knight counterparts in the multiverse. The Moon Knight's adamantium weapons served to protect him from Moonshade.
The first alternate Earth they arrived at was that of Skyline City, site of the Four Freedoms Retirement Home for Crime-Fighters. There they encountered Dark Moon, the Lunar Avenger, who had recently come out of retirement. In a battle reported in the media by Ellen Brosterman, Dark Moon used his remote-controlled Angelwing, a flying vehicle, against Moonshade. However, using the psi-phon, Moonshade started to absorb Dark Moon's vitality. Moon Knight ripped the psi-phon off of Moonshade, but as he had evolved to the point that he no longer needed it, he finished absorbing Dark Moon's life essence.
Moonshade next transported Moon Knight and itself to Man-Hades, a run-down city plagued by the vampiric Moon Knight counterpart Moonfang. Realizing that Moonfang presented as much of a menace as Moonshade, Moon Knight attacked the vampire with silver weapons (which he carried for use against werewolves anyway). Moonshade then absorbed Moonfang.
Another trip to an alternate Earth brought them to the Manhatican, where a female Moon Knight counterpart named Crescent Moon fought a religious war with Grey Wing, the latter imploring his soldiers to fight for "Holy Terra". Moonshade, indifferent to their quarrelling, grabbed both leaders with his tentacles. He absorbed Crescent Moon's essence, but just threw Grey Wing away.
Moon Knight saved Grey Wing before the next series of jumps to parallel worlds. This included the world of Moon Spirit, who fought crime with Ivory; Moon Ghost, active in extra-terrestrial adventures with two young aides and a monkey; Dino-Knight, a dinosaur version of Moon Knight active in what resembled the Old West; Moon Maid, a mermaid version of Moon Knight in Atlanhattan; and finally Moon Man's world.
Moon Man challenged criminals in the city of Cosmopolis with his ward Moon Boy. In a battle atop the rooftops of buildings owned by Acme Pencils, Regency Bicycle Works, Monarch Playing Cards, and so forth, amid giant advertising props of a playing card, a pencil and a bike, Moonshade seriously wounded Moon Man. However, Moon Knight took the opportunity to attack Moonshade with a conductive charge with his adamantium bo-stick. Moon Knight had early observed Moonshade's vulnerability to adamantium, and this time managed to get in a crippling blow that destroyed Moonshade. Moon Man managed to survive the attack by Moon Shade, and Moon Knight helped him up before being returned to Earth-616 due to Moonshade's destruction.
Comments: Created by Terry Kavanagh, Jim Starlin, Gary Kwapisz and Ron Lim.
See Anthropomorpho for further information on the Dimension of Manifestations.
One can find a little more info on this two-parter here, the recommendable guide to thematically similar stories of Marvel or DC writers paying homage to the competition, the "Almost Amalgam Universe".
More information can be found here and here.
Incidentally, part of the reason for this Moon Knight storyline, with its many Batman references, may have been criticisms over the years of Moon Knight being too derivative of Batman. Admittedly, Moon Knight creator Doug Moench (who has written the Batman titles over the years) did name the Batman series as an influence on Moon Knight. (Moon Knight also has some roots with the Shadow, as during the time this story came out, Moon Knight had a group of aides called the Shadow Cabinet.) Some peole felt that the Moon Knight concept got unnecessarily further "Batman-ized" after the release of the 1989 Batman film; Moon Knight was depicted wearing armor similar to that in the 1989 Batman film, received his own flying vehicle similar to the Batwing which he piloted himself (which made his long-time pilot companion Frenchie a tad superfluous ), and acquired a Robin-esque sidekick named Midnight (who even died in a phone-in event, just as Jason Todd did!).
However, I should mention that in one regard, Moon Knight actually anticipated one element that later appeared in the Batman comics; Moon Knight started his use of shuriken-esque throwing crescents long before The Dark Knight Returns came out, where the first use of bat-shaped throwing weapons by Batman took place.
If Moon Shade's statements during this story reflected the truth, then the only remaining alternate counterpart of Moon Knight would be the Moon Man seen in this story. Come to think of it, I can think of few other appearances of Moon Knight analogs in alternate Earths. Even What If? did not do much with Moon Knight, with the only non-parody/spoof use of him there that comes to mind being What If II#25; in a variation on Punisher Annual#2, Moon Knight was turned into a serpent man loyal to Set. In any event, Moon Knight may come close to the honor held by the Living Tribunal (as per What If I#32) as representing a multiversal singularity.
There was also the Moon Boy-Knight of the
Lethal Legion of Earth-1298 (which was more a counterpart to Moon Boy), another counterpart of Moon Knight
was definetly seen in What If II#44 ("What If Venom possessed the Punisher?"). I think Moon Knight might have been seen in the issue where the Punisher killed Spider-Man.
--Per Degaton
by Per Degaton
CLARIFICATIONS:
Moonshade should not be confused with:
Moon Boy should not be confused with:
Moon Man should not be confused with:
Ivory should not be confused with:
Dark Moon was a dark and grim vigilante from Earth-9209, defender of Skyline City, who was newly-returned from retirement when he was assaulted by Moonshade, and absorbed into him. -Marc Spector: Moon Knight#42
Based on the Batman seen in Dark Knight
Returns, Superman: The Man of Steel#37 (during Zero Hour), and
Dark Knight 2. This Batman emerged from retirement to resume his
crime-fighting career. (Klaus Janson, who worked on Dark Knight,
drew this sequence.)
Moon-Fang was a vampire counterpart of Moon Knight's from Earth-92942, who was slain by the silver in Moon Knight's arsenal. Moonshade then absorbed his energies. -Marc Spector: Moon Knight#42
Based on the Batman seen in the Elseworlds
(out of continuity or Hypertimeline) specials Red Rain, Blood
Storm, and Crimson Mist, who became a vampire after destroying
Dracula (Kelley Jones, who drew those graphic novels, drew this
sequence)
Crescent Moon of Earth-920942 was the leader of a team of religious warriors, fighting against Grey Wing. She was assaulted and her life forces drained by Moonshade. -Marc Spector: Moon Knight#42
Grey Wing of Earth-920942 was Crescent Moon's opponent in the "Holy War" they fought in. Moonshade considered him beneath his notice, but he was saved by Moon Knight. -Marc Spector: Moon Knight#42
Both based on the Elseworlds Batman: Holy Terror (note the reference to "Holy Terra" by Grey Wing), in which Oliver Cromwell lived longer, resulting in his strengthening his influence on English history so that a Calvinist theocratic system resulted in the English-speaking countries by the time Batman arrived; also possibly an homage to the mini-series Grendel: Holy War, which dealt with religious warfare; the name "Crescent Moon" may refer to the erroneous use of the crescent as a symbol of Islam. (Norm Breyfogle, who drew Batman: Holy Terror, drew this sequence.)
Moon Man and Moon Boy were the defenders of Cosmopolis of Earth-42992. When assaulted by Moonshade, they were saved by Moon Knight, who destroyed Moonshade. -Marc Spector: Moon Knight#42
Based on the Dick Sprang-drawn Batman, mostly from the 1950's and early 1960's, who served as the early Earth-1 Batman. The reference to Monarch Playing Cards serves as a link to a specific story, "The Man In the Red Hood", which appeared in Detective Comics#168. This story revealed the origin of the Joker as a criminal called the Red Hood who took part in a heist at a company called Monarch Playing Cards that went bad. The Killing Joke and other stories confirm that, though the Joker's true identity before he became the Red Hood remains unknown, he did participate at that failed heist at the Monarch Playing Cards company. Beyond that, another distinguishing feature of these 1950's stories involved the prominent use of oversized duplicates of everyday items as advertising props and displays. Note that fortuitously enough, Timely's Mystic Comics#5 introduced a charachter called Moon Man, whom you can read about here. That Moon Man, a tad generic, came close to serving as a Batman analog. This earlier Moon Man represented such a derivative creation that one can fit him in as a sort of forerunner to the Moon Man seen in this story; the 1940's Moon Man could serve as the Earth-2 version while the Moon Man in this story serves as the Earth-1 version. (For those not familiar with the pre-Crisis DC multiverse, it was established that the adventures of the 1930's to 1940's heroes took place on Earth-2, while the more contemporary characters' adventures took place on Earth-1. As to when the switchover exactly took place from one Earth to the other remains debatable, but we know that some of the Dick Sprang drawn stories of the 1950's took place on Earth-1 as they got subsequently referenced by stories definitely set on Earth-1.)
Moon Maid from Earth-9251 was a mermaid counterpart of Moon Knight's, who was slain by Moonshade. -Marc Spector: Moon Knight#42
Based on the Little Mermaid from
Scandinavian folklore; if one does not wish to tie this in with
the Disney movie of the same name, one can say it served as a
reference to the Little Mermaid who served as a member of the
Global Guardians, an Atlantean who used the identity of Danish
citizen Ulla Paske. This Little Mermaid appeared in Super Friends
#9, 45, 46, DC Comics Presents#46, Crisis On Infinite Earths
#12, History Of The DC Universe#2, and Justice League Europe
Annual#1. She seemed to die in a story running in Justice League
Europe#29-30, but returned in Justice League Europe#49-50.
Dino
Knight of Earth-92051 was a crime-fighting, gun-bearing dinosaur counterpart
of Moon Knight's, whose power was absorbed by Moonshade. -Marc
Spector: Moon Knight#42
Dino Knight's home reality was revealed in OHOTMU HC#5.
--Markus Raymond
Can anyone think of a dinosaur who fights crime in the Old West? The closest I can come up with would be Dinosaurs-For-Hire, the Malibu comic book of the early 1990's. Maybe Cretacious Sam from Nightcrawler I#4? -Prime Ed-ternal
First of all, I can't think of any other source for the Wild West elements than the 1942 and 1967 versions of the Ghost Rider (the 1967 was sort of pirated by Marvel). Ghost Rider resembles Moon Knight so much that it wouldn't be any fun to adapt his looks. Maybe that's why they mixed a bit.
As for the dino side of the mix, another possible influence would be "Cadillacs and Dinosaurs", but I don't think their Dinos were the least bit sentient. Perhaps it was an homage to the Dick Sprang creation of a dinosaur statue in the batcave?
The name resembles "Dino Mutt", Blue Falcon's sidekick, which, of course, is very much a Batman rip-off itself. And at last, the concept resembles various Hanna Barbera funny animals (mainly Quick Draw McDraw) and even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. My best guess is that the writer wanted to go all-out with his taunts about rip-offs, and Dino Knight isn't a single parody, but a whole load mixed. --Luis Dantas
Moon Spirit was a crime-fighter on Earth-9134, with a sidekick named Ivory. He was absorbed by Moonshade. -Marc Spector: Moon Knight#42
Based on the Spirit, the Will Eisner-created character who fights crime with his aid Ebony, who calls him "Mister Spirit".
The image comes from Mikel Midnigth's
Amalgam site. Mikel suggested the character's name might be Moon
Spirit.
http://www.angelfire.com/mn/blaklion/amalgam/GoldenAge.html
The Moon Ghost was a crime-fighter on Earth-84929, absorbed by Moonshade. -Marc Spector: Moon Knight#42
Based on the Hanna-Barbara cartoon character Space-Ghost.
Appearances:
Infinity War#3 (August, 1992) - Jim Starlin (writer), Ron Lim (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Marc Spector: Moon Knight#41 (August, 1992) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Gary Kwapisz (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Joey Cavaleri (editor)
Infinity War#4 (September, 1992) - Jim Starlin (writer), Ron Lim (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Marc Spector: Moon Knight#42 (September, 1992) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Gary Kwapisz, James Fry III, Norm Breyfogle, Kelley Jones & Klaus Janson (pencils), Tom Palmer, Klaus Janson, Kelley Jones, John Beatty & Ty Templeton (inks), Joey Cavaleri (editor)
Last updated: 01/03/04
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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