WHYOS
Membership: Oliver Finn (Michael O'Brien), others
Purpose: Crime and violence
Aliases: None
Affiliations: Norman Osborn, Profile, Thunderbolts (Moonstone/Karla Sofen, Penance/Robert Baldwin, Radioactive Man/Chen Lu, Songbird/Melissa Gold, Swordsman/Andreas von Strucker, Venom/Mac Gargan)
Enemies: Bertrand Crawley, Jean-Paul DuChamp, Ray Landers, Moon Knight (Marc Spector), Rob Silverman, various unidentified victims
Base of Operations: New York City, New York
First Appearance: Moon Knight V#16 (May, 2008)
History:
(Moon Knight V#23 (fb) - BTS) - The Whyos were a violent New York City gang led by Oliver Finn. The members were all men of predominantly Irish origin or ancestry.
(Moon Knight V#16 (fb) - BTS) - The Whyos killed and decapitated members of a local punk gang because they messing around in the Whyos' territory in NYC.
(Moon Knight V#16) - Finn put on his Whyos outfit, closed the bag with the heads inside and met up with three armed members of the Whyos to walk with big smiles on their faces through their territory to the Dingo Bar. While one Whyo waited outside Finn dropped the heads on the ground in front of the shocked punks at the bar before the Whyos shot up the whole joint. Outside the fourth Whyo got beaten up by Moon Knight, who carved a half moon into his forehead. When the Whyos stepped out of the bar their mood quickly changed when they saw what was going on. Moon Knight took one of them down with crescent darts before the Whyo could use his gun and then beat up the other two. The Whyo that got taken down by the crescent darts was up on his feet again and going to shoot Moon Knight, but Ray Landers, Moon Knight's pilot at the time, saved Moon Knight by shooting and killing two Whyos with the Mooncopter. The police arrived moments later and Moon Knight knew that he was screwed because people had died.
(Moon Knight V#17) - Two members of the Whyos had died and one remained in critical condition after their encounter with Moon Knight. On Peter Benedek 360 on NNT community activist Gloria Turner criticized Moon Knight's recent actions severely because normal young men and not super-villains became his targets and got mutilated and died. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s public relations officer Stanley McClusky pointed out that these young men were members of a brutal street gang and that Moon Knight's actions were already under investigation by Tony Stark.
(Moon Knight V#21 (fb) - BTS) - Michael O'Brien was sent to prison for eight years.
(Moon Knight V#21) - Profile visited Michael O'Brien at the Maximum Security Penitentiary he was imprisoned at. O'Brien didn't know who he was and advised him to go through his lawyer if he was a reporter. Profile just mocked him and called him by his real name, which freaked out Michael. Profile then confronted Michael with his past and his current predicament before offering him to get him out of prison within a week so he could continue his life of brutality and crime.
(Moon Knight V#23) - Freed as promised O'Brien was delivered to the hands of Norman Osborn, who introduced him as Oliver Finn, the leader of the Whyos, to Moonstone (Karla Sofen) of the Thunderbolts.
(Moon Knight V#24 (fb) - BTS) - Osborn sent the Whyos to Jean-Paul DuChamp's cafe in hopes an attack on Moon Knight's friend would lure Moon Knight out of hiding.
(Moon Knight V#23) - Under Finn's leadership the Whyos assaulted DuChamp's restaurant that catered mostly to a gay clientele. DuChamp's partner Rob was seriously injured during the attack, but DuChamp fought back and the Whyos fled before the police arrived.
DuChamp asked Crawley to help him find the Whyos and Crawley led him to their hideout. Crawley also secretly called Moon Knight to the scene just in case DuChamp needed help. DuChamp beat up the Whyos, but got shot in the shoulder by Finn. Moon Knight arrived just in time to disarm Finn by injuring his right arm with crescent darts and then took out another Whyos member. Finn fled through the broken window and used the fire escape to get down to the street, but Moon Knight was right behind him. Finn lured him into an alley, but got hit in the legs by Moon Knight's crescent darts. Finn had done his job well and smiled as the Thunderbolts' Venom (Mac Gargan) jumped down on Moon Knight.
(Moon Knight V#24) - Finn witnessed Venom's attack on Moon Knight, but with his legs injured didn't get involved any further in the fight between Moon Knight and the Thunderbolts.
Comments: Created by Mike Benson, Charlie Huston & Mark Texeira.
In the real world the Whyos Gang were New York City's dominant street gang during mid to late 19th century. Like the gang in Moon Knight they were mostly of Irish descent.
O'Brien seems to have based his alias Oliver Finn on the 17th century Archbishop of Armagh Oliver Plunkett, who later became Saint Oliver, and the mythic Irish warrior Finn McCool.
This profile was finished on 01/24/2025, but delayed for publication until St. Patrick's Day.
Profile by Markus Ramyond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Whyos should not be confused with:
Oliver Finn (Michael O'Brien) has no known connection to:
(Michael O'Brien)
(Moon Knight V#21 (fb) - BTS) - Michael grew up rich, went to private schools and went on trips to the vineyard. He grew up without a father and sought his mother's love, but she was more interested to hand out her love to any man that showed her the slightest affection.
(Moon Knight V#23 (fb) - BTS) - At some point he took up the moniker Oliver Finn and became the leader of New York City's predominantly Irish gang known as the Whyos.
(Moon Knight V#16 (fb) - BTS) - The Whyos decapitated some punks and Fin kept the heads.
(Moon Knight V#16) - Finn put on his gang colors, closed the bag with the heads and joined up with three other members of the Whyos to saunter through their territory to the Dingo Bar where Finn tossed the head on the ground in front of a group of shocked punks and then shot up the bar with two of his fellow Whyos. After leaving the bar they were beaten up by Moon Knight, who cut a half moon into Finn's forehead. He was lucky enough to survive because he was on the ground when Moon Knight's pilot Ray Landers shot and killed two of his fellow gang members with the Mooncopter.
(Moon Knight V#17) - Moon Knight brutal fight with the Whyos became a topic on Peter Benedek 360 on NNT. Gloria Turner portrayed them as normal young men that were gunned down by a crazy vigilante. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s public relations officer Stanley McClusky pointed out that they were a violent gang.
(Moon Knight V#21 (fb) - BTS) - Michael ended up with an eight year prison sentence at a maximum security penitentiary.
(Moon Knight V#21) - Michael received a visit from Profile, whom Michael believed to be a member of the press at first. Profile kept provoking Michael by calling him by his real name and by confronting him with his past before offering Michael a chance to get out of prison within a week even though Michael was up for parole in three years at the earliest. Michael accepted the offer because Profile knew that Michael had a price on his head and would get killed as soon as he was moved to gen-pop. In return Michael had to return to his old violent life with the Whyos.
(Moon Knight V#23) - Oliver Finn was delivered to the hands of Norman Osborn, who introduced him as the leader of the Whyos to Moonstone (Karla Sofen) of the Thunderbolts. Finn had made a deal to avoid returning to prison according to Osborn and would help them get Moon Knight, who had carved a half moon into his forehead.
(Moon Knight V#24 (fb) - BTS) - Osborn sent the Whyos to Jean-Paul DuChamp's cafe in hopes an attack on Moon Knight's friend would lure the vigilante out of hiding.
(Moon Knight V#23) - Finn led the Whyos in a violent attack on DuChamp's French Cafe. DuChamp's boyfriend Rob got seriously injured during the attack, but the Whyos fled after receiving a serious beating by DuChamp.
Finn and three members of the Whyos were hanging out in their hideout when they were attacked by Jean-Paul DuChamp and Moon Knight. Finn fled through a broken window to the street using the fire escape and lured Moon Knight into an alley. Moon Knight stopped him from running any further by hitting Finn's legs with crescent darts and was going to end Finn once and for all, but Finn had a big smile on his face because Venom (Gargan) was already ascending onto Moon Knight.
(Moon Knight V#24) - Finn watched as Venom jumped Moon Knight, but remained on the ground while the vigilante fought the Thunderbolts member.
--Moon Knight V16 ([Moon Knight V#21 (fb)], 16-17, 21, 23-24
images:
Moon Knight V#16, p13, pan1 (main)
Moon Knight V#16, p18, pan2 (head shot)
Moon Knight V#23, p, pan (Whyos kicking)
Moon Knight V#16, p, pan (Finn upper body)
Moon Knight V#21, p12, pan6 (Finn head shot)
Appearances:
Moon Knight V#16-17 (May-June, 2008) - Mike Benson (script/plot), Charlie Huston (plot), Mark Texeira (artist), Axel Alonso (editor)
Moon Knight V#21 (October, 2008) - Mike Benson (writer), Mark Texeira (artist), Axel Alonso (editor)
Moon Knight V#23 (December, 2008) - Mike Benson (writer), Mark Texeira (artist), Axel Alonso (editor)
Moon Knight V#24 (January, 2009) - Mike Benson (writer), Mark Texeira (artist), Axel Alonso (editor)
First Posted: 03/17/2025
Last updated: 03/17/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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