The Black Knight is the alias of several fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
The first is a medieval knight created by writer Stan Lee and artist Joe Maneely, who made his first appearance in Black Knight #1 (May 1955), during the Silver Age of Comics, when Marvel Comics was previously known as Atlas Comics.[1] The second is a supervillain descendant of the original, created by Lee and artist and co-plotter Dick Ayers, who first appeared in Tales to Astonish #52 (Feb. 1964). The third, created by writer Roy Thomas, production editor John Verpoorten, and artist George Tuska, is the villain's nephew, a superhero and a member of the superhero team the Avengers, who first appeared in The Avengers #47 (Dec. 1967). A fourth Black Knight with no revealed genetic connection debuted in The Black Panther #3 (June 2005), created by writer Reginald Hudlin and penciler John Romita Jr. A fifth, Jackie Chopra, was revealed to be the daughter of Dane Whitman.[2]
Dane Whitman appears in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe film Eternals (2021), portrayed by Kit Harington.
Marvel Comics' first Black Knight, Sir Percy of Scandia, first appeared in the medieval-adventure series Black Knight #1–5 (cover-dated May 1955–April 1956) from Atlas Comics, the 1950s precursor to Marvel Comics.[3][4]
Sir Percy's descendant, Professor Nathan Garrett, debuted as the modern-day supervillain Black Knight in Tales to Astonish #52 (Feb. 1964). This villainous Black Knight appeared in The Avengers #6, #14–15 (July 1964, March–April 1965), and in the feature "Iron Man" in Tales of Suspense #73 (Jan. 1966), in which he was mortally wounded.
Dane Whitman, Garrett's nephew, made his first appearance in The Avengers #47 (Dec. 1967) and became a heroic version of the Black Knight in the subsequent issue.[5] Whitman sporadically appeared with the Avengers until becoming a core member, regularly appearing in #252–300 (1985–1989) and #329–375 (1991–1994).
The Gatherers storyline running through The Avengers #343–375 (1992–1994) placed the spotlight on the Black Knight, as the book's focus turned toward his tumultuous relationship with the Eternal Sersi and mysterious connection to the other-dimensional villain Proctor. Whitman later starred in Malibu Comics' UltraForce #8–10 (1995) and UltraForce vol. 2 #1–12 (1995–1996), leading a new team of heroes on a parallel world. Returning to the Marvel Universe proper, Whitman appeared in Heroes for Hire #1–16 (1997–1998) and, later, Captain Britain and MI13 #1–15 (2008–2009). The Black Knight has yet to return to the Avengers, the team with which the character is most closely associated. In 2015, as part of All-New All-Different, a solo series was launched featuring Dane Whitman; however, it was canceled after 5 issues due to low sales.
Whitman and Sir Percy also starred in the limited series Black Knight #1–4 (June–Sept. 1990), written by Roy and Dann Thomas and drawn by successive pencillers Tony DeZuniga and Rich Buckler. In 1995, Percy had a cameo in Namor #60 as part of the Atlantis Rising story. Whitman and Sersi then headlined the one-shot Black Knight: Exodus (Dec. 1996), written by Ben Raab and illustrated by Jimmy Cheung and Andy Lanning. Another Black Knight one-shot starring Sir Percy, written by Thomas and illustrated by Tom Grummett and Scott Hanna, was published as Mystic Arcana: Black Knight #1 (Sept. 2007), the second of four Mystic Arcana one-shot issues.
The original Black Knight is Sir Percy of Scandia, a 6th-century knight who serves at the court of King Arthur as his greatest warrior. Recruited by the wizard Merlin, Percy adopts a double identity, and pretends to be very incompetent until changing into the persona of the Black Knight.[6] As the Black Knight, Percy wields the Ebony Blade, which Merlin forged from a meteorite.[7] A constant foe of the evil knight Mordred the Evil (Arthur's traitorous nephew), Percy is eventually killed by him during the fall of Camelot when stabbed from behind with an enchanted blade – although Mordred then dies himself of wounds inflicted by Arthur.[8] Merlin ensures that Percy's spirit will live on by casting a spell that will revive his ghost if Mordred should ever return.[8] Percy's spirit has appeared several times to counsel his descendant, Dane Whitman.
Biologist Professor Nathan Garrett is the direct descendant of Sir Percy (although it has been implied Percy's nephew Raston inherited the blade), and found Sir Percy's tomb and the Ebony Blade. Garrett's evil tendencies make him unworthy of wielding the sword, and Sir Percy’s ghost shuns him. An embittered Garrett then devises an arsenal of medieval weapons that employ modern technology and has genetic engineers create a winged horse that he names Aragorn. Calling himself the Black Knight, Garrett embarks on a life of crime to spite his ancestor. After a battle with the hero Giant-Man[9] Garrett joins the supervillain team the Masters of Evil at the request of master villain Baron Zemo and like the others spreads Adhesive X over the city, but is first defeated by Thor. After two unsuccessful battles with the Avengers, the second time of which he was broken out of jail by Enchantress,[10] he battled Iron Man due to Doctor Doom's mind-control machine (which made supervillains attack Mister Fantastic's and the Invisible Woman's wedding, which the affected villains subsequently forget due to a machine created by Mister Fantastic).[11] Garrett is mortally wounded falling from Aragorn while trying to kill Iron Man.[12] A dying Garrett reveals his secret identity to his nephew, Dane Whitman, and repents for his life of crime.[13] Whitman then adopts the identity of the Black Knight himself.[14]
Dane Whitman is the Black Knight who has been a longtime member of the Avengers as well as a member of the Defenders, Ultraforce, Heroes for Hire, and MI: 13. Using his uncle's notes, Whitman wielded the same equipment and created his own Aragorn.[15]
A Vatican Black Knight named Augustine du Lac[16] received the Ebony Blade after Vatican agents retrieved it from an Iraqi vampire nest. In addition, Augustine created his own Aragorn.[17] He is a member of a team of supervillains that invades the African nation of Wakanda. A devout Catholic, du Lac hopes to convert the populace to Catholicism. Black Panther takes the Ebony Blade and defeats him.[18] Augustine's Aragorn was later captured by Alyosha Kravinoff and killed for food.[19]