Shadow Knight (comics)


Shadow Knight is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a nemesis of the superhero Moon Knight.

Publication history

Randall Spector was introduced in the backup feature of Hulk! Magazine #17 in October, 1979 as a mysterious serial killer known as the Hatchet Man who is murdering nurses around New York City. Moon Knight attempts to stop the murders, and eventually deduces that the killer is his estranged brother Randall. In #18, Moon Knight confronts his murderous brother in Central Park and a fight ensues, in which Randall is killed. This was later retconned by writer Howard Mackie to be an impostor and in Marc Spector: Moon Knight #33-37 Randall returns. During the Shadowland crossover, writer Gregg Hurwitz and artist Ron Garney wrote a three issue limited series where Moon Knight deals with his brother in final confrontation.

Fictional character biography

Randall and Marc Spector are brothers and have both at certain points been chosen as the avatar of the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Randall Spector grew up with his brother Marc from birth, playing army games with him often. He followed his brother into the Marines and eventually both became mercenaries in Northern Italy. It was later discovered that Randall killed Marc's then nurse girlfriend. Marc hunted his brother down until there was a standoff. Marc threw a grenade into Randall's treetop sniper position, thinking he killed him, but later Randall returns to New York on a killing spree focused on killing nurses with a hatchet. Moon Knight uses his girlfriend as bait, but is unable to stop her from getting stabbed. He vows revenge, but is unable to kill his brother. Randall then leaps at Marc, but dodges him; however, Randall stabs himself into a tree branch.
It is later revealed that the person killed wasn't Randall, but an impostor with implanted memories. Randall is actually a member of the Cult of Khonshu, having been mystically enhanced with impenetrable skin and super-human strength by Princess Nephthys.
During the Shadowland storyline, Randall mysteriously resurfaced as the Shadow Knight, convinced by The Profile that he is Khonshu's next avatar on Earth. Sharing essentially all of Moon Knight's powers, except that he can emit a radioactive blast from his eyes, the two are almost entirely evenly matched. Randall attacks Moon Knight's pregnant girlfriend, Marlene. The two eventually meet up in New Orleans tracking the mysterious Sapphire Crescent. Randall ends up using a hostage as a shield with a bomb and Moon Knight is out of throwing crescents; however, Moon Knight throws the Sapphire Crescent and kills his brother.