Black Knight (Dane Whitman)

The Black Knight (Dane Whitman) is a fictional superhero character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema, the character first appeared in The Avengers #47 (December 1967). Dane Whitman is the third character to use the codename of Black Knight. He is the descendant of the original Black Knight and is the nephew of the supervillain Black Knight. He inherited a mystical sword which carried a curse and took the Black Knight mantle to help restore honor. The character has also been a member of the MI-13, Avengers, Defenders, Ultraforce, and Heroes for Hire at various points in his history.

Since his original introduction in comics, the character has been featured in various other Marvel-licensed products, including video games, animated television series, and merchandise. Dane Whitman made his live-action debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Eternals (2021), portrayed by Kit Harington.

Publication history

Dane Whitman debuted in The Avengers #47 (December 1967), created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema.

Thomas commented on the character's conception, "The Black Knight was a combination, visually, of the Black Knight that Stan Lee and Joe Maneely made up in the mid-1950s, with the concept Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had done as a villain of that name, complete with winged horse, in The Avengers. There was also a bit of an homage in there to a DC hero I'd liked in the 1940s, Shining Knight. I shouldn't have named his horse Aragorn, though. I wasn't even that great an admirer of The Lord of the Rings. John Buscema, was scheduled to be the artist of the story that introduced Dane Whitman dressed in the Black Knight costume into The Avengers, but that wound up being a guest stint by George Tuska when Stan Lee took John off the book for one issue to do something else. It was John Verpoorten and I that designed the costume."

Following his introduction, the Dane Whitman Black Knight became a recurring character in the superhero-team comic The Avengers, with his first solo story appearing shortly afterward in Marvel Super-Heroes #17 (Nov. 1968). From 1979 to 1980, the Black Knight also appeared in a black and white feature in the Marvel UK comic Hulk Weekly, where the feature was to be the longest-lasting of the comic's UK-originated material, appearing in the majority of the title's 63 issues. It was written by Steve Parkhouse with art by Paul Neary and John Stokes. During the mid-1980s his popularity in The Avengers led to fan requests for his own miniseries, but Marvel instead scheduled a three-part Black Knight story set during the Crusades for Marvel Fanfare. The Marvel Fanfare story was extensively delayed, and in the end was published concurrently with the miniseries Black Knight #1–4 (June–Sept. 1990) by husband-and-wife writers Roy and Dann Thomas and successive pencillers Tony DeZuniga and Rich Buckler. This was followed by the one-shot Black Knight: Exodus #1 (Dec. 1996), by writer Ben Raab and penciller Jimmy Cheung.

He and other Marvel characters were brought to the short-lived Ultraverse imprint. The Black Knight appeared in the Ultraforce team book volumes 1 and 2 and related titles in 1995–96. Then the character became part of the teams: Heroes for Hire (1997), Excalibur (2003), MI-13 (2008) and Euroforce.

In July 2015, it was announced that Frank Tieri and Luca Pizzari would be launching a new Black Knight series as part of Marvel's post-"Secret Wars" relaunch. This series features Whitman as the ruler of New Avalon, a kingdom he has claimed in the reality known as Weirdworld. The ongoing series was cancelled with issue #5 in 2016, as Marvel was unhappy with its sales. The writer of the series, Frank Tieri, then considered it a standalone limited series and expressed his feelings over the series being cut short. Black Knight is notable as the first "All-New, All-Different Marvel" comic book series to be cancelled.

Fictional character biography

Early life

Dane Whitman was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts to a rich family. In his youth, he studied physics. Whitman is best known as the modern-day Black Knight, continuing a legacy that began in medieval England. The first Black Knight, Whitman's ancestor Sir Percy of Scandia, lived during the reign of King Arthur. Percy's murder at the hand of his nemesis Mordred began a string of successors, all of them Percy's descendants.

The Black Knight's legacy is revived by Whitman's uncle Nathan Garrett who becomes the supervillain Black Knight. After being mortally wounded during a battle with Iron Man, he escapes to his estate, summons his nephew to confess his crimes and asks him to restore honor to their family legacy and atone for Garrett's misdeeds, giving Whitman the weapons that he used for crime.

The Avengers

Whitman becomes the Black Knight, using the horse Aragorn for his mount. He uses the genetic techniques of his uncle to give the horse the appearance of a winged horse. During his first outing, he is mistaken for his uncle and attacked by the Avengers, though they eventually realize their mistake. He later infiltrates the Masters of Evil, proving his worth to the Avengers who offer him provisional membership. Shortly afterwards, he inherits Castle Garrett and travels to England. He encounters the spirit of Sir Percy of Scandia there and is given the Ebony Blade. Black Knight then encounters Doctor Strange and helps fight the extra-dimensional threat Tiboro.

While still a provisional Avenger, he helps them in a battle against Kang the Conqueror. Kang was given the power of death over the Avengers by the Grandmaster as a prize for winning a recent game that Whitman has become unwittingly involved in. When he assists Goliath (Hawkeye) in defeating his chosen opponent, the Grandmaster calls that round of the game a draw since the Avengers did not defeat their opponents on their own. Since Whitman is not a full Avenger at the time, Kang has no power over him and so Whitman is able to defeat him with relative ease. Whitman then officially joins the Avengers in recognition of his aid. Later, the Ebony Blade is used by the Olympian war god Ares to put out the Promethean Flame and turn most of the Olympians to crystal. The Black Knight travels to Olympus with other members and helps defeat Ares.

The Defenders and Otherworld

Whitman is an early member of the Defenders. He was traveling with the Enchantress to the realm of the Asgardian sorceress Casiolena, to a parallel dimension. However, they were captured and imprisoned by the witch. When the Defenders also are trapped by Casiolena, the Black Knight and a newly invoked Valkyrie joins them in the battle against Casiolena. However Whitman becomes the first casualty of the Defenders, after he is treacherously converted to stone by a kiss from the Enchantress. Doctor Strange tries to revert the spell without success. Whitman's spirit is drawn to the 12th century by the sorcerer Amergin the Druid, and he takes spiritual possession of his ancestor, the Crusader Sir Eobar Garrington, until Garrington dies due to the Evil Eye. Meanwhile, Whitman chooses to stay in the 12th century and is cared for by fellow Defender, the Valkyrie. Whitman then battles the Fomor, alongside the time-traveling Avengers. He then employs the Evil Eye to seal the portal between Earth and Avalon.

Some time later, still in Garrington's body, the wizard Merlyn takes Whitman as his champion. He is commanded to find the hero Captain Britain, who is wandering in the coast of Cornwall. Merlyn needs the hero for the defense of Otherworld, his realm, that is being attacked by the Nethergods. The Black Knight is attacked many times by creatures invoked by the sorcerer Mordred but he finds Captain Britain, who is amnesiac. On the road to Otherworld, both heroes are assisted by the old witch Sarah Mumford, the Walker Vortigern, an old king of Britain, and the elf Moondog, the last two sent by Merlyn from Otherworld. On the road, they are attacked by the Iron Ogre, a magic creature invoked by the Evil Walker Cormac. The Ogre bests the heroes and destroys the Ebony Blade. Only a precise arrow shot by the elf Moondog stops the creature. Cormac sends Goblins to battle the heroes and briefly captures Moondog. Meanwhile, when the Black Knight is devastated by the loss of his sword, he meets the Lady of the lake, who gives him the magic sword Excalibur. With the sword, Whitman defeats Cormac. In the meantime, Captain Britain is killed by the White Rider, one of the servants of the Nethergod Mandrac, at the door of the passage of Otherworld Whitman and his companions finally cross the doors of Otherworld and fight Mandrac, Lord of the Slain, who was in possession of the body of Captain Britain. Merlyn appears to help the knight and traps Mandrac inside the earth - Merlyn rescues the spirit of Captain Britain from Netherword and defeats Modred, who was attacking him and the knight. In the Otherworld dimension, the Black Knight and Captain Britain go to save Camelot from the attacks of the Nethergod Necromon. In the process, Merlyn reforges the Ebony Sword and King Arthur is resurrected. In the final assault, Whitman and King Arthur succeed in killing Necromon, but Camelot is destroyed. During these events, Black Knight and Captain Britain are briefly kidnapped by the Grandmaster to participate in the original Contest of Champions.