Marvel Knights

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Cover art from Inhumans #1 (Nov 1998) by Jae Lee.
Cover art from Inhumans #1 (Nov 1998) by Jae Lee.

Marvel Knights is an imprint of Marvel Comics. Dealing with more mature themes than the regular imprint, it is not intended for children. However, it does not deal with the adult themes touched on by the MAX imprint. The imprint originated in 1998 when Marvel outsourced four titles (Black Panther, Daredevil, The Punisher and The Inhumans) to Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti's company Event Comics; Event hired the creative teams for the Knights line while Marvel published them. The imprint has since been folded back into Marvel's standard methods of publication and is used to single out Marvel's "edgier" titles.

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[edit] Production

In early 2006, Quesada, who had since become Marvel's editor-in-chief, announced that all ongoing titles under the Marvel Knights banner would move to the Marvel Universe imprint and that Marvel Knights would now contain high profile limited series that are set outside of Marvel continuity.[citation needed] After this change, many of the series which had formerly carried the Marvel Knight's banner had it removed, distinguishing them from the new, non-canon materials. This change began with Daredevil #82, along with Black Panther #14, Moon Knight #1, Squadron Supreme #1 and Wolverine #42. Marvel Knights Spider-Man became The Sensational Spider-Man with issue #23 and Marvel Knights 4 simply became 4 with issue #28.

Fury: Peacemaker by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson was the initial limited series to launch from the redefined imprint in February 2006. This was followed up with Silver Surfer: Requiem by J. Michael Straczynski and Esad Ribic (2007), Spider-Man: Reign by Kaare Andrews (late 2006), Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears by Garth Ennis and Clayton Crain (2007), and Captain America: The Chosen (September 2007).

“These stand alone stories won’t just challenge readers to re-think their favorite Marvel legends," said Marvel Knights editor Axel Alonso. "Oftentimes, we’ll focus on characters that are off the beaten path—boiling these archetypes down to their cores. We want to build on the tradition of limited series like Ennis and Crain’s Ghost Rider, Frank Cho’s Shanna, the She-Devil and Robert Rodi and Ribic’s Loki -- each of which offered very distinct visions for Marvel characters, and each of which -- judging by sales numbers -- were embraced by fandom.”

Joe Quesada: “Marvel Knights is the showcase for ‘evergreen events’ -- self-contained limited series that think outside the box, that challenge readers to re-think their favorite Marvel characters and re-evaluate the legends that surround them. In other words, Marvel Knights will be a place for top talent to work without constraints, and deliver the kind of product fans deserve!”[citation needed]

[edit] Current series

  • Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears
  • Spider-Man: With Great Power...
  • Logan
  • Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas (4-issue limited series)
  • Magneto: Testament

[edit] Finished series

[edit] On-going Series

[edit] Limited Series

  • Spider-Man: Reign
  • Black Widow (limited series)
  • Daredevil: Father (2004 limited series)
  • Daredevil: Yellow (2001 limited series)
  • Daredevil vs. Punisher: Means and Ends (2005, 6-issue limited series)
  • Doctor Strange (1998 limited series)
  • Fantastic Four: 1234 (limited series)
  • Ghost Rider (2001 limited series)
  • Hulk Gray (2003 limited series)
  • Hulk Smash (2001 limited series)
  • Marvel Boy (limited series)
  • Marvel Knights (two short-lived series)
  • The Inhumans (limited series)
  • Punisher Vs. Bullseye (2005, limited series)
  • Punisher: Silent Night (2005, one-shot)
  • Spider-Man: Blue (limited series)
  • Spider-Man/Wolverine (limited series)
  • Daredevil/Spider-Man (limited series)
  • MadroX (mini-series)
  • The Punisher (12 issue limited series)
  • The Sentry (limited series and several one-shots)
  • Shanna the She Devil (2005 7 issue limited series)
  • Shanna The She Devil: Survival Of The Fittest (2007)
  • X-Statix Final 6 issues only
  • Daredevil: The Target (started in 2003 but only the first issue has been published as of April 2008)
  • Claws (2006, 3 issue limited series)
  • Silver Surfer: Requiem (2007, 4 issue limited series)
  • Captain America: The Chosen (2007, 6 issue limited series)

[edit] Marvel Knights as a team

The Marvel Knights moniker was used as a nickname for Daredevil's Unnamed Super-Hero Team. The team initially formed to combat the Asgardian Rock Troll Ulik, who had caused a massacre while searching for the mystical Ragnahorn.

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[edit] Membership

[edit] Alternate Versions

[edit] Marvel Knights 2099

In 2004, Marvel Comics held a fifth-week event called Marvel Knights 2099 which took place in the future on an alternate world (Earth-2992) that was not identical to the alternate Marvel Universe on Earth 928 featured in the 1990s Marvel 2099 books.

  • Marvel Knights 2099: Daredevil #1.
  • Marvel Knights 2099: Black Panther #1.
  • Marvel Knights 2099: The Inhumans #1.
  • Marvel Knights 2099: The Punisher #1.
  • Marvel Knights 2099: Mutant #1.

[edit] Ultimate Knights

The Ultimate version of Marvel Knights makes its debut in Ultimate Spider-Man #106. After Shang-Chi makes an unsuccessful attack on the Kingpin he is recruited by Daredevil to help bring down the Kingpin for good. Later, Daredevil, as Matt Murdock, meets Spider-Man and asks him to join the group, with the plan of killing the Kingpin. Spider-Man objects to killing, and the group agrees to let Moon Knight, under the persona of Ronin join the Kingpin's employ. Ronin forcibly brings Spider-Man to the Kingpin as a captive. After revealing that he knows that Ronin is Moon Knight, Kingpin has him beaten nearly to death, and lets Spider-Man leave with the knowledge that one of the Knights is a traitor.

After a bomb destroys the law offices of Matt Murdock, Iron Fist is revealed as the traitor, though only because Kingpin threatened his daughter. Iron Fist is sent back to Kingpin to distract him while Daredevil tries to kill his comatose wife. After a standoff between Daredevil, Kingpin, and Spider-Man, Kingpin agrees to leave the country in exchange for his wife's safety, but he secretly and furiously plots to have Daredevil killed, Dr. Strange's hands broken and Spider-Man's school blown up. Meanwhile, Moon Knight goes to the police, reveals his secret identity, and says that Kingpin tried to kill him, which gives the police enough to arrest Kingpin on attempted murder charges. At the end of the arc there are brief images of the team going about their separate ways: Shang-Chi catches a train out of town, Iron Fist returns to his daughter, Dr. Strange goes back to his sanctum and Daredevil berates himself at a church.

Ultimate Knight members include Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Shang-Chi, Iron Fist and Moon Knight.

[edit] Other Media

In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Marvel Knights is considered a team bonus if you have any combination of the following characters on your team: Black Panther, Daredevil, Dr. Strange, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, and Moon Knight.

[edit] See also