Vengeance of the Moon Knight (2024) is a direct sequel to Moon Knight (2021) and Late Arrival Spoilers for that comic may be unmarked on this page.
Long Live The Knight
"You've taken the moon's light for granted. All of you have. But here's the new moon as well. The lightless one. Do you feel it? The darkness not even [Tigra's] eyes can see through. No. The only thing real in the darkness... is the moon."
—Moon Knight (?)
Vengeance of the Moon Knight is a 2024 comic book mini-series by Marvel Comics, written by Jed MacKay with art by Alessandro Cappuccio.
Following the events of Moon Knight (2021), Marc Spector is dead. However, the Midnight Mission continues on his mission to protect the travelers of the night. But they face complications when a new Moon Knight appears and demands they turn ownership of the Midnight Mission over to him. But who is he? Is he Marc Spector once again back from the dead? Or something else?
The series concluded with Issue #9 in September 2024, and relaunched with the same creative team in Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu (2024) the next month.
Vengeance of the Moon Knight (2024) provides examples of:
- Ask a Stupid Question...: When Tigra asks Dr. Sterman if she really thinks that Marc could have brutalized 8-Ball like the new Moon Knight did, she is met with glaring silence from Sterman.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: This how Hunter's Moon discovered who the fake Moon Knight had to be. Containing knowledge from earlier deceased Moon Knights, one of these had fought a priest of the goddess Kali and remembered the unique martial art they used. Since fake Moon Knight used the same techniques, the fake had to be a priest of Kali and the only one in the area is Max Coleridge, the Shroud.
- Back from the Dead:
- You didn't really think that Marc would stay dead, did you? He gets brought back once Khonshu is freed in Issue #7.
- This also happens by fulfilling the Exact Words of Khonshu's demand that Marc kill the false Moon Knight, either Reese or Shroud; refusing to endanger Reese, he beats Shroud until his heart stops, and then has Hunter's Moon defibrilate him back to life.
- Brick Joke: In the run that preceded this, Marc mentioned that fellow Jewish superhero Ben Grimm of the Fantastic Four always found time to send him a card at Hannukah; in this series, Grimm shows up to help organize Marc's funeral per Jewish customs.
- The Bus Came Back: Mr. Smile and Mr. Sulk, a pair of demons last seen in Mark Waid's 2019 run of Doctor Strange, appear in the first issue, before being exorcised by Hunter's Moon.
- Came Back Wrong: Reese suspects that the new Moon Knight is Marc resurrected, but corrupted by something.
- Cartwright Curse: Tigra tells Dr. Sterman that she knew the new Moon Knight couldn't be Marc. Not because of her keen sense of smell or Loving Details, but rather because she's had such bad luck with romance that she refuses to believe that the new Moon Knight is Marc resurrected.
- Casting a Shadow: The new Moon Knight can control darkness and shadows, something which he uses to great effect on Tigra. This is because he's really the Shroud, who has access to the Darkforce.
- Chromatic Counterpart: The new Moon Knight wears a black version of Marc's costume.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The new Moon Knight subjects 8-Ball to this in Issue #1, throwing him through the window of the Midnight Mission after filling him full of flechettes. In the second issue, he himself is subjected to this, as the Mission knows he isn't Marc and rejects him.
- Driving Question: Who is the new Moon Knight? It's Maximillian Coleridge, aka the Shroud.
- Due to the Dead: Per Jewish funerary customs, the members of the Midnight Mission, who considered themselves Marc's family, have to sit shiva for a week, meaning they can't do any of the Mission's work. The slack is picked up by several other New York-based groups out of respect to Marc; we see members of The Avengers helping keep the peace.
- Ensemble Cast: With Marc dead, the series follows the members of the Midnight Mission as they deal with a threat to his legacy.
- Evil Power Vacuum: In a way, as Soldier admits that the Midnight Mission is effectively a gang, and that the new Moon Knight's attempts to fill the void left by Marc have been disastrous; Marc kept the peace in his territory by keeping the villains scared, but only scared just enough to keep them in line, otherwise they'd become desperate and feel that they have no choice but to act. The new Moon Knight's constant violent assaults on criminals, even nobodies who were not even engaging in crime, has emboldened villains enough to start attacking the Midnight Mission in search of "Moon Knight."
- Fighting Fingerprint: Hunter's Moon realizes that the new Moon Knight was trained by the Cult of Kali because he has access to the memories of a previous Moon Knight who had fought the Cult of Kali back in the 1800s.
- Godzilla Threshold: In an attempt to stop the Blood Hunt, Tigra and Hunter's Moon infiltrate Asgard along with a member of the Wrecking Crew, and free Khonshu from his imprisonment, leading to an army of undead Fists of Khonshu to fight the Blood Coven... including Marc.
- Legacy Character: There is a new Moon Knight running around. It's not known if he's Marc somehow come back to life or a new Fist of Khonshu to take over. It turns out to be the Shroud attempting to honor Marc's legacy in a very misguided manner.
- Magical Defibrillator: This is how Marc manages to get away with killing the false Moon Knight without actually killing him; Dr. Badr brings him back using one of these off-screen. Khonshu protests, but Marc points out as a sacrifice, it's meant to be symbolic.
- Nocturnal Crime: Nearly every issue of this series and the previous one taking place at night is brought up in Issue #4, when Tigra mentions how weird it feels to be active in broad daylight, a sentiment which Hunter's Moon agrees with, noting that he is not used to going into battle "without the face of my father in the skies."
- No-Sell: When Reese tries to incapacitate Mr. Smile by turning into mist and suffocating him, he sneezes her out while explaining that a little vampire mist is nothing compared to the air in Hell.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Dr. Sterman comments that while Marc left Reese the Mission because she wasn't like him, she and the Mission need Soldier because he is like him, prompting Soldier to ask himself "What would the boss do next?".
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Tigra is going on one of these, attempting to find the Black Spectre so she can get revenge on them for Marc's death.
- Sequel Series: The series is a direct sequel to Moon Knight (2021).
- Sketchy Successor: The new Moon Knight makes his mark by brutalizing every criminal he comes across and attempting to seize everything Marc had from under his allies, like the Midnight Mission. He turns out to be someone attempting very poorly to honor Marc by taking up the mantle to "redeem" himself, with Tigra spelling out to him how badly he's messed that up.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: When the House of Shadows violently rejects the new Moon Knight, he teleports away after threatening to kill the heroes if they get in his way.
- Villain Protagonist: The new Moon Knight is the villain of the story, and has focus as one of the main characters.
- Villain Teleportation: The violent new Moon Knight can use his darkness powers to teleport.