The Rebirth of the Black Knight

Captain America and Hawkeye arrive at Garret Castle, just outside of Washington, DC to deliver the inert form of the Black Knight, aka Dane Whitman.[1] Thanks to a blood curse placed upon his ebony blade, the Knight has been transformed into an inert and razor sharp metal statue. They leave Whitman in the care of Victoria Bentley, an associate of Doctor Strange who has been put in charge of caretaking for the castle.[2]

When the two Avengers leave, Victoria has her butler — Catherwood — bring her an enchanted crystal which she intends to use to probe the past and find some way to free Dane Whitman from his prison.

She is shown visions from 6th century Camelot, the time of the original Black Knight. The first to hold the title was Sir Percy of Scandia, a subject of King Arthur. With threats coming from the sorceress Morgan le Fay and Sir Mordred, the king’s illuminate son, Merlin sought a valiant warrior to defend the kingdom. To this end, he fashioned the indestructible Ebony Blade from a meteor that fell from the sky.[3] Sir Percy took on the identity of the Black Knight. In order to keep his true identity a secret, Percy played an absent minded fop when not in battle. This frustrated Percy as he loved Lady Rosamund, who had eyes for nobody but his alter ego.[4] Eventually, Sir Percy could hide the truth no longer and revealed it to Rosamund and the two were soon married.[5] Soon after, the couple produced their first child, Geoffrey.[6]

Soon came the fall of Camelot and in the final battle both King Arthur and his son Mordred were mortally wounded in final battle.[7] However, Mordred managed to stay alive long enough for one final battle with the Black Knight himself, fatally stabbing the knight with a knife constructed out of the same Starstone as the Ebony Blade. Although he lay dying, the Black Knight was visited one last time by Merlin who cast a spell that would ensure that if Mordred is ever to walk the Earth again, the Black Knight will rise again.[8]

Through a second son of Sir Percy, Edward, the family line continued on. Eventually, over the course of the centuries, a new Black Knight came to be. This warrior was Sir Eobar of Garrington, who fought for King Richard during the Crusades. In the succeeding generations Garrington was simplified to Garrett. In the present day, Sir Percy’s descendant Nathan Garrett used the Black Knight identity to become a costumed criminal, clashing with Avengers as a member of the original Masters of Evil. Ultimately, Nathan was mortally wounded during a fight with Iron Man.[9] Contacting his nephew Dane Whitman while on his death bed, Nathan convinced Dane to become a new heroic Black Knight to atone for his past crimes and restore the reputation that he had tarnished. Whitman’s first outing as the Black Knight led to a misunderstanding and battle with the Avengers.[10]

Not long after this, Whitman was drawn back to his family’s ancestral castle where the spirit of Sir Percy led him to the Ebony Blade. The Black Knight fought Le Sabre, Modred’s chosen champion in this modern era. In the ensuing clash not only did Le Sabre lose, but he also lost the enchanted dagger of Mordred.[11] Eventually, the Black Knight became allies with Doctor Strange and Victoria Bently.[12] Later, the Black Knight was turned into stone by the Enchantress, but while his body was trapped, his spirit was sent back in time where he possessed the spirit of his ancestor Eobar Garret and fought alongside King Richard during the Crusades.[13] There he lived for years, until the Avengers battled the Fomor of Celtic myth. This involved them being pulled through time and fought alongside the Back Knight. It was during this battle that Dane Whitman was returned to the present day.[14] Not long after this, the Knight ended up encountering Captain Britain and the two went on a quest to save lost Camelot.[15]

When the Black Knight returned to his castle he was visited by Doctor Strange who warned Dane of the magics that were working against him. First he cast a spell to remove the wings of Dane’s horse Valinor, so that the horse would not die from the enchantment. He then helped Dane remove the blood curse from the Ebony Blade, a curse that compelled its wielder to spill yet more blood.[16] Whitman rejoined the Avengers where the blood curse was re-awakened when the Sub-Mariner used the Ebony Blade to kill his wife Marrina, who had transformed into the massive sea creature called Leviathan.[17] While Namor was the one who dealt the killing blow, it was Whitman who was saddled with the curse and slowly found himself being transformed into an immobilized statue that was as sharp as his blade.[18]

With the story all told, the enchanted crystal then causes the spirit of Sir Percy to appear before them. With an evil presence looming over them, the spirit of Sir Percy directs Victoria to a secret button that reveals a hidden chamber containing the original Black Knight armor. That’s when the spirit vanishes and with the evil closing in on them, Victoria quickly tries placing the helmet of the original Black Knight onto Dane Whitman’s head. This causes Dane to transform into the original Black Knight as Sir Percy takes possession of his body, breaking the blood curse.

That’s when a massive goblin with four arms and bat-like wings comes smashing through the wall and grabs Victoria. Leaping onto Valinor — whose wings have been restored — the Black Knight chases after the monster and uses the Ebony Blade to sever its hand in order to save Victoria. As they ride back to the castle they are visited by the spirits of Morgan le Fay and Mordred who warn the Black Knight that they will be returning soon and will take over the world. Knowing how le Fay will return and how to stop her, the Black Knight returns to Garret Castle to prepare for the coming battle.

Recurring Characters

Black Knight (Sir Percy/Whitman), Victoria Bentley, Edward Catherwood, Morgan le Fay, Mordred, Captain America, Hawkeye

Continuity Notes

1. As explained in Tales of Suspense #73, Garrett Castle was transported brick-by-brick to the United States from England.

2. Victoria makes a passing mention as to how Stephen Strange faked his death recently. Strange led the world to believe he died in the final battle with the Beyonder in Secret Wars II #9, as revealed in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #1. His survival was outed when Morgana Blessing wrote an article about Stephen for Now Magazine in issue #8 of that series.

3. For more on the Starstone meteorite and how Merlin fashioned it into the Ebony Blade see Avengers Annual #22, Mystic Arcana: Black Knight #1, and Marvel Super-Heroes #17.

4. For the early adventures of the original Black Knight see Black Knight #1-5. This story also tells readers to check out Marvel Comics Presents #64-65, but neither of those issues have anything to do with the Black Knight, apparently that story was never printed.

5. Per Thunderbolts #167-170, Sir Percy would have proposed to Rosamund sometime after the year 537 AD.

6. Not much is known about Geoffrey of Scandia. He survives the fall of Camelot as we will see in Black Knight: Curse of the Ebony Blade #4, and is responsible for carrying on the line of the Black Knights. Other than that, as of this writing in December, 2022, we don’t know that much more about him.

7. Mystic Arcana: Black Knight #1 reveals that Mordred didn’t actually land the killing blow that slew King Arthur, it was actually one of his other soldiers.

8. The death of the original Black Knight and Merlin’s spell to keep his immortal spirit going was first told in Marvel Super-Heroes #17. Merlin wasn’t the only hand that had a part to play in the Black Knight’s enduring spirit. He was also made part of Gaea, the Earth Mother, by the Gwyn the Tuatha de Danaan worshiped as the god of spring time. See Mystic Arcana: Black Knight #1, again.

9. The criminal Black Knight first reared his ugly head in Tales to Astonish #52. He joined up with Baron Zemo’s Masters of Evil in Avengers #6. He was seriously injured fighting Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #73.

10. Dane Whitman’s first outing as the Black Knight happened in Avengers #47-48.

11. This all took place in Marvel Super-Heroes #17.

12. Whitman first met Strange and Bentley in Avengers #61/Doctor Strange #178. The narrative makes mention of the fact that Strange wore a mask at the time. For a brief time, Strange had become concerned with maintaining a secret identity and wore a mask from Doctor Strange #177 until Marvel Feature #1.

13. The Black Knight’s spirit was sent back in time in Defenders #11. Not much is known about this period, but paradoxically, Dane Whitman would end up going back and possessing his ancestor a second time as seen in Black Knight: Exodus #1.

14. The battle with the Fomor (aka the Tuatha de Danaan) and Dane’s return to the present day took place in Avengers #225-226.

15. Dane’s adventure with Captain Britain to save Camelot occurred in the UK exclusive Hulk Comic #1, 3-9, 11-19, 21-30, 37-55, 57-63 (Yeah that looks like a lot but it was like 2 pages serialized over the course of a weekly comic.)

16. This removal of the enchantment on Valinor and the blood curse from the Ebony Blade happened in Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #68-69. The blood curse has been barely mentioned in this story as though it was something that was relatively new. However, Black Knight: Curse of the Ebony Blade #1-5 shows that the curse had always been there.

17. The whole Leviathan storyline where the Ebony Blade was used to kill Marrino was chronicled in Avengers #291-293. Marrina didn’t die but entered a death-like state, she’ll turn up again in Avengers (vol. 3) #47.

18. Dane’s transformation into another living statue was chronicled in Avengers #294-297 and Thor #397-400.

Topical References

• References to the present day taking place in the 20th century should be considered topical. Due to the Sliding Timescale, the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe is gradually bumped forward in time. It has now been pushed forward enough that the Modern Age doesn’t begin until after the start of the 21st century.