Black Knight (vol. 2) #4
Knight and Day
Morgan le Fay and Mordred have returned to the present day in order to transform the modern world into a dark distortion of Camelot. Standing in their way are the Black Knight (Dane Whitman possessed by the spirit of his ancestor, Sir Percy of Scandia),[1] and his allies Doctor Strange, Valkyrie (possessing the body of Victoria Bentley),[2] and Sean Dolan, the Knight’s new squire.
They have tracked the remains of Morgan’s castle — the bridge to bring Le Fay and Mordred to Earth — to Lake Havasu City in Arizona, where London Bridge was relocated decades earlier.
Opening a portal to Earth, Morgan and Mordred unleash the Fomor — creatures of Celtic folklore — upon the people of Lake Havasu. The three heroes fight off these monsters until Doctor Strange is able to cast a spell banishing the creatures back to their native dimension.
Unfortunately, this is not the only trick that Morgan has up her sleeve as she uses her magics to create a massive wicker man made of mystical flame and traps a number of innocent people inside. Doctor Strange rushes in to try and cast a spell to destroy the creature but has to stop mid-spell when he realizes that his incantation will kill the innocent people trapped inside the monster as well. The Black Knight then tries to attack the Wicker Man directly, but is quickly restrained. Moments later, both Valkyrie and Doctor Strange are incapacitated by a mystical blast from the Wicker Man.
This allows Morgan and Mordred to finally cross over in to the physical world. They then trap Strange, Valkyrie, and Sean Dolan inside the Wicker Man with the others. When Strange wakes up, he tries to use a spell to free them from inside, but his magic is only reflected back, threatening to harm them. That’s when they notice that the Black Knight is not among them. Looking outside of the Wicker Man, they witness in horror was the Knight is forced to kneel to Morgan and vow allegiance to her in exchange for the continued survival of her prisoners.
With that, Morgan uses her magics to summon her castle and her Fomor armies and orders the Black Knight to lead them into battle. Upon the appearance of the castle, the magic spreads across the land, transforming it into a new medevil kingdom for her to rule over. As the Black Knight prepares to lead the Fomor armies to the slaughter, the Knight’s allies try to speak sense into him. However, Sir Percy is bonded by his promise and refuses to betray Morgan le Fay. Realizing that they’ll need to get through to Dane Whitman instead, Strange uses his powers to mystically open communications between the spirits of Victoria Bentley and Dane Whitman. Victoria pleads with Dane to fight back against Morgan le Fay.
This allows Dane to finally assert control of his body enough for him to remove the helmet that allows Sir Percy to possess his physical body. Before the blood curse makes him immobilized once more, Whitman attacks the Wicker Man. In the ensuing battle, the spirit of Sir Percy joins the fight by transferring its essence into the Ebony Blade. This gives the enchanted weapon the power needed to destroy the Wicker Man and free everyone trapped inside.
With his allies free, Dane knows that the only way to defeat Morgan and Mordred is by severing their connection with the physical world. Rather than attacking them directly, Dane uses his sword to shatter the walls of Morgan Le Fay’s castle, shunting it, Mordred, Morgan, and their legions back to the dimension from where they came. With the battle over, Dane announces that the blood curse has been lifted once more.[3] Valkyrie also departs, relinquishing her control over Victoria Bentely’s body.[4] In order to give Victoria some rest, Doctor Strange use the Mists of Morpheus that allow her to rest until they get back to Garret Castle. When she awakens there later, Dane reveals to her that he is free of the curse and Sir Percy’s spirit and proclaims that this is a brand new dawn for the Black Knight![5]
Recurring Characters
Black Knight (Sir Percy/Whitman), Doctor Strange, Valkyrie/Victoria Bentley, Sean Dolan, Morgan le Fay, Mordred, Tuatha De Danaan (Cernunnos, Morrigan, Taranis), Valinor
Continuity Notes
Due to a blood curse on his Ebony Blade, Dane Whitman had slowly transformed into a statue of metal from Avengers #293 to Thor #400, leaving him completely immobilized. Victoria Bentley restored him in a fashion by freeing the spirit of Sir Percy so it could take possession of Dane’s body as we saw issue #1.
Valkyrie has been dead since Defenders #152 until Victoria willingly allowed her body to become host to Brunnhilde’s spirit last issue.
Just because the curse is lifted doesn’t mean that it’s entire gone. The Ebony Blade can establish the curse anew and it will do that when its used to draw blood again in Avengers Annual #22.
Valkyrie will return in Thor #454.
From here we’ll see the Black Knight again in Marvel Super-Heroes (vol. 2) #4.
