Black Knight: Bio, Origin & History

Real Name: Dane Whitman

First Appearance: The Avengers #47 (December, 1967)

Powers: Black Knight is an experienced hand-to-hand combatant. He’s also one of the best horseman, strategists, and tacticians in the Marvel Universe. Black Knight is also one of the premiere minds in Marvel as he has a genius level of intellect in both physics and genetics. Finally, Black Knight has access to and wields some of the most powerful known mystical weapons.

Affiliation: Avengers, Defenders, Excalibur, Heroes for Hire, MI-13, and Ultraforce

Did You Know? Dane Whitman is there third person to bare the Black Knight name.

A Little History

The origin of Black Knight is pretty straightforward. 

Black Knight (Dane Whitman) was created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema. He first appeared inside the pages of The Avengers #47 back in December of 1967.

Dane Whitman comes from a long line of men destined to be the Black Knight. His uncle, Nathan Garret, was the second Black Knight. His Black Knight, however, was a villain instead of a hero. 

During a battle with Iron Man, Nathan was mortally wounded. Before he passed, he confessed to Dane his villainous past and asked him to become the next iteration of the Black Knight. He also requested that Dane restore the honour and integrity that went with being the hero. Dane accepted and became the third Black Knight.

Due to his lack of experience, Dane initially relied on his scientific expertise to win battles. In one such event, he used magnetism to search out extraterrestrial life. While doing this, he inadvertently brought a displaced Magneto and Toad back to Earth. Upon arriving, Magneto immediately set out to reform his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Black Knight set out to correct his actions and upon confronting the villains, he was stopped by The Avengers. The group didn’t know that this version of Black Knight was not the Nathan Garret version. As a result, the two initially clashed. Eventually, things were sorted out and together the group and Whitman were able to stop the Brotherhood.

Shortly after, Black Knight was welcomed into the group and remains there off and on to this day.

And that’s it. The origin of Black Knight.