Moon Knight Just Rejected the Solution to His Big Problem With Khonshu

After being rejected by the ancient Moon God Khonshu, Moon Knight has spent years under the deity’s thumb, even facing off against the Avengers in his name. However, as much as Marc Spector professes to hate his cosmic master, he routinely rejects opportunities to escape his influence.

As an avatar of an ancient Egyptian god, Moon Knight often finds himself in direct confrontation with other god-worshiping cults, especially those that deal in human sacrifice. And since he is so good at what he does, Moon Knight is often courted by other gods seeking him as their avatar. These cults might even create a situation to trick Moon Knight into becoming anointed so that their deity can take him as their own.

This is exactly what happens in ‘The Scent of Blood’ from Moon Knight: Black, White, & Blood #4 by Nadia Shammas, Dante Bastianoni, and Chris Sotomayor. While trying to stop a cult, Moon Knight begins seeing hallucinations when he is marked by the god Shesmu. Shesmu hopes that Moon Knight will become his new prophet and even help him slay Khonshu. But Moon Knight rejects this offer and attacks Shesmu instead, defeating the god by threatening his own life. Because Moon Knight and the god are linked, it becomes a stalemate that Shesmu ultimately backs down from, allowing Moon Knight to stay the avatar of Khonshu instead.

Overall, Moon Knight has a very complicated relationship with Khonshu. On the one hand, Khonshu saved him when he was on the verge of dying and has brought Marc back from every subsequent defeat. However, Khonshu can also be a cruel and demanding master. For this reason, Moon Knight views himself as a slave, but he’s also aware that the devil he knows is preferable to the gods he doesn’t. Marc may despise Khonshu as an individual, but his mission of bringing vengeance to those who harm travelers by night is one which he believes in wholeheartedly. While Moon Knight could likely strike a better deal for himself with another god, Khonshu at least enforces a code he can live with.

Moon Knight has an easy way to escape his servitude to Khonshu by pledging himself to one of the many rival gods, but as Khonshu’s fist of vengeance, Moon Knight gets to unleash his violent tendencies in the name of a cause he actually believes in. So while Moon Knight would go a long, long way to finally be free of Khonshu, ironically there’s no other deity he’d rather serve, even though they’re desperately eager to have him.

Moon Knight: Black, White, & Blood #4is available now from Marvel Comics.