Black Superheroes: Misty Knight
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Since I'm starting this segment so damn late this year I'm forgoing an Intro post and going straight into the first profile.
Name: Mercedes Knight
First Appearance: Marvel Premiere #20 (1975)
History: Known for being particularly tough Misty Knight was a New York City cop until she seriously hurt her arm during a terrorist bombing, resulting in its amputation. While Tony Stark provided her with a technologically advanced prosthetic she was still faced with having to take a desk job. She quit the force in response. Having some experience with superheroes, including chance meetings with Spider-Man and Iron Fist and rooming with Jean Grey, she found herself in the super criminal foiling game more than once. She formed a private investigation agency with Colleen Wing, a martial artist whom Misty had previously recused, called Nightwing Restorations Ltd but are often informally known as the Daughters of the Dragon. As a top level martial artist, an expert at firearms, a highly skilled detective and possessing a bionic arm with a variety of functions (including granting her super strength and the ability to liquefy all known metals at close range) Misty Knight is one of the most dangerous people on Earth.
Beta Says: Like some characters I’ve talked about in the past Misty Knight is a direct result of the Blaxploitation and Kung Fu craze of the 70s. In fact she’s kind of Luke Cage’s female counterpart. I think the reason I like her more than Cage is that Knight never seemed to be portrayed as a criminal or a former criminal, which seems to be the preferred background for black characters for some reason. She was a cop; a good role model for young kids reading the book. It means a lot to me that she wasn’t a reformed prostitute or anything like that. You know, unless someone at Marvel decides to retcon her origin to say the Cosmic Cube made her forget she used to be a hooker (coughcoughfalconcough).
More on Misty after the jump.
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| Foxy Brown, but with a robotic arm? OK, I'm in |
First Appearance: Marvel Premiere #20 (1975)
History: Known for being particularly tough Misty Knight was a New York City cop until she seriously hurt her arm during a terrorist bombing, resulting in its amputation. While Tony Stark provided her with a technologically advanced prosthetic she was still faced with having to take a desk job. She quit the force in response. Having some experience with superheroes, including chance meetings with Spider-Man and Iron Fist and rooming with Jean Grey, she found herself in the super criminal foiling game more than once. She formed a private investigation agency with Colleen Wing, a martial artist whom Misty had previously recused, called Nightwing Restorations Ltd but are often informally known as the Daughters of the Dragon. As a top level martial artist, an expert at firearms, a highly skilled detective and possessing a bionic arm with a variety of functions (including granting her super strength and the ability to liquefy all known metals at close range) Misty Knight is one of the most dangerous people on Earth.
Beta Says: Like some characters I’ve talked about in the past Misty Knight is a direct result of the Blaxploitation and Kung Fu craze of the 70s. In fact she’s kind of Luke Cage’s female counterpart. I think the reason I like her more than Cage is that Knight never seemed to be portrayed as a criminal or a former criminal, which seems to be the preferred background for black characters for some reason. She was a cop; a good role model for young kids reading the book. It means a lot to me that she wasn’t a reformed prostitute or anything like that. You know, unless someone at Marvel decides to retcon her origin to say the Cosmic Cube made her forget she used to be a hooker (coughcoughfalconcough).
More on Misty after the jump.
Read More