As so often happens, I'll usually have a set list of things I know I'll be blogging about every week, two skits and two features, and then I'm done.
Well today I was going to follow that formulaic approach, and either present another edition of So, Would Win?, or even Fantasy Team-Up, which I was almost, almost going to go with, teaming up Batman and Moon Knight.
And then an idea hit me while picking out images of both men to use from Google; we all know how often Moon Knight's been compared to Batman over the years, and with good reason too, because really, besides the imagery, they both have a lot in common actually.
But anybody who's a long-time comic book fan probably already knows those various examples of comparisons by heart, or if not, a quick Google and Wikipedia search will take care of that.
So an idea hit me to see just how far those similarities and comparisons went.
Would they extent to their rogue's gallery as much as anything else beyond a superficial level?
So I did some digging, and damn, sure enough, a case could be made in how similar even their rogues are.
Rightfully returning the Top 10 to issues and topics not exclusive to action figure dream lists or waves, here's the Top 10 list of Batman and Moon Knight villains that are similar to each other.
10). Hatchet-Man/Shadow Knight(Randall Spector)/ Owlman (Thomas Wayne Jr):
Both of these psychos are evil siblings who are related to our respective subjects, as Randal Spector is Moon Knight's evil younger brother and Thomas Wayne Jr, is likewise Batman's younger brother.
9). Crossfire/Deadshot:
Not much more to elaborate on other than they're both skilled assassins with exceptional sharpshooting skills.
8). Seth The Immortal/Ra's Al Guhl:
Both of these guys are evil and amoral immortals who are old as dirt and a constant source of stress and trouble for their respective rivals.
Seth is actually Moon Knight's ancestor, having founded the Templar Knights in service to the Egyptian god Thoth, while Ra's is the fonder of various sects over the years, especially the one he's the most famously associated with, the League of Assassins. he too is related (kinda) to his rival Batman.
7). Stained-Glass Scarlet/Nocturna/Catwoman:
Ah the femme fatales that are much more than just a pretty face or plain evil.
Scarlet's a former nun who turned to into a vigilante after she was forced to murder her criminal son. She then hunted down and killed anyone she thought responsible for his turning to crime.
Yet she's not really straight evil, but more of a tragic figure who's done bad things.
Same deal with Nocturna, who has some shitty things done to her at a young age that kind of led her to making bad decisions later in life. I threw in Catwoman because she do is more than just a villain, but also a very sympathetically tragic figure in her own right.
6). Scarecrow/The Scarecrow:
Both of these guys had troubled childhoods that shaped them into the evil men they'd later become as adults. They also both use fear as their main weapon of choice.
5). Werewolf By Night/Man-Bat:
Both of these poor souls found themselves turned into monsters against their will, and have sought all their lives to tame their duel bestial natures with various success.
4). Morpheus/Dr. Destiny:
Both of these nut-jobs are obsessed with sleep and dreams, or in the case of Morpheus, a lack of sleep that empowers him with powerful psychic energy that he can convert to mental blasts.
Dr. Destiny on the other hand uses objects like the Sandman's talisman or his Materioptikon machine to force people's dreams and nightmares to come to life. But yeah, they pretty much share the same sleep theme.
3). Midnight/The Red Hood(Jason Todd):
Both of these guys are examples of sidekicks gone bad.
Jeff Wilde was the son of an old and very brief foe of Moon Knight's named Midnight, whom Jeff would take as his name also when he took it upon himself to become MK's sidekick as an attempt to make up for his father's actions. Long story short, he fucked up on a mission despite MK's warnings, and almost died. He was reborn of sorts by the Secret Empire, the same criminal organization that almost killed him, when they turned him into a powerful cyborg. Midnight would devote his life to getting revenge on MK for what happened to him.
Jason Todd used to Batman's sidekick, Robin (the second one) until he was captured, tortured and killed by the Joker. But thanks to Talia Al Guhl, he was resurrected when she bathed his body in the dame Lazarus Pits that have kept her father, Ra's Al Guhl immortal. He went insane with anger towards Batman for not killing the Joker for what he did to Jason, and adopted the Joker's former Red Hood persona.
2). Bushman/Bane:
Both of these guys are military-trained mercenaries that beaten, crippled, and nearly killed their respective arch-rivals, only Moon Knight eventually managed to kill Bushman, while Bane still lurks out there, ready to strike.
1). Black Spectre/The Wraith:
Both of these guys are basically dark reflections of their arch-rivals, with similarly twisted origins and motivations for becoming the total opposites of the heroes that inspired them to don costumes.
I guess you can add Prometheus to this list as well, since he too has the opposite but parallel origins to Batman, but he's primarily, or at least was supposed to be a main DC/JLA villain instead of just attacking Batman.
But hell, add in your minds if you want.
Maybe another time I'll get to the other similarities, like their vehicles, supporting cast, etc.
Any of you out there know any more that I missed here?
1 comment:
it's "the wrath" not the wraith.
Post a Comment