Khonshu (Marvel Comics)

Khonshu is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Moon Knight #1 (Nov. 1980), created by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz, and is based on the Egyptian lunar god Khonsu. He is a member of the Heliopolitan pantheon and the patron of the superhero Moon Knight.

Khonshu appears in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) miniseries Moon Knight, performed by Karim El-Hakim and voiced by F. Murray Abraham.

Fictional character biography
While Khonshu possessed Moon Knight during the hero's time with the West Coast Avengers, Khonshu was often shown as a largely benevolent god who wanted to assist the team. He was at times shown to be conflicted as to whether he should reveal his powers and what was worthy of it. He was able to effortlessly resist being controlled by the mutant The Voice.

However, he is shown to become more and more of an antagonistic role to Moon Knight starting in the 2006 series, where he would later become the main antagonist of the 2016 Moon Knight series, and the age of Khonshu storyline in Jason Aaron's run.

Moon Knight volume #4 initially treats Khonshu in a rather different way, portraying him as a harsh and unforgiving god of vengeance who is strengthened by the fear that his avatar inspires. Accordingly, he is quite prepared to manipulate Marc Spector's allies and enemies in order to revive Moon Knight's career, and is highly critical of Spector. As with many Moon Knight stories, the line between reality and hallucination is sometimes intentionally blurred, but aspects of the art and story do strongly suggest that Khonshu's actions are entirely real. Khonshu also appears as a statue, but primarily converses with Moon Knight in the mutilated form of the Bushman, a villain who was killed when Spector carved off his face. Khonshu calls this his 'greatest work.' Moon Knight eventually breaks the influence of Khonshu, seeing the god as a scale in line with a cockroach.

Chons, better known as Khonshu, was said to be the son of Atum (known to the Egyptian gods as Ammon Ra) and of Amaunet, air goddess of the Ogdoad pantheon. Another account stated that Khonshu was the adopted son of Amon Ra. He was the brother of Montu, and possibly Bes and Ptah, and was brother or half-brother to Bast and Sekhmet. According to Knull, Khonshu was actually an "elder shadow, dressed in local legend".

Around the year 1,000,000 BC, Khonshu was offended by not having been offered membership of the Stone Age Avengers and chose a mortal avatar - the first known Moon Knight - to enforce his will on Earth and antagonize the Avengers on his behalf, eventually leading to the establishment of the Cult of Khonshu and a succession of Moon Knights. Khonshu and Ra have been warring against each other for millennia, having been reborn again and again through earthly avatars, with Khonshu beating Ra in every instance. It was later revealed that Khonshu is the God of Time as well as Vengeance.

In Ancient Egypt, Khonshu posed as a human pharaoh at the Egyptian city of Thebes, the seat of worship of Ammon Ra, at the same time Osiris posed as a mortal ruler in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis. Kang the Conqueror arrived in Ancient Egypt looking for the God of Time Seeking three artifacts joined in a staff from Khonshu to gain dominion over time, Kang's plot is hampered when the staff is broken, scattering the three components he needs.

Khonshu visited Marc Spector, a young boy whose mind was broken and split into different personalities, and chose him as his avatar. However, Spector's family sent him to Putnam Psychiatric Hospital for treatment. After his father's death, Spector was allowed to leave the hospital temporarily to attend the funeral and a late luncheon, but ran away after hearing Khonshu's voice.

In the modern day, Khonshu later resurrected Marc Spector and blessed him with superhuman powers and abilities under the Moon. When Spector and Marlene travelled to Egypt, she was kidnapped by Jellim Yussaf, who hoped to find the treasure hidden in the Tomb of Seti II. Moon Knight tracked them down and during the fight he found the lost chamber, falling into the arms of a statue of Khonshu. The deity sent a gust of wind, allowing Moon Knight to glide down to knock out Yussaf. Spector decided to retire as a vigilante and sold his statue of Khonshu which was bought by Anubis the Jackal, a former enemy of the Moon Deity. Khonshu visited Spector in his dreams, hoping to bring him back as his champion on Earth. Spector gave in and travelled to Egypt. There he met the Priests of Khonshu, who gave him weapons and a suit designed by the time travelling Hawkeye thousands of years earlier. They informed him that his powers were affected by the phases of the moon and would be strongest at the moon's fullest. Using his newfound power, Spector defeated Anubis and took back the statue of Khonshu, which protected him when the temple collapsed.

During the "Blood Hunt" storyline, a flashback to eons ago had Khonshu, integrates an alliance of the gods from the West (Ennead) and West (Orisha) of Africa, in the region where the nation of Wakanda is located, the team had Bast, Eshu, Gherke, Ptah, and Kokou the Ever-Burning fighting against Varnae after he stole Vibranium from the Fires of Ptah. Hunter's Moon and Tigra free Khonshu from an Asgardian prison with help from Wrecker. Khonshu then makes the Moon visible in the sky as Moon Knight and the Fists of Khonshu appear to help fight the vampires.

Powers and abilities
Khonshu has the conventional powers of the Ennead (the Heliopolitan gods), such as superhuman strength (Khonshu can bench press 60 tons), superhuman durability (he can withstand unspecified levels of injury), regenerative healing factor (Khonshu can be injured, but heals much faster and better than the healthiest human), immortality (he is immune to disease and aging), magic manipulation (Khonshu can manipulate mystic energies for supernatural effects such as interdimensional teleportation, telepathy, healing, resurrection, causing earthquakes and granting superhuman powers to mortal beings such as the Moon Knight), lunakinesis (manipulating objects made out of moonrocks, including Uru), and power absorption (Khonshu stole the powers of various heroes and stored them inside some Ankhs).

Earth-6160
In the pages of "Ultimate Invasion", Maker visits Earth-6160 and remakes it into his own image. Lord Khonshu and Lord Ra rule the Upper and Lower Kingdoms. According to Emmanuel da Costa in his talk with Howard Stark during Maker's gathering with the other leaders sometime after Obadiah Stane's death, Lord Khonshu only speaks when the Moon is out. At the time when Maker and Howard Stark were trapped in the City, Lord Khonshu was later seen with the other leaders when Henri Duggary told them about Iron Lad leading an infiltration on Latveria.

Lord Khonshu and Lord Ra go together as the Moon Knight. They work on having the rest of Africa annexed as they end up facing opposition from Wakanda after a female suicide bomber sent by them tried to target T'Challa only for T'Chaka to push his son out of the way and take the blast.

After Black Panther and the Dora Milaje thwart the Moon Knight's forces, Lord Khonshu and Lord Ra are informed about it by an as-yet-unidentified inside person who was responsible for sneaking the female suicide bomber in. Lord Khonshu states that they have been holding the African continent in the vacuum of Maker as Lord Ra states that they need the information and weaknesses of Wakanda. With the anonymous inside person states to Lord Khonshu and Lord Ra to keep the war going so that they will be Moon Knight's eyes, Lord Khonshu instructs the anonymous inside person to look for a path to victory soon. After the anonymous person sends the information and plan to them, Lord Khonshu is asked by Lord Ra if they trust their spy. Lord Khonshu states that he'll trust that the anonymous person will want Wakanda to fall.

After the Moon Knight operative that used to be a Dora Milaje had failed to slay Okoye, Lord Khonshu uses his abilities to reduce her to a skeleton. At the Temple of Ra, Lord Khonshu is told by Lord Ra that his Dora Milaje contact had failed and that Black Panther knows of the powers that they seek. Lord Khonshu is then told to gather the willing as they will attack Wakanda under the light of the Moon.

Lord Khonshu later interrogates a farmer from one of the lands that Lord Khonshu and Lord Ra conquered about having seen Black Panther as the farmer blames Lord Khonshu and Lord Ra for the invasion that killed his son. Lord Khonshu then proceeds to give him power and sends him to Shuri's location. After a brief fight with Shuri and Storm, the farmer gets ahold of the large green orb which shrinks in his hand and is teleported back to Lord Khonshu. Following the farmer's death as a side-effect as he is told that he join his son now, Lord Khonshu and Lord Ra claim the green orb as Lord Khonshu tells Lord Ra that they will build a kingdom tomorrow.

Universe X
In the Universe X saga it is suggested that Uatu the Watcher who lives on the moon was the original inspiration for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu.

In other media

 * The Khonshu possessed Marc Spector appears as an alternate skin for Moon Knight in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.
 * Khonshu appears in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) television series Moon Knight, motion-captured by Karim El-Hakim and voiced by F. Murray Abraham. This version of Khonshu is an outcast amongst his fellow Egyptian gods for waging a "one-god war on perceived injustices", which necessitates him to find and use his avatar, Marc Spector.  Additionally, Khonshu was described by the series' head writer Jeremy Slater as an "imperious and sort of snotty and vengeful" deity, who is prone to temper tantrums and is dealing with his own insecurities, adding he was more interested in a version of the character that had "his own moral failings and weaknesses" rather than one who was "always right and impervious to mistakes". Abraham called Khonshu "outrageous" and "capable of doing anything and charming his way out of it". As well, Abraham believed Khonshu was unselfish and willing to sacrifice himself the same way he demands sacrifice from others.