spandex

general/thematic content warnings and opt-out for marc/moon knight located here.

Marc is a difficult individual: he’s abrasive, blunt, and single-minded. Empathy has never been something that comes naturally to him — Marc, whilst not meaning to, tends to get incredibly and wholly wrapped up in his own issues and matters of self that he doesn’t always (read: rarely ever) stops to consider the impact of his actions on anyone else. This isn’t a one-and-done, occasionally occurring trait, it’s a consistent pattern of behaviour and he often needs to be reminded by others that what he does has consequences or he needs to be pulled back from making horrific mistakes. This is something that he's aware of, even if he's not very good at recognising it in the moment — he describes himself as "[the man who] makes the wrong choice every time".

In spite of this, he’s incredibly protective in both a general and a specific sense. He’s completely dedicated to his mission as the Fist of Khonshu — that is, as both a bringer of vengeance and “[the] Protector of Travellers at Night”. In line with the fact that he tends towards obsessiveness and the fact that he has a violent nature, he — especially when his mental health is poor — has a tendency to go too far. Indeed, his unpredictable nature is something that he wholly recognises and utilises to his own benefit¹. His reputation as "not very stable, probably" with a side of "there's a chance he'll carve your face off" is something that he battles with: he enjoys it for the way that it benefits him as Moon Knight, but equally, he hates himself.

¹ like, my dude, there's a whole spectrum between peter "won't kill a single person" parker and frank "kill ALL THE PEOPLE" castle.

Which is to say: unsurprisingly, Marc's mental state is fragile. Canonically, he's diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder² which is due to trauma experienced in his childhood, and his acceptance of what this means for him tends to ebb and flow. Occasionally, he blames his DID for all of his problems in life (of which there are many, because Marc is a mess), whilst at other times he accepts his DID as part of him and utilises it to his advantage as a gigantic weirdo who fights crime in a three-piece suit.

² Marc's DID is canonically stated as presenting atypically — comics!! — on account of his brain's structure being irrevocably changed after being touched by a god. That is, Marc battles with mental illness and has head his messed with.

Marc's personality is deeply rooted in self-loathing for essentially everything: Marc has an unhealthy tendency to separate and partition his life: Mr. Knight is the superhero who protects his local community, who is capable of working alongside the police and who does not commit horrific acts of violence. He wears a suit. Then there's Moon Knight, the less sanitised and people-friendly superhero ("superhero"), who does commit questionable actions. And then there's Marc Spector, the guy who fucks up every single aspect of Marc/Moon Knight's lives by being an awful person at all times.

Marc's self-loathing and self-hatred is consistently funnelled into 'Marc Spector' rather than any other identity he wears — Moon Knight and Mr. Knight, for all else, do help people and are capable of good things. Marc doesn't ascribe any of his positive actions to Marc Spector — indeed, as of his canon point, he's just gotten over a spate of wilfully and deliberately suppressing the personalities of Steven Grant and Jake Lockley for two reasons: one, his desire to be "normal", and two — more to the point — his belief that Steven and Jake are better people than Marc is and that the people he cares for will leave him for Steven and Jake if he allows anyone to meet them.

This self-loathing goes hand-in-hand with all the guilt Marc carries around — his family life was difficult and he frequently butted heads with his father over their perceptions of weakness and strength, and where violence stood as a reflection of the two. As a boy and a young man, he considered his father weak because he wouldn't use violence to fight back against anti-semitism and didn't understand why Elias viewed perseverance as a trait to be proud of for the Jewish people. Post-death and revival (the first time) and post-becoming the Fist of Khonshu, Marc has grown to understand his father's POV and considers himself weak and selfish for choosing a life of violence (consistently — as a boxer, in the US marines, the CIA, a mercenary and a vigilante) and for throwing away his faith and heritage in favour of not dying.

fighting — Marc was a boxer, then military, then CIA, then a mercenary and assassin. He is skilled and effective in close-quarters combat, however his personal fighting style leans heavily towards 'gets the job done'.
languages — Marc speaks English (native), Arabic and Symkarian, along with a smattering of French.
weapons — as per his military training and later work as a mercenary, Marc is skilled with a variety of weapons and an excellent marksman. His weapons of choice as Moon Knight are crescent darts — crescent-moon shaped discs, which he uses as projectiles and ... has previously used to ... carve into faces. But also, he'll use just about anything he can as a weapon.

His powers, his abilities, everything to do with Khonshu: canon is deliberately vague at times as to whether how much of it is real and how much of it is in Marc's head. However, Marc believes them to be real and true or otherwise, this belief does seem to have some basis in reality (or it affects reality). Current canon seems to lean towards Marc's power being, essentially, immortality due to Khonshu's repeated efforts to bring Marc back from death (three times, so far!), so this is the reading I'm going to go with in game.

Outside of this — and the biggie — is that Marc's nature as Khonshu's avatar (moreso than his DID) lends himself to being somewhat impervious to psychic and telepathic attacks and mind reading. His mindscape is shown to be hellish, fractured, and utterly terrifying for humans and non-humans alike, and he's not afraid to use this to his advantage.

Also, whilst I know it's not exactly an ability, but Marc can and has used his alters to his advantage as each has different strengths to Marc himself. Steven Grant is a charismatic millionaire, adept at obtaining information from and mixing with the rich, upper echelons of society. Jake Lockley is a rough-around-the-edges New York cabbie, highly protective and affably charming, essentially the antithesis of Steven.

Outside of his clothing, Marc will have five crescent darts (projectile weapons), his truncheon/grappling hook, and his phone.