Originally posted by roughrider
There is no one-to-one comparison at Marvel. Aspects of Batman's image & personality are spread over a half-dozen characters at least. Superficially, Moon Knight is the closest, but isn't obsessive and is closer to The Shadow. Black Panther? Don't see that - that costume is cultural in his country, he has no secret identity etc. Nighthawk IS Batman, but in a different reality. Closest is Daredevil and Punisher; Frank Castle is what Batman would be if he was willing to kill criminals, and Punisher uses the most tech, but it's real-world stuff.
punisher is a ghetto version of batman
Found this thread while messing around on Google.
While Moon Knight comes off as a Batman parody, I'd argue that he's quite a bit different, his modus operandi may be somewhat similar, but Doug Moench who created and wrote the initial appearances for Moon Knight, and then the first couple dozen issues of his first series, definately had a different vision for the character.
Anyways, HellMaster93, Moon Knight is one of my favorite characters, he first appeared in Werewolf By Night 32 and 33 as a mercenary clad in all silver--all the better to take out a werewolf, right? Popular demand led him to appear in Marvel Premiere, Spectacular Spider-Man and Marvel Two-In-One. For awhile he had faint super-powers, being a little bit stronger at night, and that strength waxing and waning with the phases of the moon. Eventually, Moench wrote it out.
Once he debuted in his own series, it was written that Marc Spector was a mercenary (a master in all the martial arts, former CIA, former heavyweight boxer, former marine, arms expert, etc.). He'd had a disagreement with his boss and later archenemy Raoul Bushman in Egypt when Bushman killed an archaeologist, Dr. Alruane. Marc and Bushman got in a fight and Bushman got the better of him and killed him at the foot of a statue of the Egyptian deity Khonshu. Dr. Alruane's daughter, Marlene wept for him and miraculously he was revived, in his stupor he thought Khonshu had done it (which depending on the writer, the character takes a more mystic turn, some play him as a straight vigilante and slight schizophrenic).
Once in New York, Marc set up two new identities, Jake Lockely a streetsmart cabbie who could get any dirt he needed and Steven Grant a playboy millionaire. This is where the Batman comparisons begin, matching Lockely to Matches Malone and Grant to Bruce Wayne. However, he also kept his original identity of Marc Spector in rotation if he needed any of Marc's contacts in the CIA and mercenary world.
Moon Knight also drew comparisons to Batman because of his gimmicks. He had "crescent darts" like Batman has "batarangs." His crescent darts were Moon crescent shaped blades that he could throw. He also weilded a truncheon which could launch a grappling hook/cable line and turn into a nunchaku. He also had, similar to the Shadow, a system of operatives and informants, making friends with the verbose and intelligent hobo Crawley, Gena a single-mother who owned and operated her own diner and Gena's two high-school kids, who would go and round up dirt for Lockely. Grant has his butler Samuels and best friend/pilot (of his helicopter and other vehicles) Frenchie. He rescued Marlene Alruane from Bushman in egypt and the two became lovers, she lived with him in Grant's mansion.
There are some parallels, but he became very much his own character. Recently they released a Moon Knight essentials, I picked up a copy and all the old material has held up beautifully, it's still a great read. He also has a new series out too, issue 3 should be out soon and it shouldn't be too hard to find the first couple issues as well.
Perhaps, Scarlet Spidey.
Check out Moon Knight 3, just came out this past Wednesday, lots of story advancement, and a cool mini-action scene. Spector doesn't mess around.
That's another difference. Spector notoriously mishandles his secret identity. The Committee from his first appearance had him on file, so anyone with enough money could figure it out, and if it meant saving a life, he didn't really care who found out.
Issue 4 should feature a sweet fight with Taskmaster.