MidKnight

MidKnight
Protector of Kings Row
Creator:	David 2/Battlerock X
First Appearance:	Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight #3
Game:	City of Heroes
Personal Data
Real Name:	Jason Rich
Known Aliases:	Jason Knight, MidKnight II, MidKnight X
Species:	Human
Age:	'
Height:	'
Weight:	'
Eye Color:	'
Hair Color:	black
Biographical Data
Nationality:	American
Occupation:	vigilante
Place of Birth:	New York (XHT-S7)
Base of Operations:	Paragon City (Primal Universe)
Marital Status:	single
Known Relatives:	unknown father (deceased), unknown mother (deceased), Damian Wilson (legal guardian, deceased)
Appearances
Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight, The Guardian Powers
Known Powers
mystical
Known Abilities
'
Equipment
'
This character is a member of the Guardians of the Dawn. This entry deals with an alternate universe.

MidKnight (also known as MidKnight X) is a character in the "Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight" comic series and a member of the supergroup by the same name. His first appearance was in the text-only "Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight" Issue #0 (2009) and was featured in Issue #3 (2009).

He is one of a small group of heroes who came from another universe referred to as XHT-S7. In that world, many people received their powers from radioactive rocks that came to earth during a meteor shower in 1938. He was previously known simply as MidKnight.

Character History

Universe XHT-S7

Jason Rich was the second person to become the street vigilante known as MidKnight.

MidKnight I

MidKnight I

Damian Wilson was an orphaned child in Hell's Kitchen. A victim of crime, he was adopted by a family friend, a police officer who raised him as his own son. As he got older, he became aware of the corruption that existed on the streets, but also knew that the police were powerless to do anything about it. To hide his connection to his adopted father, he became a masked street vigilante called "MidKnight" to explose the corruption and sever the link between the police force and organized crime.

Damian's one-man crime war was responsible for reducing crime in Hell's Kitchen by half. Eventually he discovered a trust fund that was set up in his name when he was a child. This gave him some resources to continue his cause. He also expanded his circle of allies to include a young child named Jason Rich. Rather than to make Jason his sidekick or partner, he kept the young boy in the shadows, knowing that Jason would one day inherit the cause.

When a major real estate developer wanted to renovate the whole area, he set forth a series of crimes that would force the President to declare the area a disaster, and therefore he could buy the whole area for pennies on the dollar and make a fortune in reconstruction. He masterminded a major jailbreak and neighborhood riot to cause chaos and destruction. During the jailbreak, Jason Rich was killed. Damian buried Jason in the Wilson family plot and then waged an all-out war on the rioters. But he was outnumbered and eventually overpowered and killed.

MidKnight II

When Damian Wilson died, Jason Rich came back to life. Damian wore a necklace that contained a piece of the original 1938 meteor shower. The properties of the necklace transferred a portion of the wearer's strength and lifeforce to whomever was on their mind the most. Since Damian made his last stand shortly after Jason's funeral, his life force was transferred to Jason, bringing him back from the dead.

Jason was uneasy about coming back to life. His return dispelled all of his earlier notions about life and death. To him there were no angels or demons. There was just life and then nothing. But he still had his training, and the city still needed a protector. So he applied his training to become the second MidKnight, carrying on as though he was Damian.

Jason also continued Damian's work with the League of Champions group, partly because they helped to retrieve Damian's body after he died and sustained the myth that MidKnight was still alive. But his return also gave him a connection to dark forces, which made him a conduit to supernatural activities. He wasn't comfortable with this, but he saw no way to get around it.

Crisis Event 2007

In 2007, MidKnight II was one of four heroes at the brink of a Crisis Event in which the boundaries of universe itself were ruptured by a cosmic being. The unnamed cosmic being then destroyed universe XHT-S7 because it considered it unacceptable. During that time, three of the four surviving heroes were thrown into the Primal Universe. (The fourth hero, Photonis, was killed by the rift.)

Paragon City

MidKnight X (aka MidKnight II)

Jason arrived in Kings Row through a free-forming portal. Like the others that came through, he suffered from some amnesia from the change. The Vanguard assisted him with a new idendity as MidKnight X and a second idendity as Jason Knight. Eventually he learned of his real name, but preferred his new one, considering his previous idendity dead when his body originally died.

Even though he considers himself more of a nihilst than anything else, he relishes his opportunity at starting life anew and being able to continue the crusade as he defines it rather than to pretend he is something that he is not.

He has since made Kings Row his home and often refers to it as his domain.

During his time with the Guardians, Jason has taken on the role of team tactician, playing on his more suspicious nature in providing protocol contingency plans for the team. He also took it upon himself to investigate the hacking of the group's CPCU database by Simon Barrister, including travelling to Europe to confront Barrister directly.

Post-AFTERMATH

According to the events described in "Guardians of the Dawn AFTERMATH", Jason's reaction to the attempted assasination of Alex Wentworth was to "take the fight" to the leader of Shadowborn himself, Lord Lee Geddy. He since stayed in Perez Park to stalk the Shadowborn leadership, leaving Kings Row to fend for itself.

In Issue #4 of "The Guardian Powers", Icon Powers managed to track down Jason in the sewers. After revealing the evidence he already collected against Shadowborn, he was convinced to return to Kings Row and take it back from the Skulls and the Family. He also modified his outfit to include Vanguard technology.

When the Guardians were re-activated at the end of "The Guardian Powers" #15, he re-joined the group, but it was revealed in "Guardians of the Dawn GRADUATION" #3 that he took issue with the fact that Andrew Wentworth, Alex's uncle and CEO of Wentworth's Fine Consignment, was serving as the new financial patron. Jason knew the elder Wentworth was a key member of the Bilderburg Alliance and did not believe Andrew's claims that he had parted ways with the Alliance.

Jason distanced himself from the Guardians, but retained his membership. He also took on a new apprentice; a young woman that went by the street name Cardinal Syn. Syn was eager to learn from him and help him protect Kings Row.

Possessed by Mot

In October of 2013, the dark god Mot attempted to expand his reach beyond Dark Astoria by taking over Kings Row. His power corrupted the hierarchy of the Skulls, adding to their own dark abilities.

Jason attempted to stop the possessed Skulls, but found his own dark forces being coopted by Mot. He was turned into Mot's apostle and leader of Mot's new army.

Fortunately, Mot's efforts were stopped by Icon Powers, along with Syn and with Pharon, who discovered he could channel the essence his patron Egyptian gods. By summoning the Egyptian God Horus, he forced Mot to retreat back to Dark Astoria and release his hold on Jason and the others.

But even though Jason was "released", he still felt a connection to Mot's power, which bolstered his own even more. But rather than try to sever this connection, he kept it, trying to retain control over it while still trying to keep from being coopted by Mot again. This drove him even further into the shadows and further away from the Guardians. He had Syn join the Guardians under the pretense of her keeping an eye on them, but in truth it was a way to get her off his own hands.

In September of 2014, almost a whole year after the initial takeover, Ryder Lightning in advertently triggered Mot's re-possession. This time, though, Syn and Pharon, with the help of Horus, convinced Mot to completely release Jason of his influence.

Jason was released of Mot's dark hold and was put in a Vanguard sleep chamber to recover from the incident.

It is not yet known what effect this has on his abilities.

Powers and Abilities

MidKnight X is classified as a Scrapper archetype with Natural origins.

His primary ability is Dark Melee. Unlike his predacessor, whose skills were more on the martial arts side, MidKnight X developed additional mystic powers after his rebirth, which he uses not only to augment his strength, but to also instill fear in his opponents.

His secondary ability is Willpower. His force of will may seem to make him unstoppable, but that is more of his natural will to live.

MidKnight X is a skilled fighter and a modest investigator.

He is also an insomniac since his resurrection, sleeping only an hour or two before going back to the streets. He prefers to use a street vigilante look in the daytime and the traditional "MidKnight X" armor at night or in the shadows.

Reference In Media

Although he bears a striking resemblance to certain heroes in another publications, MidKnight X is a Pastiche of several characters in many publications, not specific to any one character.