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, Drake Grey
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, The City's Finest, Guardians of the Dawn GRADUATION, Furia and the Guardians
Known Powers
mystical, natural
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. There, he was known simply as MidKnight.

Character History

Universe XHT-S7

Jason Rich was the second person in the Earth of XHT-S7 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. Even joining the police himself to try to weed out the bad cops was impossible. To hide hid real identity, 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.

But rather than to make Jason his sidekick or partner, he kept the young boy in the shadows, training and hoping and believing that Jason would one day follow in his footsteps.

That day would come sooner than he expected. When a major real estate developer wanted to renovate the whole area, he set forth a series of crimes and disasters 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 and even supplied a dangerous psychotropic drug to make the escapees even more dangerous. During the chaos, Jason Rich was killed by one of the deranged criminals dressed as a clown. Damian buried Jason in the Wilson family plot and then waged an all-out war to bring order back to the streets. 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. He helped bring the architect of his own death to justice.

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 they sustained the myth that MidKnight never died. But Jason's return from death also gave him a connection to dark forces, which made him a conduit to supernatural activities. He wasn't comfortable with this at first, but he saw no way to get around it, and he eventually embraced that power, which gave him a strong edge over the criminals.

Crisis Event 2007

(See also the "Time and Changes" storyline.)

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 force. The unnamed cosmic being then destroyed universe XHT-S7. During that time, three of the four heroes were thrown into the Primal Universe. (The fourth hero, Photonis, was killed by the rift.)

Paragon City

(See also "The Guardian Exiles" storyline)

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 captured him, detained him, and later 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 that 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 stayed in Perez Park to stalk the Shadowborn leadership and enact revenge, 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 that 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, as well as some modest augmentations to his dark magics.

When the Guardians were officially re-activated at the end of "The Guardian Powers" #15, he re-joined the group, but it was later 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 that the elder Wentworth was a key member of the Bilderburg Alliance and did not believe Andrew's claims that he had in fact 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 to help him protect Kings Row. He encouraged her to join the Guardians so she could spy on their activities for him.

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 unknowingly turned into Mot's apostle and made leader of Mot's new army of the "converted".

Fortunately, Mot's efforts were stopped by Icon Powers, along with Syn and with Pharon, who discovered that 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 power 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 and Galatea Powers, 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. But as a parting gesture, Mot had also stripped Jason of all of his dark mist powers.

Jason Knight

Following his much-needed sleep, Jason was a changed man of sorts. He was no longer tormented by nightmares. He was no longer feeling the cold touch of death from his dark mists. He could even sleep longer hours, but not by much.

He finally accepted the offer of a "new life" from Vanguard and was given one, as well as a job. He now serves as Alex Wentworth's proxy in Architect Entertainment under the new identity of Drake Grey, a fictional distant cousin to Lady Grey of Vanguard.

But he is still loyal to his "true calling", protecting Kings Row. Unfortunately, it is a task made harder because of the loss of his dark powers. He no longer sees himself as "worthy" of wearing the outfit of MidKngiht X, and has reverted to his original "street vigilante" outfit with part of his mask and a red visor to hide his face.

Having been twice possessed by Mot and having to resort to his physical abilities has also damaged his reputation in Kings Row. Jason Knight is no longer feared by the gangs or by the police. To them, and to himself, he is a shadow of what he used to be.

Second Death

As seen in the events of "Task Force Twilight", Jason's role as protector of Kings Row brought him in conflict with the corrupt police officers of the Blue Dog Squad. After bringing down some of the more infamous members, Deputy Police Chief Thomas Wield called in a special favor to have the brutal enforcer Despair deal with Jason.

After the forced closing of the Kings Row branch of Architect Entertainment at the behest of Wield, Jason was ambushed and captured by Despair. Beaten mercilessly and incapacitated, Jason was unable to stop Despair from murdering one of the corrupt officers in cold blood and then planting evidence that would incriminate him. Depair's plans to have Jason killed and thus cement the myth of him being a cop-killer were ruined, though, when Jason managed to escape and trigger a self-destruct protocol.

Jason's charred corpse was found in the sewers by fellow vigilante Sin Stalker.

Jason Knight was dead.

Powers and Abilities

As MidKnight X

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. It also gives him the power to leap long distances, which gives the illusion of him being "larger than life".

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.

Post-GRADUATION

After being stripped of his dark mists, Jason's abilities changed.

His primary ability is Street Justice, resorting to his predecessor's method of "fists and wits" to prevail.

His secondary ability remains Willpower, although he also has to reinforce it with some personal protection.

Since he no longer has the dark mist powers he is also forced to rely more on technology, including the use of a portable rocket sled to travel, as well as technical connections to his own CPCU system known as "Sentry".

Personality

As MidKnigth X, Jason was a nihilist. His death and resurrection left him feeling empty. There was no heaven or hell or ghosts or anything normally associated with being dead. It was just nothing. His connection to the dark mists served as a reminder of the emptiness he felt.

His connection to the living was tenuous at best. He was a loner, a conspiracy buff, someone who saw the darkness in others. Because of that, he felt a kindred with Daybright because she understood what it was like being dead and then coming back to life. This has transformed into an on-and-off relationship, one that was tested when he became possessed by Mot.

Since his purge, he has struggled to continue living as a street vigilante while also living his "double life" as Drake Grey.

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.