Marc Spector is replaced with a new hero in What If...? Dark: Moon Knight. But who is Luminary?

An image from What If? Dark Moon Knight
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Marc Spector's big summer continues. We previewed Moon Knight: City of the Dead yesterday, and now we have the exclusive first look at the forthcoming What If...? Dark: Moon Knight #1.

In this one-shot (which doesn't tie into either Jed MacKay's regular monthly Moon Knight book, or City of the Dead), writer Erica Schultz and artist Edgar Salazar explore the ramifications of a tantalizing possibility - what if Marc Spector had been killed in his epic battle with Bushman?

Moon Knight's death leads to the rise of a new and mysterious hero, Luminary, who is empowered by the the sun god Ra, rather than the moon god Khonshu. But who is she under the hood?

Bushman kills Moon Knight

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

The What If...? Dark strand puts a sinister new spin on Marvel's long-running What If...? anthology (which inspired the Disney Plus animated series). It explores how key turning points in comics history might have looked if things turned out a little differently. 

Previous What If...? Dark titles have focussed on what might have happened if Loki had managed to take Mjolnir from Thor, what if Gwen Stacey had lived and Peter Parker died, and what if Ben Grimm became Venom.

You can check out a gallery of unlettered pages from the new book below, which may or may not hint at the identity of Luminary.

Marvel's official solicitations blurb for the new issue reads:

"WHAT IF MOON KNIGHT DID NOT SURVIVE HIS BATTLE WITH BUSHMAN?

When Khonshu's avatar is slain, a different god empowers their own surprising new champion. From the darkness, emerges a new force to light the way… Luminary! But will her quest for revenge against Moon Knight's killer result in her own downfall?"

What If...? Dark: Moon Knight is published by Marvel on August 16.


Discover the fascinating history of Moon Knight and all of his powers.

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Will Salmon
Comics Editor

Will Salmon is the Comics Editor for GamesRadar/Newsarama. He has been writing about comics, film, TV, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he has previously launched scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for over a decade. He sometimes feels very old, like Guy Pearce in Prometheus. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places and he runs the micro-label Modern Aviation, which puts out experimental music on cassette tape.