Marvel Can Explain A Missing Part Of Black Knight's Origin In Eternals

Marvel Comics never fully explored Black Knight's past, but Marvel's Eternals movie can finally give the classic Avenger a proper origin story by tying him to Kumail Nanjiani's Kingo. At SDCC 2019, it was announced that Game of Thrones star Kit Harington had landed a key role in the MCU as the Black Knight, who is set to make his MCU debut in Eternals.

Specifically, Harington will play the third Black Knight from Marvel Comics, Dane Whitman, who's the modern-day incarnation of the sword-wielding hero, and a classic member of the Avengers. Dane Whitman is an unexpected addition to Eternals, as he has only one connection to the ancient race of superhuman immortals, and that's his romance with the Eternal, Sersi, in the 1990s. Black Knight is expected to have a significant presence, but he's also just one character in a star-studded cast of super-powered cosmic beings who have lived on Earth for thousands of years.

Directed by Chloe Zhao, the second film on Marvel's Phase 4 slate will see the Eternals' creators - the Celestials - task them with a mission to defeat the Deviants, who in the comics are a grotesque, genetic offshoot of humanity. Where Dane Whitman - the movie's only confirmed human character - fits into their mission is unclear, but as it's his first MCU film, audiences may get to see how he becomes the Black Knight. If so, the MCU can do what the comics didn't by diving deep into his origin story.

Black Knight's Origin Story In Marvel Comics Explained

Dane Whitman first appeared in Avengers #47 in 1967. He was introduced as a physicist who owned a castle in England. It was revealed that Dane is the nephew of Iron Man and Hank Pym villain Black Knight aka Nathan Garrett, an armored warrior who rode a winged horse. Apparently, Nathan was the owner a of a cursed sword called the Ebony Blade, which had been passed down from generation to generation for centuries. It had its roots in the Arthurian era when it was wielded by Marvel's first Black Knight, Sir Percy of Scandia. Centuries later, his descendant Nathan Garrett assumed the mantle of the Black Knight but tarnished the name by being a supervillain and a member of the Masters of Evil.

After falling off his horse in a battle with Iron Man, Nathan was on death's door. He went to Dane, gave him the Ebony Blade, and told him all about the Black Knight legacy. He asked Dane to help him atone for his actions by using the Black Knight name to be a hero; Dane agreed, and became Nathan's successor. Considering Nathan's reputation, the Avengers didn't readily accept that the new Black Knight was a hero, but in time, he was eventually offered membership. By the 1980s, he was a full-time member of the team, which is something viewers may be hoping to see in the MCU in Phase 4, 5, or beyond.

What Black Knight's Comic Origin Is Missing

That's how Dane Whitman became the Black Knight in Marvel Comics, but there's one key detail missing from his story. What Marvel doesn't fully explore is his swordsmanship and where it came from. Dane stands out as a character who can be a superhero with just his sword skills, as he doesn't have powers or a huge arsenal of weapons. But where did he gain his expertise with the Ebony Blade?

It's possible that Nathan Garrett trained him in his early years, but even though Nathan was the Black Knight, he mostly used a lance and never demonstrated himself to be an extraordinary swordsman, or at least not on the level of Dane Whitman. A more likely scenario is that after learning the truth about Nathan, Dane hired well-known sword instructors to teach him. So while Marvel has gone into great detail explaining how characters like Daredevil, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and others have acquired their skills, Black Knight's origin is left rather ambiguous.

How Marvel's Eternals Movie Can Improve Black Knight's Origin

Marvel Eternas Kumail Nanjiana and Kingo

Eternals can do a better job of explaining his origin story by showing how the MCU version of the character learned how to use a sword. Marvel already has the proper tool for Dane Whitman to develop those skills: Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani). In the comics, Kingo is an Eternal who makes samurai movies in Japan. In the past, he was a samurai himself, and in modern times he used his swordsmanship to be a Japanese action star. The MCU is rewriting Kingo's story by making him a Bollywood actor. This means that Kingo won't be a samurai, but that doesn't necessarily mean he won't be a swordsman. Swords are important in cultures from all the world, including India's.

If Marvel keeps Kingo's background as a sword expert, he would be the ideal teacher for Black Knight. In the comics, the human Deviant, Ransak the Reject, became his apprentice and trained under Kingo to learn the ways of the samurai, but the movie can easily swap Ransak with Dane. This could even be how Dane gets brought into the story and how he meets Sersi (Gemma Chan). He could be traveling in the company of Kingo when he's introduced.

There's a reason why a character like Kingo is needed for Black Knight's origin. Dane Whitman is the greatest swordsman in the Marvel Universe, and for him to hold this position in the MCU, audiences need to have a reason to believe that he's earned it. After all, Black Knight is a character who saves the world armed only with a sword. He doesn't have the physical perfection of Captain America, the arsenal of Iron Man, or the powers of Thor, so it's important that his skill with the sword is unmatched by anyone else. Perhaps the only person capable of providing Black Knight with the training he would need is an Eternal. As someone who has lived for millennia, it makes sense that Kingo would have learned countless fighting styles. It's hard to imagine Black Knight finding a teacher better suited to being his instructor than a man who has fought with a sword for thousands of years.

This may not be the extent of how the MCU will change Dane Whitman. Marvel may also make some adjustments to the Black Knight legacy, which is one aspect of the character that was fully fleshed out in the comic books. In Marvel Comics, it was established long ago that the Ebony Blade was forged by Merlin, and that Dane's lineage goes all the way back to Camelot. To better connect him to the Eternals and the movie's story, Marvel may make the Ebony Blade an Eternals artifact, and remove the Camelot connections altogether.

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