While Black Knight recently realized he could use the Ebony Blade to become a match for Thor, Dane Whitman is also a man of science, and in Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates, he boasted a powerful suit that made even Iron Man look like an amateur.

First appearing in Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates #22 by Sam Humphries, Joe Bennett, Ruy José, Matt Milla, and Clayton Cowles, Dane Whitman is a former marine drafted into the West Coast Ultimates. In the Ultimate Universe, aka Earth-1610, Marvel revamped its heroes for modern readers, telling ambitious new stories that weren't possible in mainstream continuity. These stories would go on to inspire much of the MCU, but while Kit Harington recently introduced movie fans to the Black Knight in Eternals, the version from the comic series is very different.

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The West Coast Ultimates were a team created by Nick Fury as a superpowered strike-force under SHIELD control, including the Ultimate incarnations of Tigra, Wonder Man, and Vision. When the team proved difficult to control, Fury had them placed into stasis, with the members reawakened almost a decade later during the after-effects of a terrible attack on America that left many dead, the nation fractured, and Captain America as president. The Black Knight finally returns when Steve Rogers refuses to be cowed by California's threats to secede from the United States. In response, the state's leadership reactivate the West Coast Ultimates, sending the team's big gun - Dane Whitman's Black Knight - to take down first Iron Man and then Thor.

Ultimate Black Knight Dane Whitman Iron Man

Rather than the sword-wielding, self-hating scientist of the mainstream Marvel Universe, the Ultimate Black Knight boasts a powerful suit of armor that rivals Iron Man, and instantly bests Tony Stark. Subverting Tony's safety protocols with a hidden override code (security protocol "Mordred"), the Black Knight destroys Tony's new, cutting-edge Iron Patriot armor with a single stroke of his energy blade. Dane then delivers Tony to California bound and defenseless before leaving to battle Thor and the Invisible Woman on the moon - a trip his hulking suit is apparently equipped to make.

Unable to move after saving others from an explosive device, and drafted into the West Coast Ultimates due to the heartless machinations of Nick Fury, Dane Whitman's Black Knight was a textbook Ultimate Comics villain. His heroic instincts were perverted by Fury's scheming, and he was ultimately turned against his country, but what's most surprising is that the Black Knight never pays for his hubris. Dane - a heroic recipient of the Purple Heart, Silver Star Medal, and Medal of Honor - defeats Iron Man and humiliates Thor, who is forced to flee when it becomes clear the West Coast Ultimates are intended to distract their counterparts from a far larger attack involving the sabotage of a Stark satellite.

Black Knight origin ultimate nick fury

With two major victories under his belt, Dane wasn't seen again, and the end of the Ultimate Comics line left him one of that reality's major victors. Nothing stays dead in comics, and Marvel has long been hinting that the Ultimate Universe will return to relevancy. With the Black Knight now far more familiar to fans following recent comics and his MCU debut, it's possible this Dane Whitman variant will be back soon, whether to add further victories to his fight card or so Thor and Iron Man can finally pay him back for their losses.

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