Black History Month Superhero #7: Misty Knight
Name: Misty Knight
First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up #1 (1975)
Bio:
Misty Knight joined N.Y.P.D. after graduating from New York City’s Police Academy. She saved fellow superhero, Colleen Wing (pictured with Misty above), from a shoot out and a variation of this scene was shown in The Defenders on Netflix. In the comics after fighting a group of terrorists she tried to get rid of a bomb that was planted but before she could completely dispose of it she was partially caught in the blast. She was badly injured and her right arm had to be amputated as result.
She was given a cybernetic arm by none other than Tony Stark but she was still removed from active duty. Instead of taking a desk job she started a private investigation firm with Colleen (the two of them make up the Daughters of the Dragon), Nightwing Restorations.
From there she teamed up frequently with Luke Cage and her boyfriend Iron Fist. It’s noted also that she was team Iron Man during the Civil War storyline, he did after all give her a powerful cybernetic arm. She also formed a new Heroes for Hire team with Falcon, Black Cat, Black Widow, Ghost Rider and a few others.
Misty made her television debut in 2009 in the Superhero Squad Show and was voiced by Tamara Mowry. Simone Missick then went to play the first live action take of the character in 2016’s Luke Cage — and she was awesome! You see her detective skills dialed up to 10 as well as her leadership abilities and fearless “run-into-the-face-of-danger” attitude. We haven’t seen much of Misty on the screen but I expect that will change based on Simone’s portrayal in Luke Cage and Defenders.
Powers:
She doesn’t really have powers exactly but her bionic arm allows her to lift heavier than normal, crush objects, punch through objects with superhuman force like Will Smith in iRobot (spoiler if you’re over a decade late to that one). Tony hooked her up and gave her repulsor fields like Iron Man’s suit. Apparently she can liquefy all forms of metal at close ranges with her arm, including adamantium (watch out Wolverine!). Since the rest of her body is like a regular human she relies on her natural skills as a highly trained marksman, hand to hand combat master and detective skills that are almost Sherlock level.
