Allies of the Superwomen of EVA #27: The Black Knight

"British-born Karen Whitman was an engineer working for NERV-1, the branch of the U.N.-backed paramilitary scientific agency NERV that was based in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., when she was summoned by her uncle, physicist Dane Whitman, to the family's ancestral estate in England, following the news of the passing of her granduncle, university professor Nathan Garrett. Following the funeral, the two found out that Garrett had left behind a recording to be heard by them on the following day. On hearing the recording, they learned that their family was part of a legacy that stretched back all the way to the medieval era of European history, beginning with their distant ancestor Sir Percy of Scandia, who served as part of the fabled Round Table of Camelot as one of King Arthur Pendragon's greatest warriors: the legendary Black Knight.

Garrett then confessed that, as a younger man, he secretly headed up an espionage ring, only to be captured by the international covert peacekeeping agency S.H.I.E.L.D. Managing to escape imprisonment, he fled further into Europe and came upon the tomb of Sir Percy, as well as the warrior's main weapon: the Ebony Blade. On trying to draw the blade, he was judged by Sir Percy's spirit to be unworthy of wielding it due to his malevolent tendencies. Shunned by the spirit and left embittered by the experience, Garrett decided to spite his ancestor by adopting the Black Knight guise as he became a costumed criminal, armed with a medieval-styled arsenal built with modern technology and riding a black-colored winged horse he genetically engineered himself. Garrett became a recurring nemesis of S.H.I.E.L.D., especially a part-time special operative of theirs in size-shifting scientist Dr. Henry Pym (going by the names Ant-Man and then Giant-Man), over the years, until an attempt to break into a top-secret facility (operated by the hidden cabal known as SEELE) left him with a wound that effectively ended his professional criminal career. He went into hiding afterwards, after discovering what the contents of the data he'd stolen contained. Using what few agents he hired, he had the data hidden within Sir Percy's tomb, the location of which he would entrust to Karen and Dane. With his last words, he asked them to atone for his misdeeds and restore honor to the family legacy by stopping whatever it was that SEELE was planning. The recording ended there, leaving Karen and Dane stunned at the revelations.

A few days later, Karen and Dane traveled in secret to the location of Sir Percy's tomb, and after a careful search within, they located the data packet. A curious Karen then decided to try drawing the Ebony Blade herself, and to both hers and her uncle's surprise, she succeeded, having been judged by the spirit of Sir Percy to be worthy of the Black Knight mantle. On returning to the family estate, Karen and Dane looked over the data packet, and became shocked on learning from it that SEELE had orchestrated the events that caused Second Impact, and that plans were in the works for them to bring about a Third Impact, with the battles against the otherworldly creatures they had codenamed 'Angels' factoring into them. Realizing that something needed to be done, Karen and Dane began working on a secret project of their own. For the months that followed, they incorporated the remnants of Sir Percy's armor into a new suit built of highly-advanced modern tech for Karen to wear, as she decided to take up the Black Knight role. She also learned proper swordfighting techniques in order to wield the Ebony Blade, with guidance coming from the spirit of Sir Percy himself. Additionally, she and Dane built a black-colored cybernetic winged horse to act as Karen's steed, which she dubbed 'Aragorn' (after a central character in the 'Middle Earth' book series by J.R.R. Tolkien, of which Karen was a fan); when inactive, Aragorn could transform into a crate for easier transportation through customs, should Karen be traveling to other parts of the world.

The next phase of their plan involved Karen and Dane enlisting the aid of a contact Dane had in the British intelligence community named Pete Wisdom, after showing him the SEELE data packet. With Pete's help, Karen was able to arrange for a transfer from NERV-1 to NERV-Central in Tokyo-3, Japan, bringing her secret arsenal and Aragorn with her. Having heard of the exploits of the emerging superwomen in Tokyo-3, Karen, as the Black Knight, decided to seek their aid in uncovering the full extent of SEELE's scheming, while also contributing to their efforts in battling both the Angels and whatever super-criminals appeared in the city (some of which were even brought in by SEELE). Of the superwomen, Karen found herself befriending the trio of NERV-Central computer techs who wound up taking up the legacy of Henry Pym: Aoi Mogami (alias Yellowjacket), Satsuki Ooi (alias Stature), and Kaede Agano (alias the Wasp). Karen's friendship with them proved to be a big help when she found herself up against her ancestor's mortal enemy, the traitorous knight of Camelot known as Mordred the Evil, who'd been summoned and brought into SEELE's 'employ' after learning of the Black Knight being active in Tokyo-3. Mordred didn't come alone, as accompanying him were his lover, the sorceress Morgan le Fay; a former professional knife-thrower named Paul Richarde, turned by Mordred and Morgan into the deadly Le Sabre; and Dreadknight, a renegade scientist from Latveria turned into a metal-masked marauder who rode a bat-winged black steed named 'Hellhorse'.

Once the Angels were defeated, the Black Knight would aid the superwomen and NERV's Evangelions against SEELE's forces when they tried to take over NERV-Central and start their plans for Third Impact. Following their defeat (as well as that of NERV's supreme commander Gendo Ikari, who had his own plan for a controlled Third Impact), Karen remained in touch with the superwomen, even becoming a reserve member of the team they formed, the Avengers. Karen herself would be recruited by Pete Wisdom into a U.K.-based team of heroes under the auspices of the intelligence agency he ran, MI-13, with a name befitting of Karen's legacy and that of King Arthur's: Excalibur. Karen would also take on a 'squire' during her time in Japan, a young man named Teppei Takamiya, who would prove instrumental in helping the Black Knight against Mordred and Morgan when they unleashed the demon Balor after merging it with a powerful machine developed by Teppei's older brother, roboticist Kotarō Takamiya."

*Author's Note(s)*

For the Marvel half of this wave of 'Summer knights', the spotlight falls on the venerable second-string Avenger known as the Black Knight, whose roots as a comic book hero date back to when Sir Percy debuted in 1955, between the end of the Golden Age of Comics (when the company to be known as Marvel went by Timely Comics) and the beginning of the Silver Age (when it went by Atlas Comics). I wanted to do my best to incorporate as much of the in-universe history of the Black Knight into this take as possible, from the medieval beginnings of the legacy to Nathan Garret's time as the criminal version (his having originated as a foe of Hank Pym being given a nice nod), to of course a successor redeeming the Black Knight name as a hero.

For the anime character taking up said name, it was after a first-time viewing of the series B't X (created by Masami Kurumada, best known for Saint Seiya) that inspired me to reinterpret one of its supporting characters in Karen, the former Spirit General of the Machine Empire who mentors Teppei. Making Dane Whitman (himself the longtime Black Knight in the comics) her uncle helped keep him involved in the story, and Karen's mechanical steed could be visually based on the B't that Karen partners with in the latter half of the series, Shadow X. While what B't X elements I incorporated were minimal, I felt they would work well enough for my purposes-for example, the depiction of the cyber-fused Balor mentioned could roughly resemble the main big bad of the series, B't Raphaello.

For the visual side of things (found on my DeviantArt gallery), I called upon artist Chaika00 for the first time, and they did a good job following what I had envisioned for Karen as the Black Knight. I had them graft the usual color palette of Dane Whitman's armor onto Karen's suit, along with the symbol on the chest, and had them give Karen a set of headgear based on the front of Dane's helmet. Overall, I cannot thank them enough for doing justice to my idea, and look forward to working with them again in the future.