Warning: The following contains spoilers for Black Knight: Curse of the Ebony Blade #3, by Si Spurrier, Sergio Davila, Sean Parsons, Arif Prianto, Chris Sotomayor and VC’s Cory Petit, on sale now.
Thor is one of the most powerful heroes in the Marvel Universe, having defeated countless foes over the millennia. But in Black Knight: Curse of the Ebony Blade #3, Marvel just revealed that Thor was decisively defeated by one of its oldest heroes: the original Black Knight.
This incarnation of the Black Knight was Sir Percy of Scandia, who was first introduced in 1955’s Black Knight #1, by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely. Sir Percy was recruited by Merlin to become the eighth Black Knight and offered a choice of weaponry, including the Ebony Chalice, shield, staff or sword. The Black Knight chose the Ebony Blade, using its power for good. Sir Percy was seemingly uncorrupted by its power, unlike his predecessors.
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However, Percy’s surprisingly brutal fight with Thor hints that this Black Knight wasn’t as uncorrupted by the Ebony Blade’s power as initially appeared.
This previously unmentioned encounter was divulged to Jacks, an Arthurian scholar, by Merlin’s familiar. Jacks was given a vision of old Camelot, where Sir Percy stood in defense of the kingdom. In this moment, a young Thor, alongside a group of Vikings, came to confront the Black Knight.
Thor and his band of Vikings claimed that Camelot was filled with darkness, telling Sir Percy to stand aside. The Black Knight, however, would not yield, challenging Thor to single combat. Of course, at this point in his history, Thor was still fairly arrogant, taunting the Black Knight and toying with him rather than simply fighting or reasoning with him.
This strategy didn’t go over well, since Sir Percy’s anger only fueled his Ebony Blade. Eventually, the Black Knight unleashed a full power blast upon the God of Thunder, knocking him unconscious. Moreover, Sir Percy was sent into a berserker fury, killing all of the Vikings in the vicinity. The only reason that Thor doesn’t remember this encounter is that Merlin had his familiar remove Thor’s memory of Camelot and this decisive loss.
Overall, this fight casts a new light on Sir Percy and his weapon. This battle demonstrates the true power of the Ebony Blade, especially when the wielder of the blade fuels its power with anger and hatred. With this power, the Black Knight could even go up against a young god like Thor.
Additionally, Sir Percy himself wasn’t quite as pure as he seemed, succumbing to his own darkness for a moment of the Ebony Blade’s power. It was previously said that the Ebony Blade never corrupted Sir Percy, and there’s no telling how many other times the blade’s power could have corrupted him.
On the other side of the fight, this fight also shined a new light on Thor’s history. This younger Thor was clearly brash and inexperienced, falling somewhere in-between the unworthy Viking Thor and the Asgardian Avenger of the present day. It was this particular stage in Thor’s life that led to his defeat. If Thor wasn’t so reckless and arrogant, he could have had a better chance against the Black Knight. A modern day Thor probably would have been more careful when facing the Ebony Blade’s power.
While Dane Whitman, the modern Black Knight, and Thor would later call themselves teammates on the Avengers, this fight makes an intriguing early interaction between Thor and one of Marvel’s oldest superhero mantles, proving that there are still plenty of untold tales in the history of the Marvel Universe.
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