The Blue Knight
The Blue Knight was knight-errant of King Arthur's era in Reality Z-25 31-H, who derived their invincibility in battle from magical blue armour given to them by Merlin. The original Blue Knight was Sir Dennis of Inde, whose career in the medieval age ended when he became trapped under a boulder for centuries — his spirit kept alive by the magic of the armour, but unable to leave, while his body withered away to nothing inside the armour. After being freed by the Odds, the half-alive Sir Dennis merged with the body of his last living descendant, Chief Inspector Dennis of Scotland Yard, to become a fully-revived Blue Knight who became a member of the Odds themself.
Description
Physical appearance
The original Blue Knight was never seen without his iconic blue armour, which also included a helm with large round eye-holes protected by fi ne grating, as well as a red cape. (COMIC: Defying the Dragon) After their resurrection, the Blue Knight inhabited the body of Chief Inspector Dennis, a fit Englishwoman in early middle age, with pale skin, shoulder-length blond hair and a large nose. (COMIC: Encore)
Personality
The Blue Knight originally saw their existence as a straightforward, traditional struggle of a noble knight against evil forces. The Knight never considered that the case of the Princess “abducted” by the Dragon might not have been the manichean case they thought it was, a fatal mistake which led to their entrapment under the boulder. (COMIC: Defying the Dragon)
Powers & abilities
Beyond the ability to ride a horse and a base level of competence at swordfighting, the Blue Knight's combat prowess mostly stemmed from their invulnerability to physical blows, owing to the magic of their armour, enchanted by Merlin. (COMIC: Defying the Dragon) Whichever part wore a part of the armour was rendered invulnerable, and seemingly granted increased physical strength. (COMIC: Road Trip Of No Return)
Biography
As Sir Dennis of Inde
Living in King Arthur's England, (COMIC: Defying the Dragon) Sir Dennis of Inde (COMIC: Encore) became the Blue Knight when they were gifted their enchanted blue armour by the “legendary” wizard Merlin. (COMIC: Defying the Dragon) At some point prior to becoming trapped under a boulder, he fathered at least one offspring, founding a line of descendants stretching into the 21st century. (COMIC: Encore)
After many other adventures, the Blue Knight was despatched to retrieve a maiden Princess who was thought to have been abducted by a Dragon. Riding alone into the wilderness, the Knight found the Dragon and Princess. He was immediately knocked off his horse by the Dragon, but continued fighting him on foot with his sword. However, he had not realised that the Princess was actually in love with the Dragon and had eloped with him. Climbing up a nearby cliff, the Princess rolled a boulder off the edge; dropping down onto the Knight, it pinned him in place, even if his magic armour prevented him from being killed. The Dragon and Princess then departed, intent on travelling to some other land where their forbidden love would not be judged. (COMIC: Defying the Dragon)
Resurrection
Sir Dennis remained under the boulder for centuries, kept magically alive by the armour, but without that preventing his body from wasting away into dust, though he did not realise this. Eventually, in the early 21st century, the Odds, while in the area to deal with Insecto's attempted takeover of a city, detected the magical energy emanating from under the rock, and Merv the Griffin lifted it. In thanks, the Blue Knight pledged his alliance to Captain Evening, the leader of the Odds. Taking off his helmet, he realised, much to his dismay, that he had become incorporeal.
Just as Chief Inspector Dennis, of Scotland Yard, arrived on the scene to chide the Odds for disturbing an archeological site without permission, Merlin materialised out of thin air, having projected himself from the past. He revealed that Chief Inspector Dennis was Sir Dennis of Inde's last surviving descendant and cast a powerful spell, against either Dennis's will, to merge them into a single being, essentially transplanting the Blue Knight's spirit and power into the detective's body. He explained that he had been ordered to do so by destiny itself, and vanished. At a loss about what to do about the strange situation, the Odds decided to call Professor Madison for help. (COMIC: Encore) After Jenny shifted the group back to the Fortress of Evening, Madison ran a battery of tests on the Blue Knight and confirmed that what Merlin had done was not reversible. The best she could do would have been to extract the Blue Knight's mind and transplant it into a robot, but the mind in question would still be an amalgam of Sir Dennis and the Inspector, with no way to untangle them. This rather discomfited the Blue Knight, who was uncomfortable with their purely female body. (COMIC: Meanwhile, On Earth)
First battles with the Odds
However, putting their duty before their personal issue, the Knight went along with the other Odds when they were alerted to Ultimatron's attack of the ceremony where Captain Perfect was to be given the Keys to the City by Mayor Wilson. The Knight's sword had little effect on the robot, however, and ultimately it was Centennia who swooped in to bring down the mechanical menace, discovering that the attack had actually been staged by Perfect himself (who, before the Odds' arrival pushed things off-script, intended to be seen to dramatically defeat Ultimatron on camera). The Blue Knight later attended the huge party Captain Evening threw at the Fortress, surprised at the lightness of the clothing of the guests, much at odds with medieval norms. (COMIC: Meanwhile, On Earth)
The Blue Knight accompanied the Odds to what they believed was the lair of Armagedda, but was actually a trap set up by Doctor Brain and the mysterious Evil Cloak, who revealed herself as none other than the very Jenny they had been adventuring with, who explained that she had never been Jenny Everywhere, but rather an incarnation of her archnemesis Jenny Nowhere. She had gathered the Odds' past foes and ordered them to attack the Odds, with the Blue Knight being attacked by Captain Perfect. Realising that they needed leadership, the Knight urged Captain Evening to snap out of his betrayed bafflement and strategise, with him soon ordering the Knight to take on Red Vicious, a fire-breathing demon. Though the Knight's armour protected them from the flames, Red Vicious soon picked them up and hurled them across the room at Merv the Griffin, using them like a projectile.
The battle did not progress much further as Nowhere activated Doctor Brain's Portal and summoned Gazoom, who she hoped would obey her, but instead ate her whole before leaving the way it came. In shock, the heroes and villains agreed to call this battle a tie and cease fighting for the day, each group going their separate way. Back at the Fortress of Evening, Armstrong Fatbuckle got Merv and the Knight to agree to take a vacation from the Odds to go on a road trip with him so he could show them the sights of 21st century Earth. (COMIC: Meanwhile, In Queens)
These plans had to be postponed, however, as a robot known as the Cosmic Solution had begun attacking New York City (having actually been sent by the Cosmic Order to carry out the destruction of humanity following Armagedda's failure). Robot Madison had already summoned as many heroes as she could, including the Odds, and a small team including Mysto the Space-Wizard, Terry Tornado, the Big Bad Wolf, Red Riding Hood and the Human Tree got there first, but Captain Evening soon answered the call as well, leading most of the Odds into battle on his Skycycle. In the end, however, the Odds' efforts had little to do with the saving of the city as the Solution was persuaded to leave of its own accord without the heroes having managed to lastingly damage it in any way. (COMIC: Journey Out Of Misery)
A vacation
The Odds (now joined by the real Jenny Everywhere) were offered a vacation by the mysterious Mr Montibar, and flew to the equally-mysterious, magical Kokotomo Island, where dreams could magically come true for a limited period of time. In the Blue Knight's case, this allowed them to briefly spend time in a medieval court once again. They then returned home on the same plane with the other Odds, save for Jenny and Centennia, who decided to stick around on Kokotomo. (COMIC: Tales To Behold Halloween Cameo Caper 2014)
The Odds, now reduced to the Captain, Armstrong, Merv and the Blue Knight, finally went on the low-key road-trip in the American countryside that Armstrong had initially suggested, trying to forget their troubles and simply enjoy life, camping out in the countryside at night. Eventually, however, during one particular pit-stop near a creek, they ran into trouble as a duo of corrupt, drug-trafficking policemen knocked out Armstrong, Merv and the Knight with tranquiliser darts and took them prisoners, afraid that the heroes would meddle in their trafficking.
They missed the Captain, however, who had gotten knocked out as part of an unrelated accident while away from the group; teaming up with a young, naïve and surprisingly athletic Sheriff, who knew nothing of her subordinates' corruption, he found the drug-dealers' lair and helped his friends break out, after which they easily overpowered the villains — while their leader Druggo had previously claimed to have superpowers, the Blue Knight quickly realised that he was simply delusional and knocked him out in a single punch. The Odds then went for a midnight swim in the creek with the Sheriff, who needed some time to relax and rethink things. As he advised her on how to deal with this betrayal, the Captain realised that he needed to take his own advice to her to ultimately “just keep going”, and decreed that the Odds should return to New York as there was “work to be done”. (COMIC: Road Trip Of No Return) Upon returning to New York, the Odds joined with numerous other heroes to offer their help to Professor Madison in her work rebuilding after the damage dealt to the city by the Solution. (PROSE: Epilogue to Destruction)
Against the Shadow Queen
When the Shadow Queen attacked New York City, the Odds — including the Blue Knight, the Captain, Armstrong Fatbuckle and Merv the Griffin — responded almost immediately. Despite their speed, they did not fare well in their first battle against the Queen's shadow-warriors, who were intangible when they tried to punch them, but very much capable of dealing damage to flesh-and-blood opponents. Only the setting of the sun brought an end to the fight, forcing the Queen to retreat lest her shadows dissolve into the darkness of the night. However, the Captain managed to hurl a tracking device at her.
In the middle of the night, the Odds followed the tracking device to the Queen's house, where they distracted her by cutting off her electricity. In the confusion, they stole her Shadow-Ray and, getting Professor Madison to walk them through it over video-phone, reprogrammed it to create shadow-beings loyal to them rather than the Queen. When they attacked the Queen and her shadows openly, it was with the help of the Shadow Odds, living versions of their own shadows (including a Shadow-Blue-Knight, as well as a Shadow-Merv whom the Blue Knight found particularly scary when they saw him in action). They handily beat the Queen's warriors, with Merv and the Shadow-Merv teaming up to prevent the Queen from escaping aboard her Flying Platform. After the Queen surrendered and was taken into custody, the Captain was interviewed by Amanda Allen, explaining how they'd beaten the Queen. At Armstrong's suggestion, the Odds then took possession of the Queen's Flying Platform, which they used to chase down remaining evil shadows, returning them to normal using the Reverse-Shadow-Ray. (COMIC: Chasing Shadows)
Foiling Hexia
When the supervillain and witch Hexia took over the Channel 6 studios midway through a special edition of Hero Hour, Captain Evening, who was the programme's special guest, was incapacitated and kept trapped by Hexia with the other hostages. After they were alerted to the situation by the Commissioner, it fell to Armstrong, Merv the Griffin and the Blue Knight to rescue him and the others, forced to plan on their own without the Captain's strategic guidance. Armstrong climbed in through the pipes, emerging in the lavatory and startling one of Hexia's goons, whose clothes and wig he stole in order to slip closer to the villainess unnoticed. He was eventually recognised, leading to a fight breaking out as the Blue Knight (disguised as an extra hostage) and Merv (who'd been waiting outside the window) revealed themselves. While the other two did the heavy lifting, Armstrong focused on untying the Captain.
The clean-up, during which the Captain complimented the other three Odds for their resourcefulness in his absence (with the Blue Knight declaring that they had but “tried to make [the Captain] proud”), and offered Jung-La the chance to join the team, was cut short when the Commissioner called the Odds' attention to the New Protectors' latest broadcast, which announced that they had essentially declared martial law on New York, and furthermore, that independent superheroes would now be considered criminals. (COMIC: Season of the Witch)
The Kate Five debacle
Like the other Odds (save Armstrong), the Blue Knight (out of armour) was lounging on the roof, preparing to play a game of strip poker with his friends, when British metahuman Kate Five arrived at the Fortress. Kate, who was under the control of her evil symbiote at the time, dispatched Armstrong before going up to the roof and persuading the Odds to play a drinking game instead, using a bottle of alcohol that she'd secretly drugged. With all the other teammembers unconscious, it fell to Centennia to defeat Kate Five with the help of Armstrong's disembodied arm. After the dust cleared, the Blue Knight went clothes-shopping on behalf of Kate, who needed a new outfit, as she'd been using the symbiote as a superhero outfit. (COMIC: Symbiote Surprise)
| Recurring elements of The Cosmic Beholder | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
