SHINING KNIGHT

Name: Shining Knight
Secret Identity: Sir Justin/Justin Arthur
Status: Hero
Base of Operations: New York City (20th Century), Camelot (6th Century)
Group Affiliation: Law’s Legionnaires AKA Seven Soldiers of Victory, Knights of the Round Table
Occupation: Knight/Assistant Curator, New York Museum of Natural History
Known Relatives: Danette Reilly-Arthur (wife)
Height: 6’1” Weight: 185 lbs.
Eyes: Blue Hair: Blond

Powers and Abilities: The Shining Knight is well-versed in the styles of combat common in Arthurian times, both mounted and hand-to-hand, and has a passing knowledge of more modern techniques. His enchanted chain-mail armor is virtually bulletproof, and his sword is capable of cutting through nearly any substance -- both are also resistant to magical attack. His mount, Winged Victory, boasts increased speed and stamina far beyond any normal horse, not to mention the gift of flight. Though Sir Justin has a full grasp of modern English, he has a tendency to lapse into the archaic speech patterns that are more familiar to him, especially outside of his Justin Arthur identity.

History: In England during the 6th Century, a small village that lay far from Camelot’s protection was besieged by an ogre named Blunderbore, who killed all who dared pass through the woods surrounding their village. They knew that they would surely perish if they did not face up to the creature, but no one was brave enough to do so, save for a young man by the name of Justin. Armed with only an old sword and an ill-fitting suit of mail, Justin mounted his horse, Victory, and rode off to what the villagers thought was certain doom. The battle was fierce, but Justin refused to give in, slashing away at Blunderbore with all his might until the ogre could no longer stand against him. During the battle, his sword struck a great oak in the middle of the wood, and to Justin’s amazement, a man burst forth from the tree and banished the flagging Blunderbore with a wave of his hand. He soon discovered that the man was Merlin himself, imprisoned within the oak by Morgan LeFey, and Blunderbore had been set to guard against anyone who might try to free him. Having borne witness to Justin’s selfless heroism, Merlin transformed his armor into unbreakable, golden chain mail, as well as enchanting his sword and granting his steed the ability to fly. Riding atop the newly-renamed Winged Victory, the young man accompanied Merlin back to the hallowed halls of Camelot, where he was dubbed Sir Justin, the Shining Knight.

For many years, Sir Justin fought alongside his fellow knights, upholding the Round Table’s code of chivalry and defending the realm from all threats, both human and supernatural. But Morgan LeFey continued to rally her forces against King Arthur, eventually leading up to one climactic battle between good and evil, one that even the Knights of the Round Table could not win, and Camelot fell. During the battle, the Shining Knight faced off against LeFey herself, but the sorceress used her magicks to entomb both Sir Justin and Winged Victory under a mountain of ice and rock, a final act of revenge for freeing Merlin years before.

Centuries later, in 1939, an American scholar by the name of Dr. Moresby was traveling through England, following clues he’d found in ancient texts that spoke of where the fabled remains of Camelot may lay. While exploring a mountainside that was supposed to have been the site of a great battle long ago, he happened upon a cleft in the rock, which revealed a glint of golden armor. After hacking some more of the eroding rock away, Moresby found the still-frozen bodies of Sir Justin and his steed, protected from harm by a side-effect of Merlin’s enchantments. Once he was properly revived, Sir Justin returned to New York with Dr. Moresby under the guise of the doctor’s new colleague, Justin Arthur. Though losing 1,400 years in the blink of an eye was a tremendous shock, Justin did his best to acclimate to the 20th Century, becoming Dr. Moresby’s assistant at the Museum of Natural History, but he could not shake his knightly oath, and would spend his evenings donning his armor once more and taking to the skies on Winged Victory, watching over the citizens of New York just as he’d watched over the peasants of old England.

In late 1941, while investigating a series of thefts from the museum, the Shining Knight joined up with six other heroes to take down a secret organization called the Iron Hand. With the shadow of World War II looming over the United States, they later decided they could serve their country best as a team instead of individually, and formally banded together as the Law's Legionnaires (see The Seven Soldiers of Victory), defending their home soil as many of the more powerful heroes went overseas to fight the Axis powers. Sir Justin also gained an unexpected bonus to joining this new team: a renewed bond of fellowship, one that he’d been missing since the loss of the other Knights of the Round Table. It served as an anchor for him to this new world, and it soon led to an even deeper bond with one of his fellow Soldiers, Danette Reilly (see Firebrand), whom he married not long after the war ended. Sadly, in 1948, the Shining Knight mysteriously disappeared while on a mission with the Law's Legionnaires. The circumstances of his disappearance, as well as the fates of the rest of the Soldiers, remains a mystery to this day.