Marvel OC : Russell Donowitz (Earth-ARV41)

Russell Donowitz was once raised in a quite  religious Jewish family in New York. Donowitz himself was a big fan of baseball matches; he spent most of his free time watching the New York Yankees. Russell’s father worked as a barber in Bronx, but Russell always dreamed of something else: to become a soldier.

That’s why, when the United States declared war on the Axis Powers following the attack on Pearl Harbor on 1941, he became motivated to join the US Military. But that wasn’t the only reason he did that; in reality, he was infuriated by the event of Holocaust and the persecution of Jews by Nazi Germany. To make matters worse, he wasn’t shipped to Europe as he expected, but instead he was sent to North Africa, as part of the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

The year was 1942, and the 509th launched an attack on the Axis Power during Operation Torch. Russell was one of those folks, but he was curious about the rumour circulating on the infamous ritual held by HYDRA in Egypt months earlier. Sneaking into HYDRA camp in Tunisia, Russell accidentally learned that HYDRA has indeed held a ritual of worshipping the Sun God, Ra, and in order to satisfy Ra himself, they decided to capture every single enemy soldiers they could find, eventually acting as a sacrifice for HYDRA’s ritual and as a tribute to Ra.

Russell happened to learn that the one who led this sadistic ritual was Finnian Dietrich, an Afrika Korps member who was actually appointed as the Avatar of Ra, eventually naming himself as the Sun King. Russell wished that he could tell HYDRA’s actual plan to his Regiment, but when HYDRA finally found out about Russell’s presence, it was the Sun King who shot Russell in the chest. Fortunate enough, Russell survived the shot, but he was badly injured until he was saved by the God of Moon, Khonshu.

Khonshu granted Russell’s wish to seek revenge on the Sun King, but with the condition that Russell must pledge allegiance to Khonshu first. Russell’s faith was once shook when that happened, but when Khonshu offered Russell’s freedom while becoming his Avatar, Russell’s path became crystal clear.

Russell Donowitz became the Fist of Khonshu under the codename Moon Knight, having lead the 509th Regiment into victory in North Africa. He really went from an overlook Jewish soldier into one of the living legends of WWII. Russell would eventually joined the Invaders, fighting side-by-side with Captain America (Steve Rogers) and Bucky Barnes. Even so, Russell and Bucky mostly spent Hanukkah together during the midst of the battlefield. Russell also partook in the Liberation of Dachau Camp, freeing his fellow Jews from Nazi’s grapple.

Despite this advantage, his deep trauma and revenge on the Sun King nearly drove Russell insane. The legend has it that whoever met their final fate in the hand of the Moon Knight, they ended up having their heads being crushed by Moon Knight’s steel baseball bat. As such, Russell was nicknamed as “the Lunatic Jew” by both Nazi Germany and HYDRA.

In year 1945, following the presumed “death” of both Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, Russell was given more freedom by SSR to build his ad-hoc group, the Silver Company, which consisted of the strictly chosen paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division. SSR decided to do so due to the fact that Steve and Bucky’s disappearance has led the Invaders into a near state of leadership vacuum, while they realized that a small portion of HYDRA forces might still resisted against SSR even after Red Skull’s presumed death.

Russell and the Silver Company was sent into Germany in order to destroy the remaining power of HYDRA, now led by the Sun King himself. After a series of exhausting battles, the Allied Forces successfully took over Berlin, and the Sun King was eventually executed by Moon Knight, breaking the cycle of the unholy rivalry between Khonshu and Ra for the next few decades.

Following the end of World War II, Russell decided to reside in Boston, eventually living a peaceful life. When Russell asked why he didn’t move to Israel instead, his answer was pretty bold: the Zionists treated Palestinians and minor Jews the same way as Nazi to Jews years earlier. And Russell dedicated the rest of his life for fighting against tyranny and injustice, until he died due to the complications of his past injuries in the 1980s.

AUTHOR’S NOTES:

RIP Russell Donowitz, he would’ve love poking fun at Zionists. Because Zionism is Anti-Semitism, ya get it?

Just to be sure, the Earth-ARV41 version of Bucky Barnes is Jewish too, let that sink in.

By the way, this is indeed a realization of this post:

And just in case you want to know the actual inspiration behind this OC, it’s actually Donny Donowitz from the Inglorious Basterds movie, hence the name!

I wanna make the WWII version of Moon Knight looks more battle-ready, grounded and believable than his comic counterpart, so I decided to choose an early idea on Captain America’s final suit from Captain America: The First Avenger by Ryan Meinerding:

I also decided to adopt unused Mr. Knight mask concept for the Moon Knight Disney+ series:

The shotgun that Russell Donowitz actually used is the Sawed-Off Over/Under (O/U) Shotgun, the similar gun that Donny Donowitz used in the Inglorious Basterd movie.

Up next, the Sun King, Finnian Dietrich!