With all the buzz surrounding the upcoming Moon Knight television series, now is as good a time as ever to take an in-depth look at one of the character’s oldest and most ruthless villains: Bushman.
Raul Bushman was a former mercenary who worked alongside Mark Spector in Africa. The two often found themselves at odds due to Bushman’s ruthless nature and Spector’s realization of his true motivations. While treasure hunting, Spector was exposed to how truly evil Bushman was, after the latter sunk his razor-sharp teeth into the throat of an archeologist attempting to defend his village from the mercenary.
Bushman played a pivotal role in Spector becoming the Moon Knight.
After Spector helped the slain archeologist’s daughter escape, Bushman had the remaining villagers killed by firing squad. Spector stepped in, but he was already too late. For his insubordination, Bushman had Spector dropped in the middle of the desert to die alone. However, the spirit of Khonshu saved Spector, and turned him into Moon Knight.
Moon Knight’s Greatest Work
Moon Knight thwarted Bushman on several occasions following his creation. The two had what was to be their final battle atop a building. They fell from the building to an alley, where Moon Knight finally defeated his arch nemesis by cutting off his face with his Crescent Dart. After Bushman’s defeat, Spector was consistently visited by Khonshu in the form of the faceless Bushman. Spector believed this was Khonshu’s way of reminding him of “his greatest work.”
Skills & Abilities
Bushman didn’t possess any supernatural powers whatsoever, but that never detracted from how deadly this trained killer was. Aside from being an expert in hand-to-hand combat, Bushman was also willing to go to extreme lengths to perfect his killing skills. He even sharpened his teeth to the point that he could bite the throats of his enemies.
A Faceless Legacy
Bushman’s demise was short-lived. He was resurrected by the criminal mastermind the Hood, and soon orchestrated another battle to the death with Moon Knight. Bushman was defeated once again. Moon Knight attempted to carve his face off, as he had before. As Bushman begged and pleaded for his life, Khonshu appeared and demanded that Moon Knight obey.
Though he escaped incarceration a few times following his capture, Bushman was eventually detained in Ravencroft Institute. A mass prison escape at the institute resulted recently, and Bushman is once again at large.