How Did Misty Knight Get a Bionic Arm?

In “When We First Met,” we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said, “Avengers Assemble!” or the first appearance of Batman’s giant penny or the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth or the first time Spider-Man’s face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter. Stuff like that.

Reader Charlie E. wanted to know when we found out the origins of Misty Knight’s robotic arm.

When Misty Knight debuted in the pages of “Marvel Premiere” #21 (by Tony Isabella, Arvell Jones and Vince Colletta), she had no bionic arm (the previous issue Colleen Wing revealed for the first time that someone named Misty was her partner in some kind of business)…

She didn’t show up again for the rest of Iron Fist’s tenure in “Marvel Premiere” (which was only four more issues), but she showed up again when Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Al McWilliams launched “Iron Fist” the ongoing series out of his “Marvel Premiere” feature. Collenn Wing had been kidnapped and Iron Fist was investigating when he was struck…

Good golly, Miss Molly, John Byrne’s new take on Misty Knight was amazing. That was basically the new standard for Misty right there. And Claremont now explained how she and Colleen worked together.

By the way, at the end of a fight in the issue, Iron Man called Misty by name, which will be important later…

In the second issue (Frank Chiaramonte now the inker), we first learn that Misty has something unique about her…

The next issue has Misty show her strength again…

before later in the issue, while fighting a bad guy, her arm is injured and Iron Fist (and we readers) learned her secret…

This was obviously inspired by the then-popular TV series “Six Million Dollar Man” (although I believe that this slightly predates the introduction of the Bionic Woman). What’s interesting is that I don’t believe it was revealed WHO gave her the arm until the 1986 Marvel Official Handbook entry for Misty…

It says that Stark International designed it. That would tie in with Stark knowing her name back in “Iron Fist” #1.

Many years later, in 2006’s “Daughters of the Dragon” #4, by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Khari Evans, they tell the story of Misty’s lost arm again (she had just lost her bionic arm in battle and her nervous system was in shock from the loss) and Tony Stark gave her her current one…

And that is her current bionic arm. WHY Tony Stark gave her a bionic arm in the first place is still a bit of a mystery, but I suppose it was as simple as him wanting to help out a hero cop.

Thanks for the suggestion, Charlie! If anyone else wants to know when a certain part of comic book history debuted, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!

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Brian Cronin
via Comic Book Resources