Marc does his super hero thing out of guilt. Guilt and debt, which, in his case, are the same thing. Me? It's just instinct. This cat's got to hunt. And this Midnight Man thing? It's got ahold of me. Got my predator's instinct running like a chain saw. 
Appearing in "Instinct"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Mr. Knight (Marc Spector) (Impersonates Midnight Man)
- William Nelson
- Detective Flint
- Hawkeye (Clint Barton)
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Midnight Man I (Anton Mogart) (Mentioned)
- Midnight Man II (Jeff Wilde) (Mentioned)
- God (Invoked)
- Midnight Mission (Mentioned)
- Gregson Grant (Referenced)
- Janet Grant (Referenced)
- Avengers (Mentioned)
- Giant Man (Hank Pym) (Photo)
- Tony Stark (Referenced)
- NYPD (Mentioned)
- Maggia (Mentioned)
- Committee (Photo)
- The Hood (Parker Robbins) (Mentioned)
- Thunderbolts (Mentioned)
- Defenders (Mentioned)
- Zodiac (Mentioned)
- Hydra (Mentioned)
- Werewolf (Jack Russell) (Mentioned)
- Sarnak (Sidney Sarnak) (Photo)
- Criti Noll (Mentioned)
- Initiative (Mentioned)
- Structure (Mentioned)
- Zodiac Cartel (Mentioned)
- Zombie Moon Knights (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
- Humans
- Cats (Referenced)
- Tigers (Referenced)
- Werewolves (Mentioned)
- Skrulls (Mentioned)
- Vampires (Mentioned)
- Zombies (Mentioned)
Locations:
Items:
Events
- Secret Invasion (Mentioned)
Synopsis for "Instinct"
As authorities and news media report that the Midnight Man is back, Greer asks Marc if there's anything they're going to do it. Surprisingly, he doesn't have a plan despite her reminding him that Midnight Man is one of his rogues. Marc retorts semantically how he was two people, Anton Mogart and then his son Jeff Wilde, both of whom are dead. Greer covers William's ears while scowling at Marc to mention death around her son. Marc argues that William is old enough to understand, but when the cat-boy asks why Marc always wears his mask, Greer stops him before he can go on a tangental speech and sends William into the kitchen to get pork rinds. With William out of the room, Marc argues that the new Midnight Man has been targeting gangsters and rich people and thus is unrelated to their work in the Midnight Mission. Back to movie night, Marc asks if she wants Goonies or Monster Squad and Greer opts for Goonies, as Marc asks who still has VHS tapes.
The next day, Greer goes out for a walk and thinks how she still has VHS tapes, how she likes them due to watching movies with her parents as a kid and thus likes watching tapes with William. Greer contemplates how having a kid is an all new experience and one needs to go off instinct most often. However, her instincts have been unusual since she became Tigra the Were-woman[1] so sometimes she sticks with what she knows, and the tapes are cheap since she's a single mom on a partial Avengers pension. Thinking of instinct, she has a slight laugh as Marc does his work out of guilt and debt, which are synonymous for him, but instinct is instinct for her and the cat must hunt. The situation with Midnight Man has a hold of her hunting instincts like a running chain saw, so she speaks with Detective Flint at the park for details. Flint is befuddled as Moon Knight has done nothing about Midnight Man's resurgence while Tigra argues it's a part of his "phase" moon pun. After she clarifies she is working with Marc at his Midnight Mission, she asks if he has the case files from his NYPD pals, and he hands them over for all the good they'll do her.
Back at her apartment, William asks why his mom is pinning papers to the wall, as the landlord might get angry. Greer retorts that their claws have scratched the floors so their security deposit has long since been gone, so a few pins won't make a difference. Greer tells William she has to hunt Midnight Man, reviewing his recent actions from busting up Maggia meets to robbing rich people, who couldn't get that wealthy without being dirty. William asks if he stole money and Greer confirms he didn't, but William asks if his dad was rich and Greer answers he was every now and then due to his patents. But when William asks if he was dirty, Greer takes a moment to clarify that Hank had problems but he was still one of the best heroes, and he was never dirty. The next night, Tigra uses her old Avengers login to hijack Tony Stark's wifi, using the upload speed to conduct research-- and also update her photo albums so her mom and dad get off her back about pictures of William. When investigating the rich people angle, Tigra finds that each of them lost their parents in a "wild-animal attack" years prior.
The next day, Tigra is discussing the situation with Hawkeye (Clint Barton), himself distracted while defeating the Fast Five, mentioning his tough time with The Hood recently in the Ronin suit.[2] A surprised Tigra asks when did that happen, but an embarrassed Clint dismisses it to try and recruit Tigra to his Thunderbolts team. She refuses since she was just with the Defenders,[3] and Clint is miffed nobody invited him for that team-up while apprehending Blue Streak, and Tigra still asks why he was in the Ronin suit. During the next full moon, Tigra finds the last target for Midnight Man to strike and stalks the residence, too pissed at Marc to see him. But that issue is human/big-brained stuff, and this is instinct for a hunt to satisfy the tiger within her. As Midnight Man steals his prize, Tigra is ready, embodying the predatory traits of the Tigers that stalked early humans. In the moment of the pounce, she is Tigra the Were-woman, and her prey doesn't have a chance against her when she hunts and not until she's torn at his face.
However, after she does so, the torn mask reveals Marc dressed in the identity. Tigra is offended that Marc lied to her face and he justifies it that she didn't need to know. Marc elaborates that he needed funds after Zodiac took away his funding[4] and he needed a way to pay Reese, Soldier, everything in his operation, so Marc ripped off gangsters, Maggia, and even Hydra. If Moon Knight were to do so, then there'd be heat directed toward the Midnight Mission, so Marc used the Midnight Man moniker. Greer tearfully acknowledges she knew, as Hawkeye pulled the same stunt.[2] Marc trails on to explaining his investigation that the parents of the homeowners he robbed once belonged to the Committee, who hunted Jack Russell before he killed them.[5] Recalling a mask Russell told him about years ago, Marc pieced together the identity of the man who hijacked the DJ booth the other night,[6] Sidney Sarnak, a former Committee agent and specialist in sonic mind control.
Greer interrupts to yell at him to stop about how much he hurt her. Greer had his back and flipped on the Avengers for him,[7] yet he lied to her and made her feel like an idiot. She asks if he knows what it's like for someone he loves to treat him like a chump, voicing frustration at being lied to and having to lie to William about his father. With Marc perplexed, Greer confesses that William's father is technically Skrull agent Criti Noll, who replaced Hank during the Initiative[8] before the invasion. Realizing how she means, Marc asks where to find her, but Greer reveals she died, and even if she didn't, Greer doesn't want Marc to do her killing. With Criti Noll and the real Hank Pym dead, she tearfully has to lie to William daily that his father was a hero, refusing to let William believe that he only exists because of a hideous crime done amid interstellar chess. Despite the vampire conclave,[9] running through a tomb dimension, and fighting mercenaries alongside zombie moon knights,[10] Marc still can't trust her. Even wearing a mask during movie night with them.
She departs asking if Marc has any idea how hard it is to be his friend, and the lonely Marc can only quietly answer yes. A little while later, as Greer explains to William that her having claws can easily ruin her disc media and vinyl, they prepare for a possible villain attack after a late night door knock. Greer opens the door to find an unmasked and apologetic Marc, admitting he's only ever been good at hurting people, but that he should have trusted her and brought Time Bandits on VHS as a peace offering. Greer thinks to herself how one would have to be crazy to let someone like Marc into their life, how nobody rational would think it a good idea to kiss him, yet Greer does so as her instinct doesn't care. While she sometimes loses balance in the duality of herself, she always lands on her feet. As William will be excited to watch a new tape, Greer drags Marc in for the viewing and announces to William that she thinks Marc is her new boyfriend now, must to the child's comedic gag reflex.