Cyril Sheldrake or Knight was the Batman of England along with his sidekick Squire.
History[]
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Cyril as Squire to his father's Knight
Cyril Sheldrake was originally Squire to Percy Sheldrake, the original Knight, until Percy was killed by his archenemy Springheeled Jack. Following this, Cyril fell into a period of depression and turned to drugs and alcohol, which depleted his fortune. Fortunately, he later came upon Squire, a poor but kindhearted (not to mention intelligent) commoner who helped to rehabilitate Cyril. After having been completely healed, he assumed the mantle of the second Knight, and made Beryl the third Squire. Sometime after this, they both joined the Ultramarine Corps. He appears not to be on good terms with fellow member Jack O'Lantern.
Adventures with the Ultramarines[]
The Batman of the UK
Years later, when the Ultramarines' base of Superbia was taken over, the Ultramarines, including the Knight, became brainwashed by the combined efforts of Gorilla Grodd and the Sheeda. This resulted in Grodd attempting to use the Ultramarines to take over the Earth. Fortunatley, Beryl managed to escape Grodd's grip and reached out to Batman, who led the efforts to liberate Superbia from Grodd's control. Following that incident, the Justice League banished the Ultramarines, including Knight, to the infant universe of Qwewq, believing that the Ultramarines' own recklessness was to blame for Grodd's rampage just as much as Grodd himself. Later, after the Ultramarines managed to sort out problems in the infant universe, the JLA allowed them to return to Earth.
The Black Glove[]
The Knight and Squire duo
After the events of Infinite Crisis, Batman went on a soul-searching journey around the world, seeking to rid himself of years' worth of anger and paranoia. As part of his efforts, the Dark Knight sought to reunite the Batmen of All Nations to which Sir Cyril Sheldrake and his father had belonged years earlier. Knight and Squire were naturally two of the first to sign on. However, the gathering at the groups original island base was all part of an elaborate scheme by an organization called the Black Glove to destroy them all. The members of the group were forced to go through a series of death traps, resulting in the tragic deaths of several of them. Knight and Squire survived the adventure, and their relation ship with Batman and Robin emerged stronger from it. During the Final Crisis, the Ultramarines, including Knight and Squire, aided the heroes against the forces of Darkseid, but the Superbia base fell after sabotage by the Justifiers.
Battle for the Cowl[]
Knight and Squire temporarily relocated to Gotham City as members of the Network, a group of heroes whom the Bat-Family trusted to assist them if the need arose, in order to help quell the chaos that had erupted in the wake of Batman's death. Knight mostly worked with Dick Grayson (the current Batman, who as of the time was still Nightwing, de facto leader of the Network).
Blackest Knight[]
Knight was later approached by Batman (Dick Grayson), who asked for his help in locating the last Lazarus Pit in order to bring Bruce Wayne back to life. Knight placed Batman's corpse in the Lazarus Pit before Grayson and Squire's arrival, and he, along with Batwoman, Squire, and Batman, was the first one to see the corpse of Batman (Bruce Wayne) returned to life. However, they soon discover that the corpse was a clone of Batman created by Darkseid during the Final Crisis, and not Batman himself. This copy has a defect, making him mad and impossible to control. Knight & Squire helped Batman and Batwoman to fend off the clone, which eventually escaped.
For Six/Mini-Series[]
The Time in a Bottle pub is the place where both Britain's heroes and villains hang out once a month. With all violence stopped by the "Truce magic", the enemies get along quite nicely. Whilst Squire is giving newcomer Shrike a tour the pub and briefing him on its history, several objects behind the bar glow ominously.The patrons realise that the truce magic has been deactivated. Ruthless Skull faced vigilante, FaceOff, immediately begins opening fire on the villains,attacking Knight with a knife, when he gets in the way. Realising the Merlin statue, that keeps the magic activated, has been tampered with Knight and Squire retreat upstairs to find the person responsible. In the room where the statue is kept, they find Cornwall Boy holding a knife to the throat of his dad, Captain Cornwall. Angrily stating he is tired of sharing the magic power with his dad, who he believes has done very little with the abilities other than "dress up". Knight calmly states he not going to harm his father, since he's been in the room with him for tens minutes and done nothing but threaten him. Cornwall Boy hesitates and the Truce magic is reactivated. The father and son face each other and clearly have a lot to talk about.Downstairs the villains and heroes help clear up the bar and the evil cricketers, the first eleven, pay for the damage.
While Beryl is at the local newsagents in little WordenShire, a music themed super villain shows up in a purple outfit, The organ grinder. Despite his pet monkey regaling them with tales of his master's devilry, the shopkeeper has no time for him and his kind and tells him to go to London with the rest of his type. Back at the house Beryl shares with her mother, Mrs. Hutchinson is busy taking in the clothes from the washing line in the garden (including her daughter's squire outfit) soon an emergency call comes in from Knight. She quickly transforms into her alter ego and races to her emergency transport tube to the castle, hidden in the garden shed. Cyril's computers have detected dark dimensional energy emanating from a small Devonshire village. He wonders if its linked to a series of unsolved thefts of magical items over the last few months. They take their horse shaped bikes to the village of Yeominister Churney and in their civilian guise ask around the Wicker Man pub about any strange goings on. One old Geezer, Elijah Snood, talks darkly of "morris dancers" and all three are cast out of the pub. Once outside Elijah is hit with a club to the head and an army of morris men ambush Beryl and Cyril. Fortunately the fighting skills of the morris men (called Wassail Futtock) are no match for Knight and Squire. After the victory Elijah lays dying, confessing he used to be one of them, until Morris Major showed up.Morris began whispering in the ears of the morris group describing a London "full of foreigners and homosexuals",Claiming he knows what to do about it. His plan is to gather magical objects and use their power to turn Britain into a "yesteryear paradise". The ceremony is happening tonight, Knight uses a strip of cloth ripped from the morris men during the fight to track them down.Feeding it into his bike's (Anastasia)chemical tracking system they race to a circular set of standing stones nearby to infiltrate the intolerant morris men. They beat up two guards and dress as morris men themselves getting closer to the centre of the circler. The magical items reach full power and energy strikes the collective minds of the morris men, drawing on their thoughts to create this "perfect Britain". Nothing happens as Squire's presence, as a female, disrupts the spell completely. Morris Major teleports away, leaving behind a twisted version of the Union flag, the Black Jack, from a "hell dimension Britain". Knight and Squire have apparently encountered their agents before. Police arrive to arrest the other morris men who go quietly.
Professor Meriweather of C.O.R. labs (Council for Organised Research) perfects the art of instant human cloning and with a certain "multi dimensional" technique can bring back people with complete memories. Richard the Third is first on the list, but he quickly reveals he is as evil and power hungry as Shakespeare portrayed him. Monologuing to no one in particular, he reveals his evil plans. He recruits an army of gangsters and clones other despotic kings (giving them genetic enhancements) and attempts a coup. Edward the first heads to Scotland to be engaged in combat by the professional Scotsman. Charles the First heads west (still missing a head) armed with cybernetic projectile weapons and is held at bay by the heroic Cider-Men. King John and Richard the Second attack east to beaten by Big Mummy, her wrestling daughters and Shrike (abandoning his former status as a villain). Richard and his underworld cronies charge down the motorway towards the capital with Knight and Squire in their path. Richard send his minions against Knight who easily defeats them, trying to goad Richard himself into combat. Squire meanwhile is in charge of the PR war. Noting their current popularity on social network site Twuntter Squire re-edits footage of the kings to discredit them and posts the offending videos on ooh tube. Squire happily reports to Knight that there's a "mass defriending ahoy". Richard is angry his popular support has ebbed away and knows exactly who's to blame, finally drawn into battle, he mounts his motor bike and charges Knight on the motorway. Quoting Shakespearean like dialogue as he rides, Knight quickly punches Richard off his "Steed", rendering him unconscious. His remaining army of criminals are quickly arrested and Squire and Shrike meet up outside Buckingham Palace, both seem too shy to ask the other one out. Knight intervenes and invites him to the castle next week.
Beryl is eagerly looking out across the countryside worrying that Shrike is late or not coming at all. He flies in and they exchange awkward greetings.Meanwhile Cyril and Hank are down in the dungeon attempting to modify the AI of his Knight armour to keep it fighting even after he has been rendered unconscious. He transfers a neural imprint of his mind into the suit but nothing seem to happen. They abandon the project to go and meet their guest upstairs. Unseen by all, the Knight suit suddenly activates. Beryl takes Shrike to a sitting room and introduces him to Cyril Sheldrake/Knight.Shrike is alarmed they trust him with their secret identities so quickly after meeting him, but his hosts aren't worried.Especially since they already know Shrike's real name and background.Calling him by his given name, Dennis Ennis from Colchester, seems to anger Shrike greatly and he calls Beryl a "damn moron". Cyril takes Dennis to the battlements for a quite word, calmly advising him not to call Beryl names or raise his voice again, he apologises and they put the matter behind them.Meanwhile back in the dungeon the suit is awake and calls out for Beryl, looking in a mirror he sees his suit is empty.Hank discusses matters with Beryl, she inclined to beat shrike up and send him home? Hank advises a more moderate approach citing his youth and lack of grace under pressure. Healso claims they're both looking for excuses not to have to deal with their feelings for each other. Shrike is being given the grand tour by Cyril showing him pictures of his father and himself as the old Knight and Squire. He tells of his father's death and how he turned to drink so he wouldn't have to deal with living up to his father's legacy. He recounts how a very young beryl saved him from the gutter and volunteered to be his little sister.He moved into Mrs. Hutchinson's house and got cleaned up, since his reckless ways had already cost him the family home and fortune. Beryl and her mom volunteer the use of their garage as his new base of operations and even give him an old run down bike to be his steed. The tour ends back at the sitting room and Shrike and Beryl immediately argue when they meet. Their foul mouth tirade is interrupted by the Knight armour who bursts into the room warning Beryl to stay away from the imposter.Believing himself to be the real Knight thanks to the mind transfer, he attacks the villain that "stole his body".The fight spills over into the transport tube leading to the Knight's trophy room. Cyril fights back hard claiming his attacker is him but only the bad half, the dark side he must always fight against. He recounts his darkest hour when, heavily in debt, he was ordered by his creditor to commit murder. He instead chose the better angel of his nature and battered Mad Hat Harry. The suit, apparently filled with Cyril's negative thoughts, mentions Beryl's new man and him trying to steal his loved ones away from him.Cyril has no sympathy for his dark halve's self-indulgent "twaddle" and keeps fighting him while Squire pulls out an electrical cable to short circuit the suit from behind. But the suit knows Squire too well and turns to slap the cable away, this she reveals, was a feint as shrike unleashes his energy powers to disable the suit completely. Shrike is again amazed they trust him enough with the knowledge of how to take down Knight armour, But Cyril isn't worried as he's a pretty good judge of character.The damaged suit lies in Beryl's arms still trying to convince her who he is until it dies, leaving her to sob. Later tea is finally served in the sitting room Cyril Sheldrake excuses himself to leave the love birds alone as they share a kiss.
Jarvis Poker has just been given news by his doctor that his condition is terminal and he has only weeks left to live. While at home watching Knight and Squire the Jonathan Ross show, the host makes an unkind comment about Jarvis being an cheap American knock off. This angers Jarvis and prompts him go into action. A post office robbery, a car jacking and a bank raid all just succeed in amusing his "victims". Knight and Squire wonder why this sudden change in behaviour when Jarvis previously had too much taste to commit actual crimes. Squire thinks back to her last talk with Jarvis in the time in a bottle Pub and deduces, using her communication powers, that Jarvis is dying and these incidents are his "last hurrah". Later the duo are interviewed on a television show about the whimsical "crime wave" of the poker. Knight warns the public to take them deadly seriously and states he believes Jarvis Poker is plotting the crime of the century. Watching at home Jarvis is overjoyed to be taken seriously. True to Knight's word the "Super Criminal" plants cryptic clues on various bridges across the country, each referencing a different obscure song. The news media interview fellow old timer The Milkman about Jarvis' campaign of fear, he retorts that he always been about good humour and larks than actual crime. Pointing out he even starred in a silly children's comic many years ago. The comic then cuts to a two page beano style strip with Jarvis helping out an old granny against a ruthless business man, he dresses up and using his bag of tricks to save the day in campy fashion. Hank reports to Knight that a fourth bridge has been daubed with a song title and highlighting the all bridges on the map, Squire surmises his target will be Lincoln. The Lincoln Arts Centre is the host to this year's Britovision Song Contest which Jarvis has taken hostage live on television. Knight and Squire suddenly swing on to the stage to arrest Jarvis, calling him a "powerful and infamous super villain" in front of his hostages. But Jarvis says he having to much fun and has "one more bridge to cross" and escapes. Later in London on top of Tower Bridge Jarvis in awaiting the arrival of his blimp so he can begin dying the entire Thames river purple (like his hair). Unfortunately he is spotted by Shrike, who is not in on the ruse,and believes Jarvis to be a genuine threat. While they're trying to sort it out, Shrike is shot dead and plummets into the river. Jarvis turns to see the real Joker brandishing a smoking pistol. It seems his current crime spree has caught the American's attention and the Joker is intent on showing Jarvis how it's really done.
Jarvis and Joker are standing over the body of a murdered precognitive, whose death amuses him greatly, as she "didnt she it coming". Joker then stops to place a smiley faced mask over the face of a sleeping a homeless drunk. Meanwhile Shrike's bloated pale body is puled out of the Thames leaving Beryl crying and furious. Several minor super heroes are murdered by masked individuals, Knight and Squire formulate a plan with other heroes to lay a trap to draw the puppet master out to face them. The first phase is the heroes incapacitating the army of smiley masked slaves and stopping them from doing any harm, whilst not killing them. Knight even has a parley at stone henge with all the super villains who wish to join in his crusade. The meeting is attacked by more yet heavily armed masked cronies. Masked attacks double over night and at a meeting of superheroes at Sheldrake castle, Faceoff volunteers to put into operation the next stage of the plan. Engaging and retreating from several masked attackers Faceoff communicates to Knight "there after the magic", knowing full well that the Joker can intercept their transmissions.Joker threatens Jarvis until he takes him to the source of the magic there talking about. Jarvis leads Joker to the back entrance of a run down old building, and is gunned down for his trouble. The Joker enters the building, heavily armed and inside is confronted by Knight and Squire and several of their allies.The building was the Time in a Bottle pub and the truce magic nullifies all his firearms.Beryl tells the joker what there going to do to him, tie him up naked and prepare a spell to teleport him back to Arkham. Beryl will also tell the Joker all about the people he murdered. When the Joker is dealt with, the heroes gather around Jarvis' body and Double Entendre says a few words about their friend, "Who was shot at the rear entrance, he knew oh so well."
DCnU[]
In Batman Incorporated #8, Knight is killed by The Heretic who goes on to kill Damian Wayne as well.