He first appeared in Marvel Special Edition #16 (February 1974), and was created by Steve Englehart, Jim Starlin, and Al Milgrom.

After the British Armed Forces attack the village, scarring M'Nai and killing his family, Zu adopts him and raises him alongside his son Shang-Chi.

Unable to speak with Shang-Chi, Midnight communicates via carvings made with circular discs and ultimately gives up his grudge against him.

[9] Midnight Sun later regains his memories and speech through unknown means and returns to his old costume, giving up his metallic armor and discs.

After learning of Zheng Zu's death, he seeks to fulfill his dream of world conquest before the spirits of the triad leaders he had killed imprison him in another dimension.

[10] Midnight Sun eventually escapes via unknown means and leads Shang-Chi's enemies Razor Fist, Shen Kuei, Death-Hand, Shadow Stalker, Tiger-Claw and Shockwave in ambushing him and Domino in Hong Kong.

Most notably, silver discs were grafted to the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet, which provide propellant force that allows him to travel through space.

His superhuman attributes were made more formidable by the fact that he retains all of his martial arts skills and affinity for darkness, even after suffering amnesia.