Moon Knight, a Disney+ series starring Oscar Isaac as the moonlit justice, was finally revealed last night. With a very mysterious trailer like the one we got, you might have some questions about the character of Moon Knight. We are here to help.
Who is Moon Knight?
The Moon Knight, as he is known, was hired by a group called the Committee to capture the lupine main character of the book. Although his first appearance was not very friendly, he quickly teams up with a friend and is seen as a noble hero. Moon Knight got his own show in 1980 after several appearances as a guest star in series like The Defenders and Two-In-One.
After being discharged from the military, a former Marine named Marc became a mercenary. When he tried to stop Bushman from killing a team of archaeologists in Sudan, he was betrayed and left for dead. After succumbing to his wounds, locals take him to a temple of the Egyptian moon god and purported protectors of night travellers, and he miraculously be reborn.
Why is Oscar using... That accent?
When the character was first introduced, audiences drew parallels between the character and Batman, and he adopted different identities to obfuscate anyone seeking to track down the identity of Moon Knight. Steven Grant, a Wall Street speculator and businessman, takes the savings of the mercenary, and turns them into millions, in order to fund his vigilantism. In the Moon Knight trailer, we see an alternate version of this, where Steven is a museum gift shop employee. Jake Lockley is a taxi driver that is adopted by a man named Marc in order to glean information from the streets. He would add a fourth, simply known as Mr. Knight, in later stories.
These were simply personae that were used interchangeably. Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu by Alan Zelenetz and Chris Warner in 1985 retconned these identities as alternate identities, which led to the development of a personality disorder called dissociative identity disorder. The stress of establishing a psychic connection with his father, and the traumatic childhood experience of learning that a rabbi with close ties to his father was a Nazi serial killer, brought on the illness. In the upcoming show, it appears that the struggles with his mental health as well as being unable to perceive whether or not Khonshu is actually real or just another personality in his mind have been a fundamental aspect of the character.
Have you heard British people before? They are very silly.
What powers does Moon Knight have?
The hero's abilities have waned, just as they have with the back-and-forth of whether or not he really is the fist of an ancient Egyptian moon deity. Aside from the ability for Khonshu to resurrect Marc after he has suffered mortal wounds, in some versions of the story, his spirit grants him enhanced strength and protection against psychic manipulation and sometimes prophetic visions. An ankh that glows in the presence of mortal danger, a protective boomerang, as well as throwing darts, knives, and equipment to grapple and lasso his way around town, have all been given to him previously by Khonshu.
In others, he has been powerless, using silver-coated weapons designed by himself, and relying on his training as a former marine and expert boxer, an athlete at the peak of human strength and agility that also happens to be. The show will draw on both the background and supernatural aspects of the character, and there is one shot of the Moon Knight suit magically wrapping itself around him.
Who is playing?
The character who we only know is going to be an antagonist in the series is left unnamed for his brief appearance in the trailer. The character is named Arthur Harrow, a very obscure Marvel pull.
The second issue of the Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu miniseries was the only comic that Harrow has appeared in. A doctor specializing in pain theory, he was paralyzed from the left side of his face due to Trigeminal Neuralgia. Moon Knight tried to stop the scientist from doing what he was doing, but he escaped, never to be seen again. It is not known how much of the background will be used in the show, but it is possible thatMoon Knight will use a different interpretation of the character.
What does Moon Knight do?
He is basically the answer to Batman. One of the publisher's most famous and dark "street-level" heroes, Moon Knight is a night time defender of the weak and a warrior who relies on fear and intimidation. Moon Knight is a connection between the largely-grounded area of superheroics and the supernatural universe of the MCU.
Moon Knight has been a member of the Defenders, an occasional Avenger, and part of smaller groups like the Marvel Knights or the Midnight Sons, and as the MCU looks to flesh out this smaller-scale sided of its universe going forward, he is a chance to link that world. It is an opportunity to provide a different lens on that mystical, magical corner of the MCU... with a lot more bloody fist fights along the way.
Moon Knight will be streaming on Disney+.
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