Plotlines

Moon Knight was one of the Marvel series I was most looking forward to. I can hardly believe that it’s already been three years since then. Man, the MCU has really changed since that time, especially when I try to put Captain America: Brave New World (2025) into context with this series. But this post is only partly about the whole MCU. I just felt like getting a bit of that MCU vibe again, and Moon Knight is simply one of my favorites.

It’s already remarkable that Moon Knight wasn’t created by Jack Kirby or Stan Lee. He first appeared in 1975 in the series Werewolf by Night and was created by Doug Moench and Don Perlin. But that’s not all, because Moon Knight brings Egyptian culture into the MCU, which really stands out. On top of that, Marc Spector, Moon Knight’s real name, suffers from dissociative identity disorder. So, within one person, there isn’t just Moon Knight and Marc Spector, but also Steven Grant and Jake Lockley. Getting a headache yet?

That was also the reason why I was skeptical at first, there’s just a lot going on, and everything after Avengers: Endgame (2019) was uncertain anyway. You could sense that Marvel was maybe trying to reinvent itself or experiment a bit, as Eternals (2021) and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) had already been released and were very different from what had come before. That was a good thing, of course, because you couldn’t just start over from scratch. Why that didn’t work, as with the new Captain America film I mentioned above, I might analyze in another post.

My initial skepticism faded when names like Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke appeared on the cast list. The former was set to play Moon Knight himself, while Ethan Hawke would play the antagonist. The ensemble was rounded out by May Calamawy, who plays Marc’s wife and later becomes Scarlet Scarab.

With only six episodes, the series had a very short debut on Disney+, but it was no less intense for that. They actually managed to pack the culture behind the character, the individual identities, and a fitting story into these episodes. But how well did they pull it off?

To keep it short: overall, “Pretty good, actually!”

Of course, it’s a shame that Moon Knight’s most fascinating personality (I’ll use him as the starting point, otherwise it gets too complicated) only appears at the very last minute. Still, the series manages to captivate with its themes and presents Moon Knight as a different kind of character than what you usually see in the MCU.

This portrayal creates a very interesting twist between Marc Spector and Steven Grant, and it also addresses the aforementioned dissociative identity disorder. Perhaps this was even the first time such a topic was treated seriously and not just as a side note, which definitely benefits the current MCU film Thunderbolts* (2025).

What I especially liked was the portrayal of Mr. Knight, because it added another layer and didn’t just show the more brutal side of Marc Spector and his “boss” Khonshu. At the same time, however, they also manage to create a healthy level of conflict between the two personalities without it seeming exaggerated or even annoying.

One of the series’ major strengths is that you never really know what’s going to happen next. The series wasn’t released all at once in 2022, but rather one episode per week. This suited the series very well, and at the latest when Taweret appears, the show not only takes a completely different spin, but also gains a whole new level.

Fortunately, this isn’t overdone, and the focus returns to the protagonists and the greater goal they pursue.

I do have two small criticisms, but don’t worry, they’re not reasons to avoid the series.

The CGI isn’t always quite up to par, which has unfortunately become a persistent issue in the MCU. Sometimes it’s really strong, but then you see strange glitches on Moon Knight’s suit. A bit more polishing would have prevented that, because in other places it looks wonderful.

Ethan Hawke’s performance is unusually flat, even though he tries to play the mystical and enigmatic antagonist. Unfortunately, he doesn’t really succeed. Sometimes he seems too calm, too awkward, almost aimless, which doesn’t do his character any favors.

It’s said that Moon Knight will play a role in the larger MCU, but so far there’s no real sign of that, at least Oscar Isaac doesn’t appear in any casting lists for upcoming MCU projects. (I’m clearly referring to IMDb here, even though the rumor mill is bubbling like my grandma’s soup pot on an early Saturday morning.) The “small” What If…? appearance isn’t included here!

Moon Knight is a truly fascinating character, precisely because he brings a refreshing kind of otherness. In the comics, he repeatedly encounters major personalities in the Marvel universe, he gets along well with some, less so with others.

Moon Knight, and the Eternals as well, stand for a kind of willingness to experiment, which in the current Captain America film led to a strange lack of direction, but was picked up again, at least in part, in Thunderbolts*. My quiet hope is that such experiments will be given more freedom and that characters from the second tier will get a bit more screen time.