“Moon Knight” Showcases Spector’s Personalities, MCU’s Dark Side
“Moon Knight” flashed onto our streaming devices this morning, delighting Marvel fans across the world. The series follows Oscar Isaac’s Marc Spector and his wide-ranging personalities in the darkest MCU story yet. Hilariously though, this first episode titled “The Goldfish Problem” has a light-hearted nod to one of Pixar’s most famous fish: Nemo.
“Moon Knight” Spoilers Ahead
Prior to the show’s debut, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige described the show to D23: The Official Disney Fan Club as a “globetrotting adventure” filled with “intensity and mystery … The edgy, dark themes of Moon Knight and the exploration of the unique character add another dimension to the MCU’s storytelling.”
The first episode gave us a good idea on what Feige means. The storytelling is a mashup of movies like “Memento” and “Pulp Fiction” with unreliable narrators and interconnecting plots. The difference with “Moon Knight” though is that the storylines are all about the same physical person who suffers from dissociative personality disorder.
Another unique angle in the “Moon Knight” narrative surprises with the immediate introduction of the villain. While other MCU series like “Hawkeye” and “WandaVision” keep the big bad hidden till the bitter end, “Moon Knight” opens with Ethan Hawke’s villainous Arthur Harrow. There isn’t even a is-he/isn’t-he question like Tony Dalton’s character in “Hawkeye” as Harrow proceeds to kill an old woman via magical “judgment” during this first episode.
“Moon Knight” Brings Egyptian Legend into MCU
The story brings the MCU into Egyptian mythology for the first time with immense imagery and name drops of ancient gods. Producer Mohamed Diab, who also directs four of the six episodes, is an Egyptian filmmaker making his debut into western cinema.
“There are aspects of this story that are surreal, yet by grounding everything in reality, it adds to the intrigue and mystery,” Diab told D23 when asked what attracted him to the series. The surreal aspects he refers to is the clear mystical involvement by Egyptian gods interacting with Marc Spector’s world.
The episode concludes with the introduction of the titular Moon Knight defeating a jackal after a conversation in a mirrored bathroom between Spector and Grant. The show is packed full of reflective imagery throughout the episode to highlight the riddle of the main character’s identity.
“At its heart, Moon Knight was designed as a mystery: Who is Steven Grant, and why does he keep dreaming about another life as a globe-trotting mercenary?” said “Moon Knight” head writer Jeremy Slater in the D23 interview.
“Moon Knight” continues for a six-episode run with new episodes released every Wednesday on Disney+.