You know that band that you discovered that only a few people know about? You were a fan from day one, and you belonged to a select club. But then, said band released a major single, and now everybody’s a fan. That's kind of how I feel about Moon Knight, who, until only recently, was virtually unknown by the general public. That said, I've been a fan ever since childhood. When my peers were talking about Maximum Carnage and Spawn on the playground, I was always like, yeah, but what about Moon Knight? Now that his Disney+ series just finished, I'm happy that people finally know who he is. Well, sort of.
Because you see, while I think Disney did a pretty good job with introducing the character to the masses, I'm still a bit upset about just how they introduced him. I've already discussed how cool Moon Knight is in my Batman vs. Moon Knight grudge match, and anybody who knows me personally knows that I've always championed the character. After watching the entire six-episode series, though, a part of me wishes that Moon Knight was never introduced in the MCU, and actually made his debut with the other Netflix Marvel characters.
But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Overall, I did enjoy the show, so let me first get into the things that I really liked about the series, and how it did justice to my boy, Marc Spector.
Oh, and MAJOR spoilers for the entire series up ahead.
Liked: How It Handled Marc’s DID
When Moon Knight was first announced to be coming to Disney+, I wondered what angle they were going to take with him. You see, Moon Knight didn’t start out as a character with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID for short). He was more like a bootleg version of Batman who chose his different identities in order to learn more about his enemies. To hide in the daytime, he chose the rich boy persona of Steven Grant. To get intel on the streets, he adopted the Jake Lockely persona, which we saw in the Moon Knight post credit scene.
In fact, the DID angle didn’t really play into his character until much later. I wondered if Disney was even going to tackle that approach to his character, when they had such an easy out by just making him Marvel’s equivalent to Batman.
But they did take the DID angle, and not only that, but Marc coming to grips with his disorder was a key component to his character development. And I like this! I also like how they portrayed his DID by having Steven Grant (more on him in a few) communicating with Marc in mirrors and reflective surfaces. I think that was a really clever approach, and I applaud Disney for going full throttle into this side of his character. Good stuff.
Liked: How It Made Steven Grant The Protagonist To Make The Character More Relatable
I’m going to be real with you. Marc Spector is not a very likable character. He’s a brutal beast who would fit in well in the world of Jon Bernthal’s The Punisher. I say that because he’s not above killing people. In fact, in the comics, he often leaves moon-shaped scars on his victim’s foreheads so they’ll always remember him.
I knew this version was definitely not going to go that route. And, that’s fine. But, what I didn’t figure was that they were actually going to start off with Steven Grant rather than Marc Spector in an effort to make the character more relatable. Not only that, but they gave him a British accent.
This was certainly an interesting choice. Even though I’m not completely on board with it (especially the accent part, which was, to quote the character, “a bit dodgy” at times), I do understand why they decided to make this choice. Steven Grant was a good gateway into the character of Moon Knight, and I’m not mad at it. It works for the story that was told.
Liked: How Mr. Knight And Khonshu Were Integrated
Another thing that I think the show absolutely nailed was the Egyptian god, Khonshu, right down to the voice, which came from the talented F. Murray Abraham. Khonshu is a bit of a dick, and he’s selfish, and demanding, and all that came through perfectly in the show, as that’s how I always imagined his voice in the comics. In fact, if there’s one thing that I think the show got absolutely perfect from the comics, it’s Khonshu. He never disappointed.
I also like how Mr. Knight was integrated into the series, though he’s very different from how he is in the comics. There, Mr. Knight is like the more calm and collected side of Marc Spector who isn’t just bashing people’s heads in. He’s still the same person, but not the opposite side of the same coin. In the show, Mr. Knight was Steven Grant’s transformation, and Marc Spector had the traditional Moon Knight appearance.
That’s not how it was in the comics. I would have preferred a more comic-accurate version of Mr. Knight, rather than the silly one that we got on the show, at least we got him, which is appreciated.
Disliked: How Grand Scale It All Was
Okay, enough with the good. Now, I need to get to the disliked section because I do have some things that I really need to get off my chest. For one, this show didn’t FEEL like Moon Knight to me. At least, not the Moon Knight that I’ve known and loved for years. Moon Knight is more of a street level character, similar in nature to The Defenders (which would still work in the Marvel movies). But, this show was just so grand-scale that I sometimes felt like I was watching a Moon Knight that was only in title alone.
For one thing, yes, I appreciate that Egypt played a major part in the story, since, as we saw in Episode 5, Marc Spector’s superhero origins derive from him nearly dying there. But, I also feel like the grungy, vigilante side of Moon Knight who wears white BECAUSE he wants people to see him was kind of lost in this story, as it felt way too grand scale for my tastes, especially with the quest for Ammit.
Now, don’t get me wrong. There are definitely stories of that nature tucked away within Moon Knight’s long history, which dates back to 1975. It’s just that I was hoping for a much more personal story, as some of the best Moon Knight tales are the ones where Marc Spector is questioning his own reality, and even whether Moon Knight exists or is just a manifestation of his own mental disorder.
I think that would have made this series feel different from other Marvel series, and maybe more along the lines of the first four episodes of WandaVision, which were creepy and wonderful. Oh, well. The show wasn’t made for me.
Disliked: How It Was Almost Completely Disconnected From The MCU
Lastly, I’m not a fan of how this was the series that the powers that be decided to make as far removed from the MCU as possible. Now, I get it. They wanted to make something that could stand alone and not have to be a part of the increasingly tangled connective tissue that makes up the MCU.
Even so, did they have to do it with Moon Knight, who has many connections to other characters in the comics, and has even been in both the West Coast Avengers and the Midnight Sons? I mean, yes, this show was not entirely removed from the MCU, as there were nods here and there, but for the most part, this is as close to a standalone series that we’ve gotten thus far, making Moon Knight feel like the odd show out.
I don’t think I would have minded so much if the story felt smaller and didn’t climax with two kaiju-sized Egyptian gods battling it out in Egypt. If this was a simpler origin story of Marc battling his inner demons (and his most recognizable foe, Raoul Bushman), I would have been perfectly content with it being far removed from the rest of the MCU.
This FELT like an MCU story, though, with big action set pieces and everything. So, it kind of bugs me that this was almost completely disconnected from the rest of the MCU, when it certainly felt like an MCU show — clumsy final battle and all.
I’m well aware that a lot of people liked Moon Knight, and I’m happy that the character now has an audience. I just wish that it was a bit grittier than what we got. But, for more news on Moon Knight or the MCU in general, make sure to swing by here often.
