Moon Rise At Last: A Few Thoughts on the Arrival of the ‘Moon Knight’ Series

Written by Joel T. Lewis

​When they announced that Moon Knight was getting a Disney Plus series, nobody knew what that meant. That was before WandaVision, Loki, Hawkeye, and What If…?; before we had any idea what kind of content the newborn Disney Plus was going to produce for the Marvel Universe. We had seen Marvel release slates before. We had seen them change. And then the chaos of 2020 severely disrupted how the entertainment industry had planned to shoot, edit, market, and release new stories.
 
Through it all there was a tiny voice in the back of my mind, the voice of reason, whispering to me, “If they have to make cuts, Moonie is first on the chopping block.” And then they cast Oscar Isaac, and then they cast Ethan Hawke. Then they dropped a teaser, and then they dropped a trailer during an NFL Wildcard game featuring music from Kid Cudi, and then they dropped another new trailer during the Super Bowl!
 
Disney believes in this character, in this portrayal of his story, and they are putting the whole of Marvel’s might behind him. The marketing rivals what Marvel did leading up to The Avengers and the Phase 2 and 3 premiere films, with promos, featurettes, cast reactions, international theater premieres and Red-Carpet cosplay photo ops. 
 
It has been the most wonderful experience seeing the world discover Marc Spector and his alters, seeing Isaac and the whole cast be so excited for the fans to see what they made, and to sit poised on the edge of the unknown, waiting for the premiere. The outpouring of new fan-art, the easter eggs and glimpses we’ve been seeing daily from new teasers and promos; it’s all just so cool!
 
My origin story as a member of Nerds That Geek is intertwined with my Moon Knight fandom. The bulk of my writing for our site is Moon Knight specific. Nerds That Geek gave me a platform to explore this strange, wonderful, under-appreciated hero through the different phases of his development and it is so surreal to now have press access to details, photos, and production details for the series because of that work, that research, that loving obsession. 

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As I sit here with access to so much, I’m reminded of one of my favorite Moon Knight quotes from the Huston and Finch 2006 series, issue 1, “I don’t wear white to hide myself. I wear it so they’ll see me coming. So they’ll know who it is. ‘Cause when they see the white, it doesn’t matter how good a target I am. Their hands shake so bad, they couldn’t hit the Moon.” 
 
I’m shaking. I wanted the whole world to know who Moon Knight was so bad. His story excited me, challenged me, moved me to tears, and brought me such innocent joy. I couldn’t stop talking about him, writing about him, dreaming about a far-flung future where people would know who he was. And it’s really happening. Right now. I get to see it, and I don’t know that I’ve ever felt anything like this before. On March 30th the world gets introduced to a fire that I’ve been sitting beside for many years, and I can’t wait to get to share the warmth. 
 
I was so pessimistic about our chances of actually getting a series that I never made a list of wildest dream expectations for the adaptation, so I thought I’d take a moment and explore those now before the release. 
 
Number one has to be a thoughtful portrayal and exploration of Marc Spector’s Dissociative Identity Disorder. Moon Knight is such an important representation of acknowledging and living with mental illness and his D.I.D. is so crucial to Marc as a character. The trailers and interviews with Oscar Isaac about this specific topic have been very exciting to see, and it looks like their goal was to be as faithful and accurate about Marc’s disorder as possible. ✔ Check.
 
Number two is a comic book accurate suit. So many times, we’ve gotten smooth, Marvel Ultimates, Kevlar lined, practical interpretations of super hero costumes, and they’ve run the gamut from really satisfying and modern, to monotone and boring. If we were going to see Moon Knight on screen he had to stand out, he had to capture the eerie ghostly aura of that cover art that so captivated me when I became a fan of the character. 

The Disney Plus design is incredible! One of my favorite Moon Knight designs is the legendary Alex Ross’ cover for Universe X issue 6, which depicts a dual machine gun toting hero bandaged like a mummy at the foot of the sphinx. The Disney Plus design is a gorgeous combination of that look and the 1985 Fist of Khonshu costume designed by Chris Warner and E.R. Cruz. ✔ Check.
 
Third, is bird skull Khonshu. As much as I love the eerie ambiguity of the black stone statue of the Moon God that winks as the moonlight plays across its face, I love the Declan Shelvey bird skull design more. It’s strange, alien, and terrifying, and it’s a great vehicle for Khonshu’s range of modes, from casual quipper, to blood lustful manipulator. He’s there in the trailers. All 7 dusty feet of him. ✔ Check.
 
Fourth, Moon Knight has to be a brutal hand to hand combatant and endure an inhuman amount of punishment. Moon Knight is complex, he is psychologically rich in story potential, but he is also a violent, frightening, dark hero who has an unpredictable capacity for causing and absorbing physical carnage. From the moment they released footage of Oscar Isaac’s training in preparation for the series, I was impressed by the accuracy of the character’s fluidity and brutality; Isaac moved like Moon Knight and he was doing some real damage. As far as I can tell from the trailers ✔ Check.
 
And my fifth and final wildest dream for the live action adaptation of Moon Knight is very simple. Werewolves. There had better be at least a tease of a big hairy vicious werewolf squaring off against the Jet and Silver Avenger. This is totally silly and totally biased, but honestly entirely possible at the same time. I love that Moon Knight has a history and origin associated with my favorite movie monster, and it would just be so cool to see it play out in live action.