Moon Knight

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ProfX
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Moon Knight

Post by ProfX »

Oscar Isaac does a great job with what appears to be a tough role.

So, he was one of the guys whose comics I never followed closely, so I admit not knowing much about him. A lot of folks call him "Marvel's Batman," but that is really kinda ... a very imperfect analogy. (Other than that as his name suggests he fights crime at night-time.) He seems way more ... supernatural, with some quasi-superhuman abilities.

Some of this I think I remembered, some of it came across as i watched the series, and read early reviews. So the first thing that's fascinating is he has dissociative identity disorder, which sort of reminded me of David in Legion (the FX series).

Apparently, he was originally Marc Spector, Jewish mercenary and man at arms, who while on some mission in Egypt, dies inside some tomb in front of a statue of the Egyptian Moon god Khonshu. Khonshu brings him back to life and so he becomes his avatar, Moon Knight. Now apparently being a mercenary, he had some "alternate identities" he used - I guess like any spook, to be able to infiltrate and get info - but they started "splitting off" and becoming truly like MPD identities.

Anyway, in the Disney-marvel series, his other personality is Steven Grant, who is sorta an Egyptologist, but mostly runs an Egyptian curio shop in a museum. Steven is dissociated from Marc, who knows he is Moon Knight (but his alter identity does not). I really liked the first episode. Steven is just an ordinary joe, and has no memory of the stuff he does as Marc or MK so once he "wakes up" and takes control, he's usually spastic and dealing with the situations they've put him in. This makes a whole fascinating dynamic to the show. Of course, he's starting to have visions of Marc, and Khonshu ...

Anyway, the "bad guy" is Ethan Hawke, playing some kind of avatar of this Egyptian goddess Ammit ... who I guess is up to no good.
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Ted
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Re: Moon Knight

Post by Ted »

I read Moon Knight comic books when I was a kid. Never was one of my favorites but I didn't dislike it either. Nothing made Moon Knight stand out. It was just kinda there.

I am a little rusty on my Moon Knight lore. Do you think I need to do some backstory research or can I jump right in cold and still enjoy the ride?
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Re: Moon Knight

Post by ProfX »

Dunno, the one thing that will make the series a wee bit confusing is the character has multiple dissociated personalities. However, I think they are trying to clarify it even for viewers fresh to the character. And it looks like they simplified it down. MK in the comics had more than 2 personalities, including a cab driver identity named Lockley, but that would make the merry go round even more confusing for an hour long episode.

From a storytelling point of view, it's interesting that they are going with at least in ep. 1 the audience seeing everything from the Steven Grant POV, who is now learning he is also Marc Spector and/or Moon Knight (although it looks like he was "born" Marc Spector, that his "real" original persona.)

Disappointingly, Isaac has said they have no future plans to connect him with the rest of the MCU. But as always, that's "for now". In the comics, he teamed up with a variety of teams, including one called Midnight Sons.
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Re: Moon Knight

Post by ProfX »

I gotta say Episode 4 was awesome. Marc Spector is in a lunatic asylum and Arthur Harrow/Hawke is his therapist. Maybe he's crazy and everything so far in episode 1-3 have been his dreams/hallucinations/delusions?

I am getting such Legion vibes from this show. The whole season 1 of Legion was constantly bouncing back and forth on the question of is David crazy or is he a super mutant? How much of what you're seeing is real? Well, eventually, you find out, at least initially, sorta, the latter. Season 3 finally kinda lays it all out: he's both. And yes, some things you see in the show are real, and others are not. He's definitely the classic "unreliable narrator".

Thing is, they did this in the comics. I'm betting there's no way ep. 6 ends this with him having fantasized everything. No, no way, Moon Knight is real (at least as 'real' as all other fictional characters in the Marvelverse), I don't think they'll go this copout. My theory -- this is some kind of test by Khonshu, or Ammit/Harrow, or this is a near death fugue, and this is to help him deal with/integrate his severed personalities.

My suspicion is by ep. 6 we'll have a really interesting character. I think they'll leave things this way. Moon Knight is "real" (within the MCU), but even when he appears in the future, the question of his dissociated personality and the (uncertain) reality of his perceptions will make him a ... different ... kind of hero.
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Re: Moon Knight

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Ep. 5. Thought so. He is really in the Duat (sort of like the River Styx in the Egyptian afterlife). This is all a NDE. He's on a boat with the real, if silly looking, Egyptian hippo goddess, heading toward judgement.

So here come the big reveals. In the comics, I think Marc Spector as an adult "created" his identities as Steven Grant and Jake Lockley as "covers" he could use for various types of missions, but over time he went schizo. Here we find out Marc "created" Steven as a child to deal (or not as the case may be) with the death of his mother. So the two identities go back to childhood and were always "split". We haven't seen the Jake persona but a) its existence is heavily implied and b) it seems to be a kind of real savage, "killer" self.

Anyway, "Steven" sacrifices himself to save "Marc" who it looks like will return to the real world, if Layla frees Khonshu, his Moon Knight suit will heal the near fatal gunshot injury he took, and looks like the showdown between him and Harrow/Ammit is coming. I suspect he's not free of his split personality, I think "Steven" will surely return, and I suspect if "Jake" is not fully revealed, he will continue to exist as another "alter".
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Re: Moon Knight

Post by ProfX »

Series Finale. So far, no plans to have a Season 2, or integrate Moon Knight into the rest of the MCU ... for now.

Spoiler warning? :D

So we get everything wrapped up, sorta. Marc rescues Steven in the Field of Reeds (of course he's not dead) and they return to the land of the living. They battle Harrow and Ammit, with the help of Leyla who also sort of goes Wonder Woman in golden armor. But they made a deal with Khonshu. Do what he wants and he releases them from service. Well, Ammit is stuck in Harrow's body, and Khonshu demands they finish him off. But they refuse; all he demanded is they stop Ammit; deal is done. He seemingly agrees to this, and suddenly they are back in the real world (or the asylum ... or are they?)

So is this the end of the character?

Oh no, we finally get our reveal of Jake Lockley, who it seems Marc & Steven are still not aware of as their third personality, and Khonshu never released HIM from their "arrangement". Jake shoots Harrow dead. So it looks like Khonshu has not "let them go," but now will he only be in control of Jake, when he becomes Moon Knight, and Jake seems a little ... homicidal.

Definitely doesn't seem like the end of MK, but now ... the controlling personality the other two are still unaware of. This could still get quite interesting....
"Don't believe every quote attributed to people on the Internet" -- Abraham Lincoln :D
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