Marvel and Disney+‘s next series will launch in March. Moon Knight may not be a character known far beyond a loyal comics audience, but it looks as if the character and title will be another attempt to keep the collaboration as diverse as possible. After the pop-culture-centric WandaVision, the buddy-movie feel of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the anarchy of Loki and the caper feel of Hawkeye, the latest venture looks to examine the spookier side of the Marvel Universe. It’s a concept that has been floating around for a number of years with various people attached and a variety of potential formats, but which never quite aligned until now.
Moon Knight might superficially look like an inverted Batman, a caped crusader dressed in white rather than midnight blue, but there’s a bit more to the equation. Taking some cues from the Moon Knight comic source material, the series looks to be creating something a bit different than some might have initially expected after the series announcement was made two years ago. Star Wars: Rogue One and Dune‘s Oscar Isaac plays the central character – a man with what appears to be dissociative identity disorder or multiple personalities. In the comics the main alter-ego of the title character is Marc Spector, a mercenary, but the trailer for the series (see below) seems to focus on one of his other identities, Steven Grant, a ‘mild-mannered gift-shop employee’ based in London. Grant comes under the sway of cult-leader Arthur Harrow (played by Ethan Hawke) who recognises Grant’s conduit connection to an ancient Egyptian god named Khonshu and tries to use it to his advantage. Isaac’s character slowly begins to learn his true place and purpose, though his place in a battle of the Egyptian gods is still beyond his full comprehension.
The trailer debuted as a half-time treat at the 2021–22 NFL playoffs. The general reception has been good, though Isaac’s pseudo-cockney accent has come under some serious scrutiny. Only a few hours later came the news that French actor Gaspard Ulliel, who plays Anton Mogart in the series, had died in a ski-ing accident at the La Rosière resort in Montvalezan. It is believed he collided with another skier.
The series itself faced several delays due to COVID but is due to begin its six-episode run (each being between 40-50 minutes in length) on 30th March.
