Moon Knight got away with not addressing the MCU (and that’s a good thing)
It probably won't last long, but the Disney Plus series managed to stay in its own bubble during season one
TV Features Moon Knight
Moon Knight’s first season is so self-contained, you wouldn’t even know it was part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe if each episode didn’t open with the trademark opening theme of Marvel’s iconic superheroes. Created by Jeremy Slater, season one stayed in its glorious bubble. It’s shocking for a franchise that thrives on codependence. Moon Knight tells the distinctive story of Marc Spector/Steven Grant, a.k.a. Moon Knight/Mr. Knight (Oscar Isaac) with nary a reference to any of its corporate overlords. As a reminder: We are talking about the rich, complicated on-screen tapestry Marvel and Kevin Feige have been constructing since 2008's Iron Man, and not comics that inspired the series.
In fact, the only confirmation (we think) of the show being set in a post-Avengers: Endgame world comes in episode two. A bus stop billboard has a sign for the Global Repatriation Council (GRC), an organization formed after Thanos was defeated, to help the returning displaced population readjust to the world. It’s the same org that The Falcon And The Winter Soldier’s villains, the Flag Smashers, want to take down. And yet, in Moon Knight’s premiere, neither Thanos nor his fatal Snap gets any shoutouts from Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) while he rattles off names like Hitler, or destructive events like the Armenian genocide.
That GRC poster is the single self-referential nod in Moon Knight, and that’s actually pretty great, even if it might—and it probably will—be temporary. For one season, head writer Mohammed Diab got to zero in on the singular tale of Marc’s identity and mental health crisis. A mercenary and avatar of Egyptian God Khonshu (voiced by F. Murray Abraham), Marc created Steven as a safety net to deal with childhood trauma. The show unpacks his journey without having to shoehorn in a subplot about the Blip, or begin establishing some connection between Marc and any other Avengers or Eternals. (Side note: What kind of discounts are MCU’s London-based museum employees like Steven, Sersi, and Dane Whitman getting?)
Alright, alright, don’t roll your eyes yet. The Marvel Industrial Complex obviously won’t let Moon Knight avoid MCU mentions in the future, whether that’s in a second season or with an Isaac-led, full-fledged movie. For now, it’s important to understand that each Disney+ project, much like the films, is interconnected to a degree where escaping Easter eggs is not an option.
Remember the anticipation for Wilson Fisk in Hawkeye? Or Jonathan Majors’ debut as Kang in Loki, which nicely sets up his time in Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania? TFAWS is a big step forward in MCU’s Phase Four (Sam Wilson as the new Cap, introducing Julia Louis-Dreyfuss’ character before her Black Widow gig). Heck, to make the most out of Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, everyone better catch up on his 2016 origin movie, all his other appearances (especially No Way Home), plus Elizabeth Olsen’s WandaVision. (Let’s not even get started on the deranged Mephisto debacle of that one.) Even the animated What If… felt like a standalone structure, but it tied into the multiverse by the end anyway.
If the interlinking in the above paragraph didn’t make it clear already, committing to the MCU is tantamount to doing lots of homework. It’s not necessarily a dealbreaker for hardcore fans who have already seen these shows and films, including yours truly, even if it’s causing some amount of fatigue. Luckily, Moon Knight escapes this weird pressure and uses that to its advantage. It churns out diverse, character-driven stories told through a fresh lens and in new settings for the MCU. The show still succumbs to a high-stakes, big-budget battle in the finale—Marvel’s gonna Marvel, no matter what—but Isaac, Hawke, and May Calamawy deliver poignant performances to anchor the CGI-filled scenes. We don’t know how Marc/Steven/and now—spoiler alert: Jake Lockley—will show up next, but let’s take this moment to appreciate Moon Knight’s insular arc. Knowing the MCU, it won’t happen very often.
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I think it really helped Moon Knight remain standalone by a) having literally no need to incorporate any existing MCU stuff (everything on Disney+ so far tied into an existing franchise/character, for example) and b) setting it in two locales not really used in the MCU so far (Sarf Lahndan and Egypt).I partially enjoyed the show so much because I didn’t have to keep wondering about larger MCU implications!
I did find myself wondering “Are the Avengers just ignoring two gods having a Kaiju battle in a very public place?”
The Avengers don’t exist anymore. As far as we know the only hero currently on earth who could get there quickly to help is Strange, assuming he wasn’t off in the multiverse at the time.
It’s best to ignore why they’ll team up to help capture a Hydra base in Age of Ultron but not help Thor as close by as in London stop something that will snuff out all the light in the universe if successful (and that’s just one existential threat the Avengers were absent from) because that way lies madness.
It’s best to ignore why they’ll team up to help capture a Hydra base in Age of Ultron but not help Thor as close by as in London stop something that will snuff out all the light in the universe because that way lies madness.
“
That GRC poster is the single self-referential nod in Moon Knight”
The hippo goddess also mentions the Ancestral Plain from Black Panther.
Thank you! Signed up for an account to make sure this was said by someone.
There was also a reference made to Madripoor.
Was just about to mention these as I was pushing up my glasses. Cheers!
Oh that’s right, forgot about that one!
Still, three small refs just to remind us we’re technically connected to the rest of the MCU ain’t bad. I’d say it still counts as “standalone”.
In a way, the young woman excited to specifically see an Egyptian hero is an acknowledgement we are in the MCU world full of other heroes.
It absolutely is. For her (and everybody else) superheroes are commonplace, but she was thrilled to find out there were Egyptian superheroes. Also a nice nod to how representation matters.
Also a nice nod to how representation matters.Say it louder for the bigots in the back.
Given that they have all been American up to this point (how this is not a larger geopolitical issue is crazy) one would be shocked and excited that there is more representation
They’re all American? Since when? Did you totally miss Black Panther, not to mention Natasha Romanoff, the Maximoffs, Shang-Chi, all the Guardians of the Galaxy except Peter, and Thor?I probably missed a few non American superheroes.
You are correct on Black Panther,Natasha, fights for and works with the US gov = American Wanda moved to the US after getting her powers, lives and works in america = American Shang-Chi lives and works in america = American As for GotG and Thor, they are not of this earth. For earth based heroes, they all outside of Black Panther, were born in, have spent most of their life in, or have spent their powered life, living in America. No one would think of Natasha, Wanda, Shang-Chi and not think american.
ehhhh not really. There was no direct language, but what was given could be inferred. All she mentioned was that there were other plains
ehhh, yes really.She literally says “Like the Ancestral Plane. Oh! Just gorgeous.”
The AV Club wrote a headline with the phrase “and that’s a good thing” (and that’s a bad thing).
At least the headline wasn’t full of irrational anger. Progress?
“And that’s a good thing” is one of AV Club’s go-to phrases. Pretty sure it’s been used in headlines before. Not that that makes it any less annoying.
I guess you missed the two separate Rama-Tut (Kang the Conquerer) references then? It’s okay…they were extraordinarily subtle, yet present regardless. Still, it was nice not being completely inundated with references, winks, and nods to the existing MCU at every turn.Far from my favorite MCU series, but pretty darn good nonetheless. I hope we get to see more of these characters soon.
Honestly, there wasn’t a lot of room. I know there was an interview with the showrunner where he really wanted to squeeze in Kingo from the Eternals, but it would have been an odd fit.
Really surprised they didn’t do something with the notion of Egyptian gods and the fact that a character named God Butcher is coming.
Really surprised they didn’t do something with the notion of Egyptian gods and the fact that a character named God Butcher is coming.Same. I kept half-expecting that, but wasn’t at all surprised that a reference didn’t make it in. Perhaps that’ll be left for Gor himself to mention or infer at some point down the road.
When it panned out and showed how many gods were imprisoned, my first thought was, Gorr is going to kill them all. Not to say I thought he’d appear in this show. I didn’t. I just thought it was definetely a nod in his direction by showing just how many gods are out there. I do expect some kind of direct reference to them in the next Thor. Gorr would free them just to kill them.
I did miss them! gotta catch ‘em all
One was the large emblem on the back of the kid’s jacket who yeeted himself off the cliff – that was a bust of Rama-Tut. This was confirmed by Diab in an interview that week. The other was the QR code on a poster that Jake wheeled Arthur by on his way out of the mental hospital. All of the QR codes throughout the series are scannable, and each takes you to a different Moon Knight comic. In this case, it takes you to a 2019 issue where Moon Knight fights Kang the Conquerer. Okay, sure, that last one is a bit of a stretch to call it a “reference,” but it’s still there nonetheless. Oh that silly Marvel…always being so sneaky. 😉
That must be a stunt double up there. No way Ethan Hawke is smuggling that much birthday cake.
At this point, complaining about a big budget battle in an MCU season finale or last 25 minutes of an MCU movie is like complaining someone put chocolate chips in your chocolate chip cookies.
It makes you sound like a fucking idiot.As for the “Mephisto debacle,” it was entirely created by idiot fans. The fact that people are still bitching about it now is ridiculous.
Lastly, JLD wasn’t supposed to debut in Falcon/Winter Soldier before Black Widow. Things were delayed. I realize AV Club writers are a little insular, but there was thing in summer of 2020. You may have seen a reference to it.
At this point, complaining about a big budget battle in an MCU season finale or last 25 minutes of an MCU movie is like complaining someone put chocolate chips in your chocolate chip cookies.
It makes you sound like a fucking idiot.
I just wanna say I second this, third it, fourth it, and seventh it. Fully endorsed.
Given that in the comics, Wanda’s two children are actually created by Mephisto, one might argue the debacle lies elsewhere. Like the showrunner bafflingly not having heard of the character despite using a storyline in their show which said character was a significant part of (and even more bafflingly saying so publicly). Don’t they have a research department to tell them these things?I have no position on this matter but I can see how people who know that part of the comic lore might think Mephisto is involved in the show when Wanda suddenly has two children appear out of nowhere and then age much faster than is natural.
Psst… they don’t recreate the comics
Psst, they tend to follow them some of the time (hence the term ‘source material’), so it’s not unreasonable to hypothesise before any given event that they might be doing so especially if they’re using elements from the comics that lead into them.Because sometimes, they do!
While there were only a couple of references to the larger MCU (had to stop myself from saying Marvel Cinematic Universe universe), there is an Age of Ultron level of seeds planted within this season. There’s the name Duchamp from Marc’s flip phone, who is supposedly comics Marc’s Bucky, who flies a helicopter and becomes powered himself. Jake Lockley has access to an unknown amount of wealth, not content to rent a limo, he owns one with a personalized license plate. The gods are Enneads, the same race as the Wakandans’ Bast and Sekhmet, and some of the gods will need new avatars, as well as having the need to reevaluate Khonshu’s place among their community. There are many other gods imprisoned within statuettes that will surely come into play at some point.Also, there’s Layla, who has become the MCU’s Scarlet Scarab, who’s as different from the source material as the Ancient One. I mean, just look at this fuckin guy:As I read up on him, he’s described as Egypt’s Captain America, who fought against British colonial rule of his people to the point where he worked for the Axis powers, before ultimately rejecting both the Axis and the Allies. The original was named Abdul Faoul, and when he died, his son Mehemet became the new Scarlet Scarab, and he became allies with Thor. Layla’s father is named Abdallah El-Faouly, which is no coincidence, although he seems to have been an ordinary archaeologist.There’s also Marc’s former partner, Abdallah’s murderer, Bushman, who I’m curious about what they’ll do with, to say the least.
Yeah, I’m not sure where Jake is getting his money. The show is hugely different from the comics so it’s hard to even speculate. In the comics Marc is a millionaire. Stephen Grant is a financial whiz and playboy who makes Marc rich. Jake Lockley is a street smart driver who has a bunch of criminal underworld connections. Moon Knight is just Marc in a suit with a bunch of gadgets. He has no superpowers, expect that if he is killed Khonshu will eventually revive him at some point.Moon Knight was basically a Batman knock off at first. Originally, Grant and Lockley were just aliases Marc role played to keep his identity secret. A couple writers throughout the years played with the idea that Marc had DID, but it would then just go back to just being aliases. It wasn’t till about 10-15 years ago that DID became central to his character and the childhood trauma that caused it was revealed.
There are many other gods imprisoned within statuettes that will surely come into play at some point.I thought for sure they’d be either purposefully or accidentally released at some point in the finale to set up a sudden rush of new Gods that a certain butcher would be compelled to come clean up.
Another reference is how people are only mildly interested when the whole night sky rewinds thousands of years. In a Universe where killer robots regularly blow things up, alien armies attack the earth repeatedly, and a freaking Celestial almost blows up the Earth being born, the pretty light show is a mere novelty and not the objectively terrifying phenomena it actually is.
The only positive I see in keeping certain properties isolated from the rest of the MCU is that most of the TV shows have sucked and most of the upcoming ones look uninteresting. I would love to be able to skip them entirely without missing anything important to the larger story.
Word from Oscar Isaac himself is that there won’t actually be a second season of Moon Knight. The show’s purpose was to introduce the character so he could show up in other MCU stuff without being too jarring, and there’s no reason to go beyond that.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Moon Knight teams up with Blade and Black Knight in a movie soon.
Needed a rooftop confrontation with The Tick
I love how Feige is treating Disney+ as his arthouse studio where he indulges in some experimental stuff. Boy, Moon Lnight was certainly experimental and in a really good way. There has to be more Oscar Isaac and May Calamawy and given that stunning post-credit reveal, seems almost certain.
The MCU runs a comics model. None of this is new. This argument has happened in comics for 60 years. Everyone says they want standalone series not tied into other series, or (especially) events, and then you turn around and event comics sell way more.
And yet, in Moon Knight’s premiere,
neither Thanos nor his fatal Snap gets any shoutouts from Arthur Harrow
(Ethan Hawke) while he rattles off names like Hitler, or destructive
events like the Armenian genocide.
Considering his end goal, maybe Harrow is one of those people who thinks Thanos was right.
Somewhat unrelated to this specific article, but it suddenly dawned on me that the Ahmet/Khonshu kaiju battle probably shouldn’t register with humanity as a whole.As I thought they established not everybody saw the Gods. Layla seemingly only saw Khonshu when he specifically appeared to offer her a deal…and from then on when she was acting as the Scarab.
…everyone better catch up on [Doctor Strange’s] other appearances (especially No Way Home)
Actually no, you don’t need to have seen No Way Home to make sense of Multiverse of Madness. It’s not even helpful, as there’s essentially no acknowledgement of the events or themes of the previous movie in the later one.With so many MCU projects now, it actually seems like there’s actually less and less actual connections between them than there used to be. Whatever are there end up being pretty minor or quickly footnoted if you missed them.
There’s two other links — Madripoor is mentioned and, the big one everyone missed but has been verified recently, the first blackout scene is happening in Latveria, and the castle we see is Doomstadt. Also, the name on the boxes behind the driver’s seat in the ice cream truck is deliberately obscured to read “von D” in most shots (it’s not von Doom, though.)Overall, though, it really felt like another corner of the Multiverse rather than main MCU.