Moon Knight Producer's Latest Comments Should Excite Fans Of The Comics
Marvel Studios' latest Disney+ streaming venture is set to premiere on March 30. And judging from its trailer, when "Moon Knight" begins its 6 episode run on the platform, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is gonna get a whole lot deeper. Starring Oscar Isaac as the titular hero, "Moon Knight" will be a super-powered saga with a decidedly supernatural bent. And it'll also be the first of Marvel's Disney+ offerings to be focused on an entirely new character to the MCU.
That character is arguably a bit of a cult figure in the annals of Marvel Comics. But Moon Knight (aka Steven Grant and/or Marc Spector) is also one of the most fascinating creations in the Marvel realm. Our hero is a super-powered being who suffers from dissociative identity disorder, a fact the "Moon Knight" comics have fully leaned into over the years. That sense of duality will, of course, give Isaac ample opportunity to showcase his boundless talent. And fans of the Marvel Comics series will be happy to know that it seems that "Moon Knight" will also take a character-first approach to its story that will delve deeply into Grant/Spector's mental health struggles.
Moon Knight will take its protagonist's mental health struggles very seriously
That welcome news was teased by "Moon Knight" executive producer Grant Curtis, who recently told USA Today, "It's a story about identity and finding one's true self." In the case of Steven Grant/Marc Spector, "true self" is obviously a complicated matter, and Curtis confirmed that his struggles will be at the heart of the "Moon Knight" narrative. He explained, "The journey that Marc Spector is on during our whole show is: Who am I? And how do I reconcile portions of my past, present and potential future that I don't necessarily agree with? Coming to terms with our baggage and learning to live with ourselves is what we all deal with on a day-to-day basis."
Per "Moon Knight" head writer and executive producer Jeremy Slater ("The Umbrella Academy"), the character's particular baggage, "makes him much more than just sort of a palette-swapped Batman clone." According to Slater's own comments to USA Today, the character's dissociative identity disorder issues often make him a complex mix of hero and pseudo villain. "A lot of superheroes are defined by their villains," Slater said, "[but] Moon Knight is his own greatest enemy in a lot of ways." Slater then confirmed the series will indeed take a very serious approach to the character's mental health struggles, claiming, "Whatever we're putting out there in the universe has to be ultimately good and uplifting and have a positive message about mental health."
"Moon Knight" is shaping up to be one of the more adventurous offerings the MCU has released to date. And for the whole of Marvel fandom, March 30 cannot get here soon enough.