Amph Hippo!!! Marvel’s Moon Knight [Disney+]

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Filming on the Disney+ Moon Knight series is set to begin shortly. Oscar Isaac stars as Marc Spector: a former mercenary turned vigilante in service to Khonshu, the ancient Egyptian god of Vengeance and the Moon. Marc has D.I.D. (Dissociative Identity Disorder) which sees him adopt different personas for various roles. I trust Disney to handle the mental traumas of the character with care rather than exploiting this. I see Marc’s various identities as phases of the moon.

Mohamed Diab will direct the show.

Moon Knight is due to air on Disney+ next year.

Yours truly will try not to explode when posting in this thread (Moon Knight is my favorite comic character).

annnnnnd...

footage of Oscar training for the role:

(((( LANGUAGE WARNING in the retweet ))))


This footage originally appeared on Oscar’s madgenemedia Instagram.

 

Disney+‘s description of the show:

Moon Knight is a new series created for Disney+. Directed by Mohamed Diab, the action-adventure features a complex vigilante who suffers from dissociative identity disorder. The multiple identities who live inside him are distinct characters who appear against a backdrop of Egyptian iconography.

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Ethan Hawke and May Calamawy are also cast.

The two U.S. working titles are Spectorcorp Productions and Good Faith.

A fun wink to the character was a hashtag on the madgenemedia fight footage post: #TheOneYouSeeComing

That hashtag is a direct nod to the Charlie Huston-David Finch arc, The Bottom issue #1, in which Marc tells Hawkeye why he wears white: “...I don’t wear white to hide myself. I wear it so they will see me coming. So they know who it is...”

Richard Newby, writing for Heat Vision at the Hollywood Reporter, speculated on a variation of Marc’s faith, Oscar’s Latinx heritage and other things that Moon Knight could bring interesting tweaks to the MCU.

I am open to changes in Marc’s origin and am looking forward to what Marvel Studios will do. Also, glad to see Oscar’s natural hair (graying) will be incorporated into the character; An easy way to discern one personality from another.

 

I may have read an issue or two of Moon Knight when I was a kid, so I don't have any recollection of what happened in those issues. So Moon Knight is pretty much a new character to me, as I don't know his origin story, rogues gallery or notable storylines. So, I'm going to be a noob in the audience and I'm looking forward to it.

 

Jumping in without any knowledge could be a great thing for most people, as Marc’s primary origin isn’t tricky once he becomes a servant of Khonshu.* His story after that -particularly as writers began diving into his D.I.D.- gets messy. Messy as in potentially convoluted, and as in hard R violent (which I am sure Disney will tone down.)

His rogues gallery has some major hits and misses (won’t be surprised if they rethink Bushman entirely), but this can also be a blank slate. I hope they go for new villains myself. A fresh tweak on his origin would be fine too (I’m completely fine with a post Blip supernatural slant.)

If anyone wants storylines to read, please ask. I do not understand all of them, but this is just another reason why the character clicks for me. There are only two runs I dislike (Bendis and Max Bemis.)

Am very pleased they are keeping Moon Knight’s fight style quite aggressive and violent though as seen in that training clip - Definitely a more vicious variant of the CATWS choreography. MK looks like he will be using the

Spoiler

knuckle crescents “claws” and his crescent throwing dart to stab and slash

a lot.

*Moon Knight origin follows:

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He becomes Khonshu’s avatar after his resurrection from death by Khonshu or resurrection through his own sheer will (under the veil of Khonshu as one of Marc’s personalities) at the tomb of Seti II. He was murdered by Bushman there after a raid goes wrong. Post Egypt, two more identities emerge, and Spector becomes a vigilante to protect the innocent from criminals.

 

Not very familiar with Moon Knight, but his character sounds fascinating and I'm very much looking forward to this show.

 

Spitballing:

With the weird slant in WandaVision and Loki taking different tracks, I think Moon Knight could do something equally strange and work in the supernatural too. The end of Serpent Wars had Marc seeing the modern world as ancient Egypt and having ghostly visions too. This was also a thing in the opening arc of Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood’s storyline (Lunatic).

Ancient Egypt dwells on the afterlife, and I wonder if surviving the Blip could be considered an “afterlife” to Marc, perhaps triggering his D.I.D. or add a new personality to his self? Also, will the Egyptian Book of the Dead be considered something like the Darkhold in the MCU? There’s so much that can be used for Moon Knight from this text concerning an afterlife, it would be fun to explore (and one could do so safely and respectfully since no two copies of the book were exactly the same.)

Also on the modern Egyptian thoughts, if they rewrite Marc’s origin will Spector be “a TV anchor in Cairo” Sitwell mentions while explaining Zola’s Project Insight algorithm to Cap, Black Widow and Falcon in CATWS? If MK goes with the TV anchor slant, Marc could be a war correspondent given his military background (Marine who worked for the C.I.A. before going the mercenary route.)

I rediscovered the Theban Mapping Project site (from the American Research center in Egypt) that MK writer Charlie Huston linked to in his resources on his now blipped website. It would be cool to see the tomb of Sety II in the show.

 

WOW! More of Oscar’s Flying armbar jui-jitsu (Tobi-Juji-Gatame) training for MK. Instagram link follows in the spoilers, you have to click through to watch.

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Licking the blood from the knife....Duuuuuuuddddeeeee!

And the boxing moves also calls back to Marc’s early pre-military fighting as a boxer.

That Oscar keeps hashtagging lines from Charlie Huston’s The Bottom MK arc is making me smile something fierce.

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Issue 1 was called the ‘Fun Stuff’. And Marc says “Someone has to do the fun stuff.”

Oscar also likes to train to music he thinks embodies the character and/or the setting where the story takes place (He binged on Sepultura while prepping for the Triple Frontier).

The first MK training video was set to a song by Bedouin Burger and this clip has music from Rage Against The Machine (Of course the song is “Killing in the name...” ). So the choice of music is very telling. I do wonder if Oscar chose

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RATM to apply to Marc’s current day situation (taking the law into his own bloodied hands), and/or a way to show Marc’s taking up fighting because his father would not (after being viciously attacked by neo-nazis.)

At any rate, this is great and I so appreciate Oscar’s willingness to show his preparations for the physical side of the character, because it also gives clues to his frame of mind at that moment.

On the Khonshu end of things, I’ve dipped back into ancient Egyptian readings,

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and noticed that Khonshu is painted as both a benign and blood-thirsty god depending on the era.

Moon Knight tends to focus on the

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bloody thirsty, punishing incarnation (Vengeance).

 

And... it looks filming will start

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in Budapest shortly. Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke were photographed there on Friday:



Oscar’s given up his natural hair and the beard (Though I hope these are used at some point.)

Ethan Hawke could be: Midnight, a rethink of Bushman (smart), the Sun King, Khonshu, Jean-Paul Duchamp (“Frenchie”, Marc’s mercenary peer who followed Marc once he became MK), or a new character.

Two characters I do not think Ethan will play are Dr. Alruhne (Marlene’s father), or Zohar (which I’d like), but I doubt Marvel would go there.

 

Ethan Hawke is the main villain (and that was announced by The Hollywood Reporter), so he’s not Jean-Paul or Dr. Alruhne.

Also, additional directors are joining Mohamed Diab, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. The duo directed sci-fi horror films, so I won’t be surprised if Moon Knight goes into much darker places than the MCU is known for.

Dropping the IMDB page link here.

A question I have is if Thor: Love and Thunder’s

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Gorr (the God Butcher)

has anything to do with

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Khonshu and/or Marc’s Moon Knight origins.

 

Apparently filming started last Monday in Budapest. Also this recent filming location was discovered.

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and an interior photo:

 

I know NOTHING about Moon Knight. Please recommend a bunch of stories to fill me in on all the info I need. Thanks.

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Much like another "God" I could mention.

 

Sure.

Re: God, exactly. Khonshu is very manipulative, often pushing Marc into more violent and vengeful situations.

Recommended Issues and stories:

*1)Start with Moon Knight #1 from 1980 (You do not need to read his very first appearance in Werewolf by Night 32). It’s fun too.

*2) Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood’s run Volume 1 (Lunatic), Volume 2 (Reincarnations), and Volume 3 (Birth and Death).

You can skip volume 2, as that is mostly about Marc’s Steven Grant and Jake Lockley personalities, and a new astronaut warrior persona. It is purposely messy and convoluted. If you want to read it go for it, but it won’t impact if you skip.

Note: Volume 3 dives deeper into Marc Spector’s history including when his Dissociative Identity Disorder personalities manifested and a bit more on birth of Moon Knight. I like the expansion on Marc’s histories and reread Volume 1 and 3 frequently. I also think Volume 3 handles the D.I.D. in a thoughtful way (as how Marc reconciles with his personalities; especially after the almost exploitative mental institution moments in Volume 1.)

*3) Charlie Huston and David Finch’s The Bottom - This is hard R violence (Face Removal and stabbing through someone’s jaw) - just a brutal story all the way around. The Taskmaster cameo lightens things up.

*3a)I’d also recommend issue 13 of Charlie’s Huston’s run because there’s an amusing bit of manipulation on Marc’s part to pass the Civil War Initiative.

*4) I did enjoy several issues of Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey’s volume, From The Dead. The done-in-one stories in issues 3 and 4 are a lot of fun (I love the bonkers Khonshu mummy costume Moon Knight wears in issue 3). I am not crazy about the core story between Marc’s therapist and himself, but the single issues and great art make up for that.

5) Marvel Comics Presents (2019) issue 4 “Wake Up Mr. Knight” This is an excellent short story by Benjamin Percy and Juan Ferreyra. I would love to see this team on a Moon Knight book.

6)The Moon Knight epic collection volume 3 Final Rest includes three of my favorite short arcs, “Spirit in the Sand”, “Morning Star” and Moon Knight issues 37 and 38 (why Marc rebelled against his father -a prominent rabbi-) also is a very interesting tweak on religious zealotry and Marc’s service to Khonshu.) If you do not want to buy the whole collection, I’d recommend issues 29.

OPTIONAL:
7) More recently, Moon Knight was a part of the Serpent Wars mini series (That took a few reads for me to enjoy), but Solomon Kane and Moon Knight should be a thing, IMO.

The power up Moon Knight receives in Serpent Wars was sadly exploited in the Avengers Age of Khonshu. The fall out from the Age of Khonshu will be the basis for the upcoming relaunch of Moon Knight in late July.

SKIP:
I’d skip the Brian Michael Bendis and Max Bemis runs.

There were other runs that were excellent, including another religious themed story with Stained Glass Scarlet from Marc Spector: Moon Knight, but my physical collection is long gone and it doesn’t look like much of MS:MK is available digitally.

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I think we’ll see a tweak on Marc’s origin in the MCU. One thing I did not mention is that Khonshu (or Marc believing he’s Khonshu) has resurrected Marc from death multiple times. I hope this resurrection element is brought into the MCU myself.

 

I’ll parrot recommending you read the Jeff Lemire/Greg Smallwood run, it’s really fantastic stuff. There’s also a new ongoing debuting in July, which I plan on checking out.

 

Wow, wasn't expecting you to put that much effort into it. Appreciate it. That'll keep me busy.

Cheers.

 

Edit timed out, so amended:

The earlier epic collections can get dark with killers, etc. I dig the supernatural, religious and psychological angles and his heroic belief, plus Ancient Egypt...

He’s my favorite Marvel character for eons now: Happy to spread the lunar love. I’m there for the new ongoing series too.

I agree with @PymParticles about the LeMire / Smallwood run, if you want only one arc to read, it’s fantastic.

EDIT:

So I just found the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts web site’s English language Ancient Egypt area. As mentioned in that tweet above, this museum is a location where some of the MCU MK series has been filmed. I speculate the cast and crew were in this exhibit/wing.

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There’s a Papyrus with Magical Texts on display that makes me wonder if something like that will be incorporated into the show (and perhaps Marc’s resurrection(s))

. [I am also wondering if I should do an MK blog...]

 

IG Budapest fan sighting of Oscar and Ethan around town,

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Oscar

and
Ethan

I spy some salt in Oscar’s hair. Hope they incorporate some gray for Marc

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Or Steven Grant or Jake Lockley. I’d like to see another maturing player in the MCU.

 

So they're trading his Jewish backstory for a Catholic one befitting a Latino actor?

 

We don’t know.

Given how horribly Max Bemis stomped on Marc’s Jewish background in that last comic run with a villain, I am fine with whatever faith they go with. FWTW, I’m Jewish, yet I see so many possibilities for Marc regarding faith. I am confident between Oscar and the scripts, if changes are made to his background and back story, they will work.

 

With DC getting rid of Kate Kane on TV and potentially getting rid of Moon Knight's heritage, it's a bad time for Jewish erasure in pop culture...

 

well, there's this thing on the horizon





And with mutants coming...

 

Yeah, I don't think any of the previous folks played The Thing as Jewish (despite it being a thing for a couple of decades) and I'll be surprised if we see Kitty Pryde as actively Jewish (don't believe she was in the previous X-films)... but they're actively erasing (or potentially erasing it in Moon Knight's case) it from the few live-action TV shows where it was likely to happen.

 

I don't know much about Moon Knight, so I can't speak to his Jewish faith and how it's used in his characterization and story telling. The only three characters in Marvel that I feel like where their faith directly weighs in on their characterization and certain story aspects are Matt Murdock, Kurt Wagner and Kamala Khan.

Like with racial diversity, I hope there is religious diversity in the MCU.

 

Marc Spector basically erased his Judaism when he took up fighting and subsequently joined the Marines. Spector did so again a second time when he began to serve Khonshu. Alan Zelenetz gave Marc a logical reason to flee his heritage and even reconciled it in Moon Knight 37 and 38 (Marc’s father refusing to fight back against the Neo Nazis that beat him up etc.); but Marc walked away from his heritage numerous times.

If the MCU decides to incorporate his Judaism into the character, great. If not, works for me. I respect if some folks are worried too.

****

 

Ethan Hawk on the set courtesy of the Budapest Reporter. The photo is shot from far away, so cannot see his character up close. The author is also speculating who Hawke could be.

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Possibly Dracula?!? I know MK faced Dracula at some point, but do not remember that storyline.