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

Well it's that Labour slogan right? For the many, not the Jew?

 

Wikipedia on the TV series

From the above [2], Feige mentioned the series is evocative of Indiana Jones with Egyptology. That’s interesting as issue 1 of Moon Knight’s first solo series predates Raiders of the Lost Ark by a year. A raid on the archeological dig at the tomb of Sety II sets up Marc becoming Moon Knight, and meeting his on/off lover Marlene.

The cast and crew shot for several days inside the Egyptian wing of the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts last month, so it’s possible an artifact could come into play.

Spit-balling on that,

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my hope in the IJ influences is for an Egyptian artifact that will either 1) bring about immortality (Thereby explaining Marc’s ongoing resurrections), or bring 2) the bearer before Khonshu and ushering in the birth of Moon Knight. Some Khonshu related artifacts from the comics are the Khonshu statute, the statute’s burial robe, and the sapphire crescent moon that tops the staff of the statue.

I’d like to think one of the above combined with the Museum’s

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Papyrus with Magical Healing Texts

could be the relics Marc is hired to steal or protect.

Latest fan sighting via IG:



In these images, Oscar is constantly wearing sweat shirts over what looks like a white tank top (muscle shirt). Hmmm, hiding part of the costume? Also, white and silver sneakers...

 

SOMEHOW MOON KNIGHT RETURNED!!!!!!!!

 

I’ve been staring at this official image for days now and comicbook.com’s article hit on the same thing: appears the concept art teased in the official announcement photo above features

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the Egyptian gods Osiris, Khonshu and possibly Ra - though I am hoping for Set instead of Ra. Set was a more frequent adversary of Khonshu.

That concept art to left of Becky Cloonan’s cover for MK 198 could be Osiris, (His crown looks like the common crown Osiris wore). Khonshu may be right above that (the falcon headed busts); Khonshu is often depicted with a falcon head. Given the modern MK comics constant use of a bird skull for Khonshu, it would make sense if the bust refers to Khonshu.

The comicbook.com article posits that Osiris is shepherding Marc through a “brief” afterlife, which makes sense. Makes me think perhaps (as I already spitballed) that Marc’s afterlife is the five years of the Blip, which could result in his D.I.D. and the alters manifesting. This would also explain why no one has heard of Marc before now (post Blip.) Could Osiris teach Marc to resurrect himself from death?

This could also mean the MCU Egyptian pantheon survive Gorr the God Butcher’s murder spree (in Thor Love & Thunder), which is what I’ve been hoping for.

Fingers crossed they are not using Max Bemis’ run with the Sun King/Ra (which Cloonan’s art is from along with some other covers in the concept art behind Oscar) - which was a wretched mess in several ways. That said, I remain very optimistic regardless and would be open to an entirely new origin, villain etc. There’s so much they could do post Blip MCU.

I love how epic that concept art is. Definitely feels multiverse and mythologically inclined.

That this series has Indiana Jones notes in it encourages me that the footage shot at the Budapest museum features an Egyptian artifact that could be used in good and bad ways.

Now if they’d just stop teasing Oscar’s graying hair and promptly dying it dark again, I’ll be good.

 

Just stumbled across a rumor about “a series accurate” description for Marc from September 2020 “casting” information the Illuminerdi claims to have received from “sources.”

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So far, the only aspect that is accurate is the age range for Marc.

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Oscar is in his early 40s. I am very happy about that, because with all of Marc’s combat and fighting experience it would seem very far fetched for a younger actor to pull that off. Plus the baggage that comes with being a hired killer for years could seem more realistic too.

Breaking the description down:

That blurb is a tweak of Marc’s origin from Moon Knight #1. Though Khonshu never reaches out to Marc, so it’s left ambiguous if Khonshu brought him back or if Marc came back on his own. Interestingly, Marc momentarily has no idea who he is after resurrecting. Later comic tweaks on Marc’s origin have brought Khonshu in with Marc accepting the Egyptian deity’s deal to become his avatar (The awesome LeMire Smallwood comic run uses this later tweak to great effect).

Calling back to the original run, Marc created the identities of Steven Grant and Jake Lockley. Moon Knight creator Doug Moench toys with the mental duress Marc is under by switching between each identity (cabbie Jake Lockley is the most exaggerated, talking in old school New York on the street slang, and Marlene is in love with the millionaire Steven and doesn’t help Marc by trying to keep him in that persona). However, the D.I.D. wasn’t written in yet.

Khonshu granting Marc super powers: There were storylines after the original run where Khonshu gave Marc heightened strength, agility etc. in tandem with the phases of the moon. So Khonshu granting Marc those super abilities, a higher threshold for pain, and possibility immortality are all game.

I think the training sequences we saw Oscar rehearsing could be the super powered fight style given some of the heightening aggression in his moves. Marc was a master of several marital arts and a boxer prior to becoming Moon Knight (I’ve recognized Judo, Ninjitsu and boxing in the comics. Thai boxing was probably shown too.)

Additional spitballing

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the series logo/title card is in an Egyptian cartouche. A Cartouche is basically the ancient Egyptian equivalent of a name card and the oval shape surrounding the hieroglyphs protect this person from evil. So Moon Knight as the Protector of Night Travelers, is protecting innocents from evil. I’d love to know what the hieroglyphs inside the word Knight are…I am sure we’ll find out.

If the above rumor about Marc and his origin is correct, works for me.

 

Hey, Jake Lockley is that you?

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Oscar’s wife posted this in her stories (and this fan kindly reposted it). I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re looking at Oscar as Jake Lockley (Jake always wore that cap and since we cannot see Oscar’s face...).

 

At yesterday’s Legendary’s SDCC at home panel, Oscar was introducing his upcoming Legendary graphic novel, Headwounds: Sparrow, but briefly mentioned Moon Knight.

Smart to mention it in the same week the first issue of a new MK series launches.

And Oscar’s younger brother, Michael Benjamin Hernandez also has an undisclosed role on the show.

 

So rumors are flying about a potential secondary villain being cast. French actor Gaspard Ulliel’s talent agency very briefly listed him as

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Mogart, a.k.a. Midnight Man. Mogart is a costumed art thief whose very stupid disfigurement leads to him becoming a minor thorn in MK’s butt. Basically, Mogart is a lackey of MK’s big bad villain Raoul Bushman. And Mogart’s involvement ties into filming at the Budapest museum.

Speaking of Bushman, he may have also been cast months ago, as actor Loic Mabanza was training with Oscar in one of those videos and is currently in Budapest. I was thinking he might be Khonshu or Osiris and not the obvious choice of Bushman. An aside, Loic would be great as newly introduced MK villain Hunter’s Moon (a.k.a. Doctor Badr, the Left Hand of Khonshu).

If these casting rumors pan out, then we still do not know what villain Ethan Hawke is playing.

I’m all for throwing multiple villains at Marc/Jake/Moon Knight/Mr. Knight/Steven, but I’m hoping Ethan

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is either a reworked Bushman or Khonshu. It would be pretty cool is Loic is Osiris, Khonshu or Hunter’s Moon instead of being the obvious Bushman choice.

 

Ah ha! Potential Moon Knight Easter Egg in the Eternals teaser as per screenrant:

Checked at 1:07 in the teaser, and sure enough, there’s an Egyptian statute seen from the neck down, holding a golden ankh in one hand and a silver staff in the other.

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Marc Spector has wielded both a silver staff and golden ankh many times in the comics, but I am thinking this may be a statute of Marc’s patron deity Khonshu because...

Whether or not this

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Eternals statute is the one that will wind up in Marc’s personal temple

remains to be seen, but I love it.

Oh, something about the ankh: It symbolizes eternal life. As Marc has a habit of

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being resurrected from death, it would make sense for the MCU incarnation of Moon Knight to wield an ankh.

 

Okay, my brain has not stopped spitballing since I found that Eternals Easter egg last night:

The ankh bearing statute could set up:

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The Indiana Jones flavored plot line in the Moon Knight series. Since part of the show was shot in the Budapest museum (One would presume the Egyptian wing since they have a massive collection of Egyptian artifiacts), then the Statute and/or that Golden Ankh the statute holds could be used as a sacred artifiact that imbues the bearer with...immortality (a la Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade)

Immortality also goes hand in hand with Moon Knight since Marc keeps getting resurrected, so the ankh could be his gateway into eternity.

Now, if the statute and/or the ankh grant the bearer immortality, that would make the recipient a sort of modern Eternal. In this case, there could be strings attached such as bondage to Khonshu.

While I dislike the ancient aliens theories and the Eternals unfortunately follows that, one of the best Moon Knight arcs ever written posits the Egyptian gods as aliens from the Othervoid, so I can kind of forgive Khonshu, Osiris etc. being some form of Eternals.

The immortality and other powers, would result in Marc becoming an elevated human which also ties into Egyptian mythology. When the pharaohs and other Egyptians passed away, they journeyed to the Duat (The Egyptian underworld). There they would go through an eloborate judgment process before Thoth, Osiris, Anubis and in one ritual, 42 gods. A prominent afterlife ritual is the Weighing of the Heart. The myth being If your heart weighed less than the feather of Ma'at you were granted an afterlife among the gods to live amongst them.

One more thing about the ankh ties in this spitballing, the gods would often give life to their brethren and the pharaohs by pointing the ankh loop near the nose and mouth. That granted the recipient life. So since the show is apparently leaning hard into Egyptian mythology, the ankh restoring life could be a bloodless way for Khonshu to resurrect Marc, presuming Marc needs that and the blip isn't worked in somehow.

 

So Ethan Hawke recounts the fun way he wound up in Moon Knight to late night host Seth Myers. Yep, it’s all Oscar’s fault...

Really curious about what MK villain Ethan is playing. Cool he loves the costumes and sets.

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Hmmmm, conjuring ancient gods....I bet there’s an Egyptian artifact involved.

 

Hmmm...he could be playing

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Sun King aka 86 was the “mirror” villain for Moon Knight in the 2017-2018 run (the single worst MK run by Max Bemis) - Sun King became a pyrokenetic avatar of Ra, if anyone can make that character work, it’s Ethan Hawke.

I hope it’s someone new instead though.

@A Chorus of Disapproval I saw the MK costume. If Marvel demands it gets yanked, then I’ll comment beyond saying, I hope it is silver as it appears to be.

 

Hmmm. I’m seeing one with

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no cape and he’s in a sort paused pose...that’s all over IG. Is that what you saw? If those are mummy style bandages over the armor, I 100% approve.

 

LOL yes.

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For what’s it worth, I am completely down with Marc suiting up in a grimy bathroom, .

 

If they use The Bottom and the LeMire/Smallwood run, I will be so happy...

 

Ah yes the “Raid” homage issue (#5 from the Declan Shalvey run.) Sure.

Based on this, now I want to see him in the Khonshu mummy bone armor too. If this costume is legit it reminds me a little bit of the Universe X costume mixed with his standard armor.

 

That leaked image is starting to be pulled from social media, it’s still on IG though. So I can say, I it.

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The cape almost has to be CGI...there’s no way they’re going to get as physical as those trading videos and have Oscar do that while wearing a cape

 

There’s a second image of a very crude

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black and gray suit, it’s blurry and dark as hell, but I’m speculating it could be the first full suit after Marc takes Khonshu’s silver robe from the Khonshu statute in Sety’s tomb. Looks very creepy. Also just learned that influential Moon Knight artist Bill Sienkiewicz said he intended Marc’s MK suit to be black with the white cowl, cape. Depending on how the light hit him, the suit could look silver or white. Alex Maleev actually tested that too and you can see it in some of his panels and lots of MK commissions.

Already amused that people are wailing on the mummy look...