Lots of references to Fight Club, Black Swan and even The Batman…
In case you missed it, Disney+ released the first trailer for their next MCU show, Moon Knight.
It tells the story of Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac), a former soldier who seems to be suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder, finding it increasingly difficult to separate his dreams from reality.
One of his personalities appears to be imbued with the powers of an Egyptian God, which somehow causes him to cross paths with Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke), a cult-leader who tries to get Grant to embrace his inner dark side.
Check out the trailer here:
Clip via Marvel Entertainment
Early on in the trailer, there are very interesting visual cues as to the kind of vibe this particular Marvel story will be telling. Aside from the “one of the personalities is a super-powered individual” being pretty much identical to the plot of M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller Split (which Moon Knight predates in the comics by about 40 years), other examples include:
– Grant suffering from insomnia, causing some split personality issues (Fight Club)
– Different versions of Grant watching him move while his reflection remains in place (Black Swan)
– Moon Knight going absolutely HAM on some unseen humanoid punching bag (The Batman)
Meanwhile, Ethan Hawke has already discussed that this portrayal of Arthur Harrow was specifically based on David Koresh, the man at the centre of the cult involved in the Waco siege in 1993.
All much more adult-aimed references than usual for a Marvel show, but it also points towards a future union of what could be Marvel’s scary answer to the Avengers.
As we see in the trailer, Grant is working in a London museum, where he is getting somewhat bullied by a co-worker.
We see that the museum is currently housing some ancient Egyptian artefacts (which will undoubtedly awaken one of Grant’s personalities), but – AND SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T WATCHED ETERNALS YET – who else happens to be working in a London museum?
Kit Harrington’s Dane Whitman, who in the post-credits scene in Eternals, reveals to be the owner of the Ebony Blade, which makes him the Black Knight within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Also, during that same post-credits sequence, we hear a character talk to Whitman from off-screen, and it has since been confirmed that was the voice of Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali, who is taking on the role of Blade within the MCU.
With all of these characters all apparently in London (and all apparently working at museums), it looks very strongly like Marvel are piecing together the Marvel Knights, which at different times throughout the comics history has featured Moon Knight, Blade and Black Knight, along with Shang-Chi, Black Panther, Daredevil… and Wolverine.
Are we saying that Moon Knight could potentially lead to the introduction of the X-Men to the MCU? No.
Are we saying that we want Moon Knight to introduce the X-Men to the MCU? Yes, absolutely we are.
Moon Knight kicks off on Disney+ from Wednesday, 30 March.
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