Spoiler alert: this article is for people who have completed watching Episode 1 of Moon Knight on Disney+.
Another series about an individual with dissociative identity disorder serving as the conduit for a justice-seeking Egyptian moon god? After Hawkeye’s hugely enjoyable but relatively straightforward escapades, last year comes Moon Knight, an altogether different animal, nothing like anything we’ve seen so far in the MCU. Although this opening episode was referred to as Marvel’s answer to Batman, this opening episode had a lot of heavy lifting to establish the character and the world he lives in.
The first character we met was the big baddie, so often saved for late in the season, as per WandaVision, Loki, and Hawkeye. However, we saw his powers later in the Alpine town square.
Also Read: UNKNOWN FACTS ABOUT MOON KNIGHT.
Next, our hero, Steven Grant, who suffers from some disruptive sleep disorder, straps himself into bed each night and puts tape over his doorframe so that he can tell in the morning if he was out sleepwalking.
He works in a central London gift shop. When he arrived at work, I was less interested in the fact that his boss bullies him and more concerned with how much that job must pay, given that he lives in a massive flat in an area of central London reminiscent of Covent Garden.
The scenes of Oscar Issac trying to escape Khonshu’s clutches in his apartment block impressed me, and the tonal switch from farcical comedy to genuine horror was impressive. The episode’s closing moments were equally jumpy, with Steven alone in an empty museum save for a rampaging hellhound.
Oscar’s One Man Army.
Let’s take a moment to appreciate Oscar Isaac’s performance in this opening episode. And I did, thoroughly. I even stopped focusing on his accent as the episode went on, although I had to laugh when Layla asked “What is with this accent?”. It will be interesting to see if Isaac is equally convincing as the more conventional hero-type Marc Spector.
Who is Khonshu?
Much like Thor is based on the character of the same name from Norse mythology, Khonshu is the Marvel Comics adaptation of the ancient Egyptian god ‘Khonsu,’ who represented the moon and its ever-changing phases. This theme permeates Moon Knight’s mythos, as viewers saw in his show’s premiere.
In Marvel Comics terms, Khonshu is one of the Heliopolitans, gods who dwell in a realm known as Heliopolis in the same way Thor and his fellow Asgardians hail from Asgard.
Unlike Thor and the Asgardians, the Heliopolitans are generally unable to enter the mortal realm, necessitating them to choose human avatars to directly influence events on Earth – which is where Moon Knight comes in.
The original Moon Knight of the prehistoric 1,000,000 BC era was a villain to that era’s Avengers, including Thor’s father Odin and the original incarnations of several Marvel Comics legacy heroes such as Ghost Rider the Sorcerer Supreme, the Phoenix, and more.
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Offended that he wasn’t invited into the heroic group known as the 1,000,000 BC Avengers, Khonshu embraced his first Moon Knight to fight the team, eventually losing (this conflict will come back later, though, so keep it in mind).
Through the ages, Khonshu has almost always had a Moon Knight as his agent on Earth, including an incarnation of Kang the Conqueror’s lover-turned-enemy Ravonna in the ancient Egyptian era. Kang ruled under his Variant identity of Rama-Tut, and numerous others.
Alongside Khonshu’s Moon Knight, the other members of the Ennead (the collective name often used by mortals to describe the Heliopolitan gods, as referenced in Moon Knight episode 1) have often employed their avatars. The most notable of these is the Sun King, the avatar of Ra the Sun God and one of the Moon Knight’s enemies through the ages. The most modern Sun King from comics may even have a connection to the MCU adaptation of the Moon Knight show’s villain, Arthur Harrow.
What attacked Steve Grant?
After the museum closes, Grant is stuck on inventory duty, a punishment for being late. However, just as the lights turn off, he realizes something is lurking in the shadows, stalking him. Grant is then attacked by a beast resembling an Egyptian jackal, brought to life by Harrow, who demands the scarab. The creature is tall, ferocious, and unlike anything, the MCU has seen before. It’s only defeated after Grant relinquishes control of his body to another identity that unleashes the power of Moon Knight.
Also known as Death Dogs, jackals were deities that helped the Egyptians’ understanding of death, acting as guides in the afterlife. It’s unknown if they will serve that same purpose in Moon Knight, but it’s clear they make for incredibly terrifying beasts through one episode. So, while fans will have to look elsewhere for hints at Werewolf by Night ahead of his Disney+ special, they can rest easy knowing the MCU is ready for a creature of his stature.
What did you think? Did you enjoy Oscar Isaac’s performance? Have your say below…
