Disney+’s Unique, Eccentric Moon Knight Is Worthy of Obsession
Photo Courtesy of Disney+
Engelbert Humperdinck. That’s not a name most would associate with superheroes, yet he’s the voice viewers will hear when Oscar Isaac first appears onscreen in Moon Knight, the new Disney+ series featuring one of Marvel’s most complex characters.
Humperdinck’s song, “A Man Without Love,” plays as we watch Isaac’s character, Steven Grant, wake up and get ready for his menial job at the beginning of the premiere episode. Meant to illustrate the lovelorn Grant’s sense of longing, the 1968 tune from the British crooner is an odd, albeit interesting way to introduce the lead of this latest superhero series. It’s also a taste of what’s to come in what just might be Marvel’s most unique TV program to date. Part comedy, part action-adventure, and with touches of romance and horror, Moon Knight is diverse in its storytelling, making it weird in the best ways possible.
The 6-episode miniseries begins with an introduction to Steven Grant, who is milquetoast personified. Grant works at the gift shop at the National Art Gallery in London and has a deep understanding of Egyptology. Although timid, he’d love to be a tour guide for the gallery’s extensive collection of Egyptian relics, but his boss Donna (Lucy Thackeray) finds him to be an odd duck. She’s not the only one.
Grant’s cringey vibe also extends to the audience. He ends calls to his mother by saying, “Later gators” and his closest companion is a living statue at a park that never breaks character while Grant shares the events of his day. At one point, he even ends a one-sided conversation with, “I will see you on the flip flop.” But there’s more to Grant’s dorkiness than being socially awkward and speaking with a British accent only slightly less phony sounding than the one used by Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. In fact, he has much bigger problems.
Grant frequently blacks out and wakes up in unusual places, which he dismisses as a sleep irregularity. However, he soon discovers a dream where he steals a scarab and escapes the clutches of a man named Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) is real, and he is in danger. That’s when Grant is confronted by a voice in his head that belongs to American Marc Spector (also Oscar Isaac), his mercenary alter ego that can turn into the vigilante, Moon Knight.
Spector is the Avatar of Khonshu (voiced by F. Murray Abraham), the Egyptian god of the moon. In this instance, an Avatar is not a tall blue creature from Pandora but the human representative of an Egyptian god who’s imbued with special powers. Grant learns that his blackouts are when Spector gains control of their shared body. As Moon Knight, Spector protects the vulnerable and delivers justice. His primary mission is to stop Harrow from unleashing havoc upon the world.
If that story sounds a bit far-fetched, that’s exactly what Steven Grant thinks, even exclaiming when Spector explains the situation, “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” While certainly not, the story of Moon Knight does require an open mind due to its unusual, yet intriguing complexity. As any fan of his comics can attest, Marc Spector contains multitudes, not just Steven Grant. Thankfully, the Moon Knight TV series has simplified some of the comic book character’s more idiosyncratic tendencies, leading to a well-structured program that focuses primarily on the actions of four central characters: Grant/Spector, Harrow, and Layla El-Faouly (May Calamawy).