This Moon Knight Trailer Looks Trippier Than WandaVision And Loki Combined
Prepare to get invested.
After a banner year of 10 releases in 12 months, Marvel Studios has taken a bit of a hiatus, with no new titles released since mid-December. But the drought won’t be lengthy; the powerhouse superhero franchise is already gearing up to release the next title on the docket: Disney+’s Moon Knight. Based on a relatively obscure superhero from the mid-1970s, the new series promises to bring a different tone to the Disney+ pantheon.
Marvel Studios has been a bit feast-or-famine when it comes to Disney+ shows. The streaming service launched at the end of 2019 with no Marvel Cinematic Universe scripted series, and the two planned for 2020 were then delayed by the Hollywood shutdowns. The production studio went an unprecedented 18 months without a release between July 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home to January 2021’s WandaVision, but it more than made up for it after that. Five MCU series, four MCU films, and one Spideyverse film came out in one continuous stream.
For 2022, Marvel seems to be a bit calmer in the sheer number of releases planned. It already pushed back Dr. Strange from March to May, and Spidey-verse film Morbius moved from January to April. But that doesn’t mean Moon Knight will be taking it easy on audiences at home. Here’s what to know about the series.
Moon Knight Trailer
Although Marvel initially announced the series in 2019, it did not go into production in earnest until 2021, with filming concluding in November. Luckily, fans didn’t have to wait that long for a trailer once it was done. The first one arrived on Jan. 17, 2022.
A second spot, with much trippier visuals, arrived as part of Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 13. The second teaser included mummies, pyramids, purple lightning, moving tattoos, and a good look at Moon Knight and his half-moon boomerang blade.
Moon Knight Cast
Rumors began circulating in October 2020 that Oscar Isaac, who had just finished a run as Poe in Star Wars, was in talks to star as Moon Knight in the forthcoming series. Though multiple reports claimed to confirm it in January 2021, it wasn’t until May that Disney+ confirmed the casting, just after filming was underway.
The rest of the cast remained unknown until the trailer arrived the following year, which confirmed the long-rumored Ethan Hawke was in the show and starring as primary antagonist Arthur Harrow. The late French actor Gaspard Ulliel was also confirmed to have a role, as was May Calamawy (Ramy) and Lucy Thackeray (Don't Forget the Driver).
Moon Knight Plot Updates
So far, there has not been a synopsis released for Moon Knight, but there’s still plenty to glean from the comics. The character began as Marc Spector and is described as the son of a rabbi and a former Marine/CIA operative who became a mercenary. During a job gone wrong near the Great Pyramids, Spector saves the life of an archeologist’s daughter but is mortally wounded in the process. He drags himself inside one of the pyramids to try to deal with his wounds, only to lose consciousness and pass away. But then, all of a sudden, he wakes up, fully healed. He believes he was saved by the Egyptian moon god Khonshu, hence becoming “Moon Knight.”
If this sounds a little off, there’s a reason for it. The comics eventually reveal that Spector has dissociative identity disorder. He also doesn’t have any superpowers, other than randomly coming back to life at convenient times. In that way, he’s more like Daredevil, someone who relies on years of training rather than being dosed with super-serum.
As fans will immediately notice from this description, there’s at least one big difference between Spector in the comics and Isaac. The former is a white American and Jewish, whereas Isaac is Guatemalan. It’s unclear how much this will play into the series. In the comics, Spector’s Jewish faith is challenged by discovering Egyptian Gods are real. It’s unclear if the show will keep that or if head writer Jeremy Slater (known for his work on The Umbrella Academy) plans to alter it.
Moon Knight will differ from other Disney+ series in one other critical way. MCU president Kevin Feige confirmed in an interview with Empire that the show was “loud” and “brutal” and that it would not “pull back” to be more PG in line with previous MCU shows on Disney+. (If only the ill-fated Lizzie McGuire reboot had that same luxury.)
Moon Knight Release Date
Moon Knight will debut on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, on Disney+ and will run on a weekly release schedule. The first season will have six episodes.
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