Trouble sleeping at night? Well, at least you’ve probably never had to handcuff yourself to a bed.
Not so for poor Steven Grant whose sleepwalking has gotten so bad that he’s resorted to rope and handcuffs. And it’s about to get a whole lot worse.
Disney Plus just released the first trailer for Moon Knight, which details Grant’s struggles as a mild-mannered museum employee by day and a troubled sleepwalker by night. This will be the first MCU/Disney Plus show since 2021’s WandaVision. The series was created by Jeremy Slater, and will star Oscar Isaac as the titular hero who struggles against villain Dr. Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) and involves actress May Calamaway as (possibly) Grant’s love interest.
“I have a sleeping disorder. I can’t tell the difference between my waking life and my dreams,” Grant says over the action.
In addition to his increasingly fragmented reality, Grant is also haunted by the Egyptian exhibits he watches over at a popular London museum. In the preview, Grant receives a phone call that reveals a separate identity of the same man: Marc Spector, a brutal mercenary who likely shares little in common with the timid gallery employee.
Disney’s Moon Knight, in fact, strays from the perspective of its source Marvel series, which instead follows Spector, a former U.S. Marine with a dissociative identity disorder. This is a fresh shift from the typical purposeful vigilante. Of course, Spector is Grant, so the Marine’s otherworldly supernatural conflicts will include both men. It appears, though, that Grant (and not Spector) will become the conduit for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu and eventually morph into the avenging Moon Knight.
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Hawke’s apparent identity as Dr. Harrow is also a surprising character arrival. Comic fans speculated that Hawke’s antagonist could have been anyone from Dracula to the Sun King. Harrow first arrived in graphic form in 1985’s Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #2. In that issue, Harrow was a respected scientist studying ways to alleviate pain when it’s revealed that he was secretly using data from very disturbing Nazi experiments. Harrow escapes his conflict with Moon Knight, never to be seen again — until now. Harrow is entranced upon meeting Grant/Spector/Moon Knight in the teaser.
“There’s chaos in you,” he whispers, barely able to hold back his excitement.
How this fits into the show’s central conflict and what Marvel describes as a “deadly mystery among the powerful gods of Egypt” is an utter mess of a mystery. And, according to Twitter user “Alice.”, Moon Knight’s comic series won’t be much help for audience members looking to get a grip on the titular hero.
“People getting into moon knight comics because they’re confused are gonna be disappointed when they realize the books are just as confusing”
People getting into moon knight comics because they're confused are gonna be disappointed when they realize the books are just as confusing
— Alice (@AerithsSeat) January 18, 2022
In the preview, a disembodied voice advises Grant to “embrace the chaos.” That seems to be the best plan because, for all its disordered elements, Moon Knight looks to be a hell of an insane MCU ride.
Moon Knight will unfold over six episodes that will reveal the latest for MCU’s Phase 4. The show will stream on Disney Plus beginning Wednesday, March 30.
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