Moon Knight is the next entry into the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe.
First announced back in 2019, anticipation for this latest Disney Plus exclusive has been building higher and higher ever since.
The series will introduce yet another caped crimefighter to the MCU in the form of Moon Knight (played by Star Wars alum, Oscar Isaac), a mercenary who becomes a vigilante after a chance encounter with an Egyptian god.
Here's everything we know about Moon Knight so far...
'Moon Knight' release date
Multiple leakers — including That Hashtag Show — have claimed that the superhero series will arrive on March 30. Apparently, they were right. With the release of the first trailer for Moon Knight (see below), that March 30 release date was confirmed.
This also means that Moon Knight will be the next new Marvel title that fans get to watch following Spider-Man: No Way Home on the big screen and Hawkeye on Disney Plus, beating Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — which is slated for a May 4 release date in theaters.
Who is Moon Knight?
Moon Knight is probably one of the lesser-known Marvel heroes who has joined the MCU — one who isn't afraid of being brutal when it comes to fighting his foes.
Originally, Moon Knight was introduced as a villain but the character proved popular enough that Marvel turned him into a gritty antihero. When his backstory was expanded upon, we learned Moon Knight's secret identity was Marc Spector.
Spector was a former Marine and CIA operative-turned mercenary. During a job in Sudan, Spector lost a fight with Raoul Bushman, a warlord who went on to become one of Moon Knight's archenemies. Though he appeared to die, Spector reawakened at the foot of a statue of the Egyptian god of the moon, Khonshu.
Whether he was actually saved by Khonshu's divine intervention or Spector simply mistakenly attributed his survival to the god was unclear, but Spector nevertheless took up the mantle of Moon Knight and began fighting crime.
In adopting this new identity, Spector is granted supernatural abilities, and he began strategically investing his money to finance his crime-fighting exploits. He also began developing multiple personas to help him keep an ear to the ground, something which took its toll on Marc Spector's mental health.
More recent incarnations of the character saw Spector becoming a conduit for Khonshu (who was proven to exist in the Marvel universe) and developing additional persona such as "Mr. Knight", a well-dressed new take on the character.
Later storylines have also continued to explore Moon Knight's mental health and whether his schizophrenia and/or dissociative identity disorder were by-products of becoming Moon Knight or mental illnesses he was already living with prior to becoming a superhero. Kevin Feige confirmed back in 2020 that Moon Knight would be tackling the character's dissociative identity disorder as part of the show.
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How many episodes of 'Moon Knight' will there be?
Kevin Feige revealed to Collider that the first season of Moon Knight will be comprised of six episodes, each lasting between 40-50 minutes, making it roughly the same length as Hawkeye. We expect episodes will follow a similar weekly release schedule to the Jeremy Renner-fronted show.
'Moon Knight' plot
According to Marvel's synopsis of the series, Moon Knight is a "new globetrotting action-adventure series featuring a complex vigilante who suffers from a dissociative identity disorder. The multiple identities who live inside him find themselves thrust into a deadly war of the gods against the backdrop of modern and ancient Egypt."
Alongside the trailer that dropped on Jan. 17 (which you can see later in this article), Marvel unveiled a second plot summary for the series which gives us just a little more detail about Oscar Isaac's character.
That new summary reads: "The series follows Steven Grant, a mild-mannered gift-shop employee, who becomes plagued with blackouts and memories of another life. Steven discovers he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector. As Steven/Marc’s enemies converge upon them, they must navigate their complex identities while thrust into a deadly mystery among the powerful gods of Egypt."
Who's in the 'Moon Knight' cast?
Oscar Isaac leads the cast as the eponymous Moon Knight. His secret identity in the show is Steven Grant, a gift-shop employee who has become plagued with visions and memories of Marc Spector and the titular costumed hero.
Speaking to Variety about his new role last year, Isaac said: "I found so much room to do things that I've never done before and had been curious about and wanting to do.
"I could not wait to get to set, and it was the biggest workload I've ever had in my career and most challenging; by the sheer amount of stuff we had to do in eight months, and even yet, I couldn't wait to get to set and work."
Ethan Hawke is also set to star opposite him as the show's villain, although his character has not been named just yet.
May Calamawy (Ramy) joined the show back in January 2021, though we do not know her character's identity, either.
Avid fans spotted that French actor Gaspard Ulliel was briefly listed as playing Anton Mogart (aka Midnight Man) on Ulliel's talent agency site, so he could well appear in the series, too.
Is there a 'Moon Knight' trailer?
Marvel gave us our first glimpse at the series on Disney Plus Day with some footage shown exclusively on the platform. It saw Oscar Isaac's Moon Knight admitting he struggles to make out the difference between his dreams and real life, along with some brief shots of Isaac in costume.
You can watch that teaser below:
We now also have the first full trailer for Moon Knight, which was released during halftime of the NFL Super Wild Card game between the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams on ESPN on Jan. 17.
It introduces us to Isaac's main persona, Steven Grant, and sees him suited up in full costume, beating down one of his enemies which we think might be the Werewolf By Night.
Watch the trailer below:
Who's directing 'Moon Knight'?
Mohamed Diab has been tapped to direct four episodes of Moon Knight, with Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead co-directing the remaining two.
