Okay, despite my love for this character, I wasn’t expecting this trailer to drop so soon after I talked about my most anticipated TV series for this year. It looks really good, and relatively faithful, to the original source. My one downvote is that I don’t like all the facial covering, even though that is accurate to the suit. I like Oscar Isaac, and I like seeing his face. I mean, I get why he’s covered up, (stuntwork), but still!
Moon Knight
My history with this character really doesn’t go back that far, although I’ve known about the character since the 80s, when I started reading Horror comics, like Werewolf By Night. Since then, I encountered the character in other characters’ stories, but didn’t read any solo books about him until the Charlie Huston and Brian Michael Bendis era. In the comic books, he’s been a member of various superteams like The Avengers, The Defenders, and The West Coast Avengers.
With the introduction of this character and the Blade reboot announcement, a whole new era of the supernatural and Horror is being introduced to the MCU. After all, there can be no Blade without the introduction of vampires, and there can be no Moon Knight without the introduction of ancient gods, werewolves, and even mummies!
Remember when I talked about visual shorthand in films? Notice the use of mirrors and mirror images (like puddles), here. Mirrors are used as a shorthand for when a character is leading a double life, and this character is being shown in multiple mirrors simultaneously, along with double versions of himself in just one. He isn’t having just a double life. He is living multiple lives. Later in the trailer, we see him punch a mirror. Characters that crack or break mirrors are often indicative of a “crack” in their personality.
I understand that trailers can be misleading, but it appears as if they are portraying this character’s multiple personalities (he has four so far) as a form of amnesia. In the comic books, his superpowers are portrayed by different personas, but I was uncertain if it was being chosen by an ancient god that caused the psychological break, or if that was the reason he was chosen. Anyway, the character has an interesting backstory, but you don’t necessarily need to know that to watch the show.
One of the drawbacks to these films and series being made now is that so many of the fans have read these stories, so we’re not really arriving at them fresh and unknowing the way my nephew is for example, who is ten, and has never read any of the books. He knows all of these characters (and I do mean all of them, including the actor’s names) only from watching all the movies, backed up by Youtube videos!
With these new TV series we are officially entering the era of The MCU Superteams, (of which there are dozens) where individual characters will be introduced in various series, make cameos in films, and eventually end up in a team movie, sort of like Avengers Endgame. Right now, the people at Disney are setting up multiple teams: a cosmic team consisting of Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor, and possibly The Eternals, and The Black Knight; a regular terrestrial team which, in the comic books, consisted of Luke Cage, Daredevil, Spiderman, and Iron Fist; a politically oriented team called The Thunderbolts; a supernatural team with Blade, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider(which has been announced) Scarlett Witch, and Doctor Strange, and last but not least, there is The Young Avengers, with Kate Bishop (from the Hawkeye series), America Chavez (from the upcoming Ms. Marvel series), Wiccan and Speed (from Wandavision), and Patriot (who was introduced in Falcon and the Winter Soldier). And these are just some of the characters who have already been introduced/announced in the MCU. We haven’t even gotten to The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, Miles Morales, The Inhumans, or the various International Teamups! The Marvel Universe is very very big!
These are not hard and fast rules. We’ll have to wait and see how some of these teams shake out.
As with other MCU characters, you are not obligated to watch anything you don’t want to, and your experience of the movies probably will not be upheaved by NOT watching any of the TV series. Unlike a lot of other people out there bitching and whining about the making of superhero films they don’t plan to see, I am a fan, and I’m not tired of these films yet, especially since only just now are we getting to see women and heroic people of color in these stories. (No! Black Panther was not enough! I will not rest until I see every marginalized group covered.)
This is what is selling right now, but contrary to the bitching and whining, Hollywood has not stopped making other kinds of movies. Plenty of other movies are getting made, and as usual, some are schlock, some are mediocre, and some are real gems. People seem to forget this over time. That this is how the film industry has always been. In any ten year period, this is the kind of movie fallout that happens, and we only ever really remember the gems of that period. At any rate, I have never understood complaining about movies you ain’t gonna watch, and then when perfectly acceptable non-superhero, or non-sequel type movies get released, nobody goes to see those, which causes those movies to be flops, so that Hollywood doesn’t want to risk making them.
This is what people are excited to see since these movies are aimed at the generation of nerds (both men and women) who grew up reading comic books, and playing their videogames, and if you think this is annoying, wait until we reach the era of live action Manga in about ten to twenty more years, when Gen Z starts making all that disposable income.
Geeking Out about It 