Moon Knight. None of this has any grounding in reality and even less so after some reports dropping today. And yes, I don’t know much about this character… but I DO KNOW a grill on a truck when I see one. And I do know the release date for MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS and how close it is to the finale of MOON KNIGHT (DAYS!). So in this latest installment of my JUST A THEORY (a recurring feature on this blog where I discuss and speculate crazy ideas for upcoming films and TV shows) we are going to go in-depth, theoretically, into the new promo that just dropped today for MARVEL’s MOON KNIGHt. Here is the promo:
And this damn truck that Moon Knight (aka Marc Spector aka Steven Grant aka Jake Lockley) is driving has grills that look a lot like the grills on the self-driving trucks that were featured in 2017’s LOGAN. I always thought the design on the trucks was quite memorable – so when I saw this grill, I snapped right to it and immediately made the connection.
So I am trying to say that maybe, based on these two photos (and a few comments from producers) that maybe MOON KNIGHT takes place in the Fox X-Verse, maybe not as far in the future as LOGAN but definitely on that timeline. I know these two grills don’t even look THAT much alike – this is crazy, dumb, grasping for straws…
Or is it…
But moreover this blog entry is less about a crazy theory, though it is a little teeny bit about that, and more about where and how the character Moon Knight could fit into the MCU and why he might not be in the MCU at all during the events of the series. Curtis states in an internal Disney press release:
“There’s no attachment to the current MCU. He’s brand-new, and he is going on a brand-new adventure. We really think the fans are going to enjoy it.”
He further goes on to state:
“There are multiple aspects of Moon Knight that get us internally jazzed at Marvel Studios. But one of the unique aspects of this character is it’s taking Marvel Studios to its Iron Man and Tony Stark roots. That was a character that was obviously built from the ground up, and it is the same with Marc Spector.”
“No attachment” and “built from the ground up” I just kept repeating those lines to myself and my mind went running, much like when they say “deliberately buried” a million times in 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY.
Let’s talk about those comments from the MOON KNIGHT producer Grant Curtis. Now the latest round of MOON KNIGHT twitter reactions have further confirmed the quote from MOON KNIGHT producer Grant Curtis that dropped last week might be even more than what most blogs and journalists first thought it might mean. Curtis stated that Moon Knight has “no attachment to the current MCU.” Now this struck me as something EXTREMELY curious at the time. I think most journalists thought that this meant a siloed story in the MCU. That this was something that would take place kind of like Shang-Chi, apart from the current MCU – but even Shang-Chi did not have “no attachment”. And so, specifically the words “no attachment” and “ground up” immediately opened my conspiracy brain to all kinds of interpretation and speculation, the kinds of things that I love as a writer and speculator extraordinaire.
Connectedness and Lore Define The MCU
Every MOON KNIGHT trailer has left me with more of a desire to try and figure out just where and how this new hero will fit into the MCU. Why? Because oftentimes fitting into the MCU is half of the fun. The continuity and connectedness of their lore is what makes us want to see a movie or even care about a movie a lot of the time. I mean we just got a 2 billion dollar Spider-Man film that placed the TWO other Spider-Men from Sony’s previous swings (forgive the pun) credibly into the MCU.
And what about the MCU films of the past year like the aforementioned SHANG-CHI or even the de-facto prequel BLACK WIDOW? Their “place” in the MCU was a big part of each film – and more importantly – why fandom paid attention to the films before and after they were viewed. Seeing the Abomination show up and fight Wong in the trailer for Shang Chi was one of its most talked about moments. And seeing Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine meet Yelena Belva over her sister’s grave and offer the head up of Clint Barton, set up six months of speculation, of interest, of engagement for HAWKEYE. I mean that was arguably the most interesting and talked about thing coming out of BLACK WIDOW (some of that is because BLACK WIDOW occurred years before the current MCU). Even HAWKEYE itself, actually a story about Kate Bishop, was defined by its connection to a more famous, albeit probably the least famous, Avenger. Connecting to the MCU is a BIG part of the MCU. Their ability to tell solid stories on a global interconnected scale is unsurpassed in modern cinematic filmmaking. Like the MCU or not, the stories are competent at the very least – and considering how much the continuity of other stories factors into each one, that is not an unremarkable feat.
One of the things I liked the best about ETERNALS was the way that it took place within the events and timeline of the current MCU but really had ZERO to do with the current MCU heroes. Not because I was longing for an independent story told in the MCU (well maybe a little) but mostly because the idea that the ETERNALS have HAD ZERO to do with our history in the past 500 plus years is one of the main plot points of the film. But I go on and on about that in a different blog. So even their detachment to MCU continuity was a plot point (within the MCU). Does that make sense?
So when MOON KNIGHT’s producer says that MOON KNIGHT has “no attachment to the current MCU” – I begin to wonder… Is this like ETERNALS where Moon Knight is existing in continuity with the MCU but is basically in a siloed storyline and no Avengers are going to come and get involved in their story because that is what the story calls for? This is something we haven’t really seen since maybe the first DOCTOR STRANGE (a top 3 MCU film for me TBH so maybe I don’t like continuity lore as much as I say I do).
Who Is Moon Knight? – And Why Is His Backstory A Stretch to Fit In The Current MCU…
Marc Spector’s backstory is one that seems like, at some point, he would have had a brush with the MCU, so saying “no attachment” is a really red flag to me. You see Marc Spector, one of the alter ego’s of Moon Knight, and the original personality of the body within whom multiple personalities reside, grew up in Chicago, the child of a rabbi. He became a US Marine, and eventually a mercenary where he was left at a dig site to freeze to death, only to be visited by Egyptian moon god Khonsu – wherein he makes a deal to save Marc so that he might become the living embodiment of Khonsu on earth. On his own, Marc is also a skilled investigator and fighter, well versed in martial arts.
But having this history and living in a major metropolitan area like Chicago, one would think he would not be completely unaware or unconnected to the story and actions of the MCU at SOME point in his life. To further that, Moon Knight aka Marc Spector creates multiple identities to aid in his investigation which eventually turn into a full blown dissociated personality disorder by later in the comics run. His body currently is the home to personalities: Steven Grant, a rich land baron, a taxi driver Jake Lockley, and of course Moon Knight and the predating Marc Spector. It seems wild to think that not one of the characters would have some dealing with the Avengers or the MCU on some level.
So the question becomes on which earth does the Marc Spector of Marvel’s MOON KNIGHT tv show, become the living embodiment of Khonsu???
The Nitty Gritty
So this is why my conspiracy spidey senses really go off when the producer uses words like “no attachment”, I mean I am off to the races – as they used to say. I mean like is maybe, just maybe MOON KNIGHT taking place in a different time during the MCU continuity. OR EVEN CRAZIER does MOON KNIGHT take place in a different universe? Remember the show will end just days before the premiere of DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS which could set up a world where MOON KNIGHT is in fact in a different universe and is later pulled into the MCU. One tweet says that it is untethered from every other MCU projectL
Another speculates that how MOON KNIGHT fits into the MCU and even WHERE it fits is something that will be explored…
And yeah, I do think that MOON KNIGHT’s vibe (again that is all I know about this guy) fits in way more with the Fox X-Verse than the current MCU. That is no knock on the current MCU. I LOVED HAWKEYE and (as previously stated) ETERNALS. But imagine how exciting it would be if in the final episodes it WAS revealed that Moon Knight does take place in one of the multiverses that is currently being fashioned in the MCU.
Oh one more thing, a consistent plot element of MOON KNIGHT comics is that Marc/Moon Knight/Steven/Jake consistently loses their powers – both predictably, due to the lunar cycle, and sometimes, unpredictably, due to other things like spells, magic, and the will of Khonshu. Could we see a world where this Moon Knight is depowered at the end of the Disney series when he is brought into our universe? Because Moon Knight getting depowered and overcoming it is a big part of comic stories within this franchise and it would certainly be interesting to see a depowered Moon Knight have to rely on his wits and martial arts training to survive in the MCU – at least for a bit.
So maybe my observation about the truck grills wasn’t so crazy after all. Or maybe it was – but what sparked those observations, I think might prove out to be less crazy that you think.
UPDATED: Guess not
Well it was fun while it lasted. Recent observant eyes on twitter have shown that both the Global Reparations Committee (GRC as featured in the Falcon And The Winter Soldier) and possibly even Sharon Carter will be in this show. So much for “No Attachment” and “From The Ground Up” and “completely untethered”.
No Scoops Club 