Moon Knight episode five has subtly paid tribute to a forgotten Marvel legend.
The show follows the story of 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.
In one scene, a movie poster mentions the name Doug Perlin, which is a nod to Doug Moench and Don Perlin, who created Moon Knight for Marvel in the ‘70s.
The tribute occurs in episode five of the Disney Plus series which stars Oscar Isaac playing a man forced to confront his traumatic past, as the story finally delves into its protagonist’s mental illness.
Moon Knight episode 5 spoilers follow
In the episode titled “Asylum”, Marc seemingly died in Ammit’s tomb, with Marc and Steven (Grant) winding up in a psychiatric hospital in separate bodies.
Steven is a persona Marc created so that he could retreat into it when the abuse became violent and physical.
The duo find out that they are, in fact, dead, and are now awaiting judgement in the afterlife.
At one point in the episode, Steven looks at a Tomb Buster poster on a wall and comes to a relisation that he was actually named after Steven Grant.
“When danger is near, Steven Grant has no fear,” says the tagline on the poster along with a reference to the lead actor’s name, Doug Perlin.
Doug Perlin is a combination of two real-life people named Doug Moench and Don Perlin. These comic creators first came up with Moon Knight in 1975’s Werewolf by Night #32.
According to Digital Spy, Moench has worked on Batman across the ‘80s and ‘90s, and Perlin also worked for many years and even created Bloodshot, who recently received his own film featuring Vin Diesel in 2020.
However, Perlin’s involvement in Moon Knight is hardly discussed in the industry. According to the outlet, “he himself has rarely discussed the character in interviews either”.
