The term “Golden Age of Television”, sometimes called “Peak TV”, has been used to describe the shift, in the new millennium, towards higher quality, more grown-up, small screen content. From The Sopranos to The Wire, Deadwood to Breaking Bad, television of the past two decades has often been emotionally, and visually, complex and mature. And, concurrently, the world of cinema became obsessed with franchises and sequels, superheroes and comic books, to the point where, last year, only one film out of the 10 highest grossing of the year was an original property. It was perhaps inevitable, then, that where cinema led, television would follow.
Moon Knight (Disney Plus), a Marvel comic book hero from the 1970s, represents the first foray of this new MCU era into establishing a superhero in a limited series format. Sure, they’ve already had success with Wandavision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye and Loki, but those were all established superheroes spun off from The Avengers. Where Marvel has previously brought its IP to life on straight-to-streaming services (I’m thinking Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Daredevil and The Punisher), it’s struggled to capture the lightning in a bottle that makes children (and certain adults) keep going back for more. Can Moon Knight succeed where the others have failed?
