New Marvel just dropped, and by and large, people are into it.
The first episode of “Moon Knight,” the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe television series, hit Disney+ (DIS) today, and while some of us have, like, jobs and can’t sit around and watch television in the afternoon, some Marvel fans have already seen it and weighed in with their opinions.
Until now, most of Disney+’s Marvel shows have focused on characters, and actors, that were not the main stars of the various Marvel films, such “WandaVision,” “Hawkeye” and “Loki.”
Even with their extended run times, there’s only so much that characters like Scarlet Witch, The Falcon and Hawkeye were able to do in The Avengers films, while the Marvel shows allowed actors like Elizabeth Olsen to show their range. Critics were for the most part appreciative, though “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” got dinged for being uneven.
It’s yet another way the Marvel Cinematic Universe takes its cues from Marvel’s comic books, in which miniseries and spin-off titles would flesh out secondary characters, sometimes taking them up to the A-List.
But “Moon Knight” is the first show to introduce a new (to the MCU) character. Created by Doug Moench and Don Perlin and first introduced in 1975, he’s never been one of the most well-known Marvel characters, but he’s a fan favorite of hardcore Marvel readers.
He often serves as Marvel’s equivalent to Batman, but his bizarre backstory (he’s a mercenary raised from the dead by Egyptian God Knonshu, but he also might be a figment of his imagination) multiple personality and general off-beat nature have attracted A-list writers such as Brian Michael Bendis and Jeff Lemire to pen classic runs on the character.
Disney
And now that Marvel has used all of its most well-known characters, the more obscure characters are getting some shine.
Played by internet boyfriend Oscar Isaac, Steven Grant is a mild-mannered gift shop clerk with multiple personalities. He doesn’t realize he’s also a man named Marc Spector as well as Moon Knight, and he doesn’t know why he keeps waking up to find he’s beaten up a bunch of people. A big part of the appeal of the show is Isaac acting against himself, as you can apparently never have enough Oscar Isaac in your life.
"Moon Knight" a wild swing for Marvel, one that incorporates an attempt to portray both a character with dissociative identity disorder and Egyptian culture with sensitivity, globe-trotting adventure, horror movie overtone, brutal fight scenes and a cult leader villain played by Ethan Hawke.
Whether it all works is up to the viewer, but no one can accuse Marvel of playing it safe.
So what are people saying?
Critics Are A Bit Mixed, But Overall Intrigued
Reviews for the show are mixed but overall positive. Some critics find it all a bit confusing or tonally strange, though Rolling Stone’s Alan Sepinwall says that’s in part because the character has such a strange backstory.
Other critics appreciated that the series introduced horror elements and an Indiana Jones-feel to the Marvel Universe, and almost everyone thinks Isaac is great, and surprisingly believable playing a neebish character.
Marvel Fans Are Bummed They Can't Binge
Disney+ doesn't do the binge model, instead preferring the standard one-week-at-a-time approach. But it seems that Marvel fans like what they see and wish they could watch the whole thing at once, with a few fans noting that Disney is really taking advantage of those new parental control features.
Does Twitter Still Love Oscar Isaac?
It's well-known that Twitter prefers Oscar Isaac in beard mode. But Twitter still loves him, even when he's clean shaven.
