Anna Daniels
Marc Spector was an ex-CIA agent turned high-priced mercenary whose illegal activities made him extremely wealthy. Unfortunately, they also got him mixed up with some unsavory individuals — one of whom, Raoul Bushman, beat the crap out of him and left him for dead when he objected to the looting of an ancient Egyptian ruin during a job.
Spector managed to make his way to the temple of the Egyptian god Khonshu, who spared his life and granted him supernatural abilities in exchange for becoming the god’s vengeful avatar on Earth. The experience took a toll on Spector, splintering his psyche — but when he returned to the United States, he took advantage of this condition, using it to create a series of convincing alternate personalities who assisted him in his quest to bring criminals to justice.
One of these was Steven Grant, a millionaire (funded by Spector’s ill-gotten gains from his mercenary days) who was his public persona; another was Jake Lockley, a cab driver who served as Spector’s eyes and ears on the street. Another, of course, was Moon Knight — a ruthless and brutal vigilante who became the scourge of the underworld.
In his earlier appearances, Moon Knight’s super-strength, endurance, and reflexes waxed and waned with the full moon, although this has to an extent been retconned in later years. More interestingly, many of the character’s later appearances — particularly the run penned by comics legend Jeff Lemire — posited that Spector never really had any superpowers at all, and that his abilities were bestowed upon him not by a vengeful Egyptian god, but by his own mental illness.
It’ll be extremely interesting to see how the Disney+ series handles the character, and to what extent it plays up the possibility that Moon Knight’s powers are all in his head. If Marvel is indeed considering Radcliffe for the role, we think it’s safe to say that Spector’s psychological instability should be a key part of his characterization — which could make for the kind of story that we wouldn’t necessarily expect to see fielded by the House of Mouse.
Moon Knight is expected to debut sometime in late 2021 or early 2022. Of course, we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for any and all news concerning all of the upcoming MCU-set Disney+ series, and we’ll keep you up to speed.
Written by: Looper
