Moon Knight Trivia | 75 facts about the new MCU series

“Moon Knight” is a new MCU series introducing us to a new character from the comics. It is the sixth TV series in the MCU.

So let’s dive into some unknowns and facts about the new show.

1. Moon Knight is an American television miniseries
2. The series is created by Jeremy Slater for the streaming service Disney+
3. It is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name
4. It is intended to be the sixth television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)
5. The series is produced by Marvel Studios
6. Moon Knight shares continuity with the films of the franchise
7. Slater serves as head writer
8. Mohamed Diab leads the directing team
9. Oscar Isaac stars as Marc Spector / Moon Knight, a mercenary who has dissociative identity disorder
10. May Calamawy, Karim El-Hakim, F. Murray Abraham, and Ethan Hawke also starring
11. The series was announced in August 2019
12. Slater was hired in November
13. Diab was hired to direct four episodes in October 2020
14. With directing duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead joining in January 2021 to direct the other two
15. Isaac was confirmed to star at that time
16. The actor used different accents to differentiate Spector’s various identities
17. Filming took place from April to October 2021
18. Filming took palce primarily in Budapest as well as in Jordan, Slovenia, and Atlanta, Georgia
19. Moon Knight premiered on March 30, 2022 on Disney+
20. It is scheduled to run for six episodes until May 4
21. It is part of Phase Four of the MCU
22. The character Marc Spector / Moon Knight was to be introduced in the planned second season of Blade: The Series before its cancelation in September 2006
23. A potential spin-off series for the character had also been in development
24. In October, Marvel Studios partnered with No Equal Entertainment to produce a separate television series featuring Moon Knight
25. Writer Jon Cooksey was hired to develop the series by 2008, but it did not move forward
26. James Gunn, the writer and director of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy films, said in January 2017 that he had pitched a Moon Knight film to Marvel but did not have time to work on it
27. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige confirmed in April 2018 that Moon Knight would be introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)
28. In August 2019, Marvel Studios announced at the D23 conference that a series based on Moon Knight was being developed for the streaming service Disney+
29. That November, Jeremy Slater was hired to serve as the head writer and executive producer of the series
30. The series was confirmed to consist of six 40–50 minute episodes
31. Egyptian director Mohamed Diab was set to direct four episodes in October 2020, as well as executive produce the series
32. Marvel had approached him “out of the blue” to present a pitch for Moon Knight, which includes Egyptian mythology and characters that the superhero is associated with in the comics
33. Diab and his writer-producer wife Sarah Goher put together a 200-page document outlining their vision for the series
34. This included their intention to depict Egypt and Egyptian people in a more positive way than they felt had been done in previous Hollywood productions
35. Diab elaborated that American films and series often used Orientalist stereotypes such as portraying Egyptian people as exotic “guides and desert wanderers” or ignoring the fact that the Giza pyramids are beside a modern city
36. He wanted to portray Egyptians as “normal human beings” and Egypt as a “normal place” like modern America
37. He also wanted to hire other Egyptian crewmembers to work on the series
38. He added that the series would be “hard, serious and about big topics” like many of his previous feature films
39. In January 2021, director duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead joined the series to direct the other two episodes, working alongside Diab to ensure a consistent approach to the series
40. Marvel Studios’ Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, and Grant Curtis also serve as executive producers along with star Oscar Isaac
41. In February 2021, Feige said some of Marvel’s series, including Moon Knight and She-Hulk, were being developed with the potential to have additional seasons made
42. This was in contrast to series like WandaVision (2021), which were developed as limited events that lead into feature films instead
43. A year later, Isaac referred to Moon Knight as a limited series
44. While Diab was unsure whether the series would continue
45. Michael Kastelein, Beau DeMayo, Peter Cameron, Sabir Pirzada, Alex Meenehan, Rebecca Kirsch, Matthew Orton, and Danielle Iman serve as writers on the series
46. With an archeologist specializing in Egyptian tombs consulting with the writers
47. Feige likened the series to the Indiana Jones franchise while exploring Egyptology, two aspects that were a large part of Slater’s pitch given that he wanted to tell a “dark, complex story” mixed with “big, fun, supernatural, Amblin-style magic”
48. Slater said he wanted the series to have a similar tone to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Ghostbusters (1984)
49. Slater also wanted to bring some horror aspects and monsters to the MCU
50. He wanted to push the limits with how dark a Marvel series could be, which Feige and Marvel Studios were supportive of
51. Feige said there was a clear difference in tone between Moon Knight and the other Marvel Studios Disney+ series released at that point
52. Adding that the studio worked with Disney+ to push the boundaries on how much of Moon Knight’s brutality they could present in the series
53. Feige said Spector’s mental illness was a unique aspect of the series, which primarily focuses on his psychological trauma
54. Dr. Paul Puri, a board-certified psychiatrist and an assistant clinical professor at UCLA, served as a consultant for the series regarding its depictions of mental illness.
55. The series draws on the character’s more modern interpretations in the comics regarding Spector’s dissociative identity disorder (DID), in which Spector loses a sense of time when he switches between his various personalities
56. Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood’s run in the comics served as inspiration
57. Executive producer Grant Curtis noted the series explored identity and “finding one’s true self”
58. Isaac believed the series would be “experiential” for viewers to connect with “the psychological horror of not knowing what’s happening and the slow revelations of the truth” that came with portraying the character’s DID
59. Slater added that the creatives took the series’ depiction of mental health seriously, researching the disorder and aiming for Moon Knight to have a positive portrayal and message regarding mental health
60. He said the series would not heavily feature the aspects of Moon Knight in the comics where he was a playboy philanthropist, since that version of the character had been likened to the DC Comics character Batman which was not a comparison that Slater wanted to make
61. Slater added that exploring Spector’s mental health allowed the character to be more than “a palette-swapped Batman clone”, adding that Moon Knight was “his own greatest enemy in a lot of ways”
62. Isaac believed Moon Knight was “the first legitimate Marvel character-study” since Iron Man (2008)
63. With Curtis adding that Spector was like Stark for Marvel Studios in that he could be “built from the ground up”
64. The series has supernatural elements inspired from the comics with the inclusion of various Egyptian gods and having Khonshu manipulate Spector, drawing on their relationship from the comics including “all its toxicity”
65. Though the series is set in 2025 in present day MCU, Curtis noted there were “no attachments” to other parts of the MCU
66. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 83% approval rating
67. With an average rating of 7.4/10
68. Based on 75 reviews
69. The website’s critics consensus reads, “Its entertainment value may wax and wane a bit, but Moon Knight ultimately settles into a mostly enjoyable—and refreshingly weird—spot in the MCU firmament”
70. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 69 out of 100
71. Based on 19 critics
72. Indicating “generally favorable reviews”
73. In November 2019, Feige stated that after introducing Moon Knight in the series, the character will cross over to the MCU films
74. Diab stated in March 2022 that he felt the character would be part of the MCU for the next 10 years
75. He expressed his hope that Moon Knight would eventually get his own feature film