Moon Knight is the perfect standalone Marvel show, in theory
In a lot of ways, the first episode of Moon Knight is everything I’ve wanted from a Marvel Cinematic Universe show since they kicked off on Disney Plus with WandaVision a little over a year ago. It introduces us to a new character in an interesting situation, one that is conceivably set in the MCU but not beholden to it. In fact, outside of some subtle clues for eagle-eyed fans, the first episode of Moon Knight barely indicates that it’s set in the same world as Eternals or Doctor Strange. Maybe The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, thanks to the common thread of “Europe.”
But what does Moon Knight present us with? Well, like its protagonist, that’s messy. Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) is the definition of milquetoast. A demure, mawkish museum gift shop employee in London, Grant speaks with a nasally accent and walks with a perpetual hunch. He loves Egyptian history and talking about it, which unfortunately doesn’t fall under his job. And he’s got what he thinks is a sleep disorder. Because of this, he chains his ankle to his bed, tapes his door (which is locked with multiple deadbolts and chains) and surrounds his bed with sand, all to keep his unconscious body from wandering out at night or at least let him know if he tried. Unfortunately for Steven, it’s a bit more complicated than that.
Like a lot of modern shows, Moon Knight’s writers are keeping their cards close to their chest. If you’re a fan of the Marvel Comics character created by Doug Moench and Don Perlin, you may have an idea of what’s going on, but the adaptation here is a loose one — in the comic books, this character is never introduced to us as Steven Grant, and when he is, he’s a very different person.
That’s not to say it’s bad that Moon Knight is
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