The 'Moon Knight' Trailer Will Fracture Your Mind

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Back in August 2019, Marvel announced that Moon Knight—a character who first appeared in Marvel Comics back in 1975—would be getting his own solo series on Disney+ (the same announcement also made clear that She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel would be coming too). While WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, What If...?, and Hawkeye got the attention and shine in 2021, it's now time for different shows to shine in 2022—and Moon Knight is first up. After Disney's special Disney+ day included the first brief tease of footage at the Moon Knight show back in November, the first ever Monday-night NFL playoff game brought the first trailer for the series, and it looks like it might just be Marvel's biggest Disney+ swing yet. The trailer looks mind-bending and a big creepier and more intense than our usual fare; fans who either know nothing about Moon Knight or have only heard the name in passing also have another good reason to be very interested: Oscar Issac.

Isaac, a legitimate movie star who had a huge 2021 (he starred in HBO's Scenes From a Marriage, led Paul Schrader's The Card Counter, and played Duke Leto Atreides in Dune), will play the first live action version of Moon Knight/Marc Spector. Moon Knight has taken on many forms throughout his 46 years in Marvel Comics, but will now be joining the MCU, first through a limited series on Disney+.

Isaac is such a significant actor, though, that it's clear he won't remain there for good. At the very least, Isaac's Moon Knight will make his way into a supporting role in future MCU films—Feige confirmed as much back in 2019. We think this is going to end up being big.

When will Moon Knight come out?

With the release of the Moon Knight trailer and poster (more on that below), we now know that the show is coming on March 30, 2022. It'll run for six weeks from there.

There's now an official Moon Knight trailer.

The first trailer for Moon Knight—clocking in at just about 2 minutes long—debuted during halftime of the first ever Monday Night Football NFL Playoff game. The trailer focuses largely on Marc Spector, the character Isaac plays who eventually becomes Moon Knight—though in this trailer, he's going by his Steven Grant persona, and using an english accent that certainly sounds put-on. And, thankfully, there's a narrative reason for that: his main personality is Marc Spector, and he's living a life that's not normally his.

We'll let you take a look at the trailer for yourself, which features a lot of mind-bending psychologically-testing material, a first look at Ethan Hawke's still-unnamed (and wonderfully-maned) villain, said to be named Arthur Harrow, and a wonderfully-chosen needle drop of a manipulated version of Kid Cudi's "Day 'N' Nite"

This comes a few months after Disney+ day featured a first look at a number of new Disney+ projects, one of which was Moon Knight. The footage, which only lasted about 40 seconds, shows Isaac in character as Marc Spector. "I can't tell the difference between my waking life, and dreams," we hear Marc (as confirmed by Disney+ subtitles) say in what sounds like a rather wild English accent. All the while, we see some rather trippy footage; Marc's reflection not following his body, looking very troubled at himself in the mirror, et cetera.

As the trailer continues, we hear a different voice—it sounds like Ethan Hawke, and more on him below—chime in. "The voice in your head...it devours you," he says, as we see someone in the Moon Knight costume pummeling someone into the ground (or maybe just punching the ground?), running quickly, and jumping from one building to another.

It was a brief tease, but more than enough to get us very, very excited.

Watch Moon Knight footage at the end of the Disney+ Day Clip Here

There's also a Moon Knight poster.

And it's extremely cool:

Oscar Isaac will face off with Ethan Hawke in Moon Knight.

We also know that the titular character and hero won't be the only major star in the series, as it will also feature a huge name as its villain: Ethan Hawke, who was seen in the trailer rocking a wild head of hair.

In its post-Avengers: Endgame era, Marvel hasn't been sparing any of its ammo when it comes to casting; superstars like Angelina Jolie (Eternals) and Christian Bale (Thor: Love and Thunder) have joined for feature films, but Hawke and Isaac are probably the biggest names confirmed yet for the small screen treatment.

Hawke, a four-time Academy Award nominee, is playing an unknown villain at this point, though he's supposedly named Arthur Harrow. Some believe that this character will be a version of The Sun King, a villain from a relatively recent Moon Knight comic run. Another Moon Knight arch nemesis in Marvel Comics is Bushman, a fellow mercenary and former ally who turned on the hero when Egyptian gold entered the story's fray.

What is Moon Knight?

While Moon Knight is far from Marvel's best known character, he's been around for 45 years at this point, having made his debut in Werewolf by Night #32 back in August 1975. The character's premise, according to Variety, sounds like something of a more supernaturally-powered take on Batman. Marc Spector (who will be played in the series by Isaac) is an elite mercenary who dies, then becomes revived as the human avatar for Khonshu, the Egyptian god of the moon, and decides to begin fighting crime.

Much of Moon Knight's important character history also comes through the lens of mental illness and mental health. Marc Spector is commonly depicted as having Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID); that was a major part of the 2017 Moon Knight arc written by Max Bemis (frontman of the band Say Anything), and looks from the trailer to be a very major part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's series.

That Bemis run on Moon Knight also features a character who could give us some hints at Ethan Hawke's villain: another mercenary who's been paired with an ancient god, known most often as The Sun King. It kind of has a Venom feel to it, but significantly different (and with no aliens involved).

Moon Knight isn't on the level of, say, Captain America or Spider-Man, but he's certainly a favorite among comic fans; IGN named Moon Knight the #49 greatest Avenger of all time, and the #89 Comic Book hero , while Wizard declared the character the #149 greatest comic character in the history of the medium.

Which filmmakers are behind Moon Knight?

Like WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki (among others), Moon Knight will get the full MCU treatment. That means Kevin Feige, the MCU's chief, will be just as involved as he is with the studio's many feature films. The showrunner will be Jeremy Slater, who is a writer on The Umbrella Academy and previously created FOX's short-lived TV version of The Exorcist.

As far as the directing of the show goes, Marvel is once again going to the indie realm (much like how Chloé Zhao directed Eternals hot off the release of her indie darlings Nomadland and The Rider). The duties behind the camera will be split by Mohamad Diab, who made an acclaimed film called Clash (he will direct four episodes), and the duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who were behind a pair of successful indie horror films in The Endless and Synchronic (they will direct the other two).

Isaac was first officially confirmed for the series by cinematographer Gregory Middleton.

While Marvel's official marketing and promotional materials haven't yet confirmed that Isaac (or Hawke) will be starring in Moon Knight, the first official confirmation that this is real and not just rumor comes from an Instagram posted by cinematographer Gregory Middleton, an Emmy winner who's previously worked on shows like Watchmen and Game of Thrones.

"Well the secret is out. It’s an honor to be a part of introducing a new character to the MCU #MoonKnight. Who says cinematographers worry about white costumes! ... not if they are complex characters played by an amazing performer like @officialoscarrisaac," he wrote in his post. "Thank you director Mohamed Diab and the#mcu for inviting me aboard."

Moon Knight won't be Isaac's first foray into television.

While audiences probably know Isaac best for his role as ace pilot and general badass Poe Dameron in all three Star Wars prequels or his more prestigious roles in smaller films like Ex Machina or Inside Llewyn Davis, he also had one of his best roles in a television miniseries called Show Me A Hero from creator David Simon.

Isaac played Yonkers mayor Nick Wasicsko in the based-on-a-true-story series focused on the city's plan to build public housing in a majority-white section of the city. Simon, who also created The Wire and The Deuce, crafted Isaac a perfect project for his ability to project magnetic charisma and spirit-breaking sadness in the same character. He won a Golden Globe for the role.

Isaac also recently starred in HBO's Scenes From a Marriage, which he appeared in alongside Jessica Chastain. The two previously starred together in A Most Violent Year and were classmates when both were at Julliard.

It also won't be his first tango with Marvel.

Maybe this one isn't as worth mentioning—Isaac played the titular villain in 2016's X-Men: Apocalpyse. Isaac, draped in purple make-up for the film's duration did his best but ultimately it was an unremarkable role in an unremarkable film (47% on Rotten Tomatoes). Since it was the old X-Men timeline, it wasn't technically part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so there are no issues there of any sort. This should just be a footnote before a much better role in the future—not dissimilar from Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern run or Chris Evans' movies as the Fantastic Four's Human Torch (remember those?).

Isaac also had a miniscule voice work cameo in a credits scene of 2018's Academy Award-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, playing Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man 2099 (although he's credited as "Interesting Person #1). It's a role that will expand in 2022's sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One); Oscar Isaac is certainly keeping busy in different corners of the Marvel world.

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