#moon knight analysis

[traveller-of-the-knight]

So many things I want to talk about in this scene. But I think these screenshots say it all.

[angelmichelangelo]

so i was rewatching the scene where harrow shoots marc (because why not yknow) and i was just thinking about how in that slow mo part right after harrow shoots him how we get two kinds of reaction shots from marc.. or at least, what we think is marc.

so we know marc is fronting during that talk with harrow. he’s the one that starts the attack on harrow’s men and then boom. he gets a bullet to the chest. it cuts away to layla’s reaction (authors note: that’ll never not be devastating to me) but then we get marc stumbling backwards, looking shocked and scared when i was like: hmmm maybe this isn’t marc!

idk about any of yall but his body language in this reminds me of steven. fumbling and shocked, he’s never been shot before. he’s never had to know what that feels like.

in my opinion, i think steven fronted here. maybe on accident. maybe because he didn’t know what was going on, could tell marc was hurt or in pain and when he came to the front was just like “oh wait wtf is this??”

because then, just before harrow shoots him again, after it cuts back to him, when we see the system again, he’s no longer struggling to look for something to hold onto to, or fumbling backwards or looking quite as shocked.

he’s trying to stand up straight. he’s gritting his teeth. he’s looking like he’s ready for a fight, and i think this might be marc again, who fronted to protect steven from feeling that pain. to protect him, even if it is too late.

and i also feel it’s pretty symbolic that harrow shot him twice in the chest. a bullet for each of them, yet marc was willing to endure the pain for each one because he couldn’t bare steven having to go through what he felt was the pain deserved for him.

idk i just thought it was interesting. and by interesting i mean: this whole scene hurt me like a motherfucker lmao

[moonymelly]

-Hello!!-

I am a young artist called Moon Mel, aka moonymelly aka Mel…whatever you wanna call me. 🤭

I’ve been around on Tumblr for a little while and I’ve loved everything I’ve seen so far. :D When I joined I was part of The Onceler fandom, and I’m sorry to inform that I’m not really…as obsessed with it anymore…😬

(PLS IM SO SORRY ONCELER MOOTIES…*sobs*)

Note: Hypertixations change all the time…I draw what I love, K?

As of recently, something happened in me that just urged me to revisit my first ever hyper fixation:

- M O O N K N I G H T -

Yep, my Moon knight phase is totally back and stronger than ever. During my unwanted and unexpected hiatus, Moon Knight had seriously changed my art for the better, and I am so excited to share it with you all, and to hopefully make friends because of it along the way!!

When I love something, I really love that something. Actually, Moon Knight is what even got me into drawing in the first place!! 2022 me was inspired by the fan art I would see online, and that’s how my fandom and art journey started.

(EDIT: LITERALLY HOW COULD I FORGET, OSCAR ISAAC!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE HIM…SO YEAH)

Like I said, I am SO excited for this fresh start and to share my art with you all. I’ll probably post random stuff alongside my art, too!! ;D

So, friends, that is my re-introduction and hopefully the start of something fresh and exciting.

I am MoonMel. >:)

Out!!

[dennona]

Let's talk about lighting and its symbolic use in Moon Knight

Specifically, I mostly wanna talk about the use of coloured lighting. I've been doing a lot of (video) editing with Moon Knight recently, and through that I've picked up on a few major reoccurring lighting choices that I think hold a lot of meaning.

first (and perhaps foremost): orange lighting.

I've seen a lot of people talk about how Moon Knight subverts colour symbolism's most basic uses and meanings (like in this great post), and I think the use of orange lighting absolutely falls into this category. Orange is mostly associated with optimism, positivity, and emotional warmth but this meaning is flipped on its head in the show, instead representing danger and feelings of wrongness (for lack of a better word lol). I won't mention every occurrence of this, but here are some key textual examples...

The bathroom jackal scene (ep1):

It's a bit more subtle than other examples, but this is basically our introduction to the warm / orange lighting motif. This is probably the most scared steven has been in his life, and it's certainly the most danger he personally has ever faced. It's a pretty basic example, but significant nonetheless as it sets up our expectations for the rest of the series.

The Steven vs jackal fight (ep2):

This may not be the best screenshot I could have grabbed, but this scene is very much dominated by orange / warm lighting. Once again, Steven finds himself in an uncharacteristic amount of danger - hence the orange lighting. What makes this more interesting, however, is considering how the threat of the jackal is subjective and changes based on whos fronting, and how the lighting corresponds to this. While Steven, at this point, can't quite take down the jackal himself, it's really no problem for Marc. We see this more literally in Marc's swift and effective neutralisation of the threat, but then also in the way he literally changes the setting.

Marc physically removes himself from the orange lighting and into a darker, cool-toned atmosphere which we could consider to be more his 'domain' (this is something I'll expand on later). In this way, Marc both awards himself power by moving into a setting he's more aligned with, but also hints to the audience that his success in this fight is inevitable (whereas for Steven, in his orange lighting, triumph would be more up-for-debate and dangerous to achieve).

The Cairo hotel room (ep2):

There's a lot of debate on whether it's Marc or Jake fronting in this clip, but regardless I think the reason this is one of the most orange-saturated scenes in the show is to signpost Marc's self-destructive tendencies and the danger he poses to himself. Even if it is Jake that we are literally seeing in this moment, I firmly believe that the damage and destruction we see (the bleeding hand, depleated bottle, destroyed furniture and glass shards) is a direct result of Marc's relapse into self-destruction as a coping mechanism. It makes sense that Marc may turn to this kind of dangerous emotional outlet after everything we see in the first two episodes: Harrow gets the scarab, Marc is forced to confront Layla for the first time in months and see her be put in danger after painfully leaving their marriage in the name of protection, and the walls between himself and Steven crumble further (consequently putting Steven in danger too). So, then, the vivid orange lighting in this clip serves to show us the heightened danger Marc poses to himself, rather than a danger posed by some outside force like before.

Wendy Spector

Oh boy, now this is where it gets juicy. Like the colour orange, Wendy -as a mother- is supposed to be warm, compassionate, and a positive force in Marc's life. Instead, Wendy becomes the embodiment of fear and danger for young Marc. Notably, we're introduced to Wendy Spector before she chooses abusive behaviours in the face of grief. We meet Wendy while she's still kind and loving as a mother - or any parent - should be. Also notably, we see this version of Marc's mom in natural (uncoloured) lighting, unbiased and untained. This becomes significant since after Randall's death, she is only ever depicted in orange and warm lighting. This dramatic and total shift in the lighting Wendy is associated with and seen in illustrates just how dangerous she becomes to the people around her, dangerous enough that she's associated with similar lighting to massive supernatural threats such as Harrow and Ammit.

Darker and cool-toned lighting

Darker and cool-toned lighting is visually the antithesis of the warm lighting we see above, so it makes sense that it is ultimately aligned with power and success (specifically for Marc but also the other protagonists as well). It also makes sense that this would be the case since Marc takes up the role of Moon Knight and serves Khonshu, who is (funny enough) god of the moon and night. Consequently, dark lighting comes to signpost and symbolize the system's power and success. I've already talked briefly about Marc moving away from the orange and into the darker lighting that is more his 'domain,' so the only additional example I'll supply for this one is the final Harrow/Ammit fight scene:

While scenes including Harrow and Ammit before were mostly saturated with orange (symbolising threat and danger), the climactic final fight features very little orange lighting. The presence of some warmer lighting, however, shows us how the danger hasn't entirely disappeared. Yet still, the much more dominant shadows and cool tones also show us that our protagonists are poised to win, and the threat of Ammit and Harrow is far less now. I think this shift is directly related to Steven and Marc's time in the Duat, which allowed them to begin down a road of healing and teamwork (and consiquentally made them more effective than when they were constantly at eachother's throats).

I've also got some fun ideas about how purple colouring / lighting is used - especially how it's consistently coupled with Harrow but also Layla and the Duat which i find so interesting. Alas, that is a post for another time cause this is already long enough lol.

[luke-o-lophus]

On my n-th Moon Knight ep1 rewatch and here are some things I noticed :

1. Crocodile plushie in the second box Steven grabs after Taweret plushies box

2. Steven leaves his half eaten wrap on the bench....?

3. Steven does not spit out any of the blood in his mouth when he wakes up in Germany..?

4. Fully convinced now that Khonshu thought it's Jake in the first few moments there. Which implies Jake is already aware of Marc.

5. Two reflections when he 'wakes up' from this 'dream'

6. Steven the kind of person who'd hear a noise in a very haunted looking house and go to investigate. Case in point, him going after the 'dog' in museum and Marc muttering "Steven what are you doing" (subtitles!)

7. Layla and her dad in a photo in the end credits??

8. Scarlet Scarab wing engraving in end credits while showing May..Along with scarlet flare

9. Oscar in three-s literally everywhere

10. Psychiatric Hospital corridor transitioning to Container storage corridor and back between flashes of light

Will keep adding and editing as I observe more!

[betweenthescarletmoon]

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

Más allá del sol / Far beyond the sun

Más allá del sol / Far beyond the sun

Yo tengo un hogar / I have a home

Hogar, bello hogar / A beautiful home

Más allá del sol / Far beyond the sun

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

What if Jake Lockley, as well as from Marc Spector, was manifesting his own perception of peace in the Field of Reeds? It would explain the use of Más Allá del Sol, which I would say became his amazing theme when he whistles it. I have a feeling that despite the rough exterior, he dreams of a type of rest like this. Makes sense, if your entire existence's purpose is to constantly deal with the worst of the world to keep your alters safe, without a moment to breathe.

What if Jake saw the lack of danger, loneliness, and hurt as only possible with revenge? The only way of protecting Marc and Steven, who are both currently unable to choose murder because of their respective moral compasses and triggers?

What if the Scales and Jake's sense of justice differed? (What if they aligned? It's very possible Harrow wouldn't be accepted into the Field.)

Even after two weeks, this show gives me new thoughts. Thank you Mohamed, Oscar, Ethan, Jeremy, and WHOEVER the genius behind the soundtrack was.

[mahalshairyballs]

My headcanon is slowly forming, or solidifying really

I have a weird relationship with headcanons I have to form my One True Canon where it's the definitive way of how I see the characters.

It lets me write analysis which I like and missed doing that. It doesn't hurt that the tumblr moon knight fandom has responded well to what I put out so far.

So I was thinking earlier. Do I have more character analysis to make more metas/posts?

Yes

Yes I do.

I probably should write it in another three parter. Still lots to share.

[lildoodlenoodle]

First things first(spoilers for spiderverse/spidergeddon and comic noir storyline) this is a long post but you’ll have fun I promise. As always feel free to engage with the post, I’d love to hear different theories/opinions/conclusions on this in the tags or comments. Sorry it took so long!

Now I’m gonna say something morbid:

Spider Noir’s death in the comics was hilarious

Jarring, but hilarious. Like why’d he grab him like that. I physically had to shut off my iPad and go for a walk after this scene when I first read it.

But to my point, you know how some people say your birth mark is how you died in your last life?

Well post resurrection we might have A, B, and C:

(Now before anyone gets on me for, why would you do that/even think of this? In my defense, I couldn’t remember where he was grabbed, it’s been a while since I’ve read these. I thought it was gonna be on his back or shoulder and I’d give him a burned on handprint going all ‘gripped you tight and raised from perdition’ which is cool, fun, sexy, and conveniently hidden. Then I reread it and it’s basically a permanent face palm. Also pretend his face looks the same in every one. Couldn’t decide on hair either lol.)

Either way post resurrection Peter should have physical after effects of his resurrection. Either lines all over his body from having the life force sucked out of him or birth/burn marks on his face. I think this would be hilarious, angsty, and interesting. I also hate when people are just resurrected willynilly. LET THE TRAUMA OF DYING AND COMING BACK TAKE ITS TOLE. Especially if it’s multiple times.

In MK: Midnight Mission they, pretty recently, came up against this problem with the MK system being resurrected over and over again and facing really no visible consequences. But then we find out, there isn’t really a limit(ignoring the whole Khonshu imprisonment), but eventually mentally, there will be nothing left to resurrect. And the mindless mummy warrior creatures we meet from Khonshu’s ‘world’ were old avatars that wasted away from resurrections. It explains the alterations and perversions of the MK system’s mental conditions, because they are actively being altered and changed, to be brought back, by a multidimensional creature that doesn’t care about their mental health/state(that Khonshu takes advantage of, knowing what he’s doing). Sound familiar?

Now, time to get philosophical. Ship of Theseus.

What is it? Ship of Theseus is an ideological/philosophy problem about a king, Theseus, who saved the children of Athens from king Minos and the Minotaur and then sailed his ship to Delos. Then each year Athenians would sail that same ship from Athens to Delos in celebration of the myth. Over time they kept replacing parts of the ship for maintenance purposes, till every plank had been replaced, so they could still make the voyage. Now the question is, is it still the same ship? At what point did it stop becoming that original ship? And does it matter?

Applying this philosophical exercise to resurrection, with what we know above, we can get an interesting dialogue going. But, with that said, it’s important to keep in mind that the resurrection process in this context with these multidimensional gods isn’t explained with enough detail to really take it apart. Like what happens to the soul? Is the brain damage we know Marc has from repeatedly dying and his brain repeatedly going without oxygen or is it from just interacting with a multidimensional god? Is the spider god comparable to Khonshu? Is the spider god even real, if not what or how was Peter actually resurrected? And if it is real, what is its main goal? At least with Khonshu we know he has an agenda. What does it want, what’s its end game?

But let’s get into it anyways.

Now, you may be wondering, why do I keep saying multiple resurrections in regards to Spider noir? I am so glad you asked! I believe Peter's initial spider bite killed him. He had to go to the afterlife to actually see the spider god. That’s why we really only see them three times, at the initial power conception, Peter’s resurrection, and when Peter goes to the ‘underworld’ in the 2020 run. We see something similar with Khonshu in Midnight mission, while he’s in space jail, Marc can only see him during resurrections or while he’s dead. And while we’re comparing the MK system to spider noir, when Marc got his powers, he basically had to die first. That was implied to be his first resurrection. So this wouldn’t be a one off situation. We have some rules.

What we don’t see with Moonknight and Khonshu is visual physical change. Outside of the ghost bird skull armor the boys aren’t visually changing. Meanwhile, Peter has physically turned into a monster before and turned completely back. In #4/5 of the 2020 noir run the cicada stone/pink meteor turns people into monsters, but not everyone. Huma turns, Shocker turns, Peter turns, and all the resurrected villains(one guy just explodes). But Hu-Ri and Checkpoint Red don’t, until Hu-Ri touches the stone. Huma and Peter are both in close proximity to eldritch beings, them turning into inspired versions of those beings make sense. The Shocker turns because he spent so much time holding onto the stone, whereas Red hasn't. But notice Shocker and Hu-Ri don’t turn into an animal inspired version of themselves like Huma and Peter do, he becomes more of a hulk like creature, because he isn’t attached to an other-worldly being. And when Peter turned back he essentially said “that hurt like a bitch” and kept moving.

If we want to keep with the canon noir timeline and going with the idea that the Spider god is either continuously changing Peter, or just changing him during resurrections this would explain the webbing and mood/personality change from the 2009 comics to the 2020 comics. But that’s boring and too simple and I hate the time jump so fuck that shit.(again another post).

So let’s focus back on ‘Ship of Theseus’ in the context of resurrection. We have too many questions about the process of resurrection for spider noir to properly have this conversation, but I’m going to try anyways. Let’s hit what we know again: resurrection changes your brain chemistry/structure, the spider god is changing Peter throughout the series, Peter has possibly had three resurrections, the spider god resurrected Peter from a different dimension, which confirms this is a multidimensional being(if she exists but shhhh). So now that we’ve established that there are changes happening to Peter(one way or another) we know that the spider god is ‘repairing’ Peter throughout the series or ‘replacing his boards’ so to speak.

At what point is this no longer Peter? Is it when he is no longer recognizable as a human? Or is it when there is nothing left in his mind to resurrect? Or has this never been Peter, or rather not since his first resurrection when he got his powers? Is this change sudden or slow? Is it the resurrection that turns him into something else, is it slow build up like an Iodine Clock titration and one day he just wakes up no longer human, or is it a slow process of subtle changes? But if the latter, what’s the change that does it? What defines Peter’s humanity? Does it matter if he’s human or not? Does it change anything for him if he’s no longer human in body and mind?

Part of the answer may lie in the villains we see through the 2009 and 2020 runs. In the first run the main villains were the Goblin and the Vulture. Both who were implied to not be human or having physical inhuman qualities(but I’m partially ignoring the whole carney thing cause honestly it’s ableist and boring). In Eyes Without A Face, the second run, the main villains are the Crime Master and Dr. Octavious, both humans with no inhuman or supernatural qualities. For simplicity sake, let’s focus on Octavious and Goblin. In comparing the two I think most people would agree Octavious is the more heinous of the two. Goblin takes on the role of a mob boss. He runs a crime empire, exploiting the defenseless in New york. It’s nothing new and he’s even somewhat sympathetic ‘I’m finished with freakshows’, you can understand how he got where he is. This is not to say he isn’t a villain but he very much fits the ‘villain with a tragic backstory’. People look at him like he is a monster, we, the reader, start out the story knowing what he is.

Whereas Octavious is not even remotely sympathetic because there is no empathizing with how he ended up there and why he does what he does. He is not only othered by his actions but also by the narrative for his disability(it’s important to acknowledge the ableism in his story but that is another post). Ultimately his delusions and the acts he commits make him a much more sinister monster than Norman, despite Norman actually having stereotypical qualities of a monster.

Then we have Huma and Shocker from the 2020 run. Huma is the closest person we see who is in a similar situation to Peter in terms of the spider god. While we don’t know all the details, whether she is the same as Peter, bearing a curse of power, or the actual god. Either way she presents as human and is not treated differently than any other human woman. At the end of the series we realize how corrupt she is and that she’s been working with Nazi’s, not necessarily for the ideology but to achieve what she wants. Her transformation is the nail in her coffin of her monsterous perception. The question is did we need her to look like a monster to see her as one?

In general we are left with more questions and theories than answers.

But onto my subjective answers to the questions. My answers might change over time so don’t hold me to them.

Of course it matters if Peter has humanity. Peter Parker across the board is one of the characters who HAS to hold himself to a moral code or he falls apart and becomes the villain(well maybe not the villain but you know what I mean) of the story. He holds back during fights and has a no kill policy for a reason.(Good men don’t need rules, today is not the day to find out why I have so many.-dr.who) But noir Peter isn’t your typical Peter. He kills, he maims, he doesn’t hold back. With that said, he still is held together by his morality. It’s just different than what we are used to seeing from Peter, but don’t mistake that as a lack of morality. However, do I think it’s a very real possibility that this morality could be eroded over time especially considering his home world and the above circumstances? Absolutely. Peter is someone who historically needs someone to ground him and ‘make’ him human. This is normally May Parker, Mary Jane, Gwen Stacy, occasionally Harry Osborn, Daredevil, Johnny Storm, and Flash Thompson, and the ghost of Ben Parker. Dude lives by a passing saying of a dead relative, he clearly doesn’t have a super solid moral compass. I think this is part of the reason the noir comics kept his relationship with May and Mary Jane(I disagree but whatever whatever), because he needs support to stay grounded.

Now, under what circumstances is Peter no longer Peter? I’m going with the Iodine Clock titration theory. Just drop after drop of ‘changes’ and morally questionable decisions that don’t seem to hold much weight, until he does something truly off the reservation. Like seeing himself do something truly horrific that a couple years ago he would have never done and shocking himself out of it. Or looks in the mirror and doesn’t see a person staring back. For either circumstance, because he’s appalled with himself or struck by the fact he doesn’t really care. This is not to say I don’t think he could come back from this but holy shit will it be a process.

But it brings us back to ‘If there is too much power then it is the responsibility of the people to take it away.’ Peter losing his humanity puts him in the Goblin’s place as the one with great power that cannot be trusted from the first comic. Whether it’s the resurrections, the spider god ‘replacing’ parts of him, or him just being pushed to the brink mentally that does it. Whether the change is physical, neurological, spiritual, or mental. This ‘Peter’ is not the Peter we first meet in 1932.

This is a different ship, and you can sail and stay on the same course in memory of, or under the false pretense of being, the original as many times as you want, but you cannot bring back the parts you replaced and undo the ‘improvements’ you made. But that doesn’t need to make Peter a monster.

[copingchaos]

part of the reason i love these promo pictures is bc i like the possible hidden meaning behind the different looks oscar displays. Hinting at the 3 alters mayhaps, with marc in the ceremonial suit and steven the sporting psycho colonel sanders fit. i like the idea that it is jake who might be the unmasked version, in de middle. it's so him, he doesn't need any armor bc he's a baddie,,, and he usually hides in plain sight anyway💔

[villainboygirl]

The evolution of pain expressed by characters in the MCU

MCU's characters crying in the Infinity Saga:

MCU's characters crying in the Multiverse Saga:

I love how they finally show without filters the pain of characters. Not a sad face and a single sexy tear rolling down a cheek, but pure, raw emotion out of control.

[gerrysherry]

In honor of that terrible tiktok that compares our blorbo Magneto to Tony Stark, I propose comparing him to one of the few avengers he actually has things in common with (the others being his own kids and Bucky Barnes) - Marc Spector, host of the system who call themselves Moon Knight.

Let’s play a game. I tell you vague plot points and you will guess whether I’m talking about Magneto or Moon Knight. answers under the cut.

1 Started out as the antagonist, after many years and fights they’re now allies with the protagonist

2 first wife, whose name is short for Mary Magdalene, left him for being too violent, not taking his idea of vengeance very well

3 Let a colorful team led by a woman arrest him so he could serve trial for crimes he committed in another country

4 The Nazi who tormented him as a kid really thought our protagonist would join him and his weird little murder club as an adult. Said Nazi gets murdered by our protagonist for his trouble.

5 His trauma and mental illness are used to either villainize or excuse his actions (or both at once)

6 Got revenge on his corrupt CIA handler and is portrayed as heroic for doing so

7 Almost enslaved the population of New York that one time except it wasn’t really him

8 Still blames himself for the paralysis of his oldest friend

9 Has exactly one close Jewish friend

10 Was revealed to be Jewish by a later writer who was Jewish himself

11 Writers occasionally retcon him as a goy in an effort to not write him as an antisemitic stereotype instead of not writing him as an antisemitic stereotype to begin with

All of these apply to both of them. Should have been obvious by the vague wording. I’m not for a second implying they’re the same character as many of these tropes apply to other characters as well.

Four and nine are kind of stock tropes for Jewish anti-heroes, sadly. I especially hate four being common. Five and seven happened to a lot of characters, especially those who ‘go crazy’. Six is really just the trope of ‘CIA bad, FBI good’ which is thoroughly deserved for the CIA but really lets the FBI off the hook for their crimes. Eight is a bit of a stock trope too, seeing disability as a friendship destroying tragedy. Ten is true for Ben Grimm and the Maximoffs (and their kids) as well. Few Jewish characters are introduced as such in Marvel. Kitty Pryde is the exception, not the rule.

The main differences between Magneto and Moon Knight are upbringing and motivation. I find it disingenuous to compare the experience of a surviving World War Two to growing up in Baby Boom Era (or 80s Reagan era) America, two very different types of antisemitism. The motivation angle is even more crucial, Magneto does things for a social cause, Marc was either in it for the money pre redemption arc and more for spiritual reasons post redemption arc.

Anyways, let’s look at the context to see they actually have very little in common, because when you look at the context often it’s not the same story at all.

Explanation:

Marc Spector first shows up in Werewolf by Night as a mercenary working for the villainous committee hired to capture the werewolf Jack Russell. Realizing that he’s the bad guy in WWBN, Marc joins forces with Jack and kills most of the committee (it’s a horror comic, they can do that). Marc and Jack have since worked together more than they’ve fought. Magneto started as THE first X-men villain but has since become their ally after many, many fights.

2. Magda is short for Magdalene, Marlene is short for Mary Magdalene. Magda leaves Max (Magneto’s birth name) when he murders everyone in a crowd of people who murdered their daughter Anya. Marlene leaves Steven (Marc’s alter whom she married) after Marc cut off his nemesis’ face and wore it as a mask. Unlike Magda, who absolutely freaks out that her husband can murder with his mind, Marlene has been putting up with Marc’s murderous ways for years and decides the line has been drawn at nemesis face wearing.

3. Magneto lets Mystique’s brotherhood arrest him for nebulous crimes and be extradited from the USA to France in UXM #199. Marc lets Silver Sable’s wild bunch arrest him for assassination of a South American dictator and extradited to said Latin American country for trial in ‘Marc Spector: Moon Knight’. Completely different stories but the fight looks oddly similar. I like to think that Marc and Sable have a history of working together because she comes from a family of Nazi hunters and they’re both mercenaries.

4. In X-men first class, Erik was exploited and abused by Sebastian Shaw, a nazi collaborator who uses Erik for his powers and murders Erik’s mother. When they meet as adults, Shaw runs the Hellfire club and wants Erik to join him. Erik kills Shaw with his powers, the very powers Shaw hoped to to use. In Max Bemis' Moon Knight, Marc has an abuser named Ernst who tries to goad the boy into murder. When young Marc doesn’t do it, Ernst disappears. When they meet as adults it’s revealed Ernst is a nazi war criminal who runs a society for sadists and expects Jake (the alter he views as most evil) to join him (despite hating Jews and having killed Marc’s grandfather). After much soul-searching over whether he’s just as bad, Jake essentially beats Ernst within an inch of his life and leaves him to die. Boxing is the first fighting style the system learned, in part to protect themselves from people like Ernst and in part to earn some much needed money. However how the two deal with their abusers is telling about who they are as people. Marc has killed plenty of innocents in his mercenary years but still can’t bring himself to hurt his abuser from childhood possibly fearing to ‘sink to his level’ and possibly because he still feels like a powerless child around Ernst. Erik… has no such compunctions with killing Shaw and also steals Shaw’s cool helmet. Also both stories take a character and dilute their two very different experiences with two different types of antisemitism and boil it down to ‘he has a vendetta against this one specific Nazi who hurt him as a kid’.

5. Erik clearly has PTSD and possibly bipolar disorder/ schizoaffective disorder as well. It’s sometimes used to explain why he’s evil: ‘Well, he was manic at the time’/‘his psychosis is worse than ever before’. Also his power levels do seem to fluctuate wildly and bipolar is used as the excuse. I have yet to see Erik’s bipolar being portrayed in a non-ableist way the way Lorna’s bipolar is. Marc is a host alter of a DID system. Many writers handle this badly and portray Marc or Jake as an evil possessing force waiting to be let free and murder for fun. Sometimes the writers do this to Khonshu instead and it’s as boring but less problematic than the evil alter trope. Other times, Marc and his alters work together to achieve their goals and are shown as trying to overcome their many issues together.

6. Erik murders Control, his CIA handler after Control kills Erik’s girlfriend Isabelle. Control does this because Erik killed a paperclip scientist America had plans for. Marc almost kills his former CIA handler William Cross after Cross tried to mind control him and Jake’s new friend Ben Grimm. Cross just wants to take over the world after losing his eye and his hearing to a botched assassination. It’s implied that either Cross taught Marc to resist mind control or even Cross has tried to brainwash Marc before and Marc learned to resist. It’s also possible MARC was the one responsible for the botched assassination of Cross.

7. Actually the time Magneto imprisoned and almost murdered most of New York wasn’t him at all, it was actually Xorn the whole time. Actually the time when Moon Knight turned New York into New Thebes and turned people into werewolves and forced the rest to build pyramids, he was possessed by Khonshu the whole time. Both runs are hated by fans of the characters for completely derailing both characters.

8. In X-men first class, Erik accidentally wounds Charles in the spine and paralyzes him below the waist. In Shadowland, Marc’s undead brother Rand attacks those close to the system. Jean-Paul, Marc’s friend from the mercenary days, is hurt especially hard and even with prosthetics he uses crutches. Neither Jean-Paul nor Charles hold it against their old friend. Both Erik and Marc blame themselves and decide this is a good reason to completely cut off contact. I get the rationale was ‘I’m too dangerous to be around’ but… like, maybe visit your friend in the hospital? Also it’s not like Marc is a wanted terrorist who would be instantly arrested in that space in time (he is his backstory, see point 3) so he has less of an excuse for never visiting his friend.

9. Erik’s ties to the wider Jewish community are tied to Kitty Pryde. If Kitty’s not dragging him to a party, he’s celebrating High Holidays alone (or not at all). The only Jewish person Marc, Steven and Jake keep up with is Ben Grimm. Ben sends a Hanukkah card to MK every year and this is canon. If Ben decides to attend one of Kitty’s parties he might invite Moon Knight too (as seen in one Marvel Holiday Special). This also means that MK and Mags have a) met at one of Kitty’s Hanukkah parties or b) share a mutual acquaintance through Kitty

10. Stan Lee just wanted a knock-off Dr. Doom to face off his X-men. Chris Claremont was the one to give Magneto his now famous backstory first revealed in UXM 150. And even then we never had onscreen confirmation that Magnus was Jewish until the late 2000s because Marvel feared backlash. Marc Spector was named after a (presumably Jewish) friend of writer Doug Moench. Moench liked the spooky sounding name for his horror comic without realizing Spector is a historically Ashkenazic surname. While Moench dropped hints that Marc was Jewish, he never revealed so outright. possibly because the mercenary past in which Marc was only in it for the money (an antisemitic stereotype as they go), possibly because Spector served a pagan god or perhaps because the Goy Moench didn’t feel qualified to explore that aspect of Marc properly. Alan Zelentz, a former principal at a Yeshiva (A type of day school for Orthodox Jews) decided to make Marc the son of an Orthodox Rabbi and explore in which ways Moon Knight did and didn’t embody traditional Jewish values (there is a literal page devoted to that in Moon Knight 37, I kid you not). Many writers forget Marc was Orthodox and write as if he was raised Reform which can be jarring. As Jarring when both start talking about purgatory or hell. Jews don't have a hell and our closest concept to purgatory is gehenna. Now you know!

11. Writers either avoid mentioning Erik is Jewish or try to retcon him as Romani when they write him as a villain again. Writers also tend to avoid mentioning Marc is Jewish in stories where they show his past as a violent mercenary who is only in it for the money. What would be much better would be to instead avoid antisemitism altogether and write a man who only cares about his in-group or a man who only cares for money and his close friends and not writing an antisemitic stereotype.

Will I make a sequel for Wanda and Pietro or Bucky? Sadly no. You're welcome to make your own.

[traveller-of-the-knight]

Do you know what I love about moon knight? (Many things, yes but-)

The way that when Marc was questioning all of his sanity, questioning if he'd ever worked or ever met an egyptian god, questioning if everything that happened in the last decade was real, questioning everything he saw- He never questioned Steven. No Steven is there and he is real. They've been together since they are children, he survived because he knew he wasn't alone, he knew Steven is real, even if others probably have told him otherwise.

I think about that a lot.

And I want someone to love me as Marc loves Steven, a love so strong and real that against all odds, even if Steven being real sounds impossible Marc doesn't lose faith. Because a love that strong must be real

[lionofstone]

thinking about diatrice alraune again (thanks, @xenonmoon for your mk blogging!) and how much her existence frustrates me. that run has a multitude of flaws but the one that always gets me grinding my teeth is how little of diatrice's existence makes sense. i can understand marlene hooking up with jake (even if i do think it's slightly ooc because marlene always seemed to like jake the least—i do like that jake likes and cares for her, and later runs do somewhat interesting things with it) but i HATE that they act as though jake isn't her father?? jake is the only one, at this point, who has any kind of relationship with marlene. he's the one who slept with her, he's the one who goes to visit her, and yet diatrice knows him as uncle jake?? literally WHY. why did they tell her that marc is her father??? why does marc immediately accept this???? i think it's such a disservice to all the characters involved. marc is made to feel like an absent father, jake isn't even allowed to refer to his daughter as such, marlene continues to be so incredibly blasé about the system and her treatment of them, and diatrice is given a really incomplete impression of her family dynamic. (also what about steven?? does steven even play in at all? i don't remember. but like, in the og comics, steven was the one who marlene liked best/was dating, even if they retconned that sometime in the 90s. shouldn't he also care about this child he knew nothing about???)

[moonymelly]

BTW!!

My asks are open, so if any of y’all wanna ask whatever or *COUGH COUGH* GIMME MOON KNIGHT RELATED DOODLE PROMPTS/REQUESTS *COUGH COUGH*

clears throat

You guys can totally go ahead 😀

[mockiery]

LISTEN-

[luke-o-lophus]

This (fucking heartbreaking) scene. When I watched first, I tried to make sense of Marc's tears. Over someone who, in his words, made his life a living hell? Is it because he didn't get closure?

I have a different feeling.

Which brings me to Elias Spector. The father.

He's shown as a guy wrecked with grief and torn between his spiralling wife and abused child, trying to give Marc some semblance of normalcy. But let's take a step back. There is no way Elias didn't know about the shouting and beating. He didn't pull Marc out of it. Yes, he was in a terrible spot...but he was in a higher position of power compared to a child. He chose to keep the crumbs left of his family instead of seeking help and protecting his (now) only son.

In this scene, Marc spots him in the room at his mom's funeral. There's a long stare, and his dad doesn't come out to meet him. Marc is expected to swallow in all his trauma, be the bigger man and go inside. That's the moment it crashes into him how complicit his dad had been in his abuse. Even in her death, he'd rather be at the funeral than step out and meet his son. Even in her death, Elias chooses her over Marc.

And then Marc fucking breaks.

(finally had the courage to write this post after a conversation with @thatsthewrongwallcraig !...thank you <3)