The official trailer for Marvel Studios' Moon Knight has landed online – and, thankfully, we don't have long to wait for its arrival on Disney Plus.
As we previously reported, Moon Knight will launch on Disney's streaming service on Wednesday, March 30. That's good news for all MCU fans (us included), as we had expected that the next Marvel Phase 4 project we'd get to see would be Doctor Strange 2.
But we digress. Moon Knight's release is only two months away, but there's not a lot we actually know about the TV show. The trailer provides a few more details about its overarching plot, key characters, and Moon Knight's abilities, but much remains a mystery.
That is, unless you dig a little deeper. Below, we've covered six things you may have missed from the Moon Knight trailer, including who Ethan Hawke's villain is, what that thing is that Marc Spector sees as he enters an elevator, the creature that Moon Knight is beating up, and more.
Potential Moon Knight spoilers follow. Turn back now if you want to watch the Disney Plus show with as little information as possible.
Who is Arthur Harrow?
Let's get one of the bigger mysteries out of the way first: who is Arthur Harrow, Moon Knight's supposed antagonist being played by Ethan Hawke (Training Day, The Black Phone)?
Harrow is an obscure Marvel character who seems like a strange fit for an MCU show's primary villain. We know this because the YouTube version of the trailer supports subtitles, and turning them on reveals that this is who Hawke is playing.
In the comics, Arthur Harrow is a doctor who experimented on human subjects to try and find a way to stop people feeling pain. Sure, it sounds like a noble endeavour, but it really isn't.
Harrow only appeared briefly in one Marvel comic – 1985's Moon Knight #2 – so his inclusion seems like an odd choice. But, knowing how Marvel Studios operates, Harrow could actually be the public face of a larger, more secretive villain or antagonistic group.
Could O.M.N.I.UM, a secret organization with a hidden agenda in the Marvel comics, be the larger villain at play? Is Harrow, who is depicted as a cult leader in the Moon Knight TV series, merely a conduit for another ancient Egyptian god like Anubis? Or could Marvel combine his character with Sun King/Patient 86, an unnamed Marvel supervillain with pyrokinetic powers who suffers from bipolar disorder? Reddit users seem to think that the last of these options is the most logical, but only time will tell.
Marc Spector, meet Steven Grant
Moon Knight will star Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector, an ex-mercenary with dissociative identity disorder (DID) who is granted superhuman abilities by the Egyptian moon god Khonshu after a fatal fight with a rival.
Interestingly, though, it isn't Spector who appears to be in control at the start of the TV series. Instead, it seems that Steven Grant – one of Spector's alter-egos – is who we'll meet first. This is suggested as much when Steven/Marc's boss, who is called Donna – based on the trailer's YouTube subtitles – calls him "Stevie" when he shows up for work.
Later in the trailer, we hear a woman called Layla – is this the mystery character that May Calamawy (Ramy, Djinn) is playing? – call Isaac's character Marc, i.e. Moon Knight's real identity. But Steven asks Layla "Why did you call me Marc?", which heavily implies that Marc isn't the persona that's currently in charge.
Marc Spector has four different personalities, including Steven, in the comics. Will we see the other three – cab driver Jake Lockley, young girl Inner Child, and the white suited Mr. Knight – as part of Moon Knight's TV show? Here's hoping.
Ancient Egyptian gods aplenty
As a comic series, Moon Knight was heavily influenced by Egyptian mythology.
Marc Spector is granted superhuman abilities to fight crime by Khonshu, Marvel's take on the Egyptian moon god Khonsu, while Moon Knight's costume is inspired by the ancient Egyptian mummification process.
At the 0:45 minute mark, we actually see Khonshu appear on screen, too. It's only for a brief moment – Khonshu apparates in front of Steven/Marc when a light flickers before striding towards the elevator that Steven/Marc is about to ride in. Some fans initially thought that it was Thoth who appears, but it is Khonshu's signature mask and crescent-shaped staff that we see.
Later, at the 1:06 mark, we see Steven/Marc recover an old phone, which has a crocodile menu screen wallpaper. This could be a nod to the ancient Egyptian god Sobek (also spelled Sebek), who is not only the god of the Nile River, but also the patron god of the military. Given that Marc Spector is a former marine, this is a nice tie-in to the character's backstory.
We also see more ancient Egyptian gods in Ra, Osiris, and Anubis at the 5:40 mark as Steven/Marc wanders through a museum. Sure, they're only statues, but it's more nods to the history that influences Moon Knight's comic runs and TV series.
An American werewolf in London?
We previously reported on this in our Moon Knight release date leak article, but it seems that Moon Knight will go toe-to-toe with a werewolf (or potentially werewolves) in the six-part Disney Plus series.
As we see at the 1:40 mark, Moon Knight can be seen repeatedly punching a wolf-like creature in a public bathroom. The identity of this creature is unclear, but could it be Jake Gomez, aka one of two Marvel characters who have starred in a comic series called Werewolf By Night?
Gael García Bernal (Coco, Old) has reportedly been cast as the lead in Marvel Studios' Werewolf By Night, an upcoming Disney Plus Halloween special that's based on the comic property. There's a possibility, then, that Moon Knight could introduce this character before his official MCU arrival in the unnamed TV special.
If it isn't a werewolf, though, Moon Knight could be fighting a jackal, which are prevalent throughout ancient Egypt's history. If Egyptian god Anubis is part of proceedings in any way, he may have an army of jackals that he sends after Steven/Marc for as-yet-unknown reasons.
Signature weapons on show
Check out the all new poster for Marvel Studios’ @MoonKnight and start streaming the Original series March 30 on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/XFgxdxnc5UJanuary 18, 2022
Okay, this isn't part of the trailer, but we do know that Moon Knight's signature crescent moon-shaped darts will appear in the TV show.
Marvel Studios released a brand new poster for its latest project after the trailer had dropped online, and the one sheet confirmed that the crescent darts would make an appearance in the live-action series.
Curiously, the crescent dart in the poster is adorned with someone's blood, which implies that Moon Knight may be a darker and more savage offering than we've been used to from Marvel's live-action productions.
The blood-soaked aesthetic may only be used to give the poster a more visceral feel, though, and doesn't confirm that Moon Knight will be overtly violent or even cross over into R-rated territory. Still, it's an intriguing decision on Marvel's part to release a poster such as this for any of its projects.
Rubik's Cube imagery
Finally, we couldn't not include this fun little thematic Easter egg.
At the beginning of the trailer, we see Steven/Marc playing with a Rubik's Cube. The puzzle, which users solve by lining up the same colored squares on each side of the cube, appears to be a metaphor for the shifting nature of Steven/Marc's multiple personalities.
Once one of his personas is perfectly aligned, much like a completed face of a Rubik's Cube, that personality may end up taking over. It's a smart use of imagery, if nothing else.
