Moon Knight Helps Transform the Marvel Universe

The Marvel Comics universe has been put through the proverbial wringer more times than fans can count, with Earth-shattering events happening at an almost alarming rate. In addition to some standalone events, the main continuity of Earth-616 has been affected pretty profoundly in recent books, and it looks like the pages of Avengers are no exception. Lately, the book has been following the adventures of Mark Spector/Moon Knight, as he unintentionally gets pulled into a major conflict involving the other Avengers. The series’ most recent issue saw that take some devastating and unexpected turns, with part of the Marvel universe being changed (for the time being). Spoilers for Avengers #34 below! Only look if you want to know!

The issue followed Moon Knight reuniting with Khonshu, the Egyptian god who provides him with his superhero powers. After bringing him an offering of the other Avengers’ powers, Moon Knight and Khonshu traveled to Mephisto’s prison in the Hotel Inferno, where Moon Knight proceeded to kill him for orchestrating his recent dark deeds. Khonshu remarked to Moon Knight that the battle was far from over, and Moon Knight wondered what more could be asked from him. Khonshu responded by saying that he would take care of it himself, before grabbing and wielding Thor’s Mjolnir hammer.

The issue then jumped ahead two weeks in time to “New Thebes City”, which was previously referred to as Manhattan, New York. The city was clearly a mashup of contemporary architecture and Egyptian flare, complete with a horde of zombies able to apprehend superheroes who are “too blind to join” the crusade. As Moon Knight remarks, Khonshu was able to reshape the world in a matter of days with the powers he acquired for him, all with the goal of fortifying the earth against a common enemy.

This change in Manhattan’s whole structure is absolutely surprising, and definitely sets up a lot of work that the remaining members of the Avengers need to do to fix it. Moon Knight’s semi-reluctant role in the proceedings also makes things interesting, even as he is becoming more powerful than ever.

“Yes, I do have plans for Moon Knight,” Avengers writer Jason Aaron teased to ComicBook.com back in 2019. “It’s a question of ‘When am I gonna slap that in?’ That’s not one of those first arcs after War of the Realms. I really have a big Moon Knight story I really, really want to do. It’s just a matter of when we get to it.”

“I like putting a pin in things and showing this is literally where we’re going,” Aaron continued. “It might take a little while to get there, but I’m not planning on going anywhere for a while, so we’ll get to all of them.”

What do you think of Moon Knight helping change Manhattan in the pages of Avengers? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!