Marvel’s Moon Knight and Its Commitment to Ancient Egyptian Mythology

After months of teasing, Marvel Studios has officially confirmed Oscar Isaac as the studio’s Marc Spector. Fresh off roles in Lucasfilm’s Star Wars franchise, Isaac is now set to play Moon Knight — a cult favorite with fans of the House of Ideas — for the foreseeable future. He’ll first appear in Disney+’s Moon Knight, before popping up in other properties around the Marvel Cinematic Universe, giving fans a genre-bending superhero that’s equal parts street-level brawler and mystical phenomenon.

If Isaac’s selfie announcement is any indication, the Moon Knight series is also shaping up to be much more committed to the retelling of Egyptian mythology compared to any street-level Mr. Knight tales involving the character. But before we go much further, let’s take a look at the image in question — one you all have already likely seen by now.

In the picture, we Isaac’s head as he stands against a wall chock-full of concept art in the Moon Knight production offices. Though the vast majority of concept art is covered, there are a few snippets the studio gave us in the image — and they all suggest the show’s full submersion into the world of old Egyptian gods.

In addition to the countless snippets of Moon Knight art — most of which comes from the latest run from Max Bemis and Jacen Burrows — there are two pieces uncovered that point to the show’s inclusion of the aforementioned gods. If you look closely towards the top, one of the pieces looks awfully similar to how Ra is depicted in most retellings of the character; and if it’s not him, it does appear at least the costume or clothing can be modeled after him.

Ra also had a presence in the Bemis/Burrows run, opposite Spector and Khonshu. While Spector serves as the avatar of Khonshu — a character often depicted as Egypt’s god of the moon — the comic title’s antagonist, the Sun King, claimed he was the avatar of Atum-Ra, an amalgamation of the gods sharing the same name.

In the lore, both Atum and Ra and solar deities, but neither were often compared to the villainous streak seen in Bemis’ Moon Knight. In fact, most Egyptian legends tout Ra as the ultimate creator of anything the sun touches. He’s often shown with a human body, and the head of a falcon — again, real similar to how the concept art appears.

Then you look just below that concept we’re assuming is Marvel’s take on Ra, and you’ll see a separate figure. Facing away from the camera, you can see a character dressed in black colors and is carrying what we assume is a crook and flail. Between the character’s green skin, and the presence of an altered atef atop his crown, we can assume this concept art is for Marvel’s version of Osiris.

The most classic of Egyptian stories sees Osiris being brutally murdered by his brother Set, who chops the god into 14 pieces and tosses him across the land in a fit of rage. Osiris’ wife Isis then gathers those pieces and manages to bring him back to life, turning him into the god of the afterlife and resurrection. Beyond that, scholars also considered Osiris to be the god of fertility, agriculture, life, and vegetation, essentially making him one of the most important pieces to the puzzle that is Egyptian mythology.

With the darker clothing we see Osiris wearing in the concept art, it seems if Marvel is focusing on the afterlife aspect of the god’s story, perhaps having him serve a role in the tale immediately after Spector’s death, before he’s resurrected as the Fist of Khonshu.

Though Moon Knight comics have always paid tribute to Egyptian mythology through the usage of Khonshu, it looks like the live-action series is set to explore the tales even further on a wide-reaching basis.

Moon Knight has yet to set a release date with Disney+. If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

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What characters do you hope to see pop up in the Isaac-starring series? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!