Moon Knight: New Look at Mr. Knight Drives Home the Question "Who Am I?"

By Russ Burlingame

Oscar Isaac is in the final stretch promoting Moon Knight, and one of the newest photos -- revealed as part of his interview with USA Today -- showcases his "Mr. Knight" look. If you're not already familiar, that's a white-on-white suit with a mask to match, rather than the hero's usual hood and cape. A superhero having more than one look for more than one kind of mission isn't unusual, but given the nature of Moon Knight, many fans see any new facet of him as potentially pointing to a manifestation of the character's disassociative personality disorder, an aspect of Marc Spector that the comics sometimes play with.

Moon Knight seems to be following in the footsteps of shows like WandaVision and Hawkeye, which dealt, at least at face value, with the emotional and cultural ramifications of living in a world filled with superheroes. The interview really drives home the fact that they will be exploring the multiple personalities of Moon Knight in the show.

In a meta way, the latest look at the Mr. Knight persona really emphasizes that point, as he's literally looking at another Mr. Knight in the image, which you can see below.

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(Photo: Marvel Studios (via USA Today))

"It's a story about identity and finding one's true self," executive producer Grant Curtis told USA Today. "The journey that Marc Spector is on during our whole show is: Who am I? And how do I reconcile portions of my past, present and potential future that I don't necessarily agree with? Coming to terms with our baggage and learning to live with ourselves is what we all deal with on a day-to-day basis."

"It's amazing that the brain has this survival mechanism, this way to cope," Isaac said of the character's disassociative personality disorder. "At a very young age, if you're going through sustained horrible trauma and abuse, something that can happen in order for one to survive is the brain splits into an alternate personality that has no idea of what's happening. Otherwise, you die because it's just so awful. And that is its own incredible, kind of beautiful superpower."

The "Mr. Knight" variant of Moon Knight first appeared in the acclaimed 2014 run on Moon Knight by Declan Shalvey and Warren Ellis.

Moon Knight follows Steven Grant, a mild-mannered gift-shop employee who becomes plagued with blackouts and memories of another life. Steven discovers he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector. As Steven/Marc's enemies converge upon them, they must navigate their complex identities while thrust into a deadly mystery among the powerful gods of Egypt.

Mohamed Diab and due Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead direct the six-episode series from producer Kevin Feige and head writer Jeremy Slater. The series stars Oscar Isaac as Steven Grant/Mark Spector, Ethan Hawke as Arthur Harrow, and May Calamawy in an undisclosed role.Moon Knight will debut on Disney+ on March 30.

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