For Article Wednesday, I will be pushing the boundaries of the horror genre to bring about some recently released intriguing news. After a cult following has whispered hopes of a Moon Knight film (given the B and C class hero properties announced for production), Umberto Gonzalez of Heroic Hollywood more-than-hinted that Moon Knight is a very real possibility not for a film, but for a Netflix series. This is fantastic news, dare I say it, for horror and comic book fans alike if he is done justice.
Marvel films have generally been brighter and less serious than their DC competition. This is often considered the reason Marvel has been more successful in the cinematic industry than its rival. Two facts to the contrary are the success of the Dark Knight film franchise and the widely adored reception of the Daredevil Netflix series. Both dark, gritty takes on the superhero genre have been well-received and greatly enjoyed by fans and the casual viewing public.
Netflix, unbound by the constricting laws of cable television, have pushed the envelope of what Marvel is capable of portraying to its audience. Though Marvel swore off rated-R material after Punisher: War Zone, it has since retconned its own statement, with properties outside of its influence like Deadpool soon to be releasing a very rugged approach and the Netflix properties clearly taking their superheroes to visceral and violent places. This is why there should be such high hopes for a Moon Knight series.
Moon Knight was originally created behind the scenes as Marvel’s equivalent to Batman. Like a 3rd-rate knock off, Marc Spector and his alter ego Moon Knight took the Bruce Wayne/Batman concept and made it grotesquely and shamelessly savage. After becoming the avatar for the Egyptian god Konshu, Spector developed a bloodlust for criminals, brutally punishing them to the point of death. While he struggles with his own multi-personality disorders and schizophrenic-like behaviors, he fights criminals unsure if the spirit that beckons him is in his head or real.
Konshu itself morbidly communicates with Spector through corpses of fallen foes, often teasing and manipulating Spector into more gruesome acts of vengeance and justice. Spector struggles with his motivations and actions, all the while carving his crescent moon into burglars and rapists. He even cut his main villain’s face off, who he then saw regularly post mortem, either through his own psychotic imagination or through the mental torchers of his master. Taking forms of rotting worms or skeletal birds, Konshu speaks through Spector in a way that constantly tests his sanity.
Moon Knight was born in darkness and brutality. His stories are often gritty, visceral, and even disturbing. His behavior verges on anti-hero to even misunderstood villain. His god is a morbidly sardonic beast of bloodlust. There is little that can be taken of Moon Knight, should the plot hold true to the character, that is not rife with barbaric ferocity. A Netflix series that can do this hero justice would be something to behold, for comic and horror fans alike.