Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Moon Knight Episode 2.
The second episode of Moon Knight has arrived, bringing with it new characters and alter egos for Oscar Isaac’s Steven Grant. While the latest episode of the Marvel series is once again mainly focused on Grant’s struggles with dissociative identity disorder, the highlight of the episode comes in the form of an alter ego that fans have been waiting to catch a glimpse of. Apart from making an appearance in one of the official posters for the series, fans had not seen Mr. Knight in action, until now.
Comic book readers will be aware of Mr. Knight and what role he plays in the Marvel Comics, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe fans are meeting him for the first time. The latest Moon Knight episode manages to put Mr. Knight into a whole new context, changing his personality from the confident and intelligent version of Grant’s alter ego from the comics into a comical superhero, who is like a breath of fresh air in the otherwise dark series.
As part of the latest episode of Moon Knight, Isaac’s Grant is seen refusing control to his alter ego Marc Spector, the mercenary who is revealed to be Egyptian god Khonshu’s avatar. When Spector’s wife Layla El-Faouly, portrayed wonderfully by Egyptian-Palestinian actor May Calamawy, shows up, it becomes obvious that things are going to get further complicated.
Despite Spector’s repeated warnings, Grant shows Layla the mysterious golden scarab. It is later revealed that it is in fact an amulet that belongs to the Egyptian Goddess Ammit, and Ethan Hawke’s Arthur Harrow plans to use it as a compass to find her tomb. Keeping the scarab in her possession, Layla later arrives at what seems like Harrow’s headquarters. But, upon sensing the danger, she hands it over to Grant, and urges him to “summon the suit.” The action-packed sequence was previously released by Marvel Studios as exclusive footage to promote Moon Knight.
After Harrow uses his magical cane to summon another Egyptian jackal, Grant is left with no choice but to run for his life. When trying to escape from the creature, he is seen plummeting off a building, which is when he hears Khonshu repeating the same words that Layla had spoken earlier, “summon the suit.” This time, he manages to use a power that he didn’t know he possessed and makes the perfect landing as Mr. Knight. Gone is the casual attire of gift-shop employee Grant, and what stands before viewers is a suave Isaac dressed in an all-white, three-piece suit.
At this moment, Grant presumably inhabits the power and abilities gifted by Khonshu instead of Spector. Only instead of summoning “the ceremonial armor from Khonshu’s temple,” Grant dresses in Mr. Knight’s comic-book accurate look, which in Spector’s words looks like a “psycho Colonel Sanders.” Grant, on the other hand, seems to love his new look, and believes he looks “sharp.” His look is definitely more stylistic than Moon Knight’s hooded vigilante outfit. He even carries Mr. Knight’s iconic pair of batons from the comics, which he uses as his main weapons when in combat. However, his personality is nothing like his comic book counterpart.
In the Marvel Comics, Mr. Knight is a calculated character, who doesn’t typically get in fistfights. He uses his intelligence to tackle different scenarios, and has been compared by many critics and fans with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective Sherlock Holmes. This could also be because Mr. Knight maintains a good relationship with law enforcement bodies, and is able to get access to several crime scenes as well. He is, also, a whole other identity that Spector manifests, instead of something that Grant is responsible for.
With Moon Knight, the writers have taken some creative liberty over the plotline and changed some of the circumstances in Spector’s lives. In the comics, Grant is also not what the series has shown him to be. While the character does suffer from dissociative identity disorder, Grant is Spector’s millionaire alter ego, but the Disney Plus series depicts him as a mild-mannered gift shop employee who struggles with his own reality. With Grant summoning the Mr. Knight persona in the series, it makes sense that he is not the cool and composed version of himself from the comics.
When Mr. Knight makes an appearance in the latest episode of Moon Knight, he is simply the version of the hero that Grant becomes. While comic book fans may argue that it takes away from the original plot in many ways, this comedic version of the character is the perfect fit for the MCU. To have Grant summon a persona that is serious and rather intelligent would not seem natural. His origins have changed, so why shouldn’t his personality?
The scene in the latest Moon Knight episode of Mr. Knight fighting the jackal is equal parts funny and terrifying. Most of the fight is witnessed from Layla’s perspective, who is unable to see the jackal as she doesn’t possess Khonshu’s powers. Seeing Isaac throwing punches in mid-air, and then being flung around the alley by an invisible character is the perfect setup for a paranormal, horror flick.
On the other hand, Isaac brings in just the right amount of humor when he starts to sing a song in the midst of the brutal fight. Similar to the first episode, the actor's portrayal of the multiple characters is commendable, making Isaac the best part of Moon Knight. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. My name is Steven with a V,” Mr. Knight is heard singing, just before he manages to momentarily knock out the jackal with an impressive punch. This version of the character might not be for everyone, especially comic book fans, but he is definitely the perfect contrast to Spector’s more serious Moon Knight. He also manages to bring in Marvel’s witty sense of humor, which has become a part of traditional MCU projects. Seeing the two versions of the hero will be a delight for fans as the series progresses.
Moon Knight is streaming on Disney Plus.