‘Moon Knight’ Excels in How it Handles Marc’s Mental Illness with Immense Care
There was a lot to love about the premiere episode of the newest MCU entry, but one thing is abundantly clear; Moon Knight excels in how it handles Marc’s mental illness with immense care.
There are few Marvel characters as interesting and complex as the character of Marc Spector; a former mercenary who suffers from a dissociative identity disorder.
Source: Marvel Studios
Experiencing multiple personalities, Marc is seemingly defined by his inability to rationalize what is reality, and what is his own mental struggle; transitioning from Spector to Steven Gant, to the vigilante known as Moon Knight.
What makes the character all the more interesting is how the introduction of the Moon Knight’s personality only adds to the issues that Spector faces; with a character already struggling with what is real, meeting the appearance of an Egyptian deity named Khonshu.
Source: Marvel Studios
The live-action adaptation of the character changes a bit about his backstory but keeps the main aspects that have made him so interesting.
What has been different is what audiences have observed as the primary personality, which changes from Spector- as the source material has mostly focused on- to the character of Steven Grant.
Source: Marvel Studios
This brings an interesting dynamic, as Grant is a cockney gift shop clerk who is genuinely disheveled and struggling with his unknown mental illness.
And this is where Moon Knight shines, as Grant gives the series the opportunity to handle Marc’s mental illness with immense care.
Source: Marvel Studios
It has been too easy for comic book fans, and those referring to Spector, as crazy; downplaying his own affliction, and chalking his situation up to him being nuts or looney.
This whole perception led to a certain interpretation of the character using this comedically, which is definitely low-hanging fruit for a series centered around a character with multiple personalities that is given superpowers by an Egyptian god with a skeleton for a head.
Source: Marvel Studios
Moon Knight doesn’t do this, in fact, it makes an effort to limit this entirely; the series has clearly set up the horrendous struggles that Grant faces because of his dissociative identity disorder.
Bigger than this, there are points in the series where Marc interacts with Grant in a way that is incredibly tender and caring, with the mercenary understanding the self-preservation that Grant is tapping into, driven by the immense trauma that he himself has faced.
Source: Marvel Studios
But, more importantly, this is something that Oscar Isaac himself has made a central focus of the development of the character; with his focus on understanding the pain associated with Grant’s mental illness as a way to truly endear him to the audience.
Speaking on his characters difficulties, Isaac states, “It’s amazing that the brain has this survival mechanism, this way to cope,”
Source: Marvel Studios
Isaac continued, “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.
The actor concluded by stating, “Otherwise, you die because it’s just so awful. And that is it’s own incredible, kind of beautiful superpower.”
Source: Marvel Studios
Moon Knight boasts one of the best premiere episodes of any MCU Disney+ series, and one of the great aspects of that episode is that it sets the standard for Moon Knight to handle Marc’s mental illness with immense care.
