While everyone was excited about Ewan McGregor‘s return as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the upcoming Disney+ series, many were caught off-guard when it was revealed that he’ll also be joined by Hayden Christensen. Not only that but shortly after it was confirmed that he’ll also return in the Ahsoka series as well. So, it’s a grand return for the actor that played Anakin Skywalker in the prequel trilogies. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, he revealed how he prepared for the role after 17 years.
It seems he really did his homework as the actor revisited not only all the films but also watched The Clone Wars and Rebels animated series, which were quite important to develop his character even after he hung up the mantle. Perhaps it also was what inspired him to join Ahsoka to get involved with the story introduced in the animated series.
I went back and rewatched all the films,” says the man who will be once again going behind the mask as Darth Vader. “And I also got into the animated shows, The Clone Wars and Rebels.
Hayden Christensen
It’s great to see his commitment not only to bringing this franchise to life but generally how much work he’s put in to prepare for his return. We have been teased that he’ll be in the series as Darth Vader, but there’s always a chance that they might use flashbacks to also revisit scenes between Anakin and his former master. Perhaps Ahsoka Tano even gets a cameo in the upcoming series.
At the beginning of the episode, as Layla was getting her fake passport, we learn that her father was an archaeologist who was killed during an excavation in the desert. As Moon Knight clearly spends most of its time focused on Steven Grant and Marc Spector, it’s unclear how far back into Layla’s history the series will go. But the little we got is incredibly similar to the comics, and it also connects to Moon Knight’s origin. So, looking into what Episode 3 is referencing might give us a deeper understanding of Layla, Marc Spector, and Moon Knight.
Moon Knight #1 (1980)
Moon Knight #1 (1980)
Moon Knight #1 (1980)
Back in the day, when Marc Spector was still a mercenary, he worked for a man named Raoul Bushman, or the Bushman. He would become Moon Knight’s clear archenemy, but that is for another time. Bushman and Marc’s unit went on a raid of a newly discovered tomb in Sudan. Archaeologist Dr. Peter Alraune and his team—including his daughter Marlene—were the ones who discovered the tomb and were working at the site at the time of the raid.
Moon Knight #13 (2017)
Moon Knight #13 (2017)
Moon Knight #13 (2017)
While slightly varying versions of the events that took place to appear over the more than 40 years of Moon Knight comics, the traditional story finds Bushman murdering Dr. Alraune, and others, in front of Marlene. At this moment, Marc seems to have a moral crisis and is strongly opposed to Bushman’s murderous ways. Marc saves Marlene, who hates Marc at first, but is mortally wounded.
Moon Knight #1 (1980)
Moon Knight #14 (2017)
Moon Knight #14 (2017)
The next bit is, of course, at the core of all Moon Knight stories. In Moon Knight #1 (1980), Marlene brings Marc inside the tomb where he dies underneath a statute of Khonshu only to come back to life claiming to be the Fist of that same god. In Moon Knight (2016), Marc crawls into the tomb on his own without Marlene. After this, Marlene for some reason falls for Marc (and Steven, Jake, and Moon Knight) and they move in together in a Long Island mansion. Marlene supports Moon Knight’s vigilantism and they more or less (less) live happily ever after. In any event, the murder of Marlene’s father was always the connection between her and Marc.
Marvel Studios’ Moon Knight Episode 3
In Moon Knight, Layla is essentially a much-improved Marlene. So, the brief mention of Layla’s archaeologist father in Episode 3 is interesting for a few reasons. First, it could imply that Layla has a virtually identical backstory to Marlene’s in terms of the death of her father and connection to Marc Spector. However, Layla says that her father’s death was “lost to the sands”, implying that she does not know what happened. If that is the case, it begs the question of how she met Marc and whether she knows about his involvement with Bushman and the raid.
Moon Knight #4 (2016)
Whatever the case ends up being, it is fun to speculate elements of Moon Knight when the series makes clear references to the character’s or supporting characters’ comic book history. Layla’s father and his death may very likely play a significant role either in her relationship with Marc or in exploring the origin of Moon Knight in the series.
The first three episodes of Moon Knight are now streaming on Disney+.
The supernatural corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is slowly beginning to unravel with characters like Werewolf By Night on the horizon. The character is set to make his live-action debut in an upcoming Halloween special for Disney+ that started production not too long ago. Although the special has yet to be officially confirmed by Marvel Studios, we know it’s happening and that it’s already filming.
While we still don’t know a whole lot plot-wise for the upcoming special we know that Werewolf By Night will lead the project with hints that Vampire By Night might be popping up as well. It seems some internet sleuthing by the folks over at AfterHoursMedia led to them discovering some interesting evidence that Werewolf By Night will be a practical design. They’ve uncovered that some make-up artists behind the popular Halloween Horror Nights event at the Universal theme parks is working on the project.
They’ve discovered tweets from crew members supposedly working on the project saying “working on a certain Halloween special for a certain streaming platform” and shared a message he sent via text saying “I have a stunt performer who is in full werewolf makeup.”. They also shared that while things onset will be practical, things could be touched up in post-production with CGI similar to what they do on The Witcher with a lot of their monsters.
We still don’t have a release date or any official confirmation for the upcoming Halloween special but it sure is something exciting to look forward to. This will be the first of two holiday specials this year, with the Guardians of The Galaxy Holiday Special releasing sometime in December.
As with any MCU adaptation, Moon Knight has not been a perfect match with the comics. This is, of course, not automatically a bad thing. When bringing the complicated subject matter to life, it’s often necessary to simplify a few elements for the sake of flow and time. One such example of this would be Moon Knight’s many alters. Typically, the character has at least three personalities living in his body at any given moment. Marc Spector and Steven Grant, who is currently learning to co-exist in the series, are usually accompanied by a third alter named Jake Lockley.
Though he hasn’t made his debut on Disney+ just yet, there have been plenty of hints that he could be on the way. If, or when, Lockley finally pops up on the screen, there will be quite a few lingering questions for him to answer. Viewers will likely wonder where he’s been all this time, what sort of life he leads, and whether or not he’s the one who mysteriously killed all those guys in Egypt. Most importantly, however, is a quandary that many may not even think to ponder. Assuming Lockley is able to summon the power of Khonshu in the same vein as Grant and Spector, what might his version of the iconic suit look like?
Moon Knight surprised longtime fans of the comics when its early marketing revealed that Mr. Knight would play a role in the show. The character is a newer alter in the books, having made his first appearance in 2014 as a variation of the Moon Knight identity who is a little less brutish and a little more sociable. Marvel Studios’ take on the character differs from this, instead of presenting the ‘Mr. Knight” appearance is a version of Khonshu’s Moon Knight armor tailored to fit Steven Grant’s personality. The white, three-piece suit has most of the same abilities as the classic outfit worn by Marc Spector, albeit with different weapons, and its presence is simply used to signify when Steven is the one in control.
So, the standard being set is that each one of the alters would ostensibly have its own Moon Knight design. Marc wears the classic, hooded vigilante suit and Steven dons the formal “Mr. Knight” attire. The outfits match their personalities, which might actually help in deducing what Jake’s official anti-hero look could be when the time comes. Moon Knight has been featured wearing a shockingly diverse set of threads over the course of his existence, so there are quite a bit of pre-existing designs the show has the ability to pull from. Yet, the first of the options presented in this article has never actually been drawn in the comics at all. Let’s dig in.
Jacke Lockley, Private Eye
It’s possible Jake Lockley has been under our noses the whole time. Early in the advertising process for Moon Knight, Marvel fans were shown three character posters featuring star Oscar Isaac. At first glance, they appeared to give the first glimpse of Marc Spector and his two superhero suits all in one place. However, now that audiences know Mr. Knight is actually Steven Grant and Moon Knight is Spector, the trio of images takes on a whole new meaning. What if Marvel actually gave the world its first look at all three avatars of Khonshu, and everyone simply failed to notice?
Jake Lockley has always been portrayed as the “man on the street” in the dynamic between alters. Where Spector is the skilled fighter and mercenary, while Grant is the intelligent one, Lockley is the private eye with his nose to the ground and street smarts up the wazoo. The series seems to be embracing the idea that Lockley is a violent, no-nonsense alter, emerging primarily when his specific skill set is needed and nothing much more. A flashy suit wouldn’t exactly help in extracting information with a low profile, so it tracks that Lockley’s preferred outfit would be something a little more unassuming and “street-level”, like the white hoodie and jacket in the poster above. Recent episodes of Moon Knight have had Marc and Steven wearing a remarkably similar outfits. So, this theory could already be shot. Though maybe the clothes were something picked by Jake off-screen, and he’s somewhere inside that psyche ready to pop the hood and get to work.
The Fist of Khonshu
This next theory is essentially the exact opposite of the last one. If Jake does in fact choose to wear some actual armor, there is one other iconic Moon Knight look that still needs to be covered in live-action. The character is famous for wearing all-white, but many of his suits throughout history have actually been predominantly black with white highlights. Even Moon Knight’s first-ever appearance had him wearing a darker color scheme than fans are accustomed to seeing, and it’s a look that’s made several notable comebacks in the decades since he was introduced. If the costumes worn by the alters in the show are meant to reflect their personalities, then what better way to display the darker nature of Jake Lockley than a suit that’s more black than white?
A version of the black suit was also used heavily in Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood‘s famous run on the character, which the show draws from heavily. It would be fairly cool to see all three looks from that stretch of the character’s history used in the same adaptation. Also, if Lockley plans on utilizing Khonshu’s armor when brutalizing his foes, his more “down-to-Earth” persona might come up with a suit that’s more tech-based in design than the supernatural wrappings of Marc Spector or the pretentious leisure-wear of Steven Grant.
Earth X
Now that The Punisher is on Disney+, maybe Marvel will stun us all and turn Jake Lockley’s Moon Knight into their next most efficient killer. A good way to do this would be to use a variation of the Earth X universe attire, which already resembles the MCU’s base suit for the character. The main thing separating this design from the original Marc Spector persona is a pair of semi-automatic Uzi pistols that this universe’s Moon Knight prefers to use over traditional Egyptian weaponry. Outfitting Lockley’s Khonshu avatar with heavy firepower may potentially feel out of place, but it would be in line with the alters trademark violence and do wonders to set him apart from Spector and Grant.
Ultimate
This one might be a long shot, but it’s still fun speculation. The Ultimate Moon Knight design has a little bit of everything, including the aforementioned concept of mixing black with white. It sort of comes off as a fun cross between Marc’s Moon Knight and Steven’s Mr. Knight, although it may be a bit too extravagant for the Jake Lockley alter to double down on. It’s mostly included here for two reasons: Marvel Studios has a long history of using the Ultimate comics as inspiration, and the Ultimate version of Moon Knight has an alarmingly aggressive personality that feels right at home with everything analyzed thus far. For example, he once threatened to cut Spider-Man’s throat out and really meant it. Yikes.
In the end, it’s important to remember this is all just fun speculation. Though his arrival feels imminent, Jake Lockley has yet to be confirmed by anyone involved with Moon Knight and may not end up being part of the project at all. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean fans can’t have a little fun playing guessing games with the future. If he does indeed make the cut, one can only hope he looks as good as his two bodily brothers.
Disney+ has become the place for Marvel Studios to try out new concepts and ideas, as they have given us some unique stories with each new entry. Smaller characters that normally wouldn’t get any attention even got to make their live-action debut, such as Moon Knight and soon Ms. Marvel. Yet, it also will offer the opportunity to explore the backstories of characters that mostly were relegated to the supporting role, such as in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. It looks like Karen Gillan would love to use that opportunity to further explore Nebula’s history through a Disney+ series.
In an interview with ScreenRant, she discussed the opportunity that it would offer, and believes that it would “be really cool to learn more about” Nebula’s time before she joined the Guardians and made amends with Gamora.
I don’t know, I guess Marvel will have to say yes. So, if you want to get them to do that? That would be great. But I think I think Nebula has a really interesting backstory, so that would be really cool to learn more about.
Karen Gillan
The big thing that would also offer is that it opens the possibility of spending more time with Thanos, though a fully CG character could become quite expensive for the series to include. They could also start adapting their episode count to have a shorter season that includes the same type of budget, but it definitely has a lot of potentials. Of course, we don’t know what the future has in store for the Guardian of the Galaxy after the third entry. she would be a great addition to a new Ravager-focused series that could also further explore her backstory while continuing her story by following her own path. There’s a lot of potentials and we’ll see if Disney and Marvel Studios see it as well.
After another episode of Moon Knight has arrived and that also means we once again get a brand new set of Funko Pops. This time around, we got our first look at not only Layla but also Khonshu. The Egyptian deity looks extremely detailed though we can’t see if his head is directly connected to the body, or they went with a similar design to what we see in the show. He also comes with a new glow-up version that is now available to pre-order.
The Funko Pops have been great additions for collectors, especially as we get new ones with each episode. Considering we’ve seen Layla and Khonshu in the previous episode, it looks like we’ll never know when something might find its way online and what the upcoming episodes might have in store for us. As their adventure in Egypt continues, who knows who else we might meet along the way besides the various Avatars we met in the previous episode.
We still have three more episodes to go. So, there are a lot of opportunities to explore what the future has in store not only for Moon Knight but also for the MCU. The recent Emmy submissions continued to push the fact that this series is more of a limited series rather than one to feature multiple seasons, but Loki is the only one with multiple seasons so far. So, we’ll see what the future has in store.
One of the most significant characters in Moon Knight comics, other than Marc Spector and his alters, is Marlene Alarune. Marlene is Marc’s (and Steven’s) (and Jake’s) constant on-again-off-again romantic interest. She has been consistently present since Moon Knight #1 in 1980. While over 40 years of history saw plenty of changes to the character, overall, Marlene is not a great character. Moon Knight, though, apparently recognized the significance of her character and the ability for a love interest of Moon Knight to highlight Marc Spector’s dissociative identity disorder—we now have May Calamawy’s Layla El-Faouly. And Layla is great.
Marlene and Layla have different names, but their roles and pasts suggest that Layla is more or less a majorly upgraded Marlene. Obviously, both are love interests to Marc Spector. In the comics, Marlene was aware of Marc’s three identities and Moon Knight from the beginning. She generally dealt with it well, but at other times throughout her comics history, Marc’s DID was, reasonably, a source of frustration to say the least. Still, she has had relationships specifically with Marc, Steven, and Jake over time. More recently, she and Marc share a daughter named Diatrice, who was fathered by Jake, and Marc never knew for years. In Moon Knight, Layla is introduced as Marc’s soon-to-be ex-wife who was not aware of any identity other than Marc and Moon Knight. Marlene and Marc never married in the comics, but they often also had a rocky relationship.
Moon KnightMoon Knight
Marlene met Marc almost at the same time that Marc became Moon Knight. Marlene is the daughter of an archaeologist who was killed by Bushman when the villain and his crew (including mercenary Marc Spector) raided the tomb Marlene’s father had discovered. After Bushman killed the archaeologist, Marc apparently had a moment of moral reckoning and turned against Bushman, saving Marlene and getting himself killed then revived by Khonshu in the process. We do not know much about Layla’s past in Moon Knight, but we learned in Episode 3 that her father was an archaeologist and was killed at some point. That is incredibly unlikely to be a coincidence, but whether Layla otherwise has the same general backstory as Marlene is yet to be seen.
Marlene, it feels like, is a constant damsel in distress in the comics. She generally feels extremely superficial and it is just a given that Marc cares about her. There are times when she is non-stop jealous or angry for every action Marc takes, there are times she is at home waiting for Moon Knight when he gets back, there are times when they have broken up and he longs for her, and there are (again) many times where her being in trouble is half the plot or motivation of an issue. She has her moments, but Marlene just feels like an outdated trope that never quite evolved.
Layla, on the other hand, is certainly not a damsel in distress. She seems to know how to handle herself in a violent situation, sure. But she also arguably is the person leading the current plot in Moon Knight—without her knowledge and help, it is not clear how great at tracking down Ammut’s tomb Marc and Steven would be. Her knowledge of Ancient Egyptian artifacts and mythology is rivaled only by Steven, and she has connections in Egypt that seems to be able to get them anywhere. Layla seems weirdly OK with the DID thing Marc never told her about after getting to know Steven a little bit, but also is reasonably angry at Marc for several things. Of course, she mentioned early on that Marc and her fought side by side for the Scarab, only reaffirming that she can, at the very least, hold her own next to an ex-mercenary, Egyptian god avatar.
The only thing “damsel in distress” about Layla is perhaps the fact that Marc is trying to protect her from Khonshu. It does not seem like Layla even knows that Khonshu is interested in her as his next avatar. And to be fair, if Khonshu is interested in her as is next fist of vengeance, that says a lot about what she is capable of. There is also something to be said for the fact that Calamawy and Layla are Egyptian. While the role was not necessarily written for an Egyptian actress, the fact that the character can connect to that aspect of Moon Knight is valuable considering there are no other major Egyptian presences in front of the camera.
The first three episodes of Moon Knight are now streaming on Disney+.
It would appear Lucasfilm may not be done bringing anime to its galaxy far, far away. A new rumor from outlet Cinelinx claims that the animated anthology series Star Wars Visions, which was a hit with Disney+ subscribers when it debuted last year, will be returning for another season. Furthermore, the report states that the next batch of episodes will drop on the streaming service by the end of this year, much sooner than some might have expected, and could continue some of the stories established during the first season’s run.
So, those who were hoping for more might just get their wish sooner than expected. The Disney+ series certainly left quite an impact, as many wanted to see Disney exploring more anime-inspired spinoffs of their popular franchises moving forward. Visions also left quite the impact with those that wanted to see some more contained stories that twist and turn the way we view Star Wars in creative ways.
Plus, the potential of expanding some of the existing stories might also have those happy that fell in love with some of the characters. They even expanded with a novel titled Ronin storyline, which further explored one of the episodes more, and who knows if that might even get adapted. Whatever direction they might take, it definitely will be exciting to see what new and old stories might arrive with the anthology Disney+ series.
We haven’t heard much on Disney+’s upcoming series Willow. Lucasfilm is reviving the 1980 fantasy classic and has assembled quite the cast. The story will feature a princess that assembles a group of heroes to help her rescue her twin brother. Warwick Davis returns in the iconic role and will be joined by Tony Revolori, Amer Chadha-Patel, Ellie Bamber, Ruby Cruz, and Erin Kellyman. Now, it seems that they are joining another fantasy alum in the form of Game of Thrones‘ Rosabell Laurenti Sellers.
Not much is stated about her character besides the statement that she’ll play someone who is a “resourceful characterwith shape, acerbic wit.” The actress made her big splash playing Tyene Sand on the HBO series. She also appeared on Mia and Me, Spides, and joined John Travolta in the drama Trading Point. She’s also set to appear in What About Love, where she’ll star opposite Sharon Stone and Andy Garcia.
It’s great to see Disney+ revive some cult classics by also giving them a new life. It’ll be interesting to see if they’ll include any callbacks to the original Willow outside of it being a direct continuation. We got a tease during Disney+ Day that was mostly just from the staff while Warwick roasted the younger cast members. It was a great tease as they just started production at the time.
Just as word comes that star Tatiana Maslany has put together a “jaw-dropping” performance as Jennifer Walters in the upcoming Disney Plus streaming series She-Hulk, a new rumor has surfaced that indicates it might be a while before fans get to judge for themselves.
While the streaming series has never really had an official date outside of “sometime in 2022”, a previously reliable source of information has surfaced again, this time suggesting that it’ll be late 2022 or even early 2023 before She-Hulk hits the streaming service. While the post doesn’t give details as to why it’ll be another half year or so before we see it, it can be inferred from other information in the post that the delay could be due to VFX work taking a little longer than expected.
Whenever She-Hulk does stream, it’s expected to be a 9-episode series of 30-minute episodes and to be heavily comedic in nature. Maslany will be joined by MCU vets Mark Ruffalo, Tim Roth and newcomers Ginger Gonzaga, Renee Elise Goldsberry, and Jameela Jamil, who will portray Titania. Marvel Studios has not commented on any official release ate for the series.
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