Ethan Hawke’s Moon Knight Villain Revealed To Be A Classic Character?
Has Ethan Hawke's villain in the upcoming Moon Knight series been revealed?
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Marvel’s Moon Knight will be released on Disney+ in 2022, and it will be part of Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not much has been revealed about the show or its plot other than it will be a mini-series consisting of only six episodes and that Oscar Isaac will play the titular superhero, but there are some clues about some of the other cast members. A leak from moderators on the Reddit page r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers suggests that four-time Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke may play the classic comic book villain, Dracula.
Although the role is being kept under wraps by Marvel and Disney, the leakers suggest that Ethan Hawke will be revealed as the world’s greatest vampire later on in the series. There’s no telling how the reveal will happen, but it may go the same route as Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness in WandaVision, living life like a wolf in sheep’s clothing and coming out of hiding to reveal all their bad deeds.
While Moon Knight has fought many nocturnal beings — like Werewolf by Night, an anti-hero with his own comic book series Moon Knight made his debut in (Werewolf by Night #32 in 1975) long before Ethan Hawke or Oscar Isaac were involved in his story — Dracula is not the primary antagonist. In fact, he’s made very sporadic appearances in the Marvel canon. Vlad the Impaler debuted in Tomb of Dracula, which ran from 1972 to 1979, as a 15th century warlord who got turned into a vampire by a Romani woman who pretended to instead be healing his injuries. Dracula ultimately ascended to become the most powerful vampire in the world, establishing his throne at Castle Dracula in Transylvania. In the 1940s, he opposed the Nazis when he discovered that they killed his Romani servants while they were invading his castle, which led him to form an alliance with Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos to fight against the Third Reich in World War II.
In the modern era, Dracula has become an enemy of Blade, Doctor Strange, and even Moon Knight. One of their encounters was turned into a meme where the vigilante called him a “big f***ing nerd” as he entered his castle and demanded money that he apparently owed him. However, the original panel where Moon Knight entered the castle came from Solo Avengers #3, where he was actually being tested for recruitment by a nocturnal team of heroes known as the Night Shift.
Ethan Hawke’s enemy Moon Knight carries the secret identity of Marc Spector, who is a billionaire much like Batman’s Bruce Wayne. Unlike Wayne, he is a former CIA agent, a boxer, and a mercenary who was left for dead by his employer, Raoul Bushman, while plundering an archaeological dig in Egypt. He was given a second chance at life by the Egyptian moon god Khonshu on the condition that he become the god’s avatar on Earth. While he’s out battling evil forces at night with his newfound powers and his wealth, he’s also struggling with dissociative identity disorder, employing two other identities with their own unique personalities, like millionaire Steven Grant and cab driver Jake Lockley.
