Moon Knight Almost Featured Another New Superhero
Disney+'s Moon Knight did not have a lot of connections to the rest of the MCU, but it turns out we almost got a look at a whole new knight.
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Disney+’s Moon Knight was one of the best received Marvel Cinematic Universe shows yet, currently hanging in at a very respectable 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. Star Oscar Isaac undoubtedly deserves a lot of the credit for the show, as he turned in a fantastic performance as both hapless, dubiously British museum employee Steven Grant and the tormented Chicagoan mercenary Marc Spector. Moon Knight was also relatively unique in MCU projects as having very few obvious connections or references to the larger Marvel shared universe. However, Moon Knight head writer Jeremy Slater has revealed there were plans at one point to bring in another one of the MCU’s new crop of heroes: Kit Harington’s Black Knight.
In an interview with ComicBook, Jeremy Slater stated that there was some thought to including Kit Harington as Dane Whitman in Moon Knight, which has a certain logical sense. Kit Harington’s character first appeared in Chloé Zhao’s 2021 film Eternals as working at the Natural History Museum in London. Oscar Isaac’s Steven Grant works at the gift shop at the British Museum. Given the connective thread of museum employment between the two (and that they are working approximately three miles from each other), it seemed like a fun way to bring in Kit Harington.
However, Slater said they could not figure out a way to introduce Dane Whitman in his eventual role as Black Knight. Given that he was not been seen in character in the MCU yet, it would be a lot to ask Moon Knight to introduce two separate British superhero characters named Knight in a single series. But Slater was also firm that they did not want to simply have a quick cameo of the Game of Thrones star walking by and someone namechecking him.
Unlike WandaVision, which starred established characters like The Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany), or Hawkeye, which went out of its way to introduce characters from the previous Netflix Marvel shows, Moon Knight mostly did its own thing without significant connection to the MCU as a whole. There were a few discreet Easter eggs, but the show mostly followed Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke in their own insular conflict. The idea of Kit Harington’s Black Knight was not the only idea thought up for a crossover, but it seems Marvel Studios decided to keep things lean and simple. Well, as simple as a show about a supernaturally empowered vigilante with dissociative identity disorder and a boss who is an irritable giant bird-skeleton god can be.
Moon Knight has not been officially renewed for a second season, although it seems like Disney might have accidentally shown its hand already. We also have heard word from our trusted and proven sources that Moon Knight and all his personalities will be appearing in an upcoming solo MCU film along with a certain Avenger. The upcoming phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe promises to have some pretty major changes for all sorts of characters, so we will not be at all surprised if we do get a Moon Knight/Black Knight team-up at some point.
