Moon Knight Almost Starred The Least Likely Avenger
Marvel’s Moon Knight series on Disney+ was already a crowded affair with the main character’s Dissociative Identity Disorder, all but guaranteeing that several alters would be fighting for screen time every episode. Now, one of the directors of the series has revealed that the show almost featured another dual identity to keep track of– Bruce Banner and his alter ego, the Hulk.
As reported by Cosmic Circus, the website Arabic Marvel recently conducted an interview with Moon Knight director Mohamed Diab, where Diab confessed that he pushed for the inclusion of the big green rage machine as a frenemy to Marc Spector.
“Hulk has two personalities. And Moon Knight has two personalities. Imagine that both of them can be friends and cause confusion – you’re friends with this one and not liked by the other.” said the director when describing his thought process behind wanting to add the Hulk to Moon Knight.
Diab added that he wanted to see the “complicated relationship,” and was curious to work out “who can be friends with whom among the four.”
Marvel has not yet renewed Moon Knight for a second season.
The director went on to give his opinion on which villains in the MCU were the best, going with what he called “gray characters” because, as Diab put it, “I don’t like black and white.
The two villains that fit that description according to Diab? Black Panther’s Kilmonger and Thanos. “I really like Kilmonger, and I like Thanos.” said the Moon Knight director, “I love characters with depth.” While Kilmonger certainly had some good points, Thanos is a little more questionable.
While the “Thanos was right” crowd likes to point out Thanos’s motives as noble, they usually fail to consider that with the full power of the Infinity Gauntlet, the Mad Titan had several better options than murdering half the galaxy.
Moon Knight director Mohamed Diab says he wanted Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk to make an appearance in the series.
Doubling the galaxy’s resources, redistributing power throughout the galaxy so that the greedy aren’t in a position to hoard resources, or even simply putting half of the galaxy in suspended animation until someone smarter comes along and figures out a solution that doesn’t involve murdering billions/trillions of innocents. Those are just a few off the top of our heads, but we digress.
One of the more interesting topics the Moon Knight director touched upon was how MCU creators have a habit of taking familiar names from Marvel Comics and essentially creating brand-new characters that have nothing in common with their print counterparts beyond a shared moniker.
“There’s a character named Arthur Harrow in the world of Moon Knight, but the truth is that this character, with the idea that he touches people and knows everything, is completely invented by me and Sara, entirely from our imagination.” Diab admitted.
“For me, I was very curious to know what would happen, I would like to bring Hulk to the equation. why? Because Hulk has two personalities. And Moon Knight has two personalities. Imagine that both of them can be friends and cause confusion – you’re friends with this one and not liked by the other. The complicated relationship and who can be friends with whom among the four.”
–Moon Knight director Mohamed Diab
The director is referring to Ethan Hawke’s character, a religious zealot and former Fist of Khonshu who serves as Moon Knight’s main antagonist in the Disney+ series. The character as he is portrayed on screen is a complete departure from the ex-Nazi scientist who appeared in a single 1985 issue of the Moon Knight comic.
While the practice of plucking a lesser-known name from the Marvel Comics universe and using it for what amounts to an almost completely new character is nothing new, it’s rare to hear a director admit it.
While Marvel still has yet to announce any plans for a second season of Moon Knight, director Mohamed Diab remains hopeful. After all, he still hasn’t gotten a chance to shoot that Hulk/Moon Knight crossover he’s pining for.
