This article contains spoilers for Moon Knight.
It’s been close to three years since the Marvel Cinematic Universe godfather (read: President of Marvel Studios) Kevin Feige announced that Moon Knight was joining the MCU. And it’s been at least just as long that fans of the (Marvel) caped crusader wondered if they’d get a visibly Jewish version of him on screen. Marc Spector, the prime persona for Moon Knight, is canonically Jewish, and that part of his history has a colossal impact on his ethos. IGN previously tackled how the character’s Judaism enriched his comics stories, and hoped that the Disney+ series would exploit his heritage in the same way. Now with all six episodes of the series available to watch, we know the character is confirmed to be Jewish, but did the show do enough with it?
Moon Knight opens with the journey of Steven Grant, the mild-mannered museum gift shop owner who struggles with black outs. Grant soon comes to realize he is sharing a body with Marc Spector, a man a bit more prone to violence (and confidence) than he is. At the end of the second episode, Grant caves to Spector, letting him take over control of his body. Before the end credits, Marc is seen waking up in Egypt, shirtless, donning a Star of David necklace.
Though only quickly reflected in a mirror the Star acknowledged that Marc is Jewish, and that he identifies at least enough with that to wear the necklace. This was the first moment that spoke to audiences who’d hoped to see Marc’s faith represented in the show. Fans of the hero were concerned as to whether Marc would be visibly Jewish in the MCU, having experienced characters like the Maximoff’s have their Jewish history scrapped in favor of the conflict in fictional Sokovia. Taking to Twitter, fans reached out to series creator and writer, Jeremy Slater, who assured them “Preserving the character's Jewish faith was important to our entire writing team. It's something that definitely gets explored in later episodes.”
But was his Jewish identity explored? The fifth episode of the series took Marc back through his own psyche via memories that exist in rooms in an other-wordly mental hospital. In his trip down memory lane, Marc flashes back to the tragic loss of his brother which led to a fractured relationship with his mother. Later, Marc remembers arriving outside his mother’s shiva, wearing a kippah, before breaking down and turning into Steven.
These moments are when Marc’s Judaism is the most on display. The shiva, a seven day Jewish mourning ritual that succeeds a funeral, is shown in detail as young Marc and his family gather in his home after his brother’s death. It’s named explicitly when Marc references trying to bring himself to attend his mother’s. As the adult Marc breaks down outside his mother’s shiva, he removes the kippah from his head and smashes it into the ground, before clutching it close to his heart.
These moments not only confirm the character’s Jewish identity, but visibly show elements of Judaism to the audience. There are enough context clues for those unfamiliar with the ceremony to gather that it’s a funeral ritual, and the décor and attire are a glimpse into the heritage and religion. Marc clutching his kippah into his heart after having slammed it into the pavement (a move seen as disrespectful, and that requires a kiss to rectify) is the most conflict about his religion that the show ever tackles.
Marc Spector’s comics canon has explored how his Judaism has both motivated him, and created personal conflict about his methodology. It’s been behind his father’s history as a rabbi who fled Nazis, Marc’s inner conflict reconciling violence with being a in a religion of peace, his motivations to turn to heroism, his guilt in not protecting his brother, and even his reason for developing DID. The MCU series swapped out these motivations in favor of a story of a dead younger sibling and an abusive mother.
While the MCU is perhaps not the venue to explore the effects of antiSemitism and the intersection of Marc’s religion and violence (though similar themes were explored in Netflix’s Daredevil), it’s frustrating to see rich heritage washed away in favor of these story changes. In 2018, Moon Knight #194 added more to Marc’s history, continuing the tradition of using his cultural heritage to center his motivations. In the story, it’s revealed that Marc developed dissociative identity disorder as a child after learning that his trusted rabbi, Yitz Perlman, was in fact a Nazi deserter named Ernst. The MCU series dances with moments of Marc and his parents and uses the death of his younger brother as a catalyst in the shattering of Marc’s life. Marc’s comics history explored his tumultuous relationship with his father as a result of struggling with his religion and showed Marc turning to violence at times where he was protecting his younger brother from antisemitic taunts and attacks. The MCU series traded this in for a new origin that fractured his familial relationships with rain and a cave, instead.
Marc’s traumatic experience at a shiva led him to tear off his kippah which set off the moment that Marc and Steven’s lives began to intersect, thus setting off the events of the six-part series. But after roughly forty five years of comic history for the Jewish character, which spent time exploring Judaism as a catalyst for his stories, it’s important to ask whether the MCU’s first crack at a visibly Jewish character was enough.
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It’s been close to three years since the Marvel Cinematic Universe godfather (read: President of Marvel Studios) Kevin Feige announced that Moon Knight was joining the MCU. And it’s been at least just as long that fans of the (Marvel) caped crusader wondered if they’d get a visibly Jewish version of him on screen. Marc Spector, the prime persona for Moon Knight, is canonically Jewish, and that part of his history has a colossal impact on his ethos. IGN previously tackled how the character’s Judaism enriched his comics stories, and hoped that the Disney+ series would exploit his heritage in the same way. Now with all six episodes of the series available to watch, we know the character is confirmed to be Jewish, but did the show do enough with it?
Moon Knight opens with the journey of Steven Grant, the mild-mannered museum gift shop owner who struggles with black outs. Grant soon comes to realize he is sharing a body with Marc Spector, a man a bit more prone to violence (and confidence) than he is. At the end of the second episode, Grant caves to Spector, letting him take over control of his body. Before the end credits, Marc is seen waking up in Egypt, shirtless, donning a Star of David necklace.
Though only quickly reflected in a mirror the Star acknowledged that Marc is Jewish, and that he identifies at least enough with that to wear the necklace. This was the first moment that spoke to audiences who’d hoped to see Marc’s faith represented in the show. Fans of the hero were concerned as to whether Marc would be visibly Jewish in the MCU, having experienced characters like the Maximoff’s have their Jewish history scrapped in favor of the conflict in fictional Sokovia. Taking to Twitter, fans reached out to series creator and writer, Jeremy Slater, who assured them “Preserving the character's Jewish faith was important to our entire writing team. It's something that definitely gets explored in later episodes.”
But was his Jewish identity explored? The fifth episode of the series took Marc back through his own psyche via memories that exist in rooms in an other-wordly mental hospital. In his trip down memory lane, Marc flashes back to the tragic loss of his brother which led to a fractured relationship with his mother. Later, Marc remembers arriving outside his mother’s shiva, wearing a kippah, before breaking down and turning into Steven.
These moments are when Marc’s Judaism is the most on display. The shiva, a seven day Jewish mourning ritual that succeeds a funeral, is shown in detail as young Marc and his family gather in his home after his brother’s death. It’s named explicitly when Marc references trying to bring himself to attend his mother’s. As the adult Marc breaks down outside his mother’s shiva, he removes the kippah from his head and smashes it into the ground, before clutching it close to his heart.
These moments not only confirm the character’s Jewish identity, but visibly show elements of Judaism to the audience. There are enough context clues for those unfamiliar with the ceremony to gather that it’s a funeral ritual, and the décor and attire are a glimpse into the heritage and religion. Marc clutching his kippah into his heart after having slammed it into the pavement (a move seen as disrespectful, and that requires a kiss to rectify) is the most conflict about his religion that the show ever tackles.
Marc Spector’s comics canon has explored how his Judaism has both motivated him, and created personal conflict about his methodology. It’s been behind his father’s history as a rabbi who fled Nazis, Marc’s inner conflict reconciling violence with being a in a religion of peace, his motivations to turn to heroism, his guilt in not protecting his brother, and even his reason for developing DID. The MCU series swapped out these motivations in favor of a story of a dead younger sibling and an abusive mother.
While the MCU is perhaps not the venue to explore the effects of antiSemitism and the intersection of Marc’s religion and violence (though similar themes were explored in Netflix’s Daredevil), it’s frustrating to see rich heritage washed away in favor of these story changes. In 2018, Moon Knight #194 added more to Marc’s history, continuing the tradition of using his cultural heritage to center his motivations. In the story, it’s revealed that Marc developed dissociative identity disorder as a child after learning that his trusted rabbi, Yitz Perlman, was in fact a Nazi deserter named Ernst. The MCU series dances with moments of Marc and his parents and uses the death of his younger brother as a catalyst in the shattering of Marc’s life. Marc’s comics history explored his tumultuous relationship with his father as a result of struggling with his religion and showed Marc turning to violence at times where he was protecting his younger brother from antisemitic taunts and attacks. The MCU series traded this in for a new origin that fractured his familial relationships with rain and a cave, instead.
Marc’s traumatic experience at a shiva led him to tear off his kippah which set off the moment that Marc and Steven’s lives began to intersect, thus setting off the events of the six-part series. But after roughly forty five years of comic history for the Jewish character, which spent time exploring Judaism as a catalyst for his stories, it’s important to ask whether the MCU’s first crack at a visibly Jewish character was enough.
Continue reading...