The MCU is an extensive, interwoven tapestry of comic book lore and storytelling brought to life. For over a decade now, the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) has released some forty movies and a plethora of television series on a variety of networks, including most recently, the studio’s parent company’s streaming service, Disney Plus. Since 2008’s Iron Man, the brilliance of the MCU has unabashedly been the connectivity of their features and streaming television shows, all of which have been an extension and expansion of each other in some form or fashion.
How the MCU has gone about telling these stories and bringing their comic book intellectual property and characters to life is similar to how the stories in the comic books that they are adapted from and based on are done. Phase 4, in particular, launched the television series of shows that would build into the larer cinemtic universe and features, and with that one of the most popular characters, a pop culture icon in many ways, Moon Knight, also made his MCU debut in Phase 4 with his own series.
While season one of the Moon Knight series was a hit, there was no way for one season to cover the breadth of all of the Moon Knight stories from the comics. As the MCU courses through Phase 5 with more movies and shows, there’s plenty of speculation and wonder about Phase 6 and what that will entail, especially for the next season of Moon Knight and the future of the character possibly in feature films.
Here are some Moon Knight comics that would perfect for the MCU Phase 6.
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10 West Coast Avengers Vol. 2 (Issue #41 -“When Ghosts Die, Even Gods Must Fear”)
Marvel Comics
For most part, Moon Knight is considered to be a “street level hero” in the Marvel comics, most often a loner, but when he does partner-up it is usually with other heroes such as Daredevil and/or Spider-Man, other “street level heroes,” those that primarily deal with crime, corruption, or some kind of diabolical plan to usurp authority in a smaller setting than the world or universe. That’s why it would be very interesting to see the MCU’s Moon Knight join forces with a new Avengers team.
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In West Coast Avengers Vol. 2, Moon Knight joins the team in order to spy on the Avengers for the god, Konshu. Given the somewhat dismantled state of the original Avengers team in the MCU, having a second team, like the West Coast Avengers, could offer an opportunity for Moon Knight to join in and for him to do some snooping, especially if the reason can connect back to a plot from the Moon Knight series.
9 Marvel Knights: “Hero For Hire” Issues 11-14
As part of a Marvel’s imprint and new title, Marvel Knights saw Moon Knight team up with the “street level” heroes again. The Marvel Knights imprint was meant to separate specific super heroes from the larger scale Marvel heroes, calling them Marvel Knights. In this version of Moon Knight, his other personalities are only alluded to and he is more of a foundation and leader for the Knights. While this story arc seems to work for the potential team ups of the “street level” heroes, maybe even giving the name Knights, for Phase 6, the lack of Moon Knight dealing with the struggle of his other personalities would be better suited for either a What If… episode or a varaint depiction of the hero.
8 Moon Knight Vol. 8 “Welcome to New Egypt” Issues #1-5
Jeff Lemiere and Greg Smallwood flip Moon Knight’s sanity, in conjunction to his heroism, on its head as they craft a story that potentially rewrites Moon Knight’s actions as being a hallucination, that none of it really happened. While this story is intriguing, it would be difficult to pull off in Phase 6 unless there’s a time jump in Season Two of Moon Knight or possibly a variant version of Moon Knight who has already had more adventures than the version seen in Phase 4. Either way, the idea of playing with reality and time is something that the newer phases of the MCU are really honing in on so it could very well work.
7 Moon Knight Vol. 7 “From the Dead” Issues #1-6
This volume and story arc of Moon Knight could fit perfectly in Phase 6 as Moon Knight is more adjusted and even interacts with his different personas, including Konshu. Here, Moonknight acts in different modes, vigilante and detective Mr. Knight. As a part of Phase 6, this story arc, originally written by Warren Ellis with art from Declan Shalvey, could play into the MCU’s plans for their upcoming series, Dardevil: Born Again, deftly taking the mysterious Moon Knight to deal with street level crime like his contemporary and fellow New Yorker in comics, Daredevil.
6 Crazy Runs in the Family Issues #188 - 193
This story arc could seemlessly follow Season One of Moon Knight, as it still deals with the hero’s multiple personalities while simultaneously giving him a little bit more control over them. Moon Knight’s alter ego, Marc Spector, is more at peace with the other versions of himself but still struggles with the violence that he seeks out and inflicts as a vigilante.
Allowing Marc to meet other heroes and how they’ve dealt with their battles and their own violence could be an effective adaptation of this story arc where the creative team introduces another character in the form of a soldier who is dealing with his own torment. This could work very well if the MCU chose to bring in the U.S. Agent from Falcon and the Winter Soldier into Phase 6.
5 Moon Knight Vol. 6 Issues #1-12
Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Malaav’s twelve issue take on Moon Knight takes the character in a different direction. While there are still different personalities, the creative team decides to make those personalities Captain America, Spider-Man, and Wolverine, ultimately, placing Moon Knight on the Avengers as himself and these other three personas. Although it may sound convoluted, this story arc could work very well in Phase 6 as part of the What If… MCU series on Disney Plus.
4 Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 18: Ultimate Knights
This was the beginning of Brian Michael Bendis’ run of reinventing some of Marvel’s favorite characters and superheroes, including Miles Morales as Spider-Man. However, Moon Knight was also reinvented and in this version and story he is the one leading the charge against “street level” crime and going after Wilson Fisk aka the Kingpin. In the comic, Marc Spector develops a new personality called Ronin and goes undercover. Ronin becomes Wilson Fisk’s enforcer and Moon Knight lives a double life.
There would need to be some finagling of details, but introducing another Ronin after Hawkeye’s version in the MCU could be an interesting story convention that could lead to a very intense storyline for Hawkeye, Daredevil, and potentially Spider-Man in a Phase 6 cross-over event show similar to how the CW did with Flash, Supergirl, and Arrow.
3 Moon Knight Vol. 5 “The Bottom” Issues #1-6
This series really gets back to some of Moon Knight’s earlier days in the comics. It’s grittier and more violent while also diving deep into the underbelly of the criminal world. In this story, all of Moon Knight’s personalities are present and interacting with each other and there’s a noir lens to the storytelling, given the writer of this volume is crime novelist Charlie Huston. As for its Phase 6 implications, there’s plenty of room for this line of storytelling in the MCU and could also seamlessly transiton into Season Two of the Moon Knight series.
2 Avengers by Jason Aaron: Vol. 7 “The Age of Konshu”
This storyline was epic in that it saw Moon Knight take on the Avengers. The god Konshu sends Moon Knight to collect the essence of the Avengers in order to defeat Mephisto, however, Konshu then changes the plan and thinks that it is best to conquer the world to keep it safe. Needless to say, this doesn’t sit well with the Avengers and a fierce battle ensues. While the story is epic, it also takes a hard look at the convoluted nature of Moon Knight as a hero.
This would be an amazing story to see in Phase 6, but it would need some major adaptation into the present collective storylines. However, there is always variant versions and different timelines where this could take place, maybe even blend into the 616 reality.
1 Moon Knight Volume 1: “The Midnight Mission”
This is the current run of the Moon Knight series and story. For the most part, this has all the dressings and trappings of who the character of Moon Knight is - all the different personalities, the struggle at times, the conflict between hero and vigilante. Additionally, the story is filled with mystery and intrigue as the detective side of Moon Knight is also on display.
The present story could easily translate into what has already taken place in the Moon Knight MCU series and would be a great continuing point for Season Two in Phase 6 with the possibility of some team-ups and interacting with other heroes, like Daredevil now that there’s going to be a new show on Disney Plus.
