I want to take a second to talk about the main criticisms people have with the Moon Knight show—the ones that are actually valid, not just comic purists crying about “accuracy.”
The two biggest issues people bring up are:
- Marc’s DID stemming from his brother’s death and his abusive mother instead of the serial killer Nazi who infiltrated his inner circle.
- The portrayal of Jake as the “evil” alter.
Now, quick side tangents:
First, it’s hilarious how people will complain about Jake falling into the “evil alter” trope in the same breath that they demand comic accuracy—as if that exact portrayal didn’t come straight from the Bemis run. And when you point that out? Suddenly, that run “sucked” and “shouldn’t have been used.” The cherry-picking is unreal. They want comic accuracy, but only from very specific runs—ones that almost no one can agree on. Which is especially tricky for a character like Moon Knight, who has had some truly terrible runs. (I have been in too many Twitter arguments with comic purists, can you tell?)
Second, people refuse to acknowledge that when Moon Knight was released, Disney and the MCU as a whole were still extremely toned down when it came to violence. The Moon Knight team had to fight just to get that TV-14 rating. And honestly, this show is probably the reason we’re now getting Daredevil with actual violence and longer seasons. Moon Knight pushed the envelope and showed Disney what audiences actually wanted. Just had to put that out there.
Back to my initial rambling—I've never seen Jake as an “evil” alter. In the show, he’s clearly the protector. His violent nature isn’t random; it’s a response to the role he was forced into.
Building on that, I’ve always believed Jake formed from the incident with the Nazi. Marc was terrified in that moment—his safety, his identity, everything was under attack. That kind of trauma could absolutely trigger the creation of a protector alter.
This also strengthens the connection to Marc’s Judaism. Imagine the horror of realizing someone he saw as a close family friend delighted in killing Jews—and told him so, to his face. That kind of direct, personal trauma, coupled with witnessing brutal antisemitic violence, could explain both Jake’s aggression and Marc’s complicated relationship with his faith.
And yet, people give Moon Knight so much shit for not cramming 50 years of comics into six episodes. The comics themselves took 20+ years to name Marc’s DID, and 37 issues before acknowledging his Judaism. Even now, these aspects of his identity are often treated as cameos—quick mentions that have little to no impact on the story. When it does have an impact on the story, it is for drama or to move the story along without being treated like an actual disorder or piece of his identity that affects the way he lives or functions as a human being.
Not to mention the long history of completely ignoring or outright disrespecting these parts of his identity. Calling him “crazy” or “schizophrenic.” Writing him into a Christmas special. The show handled him with more respect than most of the comics ever did, and if you can’t see that, you’re straight-up blind.
Oh, and let’s not forget: this was also the first piece of Moon Knight media to actually respect his Egyptian roots. The comics? They cherry-picked the mythology, kept whatever served their story, and disrespected an entire culture and their history in the process. But sure, let’s pretend the show was the problem.
Comic purists on Twitter act like the show assasinated his character. In reality, they’re using these technically valid criticisms as a front for their real issue—it’s not their version of Moon Knight. And half the time, they exaggerate how “inaccurate” it even was. Like, let’s be real, a lot of the changes were necessary. Take Steven, for example—he was barely a character in the comics, and what little we knew about him was a comic book cliche. In order for his character to move past the copy accusations and become a long-lasting character, he needed to be changed.
Let’s be honest—virtually every reasonable issue people have with the show could be solved with more screen time. That’s why I, like most fans, am praying for a second season or even a solo movie. Throwing him straight into crossovers would ruin one of the best aspects of the show: the lingering question of what’s real and what’s not. If they rush his development for the sake of team-ups, we lose all the previous set-up.
Of course, that’s assuming that if he did get more screen time, they’d handle it well… and with MCU writing, that’s never a guarantee.
Anyway, I could rant about Moon Knight forever, but I’ll stop here. Shoutout to @NotHenryDumb on Twitter, who made a fantastic thread on this idea. I’ve had this take for a while, and I just wanted to go deeper into it. I know this would rile up the comic purists and Twitter oomfs alike, but honestly? I’m done with that side of the fandom.The Moon Knight show and character have brought so much joy into my life, and I refuse to let some comic-obsessed gooners ruin my hyperfixation.
