With The Batman having wowed audiences and Moon Knight now tearing it up on Disney Plus, the inevitable comparisons between the two superheroes are rolling in. According to comic book lore, Moon Knight was created to be Marvel’s counterpart to Batman. But are they really that similar? Although they’re both caped crimefighters who like to get violent, the similarities kind of stop there, with Batman being a millionaire vigilante who’s good with tech, and Moon Knight being an avatar of the Egyptian god Khonshu. Let’s take a look at some of the things that set the two apart!
First, a quick refresher if you’re not yet caught up on Moon Knight. The Disney Plus series focuses on Steven Grant, a museum gift shop employee who’s struggling to live his life amidst strange blackouts that make him lose entire days at a time. Steven’s life gets upended when he discovers that he’s in possession of a golden scarab wanted by a cult leader named Arthur Harrow. Harrow is a servant of the Egyptian goddess Ammit, who wants to kill everyone on earth who may commit a crime at some point in the future.
While on the run from Harrow, though, Steven makes another discovery: he shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector, who serves as the avatar of Khonshu, the Egyptian god of the moon. Marc has the ability to transform into Moon Knight, who metes out Khonshu’s justice on earth, and together with Steven and Layla, Marc’s estranged wife, he sets out to put a stop to Harrow and Ammit.
With all that out of the way, let’s talk about the ways Batman and Moon Knight are similar (and different!).
1. Batman Dresses Like a Bat, and Moon Knight Dresses Like the Moon
Batman in movies and TV, if you can believe it, started off as unbelievably silly. If you take a look at Adam West’s Batman from the ’60s, it’s a brightly-colored romp filled with gags like Batman pulling out his classic Bat shark repellant, or trying to find a safe place to detonate a bomb and being stymied by ducklings and couples in rowboats.
Nowadays, Batman movies are known for being dark and gritty. The Joker has gone from being a literal clown to a terrifying and chaotic murderer. And while DC reused the bomb detonation plot in The Dark Knight Rises, that time, it was a nuclear bomb and Batman used the situation to fake his own death. These are not kids’ movies. Plus, Batman has always leaned heavily into the detective thriller genre, emphasizing Batman’s skills at tracking and deduction, as much as his cool technology.
Like Batman, the Moon Knight comics are known for being darker and more violent than other Marvel offerings, but from what we’ve seen of the Disney Plus series so far, it’s still much more fun and comic book-y than, say, The Batman. The series has plenty of humorous moments, like Steven being crushed that he won’t be considered for a tour guide position, and it’s hard to be really gritty when you’ve got bird-skulled gods and monster jackals running around.
Both Batman and Moon Knight are caped crusaders, but the radically different tones of the two series can be seen in their costumes: Batman’s is as dark and forbidding as his franchise, while Moon Knight’s as mystical and flamboyant as the moon itself. (Of course, in the comics, the reason his suit is white is so that criminals can see their doom coming, so maybe that will come out in the show, too.)
2. Bruce Wayne is a Can of Axe Body Spray and Steven Grant is a Squishy Lovable Dumpling
In the original Marvel comics, Marc Spector’s alter Steven Grant actually is pretty similar to Bruce Wayne: he’s a millionaire playboy who uses the vast wealth at his disposal to finance his crimefighting operation. The MCU, however, has decided to take Steven in a drastically different direction. Instead of a wealthy American, Steven is a shy, nerdy museum gift shop employee who can’t catch a break.
Partly, Steven’s troubles come from his dissociative identity disorder, and the fact that—as he puts it—he has a little American man living inside him, who periodically takes over their body and uses it to do the bidding of his master, Khonshu. You’re never going to be at your best when you suffer from blackouts and sleep deprivation. Partly, though, Steven’s character traits are just his personality. The guy’s a sweet-natured nebbish whom every viewer wants to protect with their life.
Of course, the Bruce Wayne vs. Steven Grant paradigm leaves out Marc, who’s a hardened mercenary. But that’s just another way that Moon Knight differs from Batman. Even though he lives a double life, Bruce has a strong sense of self. Marc and Steven, however, have polar opposite personalities which are constantly vying for control of their shared body. Even their respective suits—the caped Moon Knight suit that Marc summons and the “psycho Colonel Sanders” version that Steve manages to dredge up in a pinch—are completely different, with Marc’s suit looking majestic and terrifying and Steve’s suit looking like…well, Colonel Sanders. (I’m glad Marc said it so that we all didn’t have to.)
3. Batman is Science and Moon Knight is Magic
This last major difference really gets to the core of what the MCU’s Moon Knight is all about. In the comics, Marc, like Bruce, puts together his own suit and tools using materials like kevlar and Adamantium. In the MCU, though, Moon Knight is thoroughly mystical. Marc and Steven summon their suits and weapons with their minds, and they both have to contend with Khonshu barking at them over their shoulders. In the early days, Marvel shied away from magic a bit, attempting to explain things like Asgard and sorcery as advanced forms of science. Now, the MCU seems to be embracing it wholeheartedly. From what we’ve seen so far, Khonshu is straight-up a god, and Moon Knight’s suit and powers are straight-up magic. No ifs, ands, or buts.
Batman, on the other hand, is thoroughly grounded in science. Bruce Wayne has no superpowers, just a lot of money, technology, and know-how. But isn’t having a lot of money kind of magic? I mean how do people get that stuff?
It’s interesting, when you get down to it, you can see how Batman may have inspired the Moon Knight comics. But now, it’s fun to see how the show is veering away from some of those similarities. 2022’s Moon Knight is his own thing, and we’re excited to see just how far that will go.
Any more differences or connections between Moon Knight and Batman you can spot? Any lore from the comics that’s worth mentioning? Let us know in the comments!
(featured image: MARZ VFX/Marvel Entertainment)
