You wouldn’t know it if you watched the Disney+ TV series, but Moon Knight is a superhero with at least one foot planted firmly in the spookier corners of the Marvel Universe. The character first appeared as an antagonist in an issue of Werewolf by Night, for one thing, and because of his ties to an Egyptian moon god of vengeance has always flirted with the supernatural. Never has that been more true than in the current Moon Knight comic series, where the hero has opened the Midnight Mission, protecting “those who travel by night” from threats both earthly and unearthly, and populating its supporting cast and antagonists with vampires. “The touchstone we had when we started the series was, I wanted Moon Knight back where I thought he worked best, which is on the street,” Moon Knight writer Jed MacKay tells our Marvel Standom podcast. “But we also didn’t want him bumping up into Daredevil territory or Spider-Man territory, or heaven forbid, Punisher territory. So the idea was street level, but weird. You go to Spider-Man if someone’s shaking you down, but you’ve got Moon Knight if someone’s shaking you down and they also turn into a werewolf when the moon comes up. That’s kind of the niche I think he fits in because Moon Knight is an impossibly weird character. He’s a very strange man, just in the things that he does and the people he surrounds himself with, and the kind of attitude he takes to things. He’s a bit of a misfit among the superhero community.” Part of putting Moon Knight back “on the street” involved looking to more grounded stories for inspiration. But they aren’t necessarily the ones you might expect. And the help folks need is usually now of a distinctly supernatural nature. From the very first issue, there’s been a strong thread of vampirism running through the series, from the introduction of an important new Moon Knight supporting character in Reese, to the rise of the Tutor, a vampire leader with a twist. “The vampiric pyramid, cult sort of system…that’s a very American form of vampirism [and] vampire hierarchy, as opposed to your old world monarchies and whatnot,” MacKay says. “So we have that whole situation rapidly reaching a boiling point, and we’re going to see a little more history behind that and a little more understanding of why things are happening the way they are and what is going to need to be done in order to deal with it.” The Tutor’s ambitions will inevitably lead to run-ins with the biggest vampiric villain in the Marvel Universe: Dracula. For folks who may not know, yes, there is indeed a Marvel Dracula who routinely fights superheroes, and he has a long history and continuity of his own that rivals any of the great Marvel villains. While Dracula has been making waves in the pages of Avengers recently (where he has established the vampire nation of Chernobyl…because comics are awesome, folks), it looks like he’ll be coming to Moon Knight soon enough. “As far as movers and shakers in the vampire world go, if you’re trying to make big moves politically in the vampire world, Dracula is a guy you’re gonna have to deal with,” MacKay says. “The Tutor is making a move to get in with Dracula. He wants to take his operation internationally and wants to become a rising force in the vampire world. He’s already well established in New York but wants to take it further. We’re gonna see how that shakes out because he’s invited a lot of friends over and there might be some party crashers.” And as if all this vampiric action wasn’t enough, there’s also a werewolf to contend with. In the newly released Moon Knight Annual #1, there’s a long awaited rematch with Werewolf by Night, the same character who first introduced Moon Knight to the world back in 1975, and who. While the pair have had several rematches since then, things have changed considerably for the character since those days (not to mention how different he may appear to folks only familiar with Jack Russell from the Werewolf by Night MCU TV special). Needless to say, carnage ensues. If you’re looking for something seasonally appropriate this Halloween to go with your superheroics, then Moon Knight is very much the book for you.
