Warning! SPOILERS for Moon Knight ahead.
The Disney+ Marvel show Moon Knight introduced Marc Spector, a superhero with a rare real-life mental disorder. Imbued with the power of the vengeful moon god Khonshu, Marc Spector, a.k.a. Moon Knight, fights crime in a uniquely brutal fashion, but violence wasn't the only adult content Moon Knight addressed. In addition to navigating his newly-supernatural life as the Fist of Khnonshu, Oscar Isaac's Moon Knight character, who actually spent much of the series as Steven Grant, also had to manage worsening symptoms of a complex psychological condition, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).
The son of a rabbi, Spector ed the U.S. Marine Corps later on and became a mercenary, eventually gaining Steven, who Khonshu hates).
Previously called Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), DID is a mental disorder characterized by having at least two distinct identities. Aside from a “core” identity, people with DID also have “alters,” or alternate personalities. Marc Spector's DID led to the creation of Steven Grant as an alter, as well as Jake Lockley. Just like Marc Spector and his alters in Moon Knight, these alters in real-life DID "systems" (how people in the DID community often pluralistically self-refer) can be quite different from each other in of ethnicity, gender, and even preferences. Just as with Marc Spector too, real-life DID understandably affects behavior, functioning, and thinking processes. It's often accompanied by cognitive impairments like Steven's memory gaps. As a result, those with DID may feel disconnected from their own bodies, and they may lose control over their speech and actions at times, becoming observers of their alter's actions. Here's everything about what condition Marc Spector has, and what Moon Knight got right (and wrong) about DID.
How Marvel's Moon Knight Portrays DID
With Moon Knight, the MCU takes a deeper look into Marc Spector's Dissociative Identity Disorder. Marc Spector's relationship with his main alter, Steven Grant, was a core theme throughout the show. Moon Knight episode 5, "Asylum," was especially focused on the subject, with Marc and Steven meeting in the Egyptian afterlife, The Field of Reeds. Marvel has already explored mental health themes, albeit rather unsuccessfully. While Iron Man's Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from Loki’s attack was the focus of Iron-Man 3, Thor’s depression was sadly turned into the source of jokes in Avengers: Endgame. Hopefully, Moon Knight’s debut in Phase 4 signals that the MCU is finally open to discussing such issues in-depth and moving beyond crass humor or casual comments. Given the gravity of Marc Spector’s Dissociative Identity Disorder and how it affects his actions, Moon Knight rightly embraced the condition as a significant part of his origin story rather than sensationalizing it, thus avoiding unrealistic and harmful representation in the process.
Why Steven Is The Main Alter In Moon Knight
In the Moon Knight comics, Marc Spector has alters that include billionaire businessman Steven Grant, cab driver Jake Lockley, and consultant Mr. Knight. He uses these identities to gather information from various social circles and fight crime. However, the Moon Knight show on Disney+ deviated from Steven’s comic-book background, and he become the focus of the story. His fictional bank was also significantly reduced, as in Moon Knight on Disney+ Steven Grant works as a museum gift shop employee. In contrast to other alters like Marc and Moon Knight, Steven is markedly less violent and is more alarmed by the dark changes happening to him as the Fist of Khonshu. This has mostly to do with the unique role that Steven plays among Marc's alters.
The different alters that can manifest as part of a DID system are often classified into various roles. In the case of Marc Spector/Moon Knight's system, Steven seems to act as a protector, a role designed to shield the host identity from trauma. Protectors focus on defense and managing feelings. By contrast, Marc himself seems to be more of a persecutor type, who acts out in ways that are often harmful in a misguided attempt to act as a protector. Because Steven is protecting the system from the trauma Marc welcomes in, this made him a crucial alter to explore in Moon Knight's story. By placing Steven's perspective at the forefront, Moon Knight was able to highlight the destructive tendencies of Marc and Moon Knight even further.
Moon Knight: How Many Alters Does Marc Spector Have?
In the comics, Marc Spector's system contains five alters: Marc, Steven Grant, Jake Lockley, Mr. Knight, and Moon Knight. Marc is the host, or main identity, while Steven and Jake Lockley (an NYC cab driver) help gather resources and intel for Moon Knight's masked escapades. Mr. Knight is a public-facing alter who engages in investigations and a degree of crime-fighting, though not to the aggressive, over-the-top extent that Moon Knight does. Moon Knight's five identities each play a key role in his comic book character, and all five are featured in Moon Knight as well. However, there were a few differences.
In Moon Knight, Moon Knight and Mr. Knight aren't treated as separate alters in quite the same way. Moon Knight is the powered-up form of Marc Spector but retains his personality. The same applies to Mr. Knight. In the show, he is simply the name/appearance that Steven takes on when he gains powers of his own and tag-teams with Marc in the fight against Arthur Harrow and his cultists. Jake Lockley doesn't make a full appearance until the Moon Knight post-credits scene, and his existence isn't known to Steven or Marc. It's implied that Lockley is an alter only Khonshu is aware of, and one that the vengeance God has kept on as his current avatar after "parting ways" with Marc Spector and Steven Grant.
How Moon Knight Handled DID Sensitively
Moon Knight managed to portray DID in a way that didn't feel sensationalized. The condition has been the fodder of movies and TV shows, such as Marc doesn't remove Steven from his psyche or try to "cure himself" is important here, too. Steven isn't a symptom of illness for Marc – he's a fellow traveler in the same body with just as much right to exist as Marc Spector himself.
The trauma element has also been captured exceptionally well. The relationship between trauma and DID is often misrepresented in one of two ways. Either it isn't acknowledged at all as a factor in the development of alters, or DID is used as a narrative excuse to show the kind of harrowing and over-the-top abuse that's often referred to as "trauma porn." Marc Spector's childhood, or one just like it, could lead to a condition like DID.
However, the show isn't without its criticisms. Hallucinations are a common feature of DID. The fact that everything almost everything Marc and Steven see is real allows them to have a level of functionality and/or day-to-day cohesion that isn't representative of many real systems living with DID. What's more, Steven's regular blackouts would make holding down a full-time job much more difficult than the show portrays – an important oversight, given that employment difficulties are one of the key ways in which a condition like DID can severely inhibit quality of life. However, one thing that Oscar Isaacs' risky Moon Knight mental health portrayal did get right is not conflating DID with schizophrenia, a common and hurtful mistake for both the DID and schizophrenia communities. Overall, the depiction of Marc Spector's Dissociative Identity Disorder in Moon Knight isn't 100% accurate for every single system with the condition, but it's indisputably one of the best and most sensitive portrayals of DID on the big or small screen to date.
Moon Knight is available to watch in full on Disney+.
