Moon Knight, the latest Marvel Studios show coming to Disney+, is unlike any Marvel show we’ve ever seen. Mostly that’s because it doesn’t require an encyclopedic knowledge of the events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to enjoy it. The show is filled with new characters, mythologies, and plenty of inspiration from history and action movies of the past few decades.
In the show, Oscar Isaac plays Steven Grant, a lonely British man who works in a museum and has a sleepwalking problem. That problem is actually that he’s also Marc Spector, an American adventurer who pledged himself to be the avatar of the Egyptian god of the Moon, Khonshu. However, Khonshu is not the only ancient Egyptian God roaming the streets and it’s up to Marc/Steven/Moon Knight to make sure everyone is safe.
The show is a funny, exciting adventure that reminded us of a good bunch of movies. And so, what’s next are those movies, each perfect to watch to get excited for Moon Knight, or in between while you’re waiting for each of the six weekly episodes.
Venom
Nope, this is not a spoiler. Moon Knight does not have some super secret Spider-Man crossover. (Or does it?!?!?) (…It doesn’t.) It does, however, feature a main character having internal conversations with an all-powerful being living inside of them and, well, it reminded us of Venom. Less silly Venom, but Venom none the less.
The Mummy
When we say this, we mostly mean the very fun 1999 Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz film, but really it could go for any version, from the 1932 original to the 2017 Dark Universe version. All of the films share that blend of ancient mythology and exciting, thrilling action, which is Moon Knight in a nutshell.
Tomb Raider
They literally raid at tomb at one point in Moon Knight so, yeah, this fits. Plus, again, it’s an example of a global action franchise with its roots in history and exploration. And here we’re mostly talking about Angelina Jolie version, because the Alicia Vikander one is more of an origin story. Either works though.
Gods of Egypt
Though it features a staggeringly good cast (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Chadwick Boseman, Rufus Sewell, Gerard Butler, Geoffrey Rush) this multiple Razzie nominee stinks. And yet, it’s one of the most recent films that actually spotlights Egyptian Gods that feature into Moon Knight so, you know.
Alexander
Current Penguin actor Colin Farrell stars in this 2004 Oliver Stone film about the powerful Greek king, Alexander the Great. Which, let’s just say, wouldn’t be a bad thing to brush up on before Moon Knight.
Malignant
Sort of like Venom, Malignant is about a character with another character inside them and how the two interact. Which is exactly what Moon Knight is about. This is just way more violent and creepy.
The Bourne Identity
Marc Spector, the “main” character of Moon Knight, is a quietly confident soldier who can unlock power in him when he wants to. That reminded us a little bit of Jason Bourne, especially in the earlier films when he was still learning about himself.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Come on now. Could we really have a list of films that remind us of swashbuckling, historical adventures without the all-time best swashbuckling, historical adventure in history? Moon Knight owes a lot of its storytelling to all the Indiana Jones films — and honestly, when is it not a good time to revisit these?