Why Moon Knight Is Called Steven In The Trailer (It's Not His Name)

In the trailer for his new show, Moon Knight calls himself "Steven" (even though it isn't his real name). Here's why, and how it links to the comics.

In the new Moon Knight trailer, the title character was curiously referred to as Steven, despite the fact that it isn’t his real name. In Marvel Comics, the man behind the mask is Marc Spector, a mercenary revived by the Egyptian moon god to be his champion. By having an unidentified character call him “Marc” in the footage, the series indicated that the same will be the case for the MCU incarnation of the Marvel Comics vigilante.

Starring Oscar Isaac as the Crescent Crusader, Marvel’s Moon Knight show promises to be unique installment in the MCU. Based on what was shown in the trailer, mental illness and a mystery surrounding the character’s identity will be focal points of the show. For the time being, not much is known about how the MCU’s Moon Knight will develop his supernatural abilities, but it appears that his arc will kick off with him living as a gift-shop employee haunted by strange dreams and visions. In the trailer, he told one of his co-workers that his name is Steven. To some, this reveal could cause confusion, considering that his name is actually Marc Spector.

The character having two different names in the MCU can be explained by Moon Knight's mental condition. In the comics, Marc has dissociative identity disorder, which he developed sometime after creating two fake identities to help hide his secret life as Moon Knight. One of these identities, Steven Grant, has been borrowed by Moon Knight’s Disney+ show. However, the series is clearly making some big changes to it. In the original story, “Steven Grant” was a British millionaire and a playboy. He relied on his Steven persona to provide the financial funds he needed to fight crime as Moon Knight.

This version of his Steven Grant identity, who obviously isn’t wealthy, is quite different to the one used by Moon Knight in the comic books. Even so, at least one aspect of this persona has remained unaltered. In the Moon Knight trailer, Isaac can be heard speaking in a British accent. But since Moon Knight is expected to be American in the MCU, it’s more likely that the accent is a product of Marc’s mental condition.

As for what all this means for the story, it looks like the Moon Knight mystery will be explored through the perspective of Steven and not Marc. If so, it’s possible that by the timeframe of the first episode, Marc will have already gone to Egypt, acquired his powers, and become Moon Knight. But Steven, a persona presumably created by his subconscious, may not have any knowledge of who he really is or the powers he now possesses. Alongside Steven, viewers may learn about the experiences that transformed Marc into the MCU’s Moon Knight.