The Official Moon Knight Thread

[venom892]

I always thought it would be interesting if Khonshu basically abandoned Marc and choose someone else as his avatar.Could be a great story.

 

[Nightwing 52]

I agree with Dread's sentiments. There's two valid points there. One being that MK does need a good defining run. That needs to happen. The other is the idea of having other avatars of the Egyptian gods - just like Marc/Jake is to Khonsu. I love that idea. If handled correctly, this would be solid. Lots of potential there.

 

[E-Man]

I agree with Dread's sentiments. There's two valid points there. One being that MK does need a good defining run. That needs to happen. The other is the idea of having other avatars of the Egyptian gods - just like Marc/Jake is to Khonsu. I love that idea. If handled correctly, this would be solid. Lots of potential there.

I co-sign with this idea too. I can see the other Egyptian avatars being like Immortal Weapons.

 

[venom892]

It would make for an epic story.One thing I feel that has been lacking in recent years is a supernatural element in Moon Knight stories.Those were present in early Moon Knight stories.Like his strength being dependent on the phases of the moon.

 

[Saved]

I'll say it again - Werewolves!

 

[Dread]

I always thought it would be interesting if Khonshu basically abandoned Marc and choose someone else as his avatar.Could be a great story.

A few Moon Knight stories have toyed with that, especially lately with the end of the last volume and into this one. Of course, Khonshu wasn't always so obsessed with being exceedingly violent until the 2006 series. Although perhaps that was because despite Moon Knight's intentions, many of his enemies tended to die in the end anyway, so Khonshu was appeased. The god was willing to fully possess Specter's body to join the West Coast Avengers (and briefly get him registered with the SHRA). But, yeah, it could be interesting, just to go full on and do it. The only dilemma is that at that point it might get too tempting to a writer to retire Marc for a new Moon Knight or have him settle into a "mentor" role for a new one. But I suppose if executed well both could be interesting. The standard way to tell that story is Khonshu picks someone who is unsuitable for being his avatar, either because he or she is too violent or fanatical or doesn't fight as well or so on. Of course such an act could simply be a test from Khonshu to test Marc's resolve without him, or so on...

Or it could be that no one can quite handle being the avatar of Khonshu like Marc, because he's crazy enough to handle it without going totally mad. Hey, that could work; stories where negative psychological foibles become a strength in some circumstances is fun in comics. Wasn't there a recent UXM story where Cyclops was able to overcome being possessed by the Void because his standard practice is bottling his urges even when it comes at the price of comfort or sanity? I remember another story where Chamber fought off a demon just with sheer depression. Eddie Brock once literally set off such an intense "psychic wail of despair" that he made an entire army of symbiotes kill themselves (the end of "PLANET OF THE SYMBIOTES" during the 90's). I imagine most "sane" people could not handle a god speaking to them.

I agree with Dread's sentiments. There's two valid points there. One being that MK does need a good defining run. That needs to happen. The other is the idea of having other avatars of the Egyptian gods - just like Marc/Jake is to Khonsu. I love that idea. If handled correctly, this would be solid. Lots of potential there.

I think so, too. It would actually make Khonshu's more recent bloodlust make more sense; maybe he is trying to prepare Khonshu for the other avatars, who may not share his pangs of guilt or conscience. Seth has been Khonshu's enemy for ages and has been involved in some strife with Moon Knight and the Avengers; that would be the obvious place to start. But there's an entire pantheon there to explore besides Bast for Black Panther and Moon Knight for Specter.

Personally I always liked the idea that in Egypt, Moon Knight would sort of be a mythical figure like Robin Hood, and that Marc was not the first. I suppose some could criticize and go, "Oh, Dread, you're just wanting Moon Knight to rip off IMMORTAL IRON FIST", but it really doesn't matter where an idea comes from if it works. Having gods choose mortal champions or avatars is hardly new or unique, either. Most godly pantheons in-fought and bickered, and pit their pawns against each other. Just instead of it being Greek or Norse it's Egyptian. It certainly is a gold mine of potential rather than going through team-ups or trying to dust off what is left of Moon Knight's rogues gallery, and would easily help build a new one.

It would make for an epic story.One thing I feel that has been lacking in recent years is a supernatural element in Moon Knight stories.Those were present in early Moon Knight stories.Like his strength being dependent on the phases of the moon.

Yeah, I liked that, too. I thought that mystical ability actually gave Moon Knight a good reason to have different power levels to fit a superhero. Super heroes are always as strong or powerful as the story needs, with their power levels going up and down just in terms of drama or writing skill. Moon Knight's actually got a perfectly legitimate reason for having him able to, say, punch through a brick wall in one story but struggle to carry Marlene with one arm while hanging on a wall in the next. New Moon he would probably be at whatever his normal strength is, full moon he could lift a few tons, and the other phases are somewhere in between. It would also make daylight heroics equally exciting. Again, it would give him something more to have to break away from the "he's a rip of Batman" criticisms. So play up the parts that have nothing to do with Batman!

If anything, Moon Knight is actually quite closer to a 1950's Japanese superhero called Moonlight Mask (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_Mask). Of course, Moonlight Mask was himself inspired by Batman and the Lone Ranger, and Moon Knight's creator himself acknowledges some inspiration from Batman, but it is all cyclical. No one says that Green Arrow or Hawkeye are "just ripping off Robin Hood" (or even that the Hulk is "a rip of Frankenstein's monster crossed with Mr. Hyde"). They're inspired by Robin Hood, but have their own elements there. Batman's been around since 1939; he's inspired many heroes who have come since; 71 years is a long time for a fictional character. There is a difference between an inspiration and an homage and a rip. Although I will concede that said difference may all come down to personal taste or opinion. What I will say is by failing to capitalize on Moon Knight's more distinct elements, it only invites criticism.

I'll say it again - Werewolves!

Doug Moench intended for Moon Knight to originally be an adversary for WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, naturally. And that's a funny thing to think about in today's day and age. Moon Knight is a spin off of WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, which was a quirky 70's horror book, and has probably stuck around in his own adventures a lot better than Jack Russell sure has.

I'd imagine Marc Specter should probably know more about how to fight werewolves than many other heroes. The problem is they're not terribly popular as monsters, and "THE WOLFMAN" remake didn't help things. The last volume had some werewolves show up I think (I only know from the MOON KNIGHT SAGA; I stopped reading it before then).

One supposes it might be interesting if the Secret Avengers for some reason are fighting werewolves and Moon Knight busts out the old silver crescent moon darts for old time's sake. Maybe "The Committee" can be bought up by the Secret Empire or something one of these days.

I recall there used to be a whole street gang of werewolves that Russell had unwittingly created; the "Brain Eaters". Maybe they could show up somewhere. Unfortunately, as far as "monsters" go, zombies and vampires seem to remain more popular.

Maybe Mr. Friday falls in with the Brain Eaters and makes them Zombie-Wolves. A bit absurd, but so was Red Skull inside a giant robot body, and Brubaker wrote that in REBORN #6. And need I remind anyone of "Franken-Castle"?

 

[Saved]

Doug Moench intended for Moon Knight to originally be an adversary for WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, naturally. And that's a funny thing to think about in today's day and age. Moon Knight is a spin off of WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, which was a quirky 70's horror book, and has probably stuck around in his own adventures a lot better than Jack Russell sure has.

I'd imagine Marc Specter should probably know more about how to fight werewolves than many other heroes. The problem is they're not terribly popular as monsters, and "THE WOLFMAN" remake didn't help things. The last volume had some werewolves show up I think (I only know from the MOON KNIGHT SAGA; I stopped reading it before then).

One supposes it might be interesting if the Secret Avengers for some reason are fighting werewolves and Moon Knight busts out the old silver crescent moon darts for old time's sake. Maybe "The Committee" can be bought up by the Secret Empire or something one of these days.

I recall there used to be a whole street gang of werewolves that Russell had unwittingly created; the "Brain Eaters". Maybe they could show up somewhere. Unfortunately, as far as "monsters" go, zombies and vampires seem to remain more popular.

Maybe Mr. Friday falls in with the Brain Eaters and makes them Zombie-Wolves. A bit absurd, but so was Red Skull inside a giant robot body, and Brubaker wrote that in REBORN #6. And need I remind anyone of "Franken-Castle"?

Yep, Werewolf by Night 32 - though they weren't enemies in that, per se.
And, yeah, MK fought a werewolf in issue 20.

I know werewolves aren't particularly popular, but I do so like the idea of MK fighting mystical creatures like that, which also aren't particularly popular either. Then again, when I think about MK fighting zombies, it does seem like a terrible idea.

 

[venom892]

While I did like the story I saw no need to resurrect Bushman.That arc could have been used to build up a new threat.The profile from the previous volume seems to be being build up as MK's next major threat.

 

[NDX]

I like the Bushman arc because it represented Scarecrow surprisingly well in the story. That, and the ending of Bushman in the loony bin clamoring about MK's insanity.

 

[Dread]

Yep, Werewolf by Night 32 - though they weren't enemies in that, per se.
And, yeah, MK fought a werewolf in issue 20.

I know werewolves aren't particularly popular, but I do so like the idea of MK fighting mystical creatures like that, which also aren't particularly popular either. Then again, when I think about MK fighting zombies, it does seem like a terrible idea.

I wouldn't mind Moon Knight taking on supernatural threats, so long as he didn't get pigeon holed there. He's certainly taken on many of them. Not just werewolves, but also demonic beings; in the 90's there were a whole bunch of them called the Hellbent, who if memory served were the offspring of humans who mated with demons. Some of them were quite powerful. In fact one of them, "Seth the Immortal", was involved in Marc's "second death" at the end of his series in the 90's.

There were always the Lobo Brothers; mutant twins who transformed into lupine men. They actually had similar weaknesses to supernatural werewolves, such as needing a full moon to change, and being weak to silver. One of them died, and I think their father (Maximus Lobo) was depowered on M-Day. That leaves Carlos Lobo. Sure, he's another of Spider-Man's castaway rogues, but hey, so was Kingpin when he stumbled onto Daredevil. Maybe he could return and gather the Brain-Eaters as enforcers, but I'm just being creative with geek lore.

While I did like the story I saw no need to resurrect Bushman.That arc could have been used to build up a new threat.The profile from the previous volume seems to be being build up as MK's next major threat.

I like the Bushman arc because it represented Scarecrow surprisingly well in the story. That, and the ending of Bushman in the loony bin clamoring about MK's insanity.

Bushman is Specter's arch nemesis, involved in not only his origin, but one of his darkest acts as a vigilante. I can see why out of all of his rogues, Hurwitz would want to revive him. That said, beyond being involved in Specter's origins and whatnot, he's hardly the Green Goblin of villains. I didn't mind his resurrection arc, as it tested "Jake's" new mettle as hero, but I think it did sort of point to the fact that Moon Knight has a very limited pool of villains that no one else really can fill Bushman's shoes. Norman Osborn was dead for 20 years, but Spider-Man didn't lack for an arch nemesis without him; Dr. Octopus, Hobgoblin, the Jackal, and even Venom filled those shoes.

The Profile is being built up, but right now he seems like a non combatant. On the other hand, he could be a bit more of a conniving version of Amadeus Cho; he can "see" amazing logical deductions about people, but often uses them to manipulate or psychologically bait them. But, see, he was created by Husten, and look how quickly he's become part of the Moon Knight mythos. I think Moon Knight needs new rogues like that, to replace some of his dead ones in such a fashion.

 

[Hound55]

Bushman is Specter's arch nemesis, involved in not only his origin, but one of his darkest acts as a vigilante. I can see why out of all of his rogues, Hurwitz would want to revive him. That said, beyond being involved in Specter's origins and whatnot, he's hardly the Green Goblin of villains. I didn't mind his resurrection arc, as it tested "Jake's" new mettle as hero, but I think it did sort of point to the fact that Moon Knight has a very limited pool of villains that no one else really can fill Bushman's shoes. Norman Osborn was dead for 20 years, but Spider-Man didn't lack for an arch nemesis without him; Dr. Octopus, Hobgoblin, the Jackal, and even Venom filled those shoes.

The problem is that Moon Knight has a few REALLY GOOD nemeses, nemeses who are just dying to receive some really good character portrayals (sadly I think Huston's given the best and he never had a chance to "use" the character other than a single flashback and the masterstroke that was having Khonshu assume his form... but the line "hating him, as you can only hate the face you see in the mirror" spoke volumes about the character of Bushman in relation to Spector and their history), with the other being Randall Spector and then after that you could develop some second tier guys like Midnight and Black Spectre as a self-made dark reflection of Spector who's a driven obsessive sociopath whose existence and behaviour fills MK with self-doubt as to whether he's doing the right thing.

But the pool's quite shallow because these characters who are figuratively dying to be further explored... are also literally dying as fast as they can be further explored.

The Profile is being built up, but right now he seems like a non combatant. On the other hand, he could be a bit more of a conniving version of Amadeus Cho; he can "see" amazing logical deductions about people, but often uses them to manipulate or psychologically bait them. But, see, he was created by Husten, and look how quickly he's become part of the Moon Knight mythos. I think Moon Knight needs new rogues like that, to replace some of his dead ones in such a fashion.

Now the Profile... The Profile to me is going to be Huston/Finch and possibly Moon Knight in general's greatest legacy to the greater Marvel Universe... there's so much potential to be used there...

And I couldn't agree more with you in terms of needing a few more rogues, but they don't need to be packed in either. Moensch wrote Moon Knight in some great street-level stories, and whilst we both know that marquee characters sell, I'd be interested in seeing them test the water with some Modern-day well-written street level gear as well, foiling the odd no-name run plot (no-name does not mean Z-lister).

 

[Dread]

The problem is that Moon Knight has a few REALLY GOOD nemeses, nemeses who are just dying to receive some really good character portrayals (sadly I think Huston's given the best and he never had a chance to "use" the character other than a single flashback and the masterstroke that was having Khonshu assume his form... but the line "hating him, as you can only hate the face you see in the mirror" spoke volumes about the character of Bushman in relation to Spector and their history), with the other being Randall Spector and then after that you could develop some second tier guys like Midnight and Black Spectre as a self-made dark reflection of Spector who's a driven obsessive sociopath whose existence and behaviour fills MK with self-doubt as to whether he's doing the right thing.

But the pool's quite shallow because these characters who are figuratively dying to be further explored... are also literally dying as fast as they can be further explored.

I do agree that it was a shame to kill many of those villains in the first place, especially Randall Specter. The problem is whether a new writer wants to undo things that were done in prior runs, or do what they need to do. Punisher has a similar dilemma; aside for Jigsaw (who was also recently killed), he doesn't have too many reoccurring rogues either because they usually keep dying. Of course, Black Spectre was iced off in the last volume during Marc's last "murderous" turn. The dilemma comes when a writer has to decide whether they just want to "pull a OMD" and get around some of these issues by simply resurrecting characters from the mythos who have never been replaced, or if they create new characters, or just spin their heels with team-up stories.

Now the Profile... The Profile to me is going to be Huston/Finch and possibly Moon Knight in general's greatest legacy to the greater Marvel Universe... there's so much potential to be used there...

And I couldn't agree more with you in terms of needing a few more rogues, but they don't need to be packed in either. Moensch wrote Moon Knight in some great street-level stories, and whilst we both know that marquee characters sell, I'd be interested in seeing them test the water with some Modern-day well-written street level gear as well, foiling the odd no-name run plot (no-name does not mean Z-lister).

I do agree that there were many good Moon Knight issues that were "smaller", in which he took on just street toughs or whatever. These last two issues with Deadpool had some elements of that. The problem is that Moon Knight as a whole has often had a few exceptional issues like that, and some decent arcs here and there, and then a lot of middling with some bizarre enemies without much of a rogue's gallery.

Still, Marvel has stuck with Moon Knight for quite a while now in terms of maintaining him in his own series since 2006, and certainly sticking him into SECRET AVENGERS won't hurt for exposure.

 

[Nightwing 52]

I always thought it would be interesting if Khonshu basically abandoned Marc and choose someone else as his avatar.Could be a great story.

Come to think of it, that reminds me of Marc Spector: Moon Knight #25. In which there are these "fanatics" as MK calls them who say they are servants of Khonsu, and it pisses him off:

"Can't shake the fact that those fanatics are claiming to serve Khonsu. I've been wearing this costume and serving in his name for years now. I believed I was serving a higher purpose. Exacting vengeance in his name for the common good. But what if I've been wrong?"

 

[Nightwing 52]

Hmm, someone posted this over at CBR regarding MK:

jokingly asked this question on Brevoort's blog the other day. Interesting response. Wonder when Hurwitz is leaving and who could be taking over???

Once Hurwitz has finished his run on Moon Knight, can someone please force Brubaker and Lark to take over?

No, but we've already got the next Moon Knight creative team poised in the on-deck circle, and you'll like them I expect.

A lot of people began speculating Dan Slott and some other writers, which led Slott (who's a member over there) to respond with this:

Moon Knight is the ONE Marvel Character that I own EVERY single appearance of. (Including the original ver. of the hard to find B&W back-up stories from the HULK magazines.)

When I first went to work at Acclaim Comics, I think I freaked out their Art Director, Don Perlin, by shouting out, "You're the guy who created Moon Knight!!!" (Which he did, in WEREWOLF BY NIGHT).

During an un-aired Marvel podcast, Joe Quesada went around a table asking every writer there-- if they could write ANY Marvel Character, who would it be. EVERY single guy (including JMS who was writing Spider-Man at the time) said Spider-Man. And then it got to me-- and I freaked everybody out by saying Moon Knight!

I LOVE Moon Knight.

And I think that when they introduced (or rather confirmed) the magical Khonshu elements into the book (back when Moench left) was the first wrong turn they took with the character. It kinda goofed up the premise: Is Marc/Jake/Steven/Moon Knight crazy or isn't he? And that kind of screwed the pooch by CLEARLY saying "Nope. Magic Egyptian God DEFINITELY saved him. And look, here's Dr. Strange to back that up."

Moon Knight is the Marvel U. Batman-- except he's on the crazy side-- and he can screw up. (Which is wonderful! Because if you're writing Batman correctly-- HE shouldn't screw up. Ever.).

Could I write a good Moon Knight story? Ever read my Batman stuff from DC? Not just Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, but my Batman Adventures stuff too? After my first big arc-- BATMAN ADVENTURES Vol.2 #5-#8, my fellow Batman scribe turned to me and said, "Congratulations, you finally wrote a Moon Knight story." And I said, "No. That was Batman." And he said, "Trust me, that was Moon Knight-- you just had him as Batman/Bruce Wayne/Matches Malone... But that was REALLY Moon Knight/Steven Grant/ and a hybrid of Marc Spector/Jake Lockley." (And he TOTALLY caught me. Because that was EXACTLY what I was doing!)

I'm highly interested on the possibilities of the new creative team. But I know Slott is a member here at SHH as well so I will say this - Mr. Slott, I full support you and your wanting to write your favorite character. Keep pitching for it!

 

[Hound55]

Alright... for 5 minutes after reading that I completely lost my s***...

My thought processes were:
1. Holy s***! This could mean the end of High-tech MK! Or hopefully the gradual phasing out of him (I'm not a guy who likes sudden swift retcons with things... even things I disagree with. I consider it lazy writing)
2. God, I hope Slott knows his MK lore...
3. *After reading further* He's his "One"?!? He's MY "One" too!
4. HE AGREES THAT KHONSHU IS BEST PLAYED AS AMBIGUOUS (is he/isn't he real) AS WELL!!!
5. New life mission: "Get hands on Slott-written Batman Adventures Vol. 2 # 5-8..."
6. EVERYTHING I'm hearing sounds like me/he'd nail what I would write/want to see in MK.
7. Maybe I should shoot him a PM for some follow up questions of how he'd handle some specific concepts brought in by Huston/Hurwitz, who'd be his ideal guy working on the pencils if they haven't already got someone.
8. *Thought of PM shot down because I know I wouldn't be able to contain my own exuberance*

 

[The BatDude]

Wouldn't mind seeing Slott doing a MK book, I just wish he'll do Ren and Stimpy again.

 

[venom892]

Slott has always said Moon Knight,She-Hulk,Spider-man,The Thing and Batman were his favorite characters.He's gotten to write 4.Maybe he's going 5 for 5?

 

[Nightwing 52]

^ Perhaps number five will be Slott's new lucky number three.

Also...Hell yeah!:

Shadowland: Moon Knight

The story sounds really interesting. I'm glad The Profile is coming back and I'm curious as to what he and Daredevil will do to MK. What sucks at the end of the article though is that VOTMK will be going on hiatus once this comes out. I did like this bit from Hurwitz though:

"Out of all the stories I've written for 'Vengeance,' this is going to be the most personal for Jake Lockley. It digs into him in a way that we haven't seen and it leaves him in a comprehensively different place," Hurwitz revealed. "A lot of the supporting characters and elements of 'Vengeance' are picked up in this story, so it's an essential Moon Knight tale. It's not just a straight tie-in book, but it will be connected to the main "Shadowland" story in a very important way."

 

[Saved]

Why is it EVERYTIME I subscribe to a comic, it goes on hiatus? Last year it happened with Captain American, and now I subscribe with Moon Knight and he goes on hiatus too. MARVEL!!!!

 

[venom892]

Yea Immortal Iron Fist is on "Hiatus" too.

 

[Dread]

I hate that term now, Hiatus. Let's be honest. VENGEANCE OF THE MOON KNIGHT was/is selling about 19k an issue, and falling. That was around where the last volume of MOON KNIGHT was canned. It obviously was not going to last much longer without some sort of relaunch. It isn't a bad thing, really, but let's be honest to customers here. VENGEANCE OF THE MOON KNIGHT will end around issue #10, the SHADOWLAND thing will serve as additional MK issues under a new title and maybe he'll get another retitled comic out if it. Perhaps with some sort of triple digit number. I know he's had more than 100 issues, but are we quite up to 150 yet? 175? 200?

 

[venom892]

138 including his 4 ongoings.152 including his 3 miniseries in the past.

 

[Dread]

138 including his 4 ongoings.152 including his 3 miniseries in the past.

I see then. Thanks for the calculation. That would mean he is 23 issues away from #175, which would be the next handy big number.

Of course, Marvel can fudge re-numberings to add up to whatever they want. They have with INCREDIBLE HULK #600 (which, even if they counted INCREDIBLE HULK #-1, they were still off by about 1-2 issues at the time). They added issues of JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY that didn't have Thor in them to get him to #600. So if Marvel wants to release a MOON KNIGHT #175 when they relaunch him, they'll go and do it.

 

[venom892]

I'm afraid after this Mini the only place to find Moon Knight will be Secret Avengers.I doubt if they haven't relaunched Iron Fist which had better sales I believe and much more acclaim that they'd bother with relauching Moon Knight.

 

[Dread]

As I have said before, Marvel has been amazingly steadfast with Moon Knight since 2006, more so than with Iron Fist or quite a few other franchises in that time. In some form he has remained in his own solo adventures for almost all of the last four years, and counting. Considering he's almost the definition of a cult favorite, B-List character, that's not too shabby.

That said, it is possible his solo title could be given a rest before it is relaunched. Marvel waited a mere 2-3 months between the end of MOON KNIGHT and the start of VENGEANCE, which clearly wasn't long enough to build demand for the character in retailers or "mainstream" fans. Some of the best relaunches have come after enough time has passed to build demand. Marvel wanted over 3 years to relaunch Thor, because they wanted to get it right and line up the right idea with the right talent; they didn't want to just use "anyone" or "anything". The market responded.

Heck, the Huston/Finch debut of MOON KNIGHT came after years where all he would do is show up in MARVEL KNIGHTS or MARVEL TEAM UP here and there every few years, to build up demand. And it worked, at least for a year or two.

If Moon Knight is reduced to a team book by an A-List creative team and maybe a mini or one shot now and again for a little bit, I don't think that is a terribly bad thing. It's more than Iron Fist has gotten for a while. I am looking forward to seeing Brubaker handle Moon Knight on SECRET AVENGERS, and how he works with that team. He was an Avenger before, but the only ones he had the most experience working with were Rhodey, and maybe Valkyrie and Beast from his Defender days; he really hasn't worked with Rogers too much beyond team-up's. Hurwitz has put in the right cogs in place for a new definitive run, but when he returns in another ongoing, that should be the prime objective.

Could it be Slott? He's a good writer, but some of his statements about the character do make me a little nervous. I actually like the mystical origins, and the Khonshu connection. It makes perfect sense for the Norse and Greek gods to still be around, effecting or influencing mortals, and even Bast still has T'Challa, but all of a sudden Specter's taking it too far? Baloney. You can still do "is Marc crazy" stories without undoing or retconning that. I'd hate for Marc to become another Sentry, not when's stepped back from that abyss of his last volume.

I mean if they want to play with the fact that Marc is "Jake", then really play with it. If Jake is simply using Marc's skills (or Moon Knight's skills), how does it feel? Does it feel like intruding on someone else's memories? Is it inborn? Does Jake feel ill at ease staying in the mansion and using the butler from the "playboy identity"? If Jake is the most stable identity, do the others mind?

Since Moon Knight's main weakness is his sanity, I imagine a good psychic villain could really make for some heady, trippy stuff for an arc.

The supernatural aspect is one way to keep him from being "crazy Batman in white". I don't see it as a bad thing. It opens a lot of potential and so little has been used lately. Some of his few surviving villains are also gold mines for some cobweb removal. You can't really change Green Goblin much, but Conqueror Lord is pretty much an open book.