‘Mortal Kombat’ fans think Marvel’s ‘Moon Knight’ looks eerily familiar

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Image via Marvel

With the release of the first trailer for Marvel’s Moon Knight, a superhero series starring Oscar Isaac coming to Disney Plus in March, some fans have pointed out how the design of the titular character seems to eerily resemble that of an entirely different franchise, the video game Mortal Kombat.

When one fan tweaked the Moon Knight costume ever so slightly with a different color palette, even Mortal Kombat co-creator and NetherRealm Studios Creative Director Ed Boon replied with a shocked-face emoji on Twitter due to the seeming resemblance to the video game character Ermac.

It’s unlikely this is an intentional connection, however, since Mortal Kombat is owned by rival studio Warner Bros., the same company that owns DC. What’s more, Marvel’s Moon Knight superhero first appeared in comics in 1975, whereas Mortal Kombat‘s Ermac made his debut in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 in 1995.

There are also many similar-looking Marvel and DC heroes, so that could just be part of the territory of making fantastical, super-human-centered pop fiction. For instance, the similarities between DC’s Deathstroke and Marvel’s Deadpool being one example.

Regardless, many fans on Twitter were pointing out the similar character designs.

Another fan even went so far as to call out Ethan Hawk’s appearance in Moon Knight as being strikingly similar to that of Christopher Lambert’s Lord Raiden in the 1995 film Mortal Kombat.

Another Twitter user pointed out how fun it would be to be able to play Moon Knight as a character in Mortal Kombat, playing “MK in MK,” though that seems unlikely due to each property belonging to the rival wheelhouses of Marvel and DC, respectively.

But one fan pointed out if the rumors are true that Marvel is working on its own Mortal Kombat-style fighting game, Moon Knight would undoubtedly be a welcome addition.

Moon Knight‘s premiere episode hits Disney Plus March 30.

About the author

Danny Peterson

Danny Peterson

Danny Peterson covers entertainment news for WGTC and has previously enjoyed writing about housing, homelessness, the coronavirus pandemic, historic 2020 Oregon wildfires, and racial justice protests. Originally from Juneau, Alaska, Danny received his Bachelor's degree in English Literature from the University of Alaska Southeast and a Master's in Multimedia Journalism from the University of Oregon. He has written for The Portland Observer, worked as a digital enterprise reporter at KOIN 6 News, and is the co-producer of the award-winning documentary 'Escape from Eagle Creek.'