The Marvel Cinematic Universe, with its cultural reach and scope, often tends to lean into family-friendly territory, rarely shying away from opportunities to insert a fun joke or heartwarming moments into their properties.
But, that doesn’t mean Marvel Studios is afraid of veering into darker, more mature themes; one just has to take a look at the Marvel shows that originated on Netflix, such as Daredevil and Jessica Jones, to catch a glimpse of how intense the world of the MCU can get.
Moon Knight was one of the more mature entries from Marvel Studios, delving into a particularly serious lens surrounding mental illness, to say nothing of the intensity of the violence that was present. The series once again raised the question of “How dark is too dark?”
In an interview with The Direct, Moon Knight supervising producer Beau DeMayo touched on the process by which Marvel measures and manages its levels of maturity.
“I think it was always a question of making sure that we were doing it in service of story, and that the story was always aware of the morality of the actions,” said DeMayo of the series. “That if Marc is brutally savaging a group of thugs, that the audience isn’t necessarily thinking it’s cool. That you have Steven going, ‘Marc, stop, stop!’”
“You have a moral barometer kind of guiding the audience so it never feels gratuitous or exploitative.”
DeMayo also noted that darker themes weren’t as alien to the MCU as many may believe, citing the emotional trauma explored in Avengers: Endgame as an example.
“When you’re looking at the emotional trauma that you see in Avengers: Endgame, the MCU has also gone to some pretty dark places that pushed the boundaries, I think, of what kids are used to seeing.”
Moon Knight is currently available to stream on Disney Plus.
