Up until now, all the feature films (and Disney+ shows) set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been a soft PG-13 at best. The consensus with the MCU is that they will never go too brutal under the Disney brand, with laughs always sprinkled throughout. Even with Hawkeye introducing the first street-level series compared to their films, the show is very much a heartwarming Christmas tale. However, it looks like things will finally turn slightly more mature in next year’s Moon Knight starring Oscar Isaac.
While speaking on the Change My Mind podcast, KC Walsh of The GWW revealed that the series is expected to be the most “Hyper-Violent” project in the MCU to date:
“Moon Knight is going to be this dark, violent, hyper-violent series where basically Marc Spector and the Egyptian god, Khonshu, and again, this is part of the series of ‘is this real or is he going insane.’ But, him and Khonshu are basically going around and taking out other people who have been inhabited by Egyptian gods. So, that meaning the main villain is going to be Sun King, who is more than likely Ethan Hawke.”
He goes on to add:
“I was told that there was blood. Like, they would be showing blood. I definitely think it’s going to be the most brutal. Even with things like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, I imagine it’s going to be very much on the same line as the John Walker episode where he decapitated that guy.”
Many fans have wondered if Marvel Studios will ever cross the line into more mature content. While it’s impossible to see them ever making their shows hyper-sexual with gratuitous violence like Game of Thrones, they could match the violence from the former Netflix shows. While Daredevil originally streamed on Netflix, it was labeled TV-MA, but the showrunners always rated it “PG-16” for their viewers, never going too overboard.
“It is much more geared towards adults. We call it PG-16. We don’t quite get to R, but we kiss right up to it.” – Steven DeKnight
If Kevin Feige finally chooses to allow projects to push the bounds on maturity to PG-16ish, it could help their mature characters that will be introduced like Blade starring Mahershala Ali. Other characters at this level of maturity could be the rumored Daredevil reboot project or even The Punisher. A whole new mature world could open up in the MCU we never thought Disney would allow as we move forward into future Phases.
Moon Knight will stream on Disney+ in 2022