Does Moon Knight have bipolar? (+3 Causal factors)
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The following blogpost will be discussing if Moon Knight has bipolar. We will also be looking at the different signs and symptoms of Moon Knight’s mental health issues presented in the comics and movies, along with a few factors which could have triggered these.
Does Moon Knight have bipolar?
No, Moon Knight does not have bipolar. In the comics and the movies which cover this character, Moon Knight is confirmed to have Dissociative Identity Disorder and not any other mental illness.
Most recently, a miniseries was released concerning this particular character where the signs and symptoms of his Dissociative Identity Disorder were clearly seen. This was praised by mental health experts and fans since it raised public awareness about the disorder.
Moon Knight, as a character, is actually a combination of three different alters or alter-personalities and he constantly switches between them depending on his needs and the situations that surround him.
The character also has mystic powers but is still very athletic and instrumental in making use of technology to defeat enemies and villains. The presence of his other identities which are a result of his mental illness, are actually used as a superpower by this character.
While most of the signs and symptoms of Dissociative Identity Disorder are accurately portrayed in the comics and the show, not all the signs are accurate. Therefore, mental health experts have advised fans to watch the show with a grain of salt.
Just like many people who suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder, Moon Knight and his various alters are not aware that he actually has such a disorder. At the same time, the character definitely wakes up in different environments and finds himself doing different things.
Before realizing that he actually suffers from DID, Moon Knight thinks that he might be sleepwalking. As a result, he handcuffs his leg to the bed in order to prevent himself from going somewhere else.
In the miniseries ‘Moon Knight’ which was released in 2022, two main alters from Marc Spector are commonly seen. These alter personalities are:
- Steven Grant: The Steven Grant alter-personality in Marc Spector comes as a result of the death of his younger brother, Randall. Since Marc is not able to cope with this, he unwillingly develops his alter-personality.
- Jake Lockley: Another alter-personality of Marc Spector is Jake Lockley who is created in order to take care of the bitter and more violent natures of the original character. This character is used to gather information and takes care of illegal activities.
- Ultimate Moon Knight: This alter-personality is only seen in the Moon Knight comics and the events surrounding this alter take place in an alternate universe. This personality does not have any mystical powers, but has enormous levels of strength.
- Ultimate Steven Grant: This personality also only appears in the comics and not the mini-series. This personality shares a lot of features with Jake Lockley and drives a cab while conducting illegal operations.
- Ultimate Marc Spector: This personality is actually a combination of the original Marc Spector and Steven Grant. As a result of this, Ultimate Marc Spector is not only very strong but also very knowledgeable.
- Ultimate Inner Child: This alter-personality appears in ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ No. 83. This identity appears as a ginger girl. While being depicted as a small child, this identity actually turns out to be the most logical one among all the other identities.
- Ultimate Ronin: This identity also appears only in the comics and not the mini-series. Ultimate Ronin is a hitman assassin who aims to become the Kingpin’s bodyguard, so that he can take down his villain.
- Spider-man: In one of the comic-series, Moon Knight actually takes on identities from the Avengers team and starts off with Spider-Man. While in this identity, he actually starts wearing the Spider-Man costume and uses a self-made web-shooter.
- Captain America: Similarly to the Spider-Man identity, Moon Knight also takes on the identity of Captain America. However, this is quite different since the identity is only manifested as a hallucination and is not present physically.
- Wolverine: Wolverine is another identity that Marc Spector takes on as part of his identity. To make the Wolverine claws, Marc Spector uses his SHIELD tech so that he can indeed become a one-man Avenger team.
- Iron Man: Iron Man is another alter-identity that Marc Spector creates in order to replace Captain America. Instead of following the Captain’s virtues and principles, Marc starts bending to those of Iron Man now, which gets him into more trouble.
- Echo: The ‘Echo’ identity that Mar Spector takes on is basically a deaf woman. This is taken on by the character after the woman ‘Echo’ was killed in a battle. Marc basically uses ‘Echo’ to replace Spider-Man as his sympathizer.
- Khonshu: Khonshu as an identity that is not actually seen as a person but more of an imagination by Marc Spector. But, the presence of this alter-personality is important while analyzing Moon Knight since he actually gives the mystic powers.
- Mr. Knight: This alter-identity is very interesting since it completely encompasses Moon Knight’s personality without the infiltration of other identities. This personality is dressed in all-white and travels in a white limo.
Signs of Moon Knight’s mental health issues
Moon Knight’s Dissociative Identity Disorder and other mental health issues are well portrayed in the miniseries and even explained to a certain extent in the comics. Some of the signs of his mental health problems and issues are listed as follows.
- He constantly switches identities and personalities which is the main sign of Dissociative Identity Disorder.
- He also has many lapses in his memory and cannot remember where he was and what he was doing. In many events, he is hurt and bruised without knowing where his injuries have come from.
- He suffers from low self-esteem which can be seen in the fact that he readily takes on the identities of other superheroes without striving to carve out his own niche.
Causes of Moon Knight’s mental health issues
While the comics revolving around Moon Knight and his alter-identities do not talk much about his backstory and the factors which could have contributed to his struggles with mental health, the TV show did a better job at it. A few reasons have been described below.
Marc’s brother drowned
When he was a child, Marc’s brother Randall drowned in front of him, and he never really got over it. In fact, one of his alter-identities, Steven Grant, revolves around this lost sibling which shows that his Dissociative Identity Disorder was originally a defense mechanism.
His mother was abusive
Marc felt entirely responsible for his brother’s drowning and while his father was sympathetic towards him, his mother continued to blame him and emotionally abuse him. His mother’s abuse was the reason why Marc decided to go to Egypt in the first place.
Khonshu’s power over him
While on his mission in Egypt, Marc almost dies and is revived by the Moon god Khonshu. As a result of this, Khonshu becomes the first alter-identity created by Marc, while the other identities eventually follow.
According to Marc, Khonshu is the one who gives him the mystic powers. At the same time, these powers are missing in many of the alter-identities which actually come in handy when he gets into trouble.
Conclusion
The following blogpost has discussed if Moon Knight has bipolar. We have also looked at the different signs and symptoms of Moon Knight’s mental health issues presented in the comics and movies, along with a few factors which could have triggered these.
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Citations
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