Visual developers Ryan Meinerding and Rodney Fuentebella recently talked through their process of crafting Marc and Steven’s heroic looks forMoon Knight. In their interview, Meinerding and Fuentebella discussed the influence of Marvel Comics, Egyptian history, director Mohamed Diab, and the response the newestMarvel Studiosseries has earned from fans.
Moon Knightis the latestMarvel Studiosseries from Disney Plus. The six-episode series is led by Oscar Isaac, who portrays two distinct characters in Marc Spector and Steven Grant.Isaac’s performance as the twoMoon Knightcharactershas become a marvel, as the slight adjustments he makes to show whether Steven and Marc is in control are a joy to see. Marvel Studios' visual developers found the duality just as important when crafting their costumes.
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Meinerding, the Head of Visual Development for Marvel Studios, discussed the intricacies ofMarc’s Moon Knight costume. Meinerding cited the comics as the first place he and the team looked at for inspiration to craft Marc’s look. “We really always start with the comics,” Meinerding said. “We go back and look at different runs of the comics, different artists that have executed brilliant designs and brilliant illustrations.” Meinerding went on to cite Stephen Platz and Bill Sankovich’s interpretations of Moon Knight as his personal favorites. Fuentebella added to Meierding’s sentiment in bringing these comic looks to life and wanted people to think highly of their interpretations of the comic looks.
A lot of thought went into crafting both Marc’s Moon Knight costume andSteven’s Mr. Knight look. For Marc’s Moon Knight look, Meinerding said they wanted to prioritize a warrior and tactical look, as well as something that felt Egyptian. Meinerding explained the difficulty of balancing these qualities, as most of the original mixes began to look too much like other heroes because of the tactical look. They were then challenged to find a replacement for the tactical to bring the Egyptian hero to life. “In the last few iterations we were doing, the idea came up to make him sort of a linen-wrapped armor,” Meinerding said. “Essentially, a set of armor that would have meant to be preserved in an ancient tomb.” Meinerding also mentioned the crescent moon shape at the center of Moon Knight’s look, pointing out that the crescent shape is set over a stone piece textured like a full moon.
In crafting the look for Mr. Knight, Fuentebella was posed with a different task. Steven is just coming into his powers and the idea of Marc and Khonshu. “He creates an amalgamation of what he thinks a suit is and the powers that he is being bestowed by Khonshu,” Fuentebella said. He saidthe team was inspired by Egyptian artifactsand those textures can be found on the lapel of the suit. “We wanted to make sure he felt like something that’s not just a person in a suit, but something that felt like a superhero as well,” Fuentebella said. He went on to mention incorporating his and Marc’s duality into the look by playing with Mr. Knight’s mask.
The looks crafted by Meinerding and Fuentebella for these iconic Marvel characters will add to their distinction within the MCU. The costumes are unlike any others,just as Marc and Steven’s relationshipis uniquely its own. As far as the reception fans have given the show, Fuentebella is amazed. “It’s one of those things where I have to pinch myself,” he said. “We spend countless hours working on these projects and seeing fans out there enthralled by what we do as well, it just makes me feel like, ‘Oh, it was worth it.'”
Moon Knightis now streaming on Disney Plus.
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