Kit Harington's Black Knight Almost Appeared In Moon Knight, But Didn't For A Good Reason
Another day, another report about a "Moon Knight" crossover that didn't happen. The show is all the better off for it, too, freeing it up to tell an engaging standalone story about mental illness, healing from childhood trauma, and facing reality on one's own terms. That it is also part pulpy supernatural horror-adventure (à la "Indiana Jones" and "The Mummy") and part superhero action-comedy (but with Egyptian gods, some far crankier than others) makes it an all the more refreshing change of pace from other Marvel Cinematic Universe titles.
Since the season 1 finale dropped, "Moon Knight" head writer Jeremy Slater has been pretty forthcoming about the MCU crossovers that were considered early on in the show's writing process. Be it a nod to Kang the Conqueror or a cold opening scene featuring the Eternals, Slater and his writing staff toyed with various ideas for how to better connect the series with the greater franchise, most of which were later abandoned. In an interview with ComicBook.com, Slater confirmed that they also gave serious thought to having Dane Whitman (Kit Harington) from "Eternals" show up at some point:
"We talked about Dane Whitman a little bit just because he works in a history museum and that could be a natural interaction. My feeling was if we got Kit Harington to show up and he doesn't suit up and he doesn't kick ass, as a fan I'm pissed off."
There was 'no space' for Black Knight
Jon Snow himself, Kit Harington, made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in "Eternals" as Dane Whitman, Sersi's (Gemma Chan) boyfriend and co-worker at the Natural History Museum in London. The film's second post-credits scene alluded to Dane adapting his superhero moniker, Black Knight, in a future MCU project and even featured a voice-only cameo by Mahershala Ali as Blade ahead of his own solo movie. But that's also why Jeremy Slater was hesitant about having Dane pass by Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) at the museum where he works in London:
"If I see [Dane] show up I want to see him go full Black Knight. Just seeing an interaction where he walks past and goes 'Oh hey Steven,' who responds 'Oh, hey Professor Whitman!' It felt like that would be a waste of the money it would cost Kit Harington in there."
Adding to that, Slater explained that he and his writing staff felt there just wasn't room to do anything interesting with Dane on the show:
"Also, there's only so much you can do to tease those reveals before people get frustrated. There was no space in those first two episodes to have him suit up and play Black Knight in the storyline, so we ultimately decided that it didn't make sense to make this connection. But it was something we definitely talked about a couple days in the room."
Not to sound like a broken record, but again, "Moon Knight" is all the stronger and more tightly-structured because it didn't try and cram in characters like Dane. There's nothing wrong with those kinds of MCU crossovers when they're seamlessly woven into the story being told, like with Doctor Strange's role in "Spider-Man: No Way Home." But since that just wasn't feasible here, Slater made the right call in dropping the idea entirely.
Both "Moon Knight" season 1 and "Eternals" are streaming on Disney+.