Marvel's Moon Knight has officially made its debut and offers a glimpse at a thrilling character study of someone struggling with dissociative identity disorder, but this latest series isn't the first time that Marvel has chosen to explore a character struggling with multiple personalities. That particular title was already claimed in 2017 by FX and Marvel's Legion, which initially made waves for its surreal narrative and unreliable protagonist, but the show quickly and quietly fell into cult classic territory after its debut.
In many ways Legion was a superhero show ahead of its time with its use of trippy visuals/set pieces, constantly branching narrative and dark surrealist themes. It could easily be said that the risks Marvel took on creator Noah Hawley's three season character study of a powerful mutant struggling with schizophrenia are what have paved the way for Marvel to confidently bring a character such as Moon Knight into the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper. Both shows definitely share similarities, but Legion was never creatively bound to the greater MCU narrative in the same way Moon Knight is.
Legion follows a young mutant named David Haller struggling to control his powerful mutant abilities due the dissociation and hallucinations caused by schizophrenia. David's psychic abilities are vast and almost limitless including such powers as pyrokinesis, telekinesis and telepathy, but for a good portion of the series David cannot fully comprehend that the powers are his and that they are truly real. Both Moon Knight and Legion explore the difficulties living with disorders that involve dissociation through either multiple personalities or frequent hallucinations. Through these perspectives, the shows coyly play around with the idea of whether or not the title characters' experiences are actually real.
The similarities between both series definitely don't stop there either. The two series utilize surrealism and psychology/supernatural horror in order to keep the audience just as disorientated as the main character. What sets Legion and Moon Knight apart, however, is that Moon Knight will eventually be grounded within the MCU whereas Legion had no strings to hold it down (aka Disney and its younger/family-oriented audience) when it comes to its overall narrative and creativity.
This is not to say that Moon Knight is any less refreshing or unique for a Marvel project, but more accepting the fact that by the end of the first season the show will become more grounded, to some extent, by greater MCU machinations. Legion as a series never needed to worry about what MCU story lines were in the pipeline or how to introduce potential spin-offs, so it was free to explore its character and lore in ways that are more akin to indie art house films than mainstream superhero blockbusters.
The way Legion shattered the concept of linearity within its first episode was completely unheard of not just for superhero shows, but for television in general. The series begins with a vague sense of linear time as a montage of David's formative years plays out before the rug is pulled out from under with a quick shake of a pill jar, and from there the story is thrust forth into a spiral of David's memories and hallucinations. It sets the precedent that in this world time is almost utterly irrelevant and untrustworthy since for David everything that has happened to him and will happen to him exist simultaneously within his mind.
With this freedom from any sense of consistent time, the show is able to be creatively provocative in the ways it portrays David's experiences that make Moon Knight's initial episode feel incredibly tame by comparison. Each episode of Legion waltzes around David's mind, producing surreal scene after surreal scene that can range from deep psychological horror to superhero blockbuster to dark comedy all within a few frames. Looking back on Legion it is honestly a marvel (pun definitely intended) that this show was ever greenlit in the first place.
Legion truly paved the way for Marvel to get outlandishly weird with its storytelling, and in many ways the series does not get as much appreciation as it should for setting such a high creative standard. While MCU fans continue their excitement for Moon Knight's big entry into the fray, it is important to be thankfully for the pre-Disney+ Marvel series that are providing clear inspiration for Marvel Studios to be as confidently weird and creative as they are being with the current MCU projects of Phase Four.
To compare both series, watch Legion on Hulu and Moon Knight on Disney+.