Disney+

Moon Knight is a Marvel comic book character and the protagonist of the upcoming Disney+ television series of the same name. He was created by writer Doug Moench and artist Don Perlin for the comic book Werewolf by Night #32 in August 1975.

He has been compared to D.C. Comics character Batman, as both of the heroes rely on their mastery of martial arts and extensive tactical knowledge rather than superpowers (Moench also worked on a number of Batman comics, so the similarities aren’t entirely accidental). Both regularly upgrade their equipment, using advanced technology to take down their foes.

Unlike Batman, Moon Knight has occasionally shown superhuman abilities, including abnormal strength during full moons. His superpowers are vaguely defined, but they’re typically tied to his interactions with the Egyptian moon god Khonshu.

In Marvel lore, Moon Knight’s real name is Marc Spector. He’s a former boxer, Marine, and CIA operative who decides to fight crime after being left for dead in Egypt by a terrorist organization. He is notable for his psychological instability, which manifests as “bouts of depression and multiple identity disorder,” per Marvel.

The character initially created his other identities to investigate crimes, but he sometimes becomes absorbed by those alternate personalities. In the comics, Spector might explore the streets of New York City as cab driver Jake Lockley or infiltrate high society as millionaire Steven Grant. He’s very unpredictable, which acts as both an advantage and a disadvantage when battling enemies.

In August 2019, Marvel announced a live-action Moon Knight series, which will premiere on the Disney+ streaming service sometime in 2021 or later. It’s part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 4, but Disney hasn’t released cast or plot information as of September 2019.

Still, for Marvel fans, the news is exciting. While Moon Knight isn’t a household name like Spider-Man or the X-Men, he’s a fan favorite, and the new series will undoubtedly add another strong character to Marvel’s growing catalog.

Disney’s new streaming service, Disney+, will debut Nov. 12, 2019, and the studio is busy whipping up tons of original content.

That’s a major development in the entertainment world, since, in addition to their historical stranglehold on animated children’s fare, Disney now owns some of the most beloved properties in Hollywood. That includes the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Star Wars franchise.

Disney+ will hit the market at an initial price point of $6.99 per month. That’s significantly less than other ad-free pay services like Hulu and Netflix. Here are a few of the exclusives we know about so far:

These films and series will be available the day Disney+ goes live.

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series - No, we didn’t misprint the title of this series. Olivia Rodrigo, Joshua Bassett, Sofia Wylie, Kate Reinders, and Matt Cornett will play high schoolers putting on a musical tribute to the original High School Musical.

It’s sort of a meta-satire of the High School Musical series, but it’ll undoubtedly share some characteristics with its source material, including over-the-top drama, wholesome messages, and plenty of singing and dancing.

Encore! - Executive produced by Kristen Bell, this reality show started on ABC, but failed to attract much attention. The premise: Adults who performed in high school musicals in the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, and even the ‘00s get back together to perform the show again...but this time, they’ve got help from Broadway professionals.

Be Our Chef - Another unscripted series, Be Our Chef will feature families in a cooking competition. Hosted by Angela Kinsey, who played Angela on The Office, the show promises to interpret cooking shows “through a Disney lens,” which likely means less intensity than shows like Hell’s Kitchen.

Lady and the Tramp - A live-action remake of the 1955 animated classic. Per the official description, “a pampered house dog and a tough but lovable stray embark on an unexpected adventure and, despite their differences, grow closer and come to understand the value of home.”

Marvel’s Hero Project - A reality series that will reveal “the remarkable, positive change several young heroes are making in their own communities.” The show will use Marvel superheroes to highlight the ways that kids make a difference in the real world.

Noelle - This holiday feature film will kick off the Christmas festivities early. Anna Kendrick stars as Santa Claus’ daughter, who must take over for her father, as her brother (Bill Hader) is uninterested in the job. Initially scheduled for a theatrical release, Noelle will now stream exclusively on Disney+.

The Mandalorian - Star Wars fans eagerly await the first-ever live-action series set in the “galaxy far, far away.” Show-runner Jon Favreau heads this story of “a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic.”

The series will star Pedro Pascal (you might recognize him as Oberyn Martell from HBO’s Game of Thrones) as the title character. Oh, and get this: German filmmaker Werner Herzog will apparently make an appearance as the main villain.

Forky Asks a Question - If you’ve seen Toy Story 4, you know Forky. The latest character from the long-running franchise has lots to learn, and this collection of animated shorts might give Forky—and the audience—some answers.

The official synopsis of the program tells us that “Forky asks important questions about how the world works, such as: What is love? What is time? And of course, the deepest question of all, what is cheese?”

Togo - Starring Willem Dafoe, Togo will tell the story of sled dog Togo and his owner, Leonhard Seppala, who traveled 700 miles to deliver medicine to Nome, Alaska. Dafoe will play Seppala, and Invincible director Ericson Core will direct.

These projects will roll out in the months and years after Disney+ launches. Some are simply awaiting an official release-date announcement, and others are currently in development.

Release Date: December 2019

Lamp Life - As fans of the Toy Story franchise might have guessed, this exclusive animated short stars Bo Peep, the porcelain shepherdess from the first two installments.

The short film reportedly started as a sequence in Toy Story 4 that grew too big for the feature. The story will answer questions about Bo Peep’s experiences between the events of Toy Story 2 and her appearance in Toy Story 4.

Release Date: 2019 or 2020

Magic of the Animal Kingdom - This series, produced in cooperation with National Geographic, will take viewers behind the scenes at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Epcot’s SeaBase aquarium.

Release Date: 2019 or 2020

(Re)Connect - An unscripted series in which a family disconnects from smartphones, computers, and other technology in order to address the issues affecting their relationships. An expert will guide the family as they go through individual journeys to “reconnect.”

Release Date: 2019 or 2020

Shop Class - In each episode, teams of students will design, build, and test devices. A panel of experts will judge the competition, and the final episode will crown one team Shop Class Champs.

Release Date: 2019 or 2020

Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made - This animated film is based on the children’s book of the same name. Here’s how Disney describes the title character: “An 11-year-old boy who believes he is the best detective in town and runs the agency Total Failure Inc. with his partner, a 1,200-pound, imaginary polar bear, and his sidekick Rollo Tookus.”

Release Date: 2019 or 2020

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Emmy-winning animated series will return with a brand-new season in early 2020. That means 12 new episodes featuring Ahsoka Tano, Captain Rex, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.

Release Date: February 2020

Stargirl - A film adaptation of a children’s novel by Jerry Spinelli, Stargirl will star (heh) America’s Got Talent winner Grace VanderWaal in her acting debut. She’ll play the title character, a homeschooled girl with a unique personality who arrives at Mica High School for her first year of public education.

Release Date: 2020

Monsters at Work - The beloved characters of Monsters, Inc. are back to their day jobs. Voice actors from the original film will reportedly return for this series, including Billy Crystal as Mike and John Goodman as Sulley.

Not much about the plot has been released just yet, but there will reportedly be a new character named Tylor Tuskmon, “an eager and talented young mechanic...who dreams of working his way up to the Laugh Floor.”

Release Date: 2020

Phineas and Ferb, The Movie: Candace Against the Universe - The title characters will travel the universe to rescue Candace from aliens.

Most of the cast from the Phineas and Ferb series will return, with the notable exception of Thomas Sangster, who played Ferb. David Errigo Jr. will take over the role.

Release Date: 2020

Diary of a Female President - This live-action series follows the trials and triumphs of a 12-year-old Cuban-American middle-schooler who’s destined to become the President of the United States (sometime after high school, we assume).

A 10-episode season has already gotten the green light, with Gina Rodriquez executive producing and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend staff writer Ilana Peña creating and writing.

Release Date: 2020

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier - What happens when you set Captain America’s favorite sidekicks free to do their own thing? Here’s a series that’ll let you know. Second-tier superheroes Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) will team up and presumably have new adventures in the same old Marvel Cinematic Universe. Also: Baron Zemo.

Release Date: Fall 2020

Earthkeepers (working title) - Produced by Supper Club (the team behind Chef’s Table and Jiro Dreams of Sushi), Earthkeepers will tell the stories of conservationists who are working to change the way that we interact with the natural world.

Release Date: 2020 or 2021

Loki - Tom Hiddleston himself takes his portrayal of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s rogue Asgardian to the small screen in Disney+’s upcoming Loki.

Hiddleston told EW in August 2019 that appearing in the show is “very, very exciting, because in many ways it’s the character you know, but in a context you’ve never seen him in before. And if I say any more, I’m gonna say too much. So that’s what’s so thrilling—there’s so much to explore that I haven’t yet explored. That’s very exciting.”

Release Date: Spring 2021

Marvel’s What If…? - As comics fans know, the What If…? series ponders various alternate realities in the Marvel Universe. What if Hulk had the brain of Bruce Banner? What if Captain America was born in Russia? You get the idea.

This will be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first animated series, but unfortunately, fans will have to wait quite a while for the first episodes to air.

Release Date: Summer 2021

Cassian Andor Series (Currently Unnamed) - There aren’t really Star Wars fans who only like the Rogue One, pre-Episode IV era...but if there were, they would be psyched for the currently unnamed series about Cassian Andor.

Andor is, of course, a rebel spy who plied his trade well before Luke Skywalker discovered he was some sort of chosen one.

Release Date: Undecided, although production begins in 2020

Marvel’s 616 (working title) - In case you’re not a Marvel fan, the “616" in the title refers to Earth-616, the primary reality where most of the events occur in the Marvel Universe. Marvel’s 616 will be an anthology documentary series, with each episode exploring the “rich historical, cultural, and societal context that has become inseparable from the stories of the Marvel Universe.”

Release Date: Undecided

Moon Knight - Moon Knight is sort of Marvel’s answer to Batman, but with split personalities and ties to Egyptian gods. This live-action series will surely delight hardcore Marvel fans, but Disney hasn’t released many details yet.

Release Date: Unknown

Ms. Marvel - Ms. Marvel is a female Muslim superhero, so her debut will break new ground for the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Introduced in 2013, Ms. Marvel isn’t the same character as Captain Marvel (played by Brie Larson in the MCU).

Release Date: Unknown; currently in development

She-Hulk - Did you know that Bruce Banner has a cousin? And that, in the comics at least, she required a life-saving blood infusion from the gamma-radiated anger-management expert?

That’s the backstory of Jennifer Walters, lawyer by day, also sometimes giant, super-strong green She-Hulk by day. Few details have been released about this MCU series, but get ready, because here it comes.

Release Date: Unknown; currently in development

SparkShorts - This is less a series and more a Pixar institution. To quote Jim Morris, president of Pixar Animation Studies, “The SparkShorts program is designed to discover new storytellers, explore new storytelling techniques, and experiment with new production workflows.”

Six short animated films have been released under the SparkShorts label as of this writing; these films and subsequent entries into the series will be available for streaming through Disney+ on launch or shortly after.

Release Date: Varies

The Disney+ streaming service, which launched Nov. 12, will include over 500 films and 7,500 television episodes from Disney's main entertainment studios, including Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, National Geographic, 20th Century Fox, Touchstone Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Blue Sky Studios, and Hollywood Pictures.

In addition to the entire Disney film catalogue, original scripted and non-scripted series are also in production to stream on the service, including content based on Marvel properties and the Star Wars franchise. Some of this will be available from launch, such as The Mandalorian and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. A number of original films will be available from launch, including the live action Lady and the Tramp and the Christmas comedy Noelle, starring Anna Kendrick. The service will also hold exclusive streaming rights to The Simpsons, with all 30 seasons available from launch, in addition to the first two Star Wars trilogies as well as The Force Awakens and Rogue One.

To sign up for Disney+, click here.