Warning: Spoilers for Moon Knight #3!
In comics, Moon Knight is often seen as Marvel’s version of Batman, and now in an ongoing prank, Moon Knight has become the next bat-man! Of course in this particular case, the bat in question is more of the baseball variety than the furry flying rodent kind, but the fun nature of this inside joke is well appreciated nonetheless.
As seen in Moon Knight #3, by Jed MacKay and Alessandro Cappuccio, the superhero identity of Marc Spector has taken up the mantle of the bat during his final confrontation with a new villain named Hunter’s Moon. Having lost a tussle with the baddie earlier in the issue, Moon Knight has finally met his match in an enemy that’s basically his deadly other half in every way.
Able to catch up to Hunter’s Moon as he initiates an attack on Marc’s friends, Moon Knight chooses to beat down this new bad guy not with his patented Moon Knight gadgets and gizmos (of which he was using only moments before), but something much less advanced. Picking up a discarded bat from the ground, Moon Knight creeps up on Hunter’s Moon and — in the overly violent manner that Moon Knight is known for — uses Hunter's Moon's head for batting practice, officially making Moon Knight the newest “bat-man” on the comic book scene in the process!
Perhaps done on purpose or perhaps accidental from a creative standpoint, Moon Knight inexplicably choosing to use a bat to beat down his foe is yet another layer in a meta prank that has leaned into his Batman comparison as of late. Picked up on by users of Marvel’s website as well as the Marvel Unlimited app (made more apparent during this year’s Batman Day festivities), when searching for the term “Batman” on either site, the first result that pops up is the Fist of Khonshu himself, Moon Knight. A tongue in cheek joke that actually does a great job of offering fans the type of story they might be looking to read, this prank is given more weight as Moon Knight eschews his already very Batman-like gadgets to become a literal bat-wielding man that allows him to effectively crush his opponents while acting as a meta form of amusement at the same time.
Almost exclusively utilizing his high tech gadgets — like his ever-reliable and versatile truncheon or his crescent-shaped throwing stars— to gain the upper hand in a fight, Moon Knight branching out in terms of his weapon choice while outright avoiding the tech that he relied on during a previous point in this issue seems like a deliberate addition to the Batman/Moon Knight comparison conversation. And to add a potential exclamation point on the end of this meta-commentary, the final page of this issue shows Moon Knight standing over Hunter’s Moon in a very Batman-esque pose, newly acquired baseball bat in hand.
So even though it’s true the finale to this issue could have been a nerd coincidence through and through, seeing Moon Knight become a kind of bat-man is a fun visual to see play out regardless. And while Moon Knight has come a long way in becoming a unique hero over the years, many still consider him a version of DC Comics’ Batman — this ongoing prank clearly not helping one bit.