Moonlit Dreams

So I was thinking about the different dreams we see in Moon Knight #24. Specifically, Jake's dream, but let's take them one at a time.

Marc's dream - or the one Morpheus cooks up for Marc - is him living the suburban life. BBQs in the backyard with the family. His parents, his brother (a successful lawyer), Marlene, Diatrice, a couple of other friends. He and Frenchie have some sort of business together. The nature of it isn't clear, but his parents approve, so probably not being a mercenary. Everyone other than Marc's dad is wearing relaxed clothing, Sabbatini gives everyone a smile (but not a Joker-esque rictus grin), Rosenberg leans heavy on soft, golden light bathing the whole thing. Idyllic.

Though it's interesting Marc snaps out of it before Frenchie actually shows up. Everyone other than Marlene and their daughter are actually dead, and so far as I know, Frenchie's alive, just not on speaking terms with Marc these days.

Skip Jake for a moment, hop over to Steven. He's got the big mansion, the pool, the estate. Marlene's there, too, along with a couple of other supporting cast members, Nedda and Samuels. The help staff, maybe, although I feel like the lady might be his financial planner. They're standing at the table while Marlene sits and, honestly, looks like she's playing an invisible piano, but they're gone when Steven arrives, still in a tie, presumably home from a long day making big bucks. Because it's night out, dark outside, the inside lit with more of an orange glow, and not as soft. The power of bright, artificial lights. Just for Steven and Marlene.

No Diatrice, though. Does Steven feel no connection to the girl, only think of her as Marc's daughter? Maybe that's accurate, I don't know how that would work with a system. Probably depends on the system. Steven may have made peace with the idea he'll never get to be a part of her world, even in dreams, while Marc still holds some hope he'll get unfucked to the point he could be a dad.

What comes after Steven's not much interest. By that point Morpheus is flailing for something to make Marc settle down and enjoy himself. Thus, the Avengers welcome him back, or he gets a chance to just fight a lot of people forever. They're more simplistic, surface-level attempts.

So let's go to Jake. Jake's throwing a party at his favorite bar, to celebrate winning big on the horses.  How big? Big enough for this one party, or big enough to be set for life? Who knows, but Jake's happy because he could invite everyone he likes. They got plenty of food and drink and good music and be out of the weather and the danger.

He's immediately in contact with Marc, wrapping an arm around his shoulder with a big smile. Everything's the purple hue Rosenberg uses for Jake's scenes. Absolutely drenched in it, to the point it obscures the faces of the people at the party. Is that because Marc doesn't know these people, doesn't have access to Jake's memories, or because it's from Morpheus' powers? For all Jake's claims that it's a party, things seem pretty subdued. Most people are just sitting, staring blankly ahead. Maybe all these people, like most of the ones in Marc and Steven's dreams, are dead.

The thing I really noticed, though, was that Jake says this was what he always wanted, to be able to take care of everyone. Marc wants a quiet life with his family. Steven wants Marlene and the big house back (Jake's dream is the only one where Marlene doesn't make an appearance, after Jake once asked Marc if he really thought he was the only one who loved her.) And Jake wants to take care of people.

It makes think, probably inaccurately, of Jake as sort of the heart of the whole thing. That it's his compassion that makes Moon Knight want to protect people. Minus that, you've just got a guy who likes to beat the shit out of criminals, like the Punisher. It's not how I would have thought of it, but it's something the comic made me consider, at least.

MacKay's already touched on the question of what Jake and Steven bring to the party, how Moon Knight is operating with his hands tied when only Marc gets to be in control. But that was a surface level, the contacts and connections those two have. Moon Knight's supposedly unique among Khonshu's fists, at the minimum never having all the fighting techniques put directly in his brain, but the presence of Jake and Steven probably factor in as well. So they each much bring something as a person, that Khonshu thought would help.