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Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur shines as our titular heroes (and bff Kasey) fight supervillains, social issues, and school bullies beneath the moonlight on the Lower East Side. No Avengers needed when there is Moon Girl magic!
Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur premiered on February 10, 2023 on Disney Plus. We caught the premiere episode and decided to review it here for you, Incluvies! We will do a deep dive into season one in a later review.
But without further ado, here is our review of the debut episode of Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.
The show stars 13-year-old Manhattanite Lunella Lafayette as Moon Girl (voiced by Diamond White), her new bff Casey Calderon (Libe Barer) as her social media maven, and co-hero Devil Dinosaur.
Lunella is a genius who finds inspiration from Moon Girl, a scientist who disappeared sometime ago with her scientific research left undone. She is also supported by her amazing family, the Lafayette’s, who are the owners of the Roll With It skating rink (picture below).
The story conflict centers on rolling blackouts that are impacting the local businesses on the Lower East Side. As the blackouts become more frequent, businesses cannot operate and turn profits. Additionally, crime and social unrest are increasing due to the worsening economic conditions. Lunella finds the work of Moon Girl, a scientist who disappeared under mysterious circumstances, in her pursuit to make a self-powered generator for the Lower East Side (L.E.S.). Using this research, Lunella tries to create the generator, only to instead cause a power surge that opens a time portal, and out comes none other than Devil Dinosaur! The terrifying dinosaur turns out to be a sweetheart, and filial imprints on Lunella, bonding the two as a duo. Our trio is rounded out by Casey, a social media starlet who spies on Lunella and her new pet dinosaur. She joins the crew after Devil Dinosaur saves her from falling debris. The crew discovers a pair of petty criminals using the blackouts to rob the struggling businesses, and with some wonky hijinks, eventually captures them. While transporting them to the proper authorities, they run across supervillain Aftershock. The trio realizes she is responsible for the blackouts, as she needs to siphon energy to maintain her electrical power. Aftershock explicitly admits that she targets the Lower East Side because no one is likely to care about the power outages and blackouts in this area. The episode does a great job of presenting social issues like this, refusing to sugarcoat them, but also not allowing them to displace Moon Girl Magic as the primary theme of the show.
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur battle Aftershock, but are outmatched against her experience and overwhelming lightning powers. Aftershock threatens to harm Moon Girl at their next battle, before delivering a devastating shock that hurts Devil Dinosaur. This causes our heroes to have the expected darkest hour, where they doubt themselves, their friendships, and wonder if they have gotten in over their heads. Our trio rebounds and decides to save their home, no matter the cost. Moon Girl eventually realizes that the solution to defeating Aftershock is electrical grounding. Aftershock is literally grounded, and the L.E.S. is saved. This is a new trend in Marvel’s extended cinematic universe, heroes using their brains and brawn to save the day. The show does a great balancing act. Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur balances the looming (more realistic threat) of local business by diverse community members with a more traditional superhero versus supervillain conflict. The intertwining of these two issues is what will always make stories centering intersectional heroes more appealing from a narrative standpoint. Heroics without context is a recipe for systemic injustice. Even heroes like the Punisher and Batman are made more interesting by having them at the intersections of extreme vigilantism and mortality.
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur are amazing new additions to the extended Marvel Cinematic Universe. Make sure you stream the full first season on Disney Plus. We will be reviewing the entire first season soon, so make sure you stream it and return here for more intellectual thoughts on our favorite moonlit heroes. You will enjoy this series if you like comedy, optimism, real discussion of social issues, diverse representations, and lots of fun. There is something here for the whole family to enjoy.
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