Moon Knight came to a close on Wednesday, as episode 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series hit Disney Plus. The season finale picks up with Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac) after an intense emotional journey through the Egyptian realm of the dead.
It looks like Marc is going to recover after being gunned down by cult leader Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke), who has apparently released trapped death goddess Ammit upon the world.
However, our hero may not be able to use his superheroic Moon Knight abilities, due to the source of his power — the moon god Khonshu — being imprisoned by his fellow gods. He also has to find out what happened to his wife, Layla El-Faouly (May Calamawy), after he got shot.
It’s time to step into the realm of SPOILERS for episode 6. This show takes place after the events of Avengers: Endgame.
Khonshu rejected
A resurrected Marc and restored Steven achieve equilibrium, using their combined Moon Knight and Mr. Knight abilities to battle Harrow’s hench-people on the streets of Cairo. Layla has accepted the chance to become the avatar of Taweret, the goddess of childbirth and fertility, and has gained superpowers of her own.
Marc is seemingly defeated, but he blacks out and wakes up to find Harrow and all his goons beaten. They trap Ammit, but Marc refuses to kill them. He then demands that Khonshu release them.
Layla looks awesome as Taweret’s avatar.
Marvel Studios
The moon god seemingly agrees. Steven and Marc wake up back in the same institution they got stuck in after dying, and they reject the Duat manifestation of Harrow’s diagnosis. They wake up in Steven’s London apartment, where they’re chained to the bed.
“I can’t believe you live in this frickin’ mess,” says Marc, before slamming onto the floor.
It seems like the moment in the institution was a step in Marc and Steven pushing back toward reality, and the scene in the apartment was reality. However, the next scene throws all of that into question.
There’s some extremely cool action in this episode.
Marvel Studios
A midcredits scene and a whole new personality
The extra scene finds Harrow in a London mental institution (maybe Layla brought him here?), where a very Oscar Isaac-sounding man in black comes to take him out — in more ways than one. Harrow gets an inkling that something is amiss when he sees a hospital worker lying in a pool of blood.
He’s then bundled into a fancy white limo and comes face-to-face with Khonshu, looking extremely dapper in a white Mr. Knight-style suit. Harrow is confident that the moon god can’t hurt him, prompting the divine being to reveal that he never wanted Layla as his new avatar.
“Why would I need anybody else, when he has no idea how troubled he truly is?” says a cocky Khonshu. “Meet my friend, Jake Lockley.”
Jake Lockley is seemingly on board with Khonshu’s murderous mission.
Marvel Studios
The divider comes down, revealing Oscar Isaac in a peaked cap — Marc’s third personality.
“Today is your turn to lose,” Jake says in Spanish.
He raises a silenced pistol and blasts Harrow multiple times, before driving off into the London streets.
In the comics, one of Marc’s most prominent personalities is cab driver Jake Lockley, whose specialty is gathering information on the streets. He’s got a whole bunch of connections in the criminal underworld, hinting at his morally questionable outlook.
Oscar Isaac’s look in the show mirrors his comic book counterpart.
Marvel Comics
Apparently, Jake’s MCU counterpart is totally on board with Khonshu’s murderous ways and could be a manifestation of the dark deeds Marc committed during his time as a mercenary. We previously got hints of Jake’s existence when he stabbed a bunch of Harrow’s men and Marc spotted a mysterious shaking sarcophagus in the Duat mental institution. It’s likely Jake tried to attack Duat-Harrow as well.
The final scene in Steven’s apartment could’ve been an illusion created by the moon god to keep his avatar’s less cooperative personalities in check. Or Jake took over in Cairo, and controlled their shared body on the return to London.
It’s unclear where this story will continue. We haven’t had a season 2 announcement for this show, but it seems like Khonshu could emerge as a major MCU threat.
Scarlet Scarab battled 1940s superheroes the Invaders in the comics.
Marvel Comics
Scarlet Scarab
To defeat Ammit and Harrow, Layla accepts Taweret’s power and becomes the MCU’s version of Scarlet Scarab — a little-known character who battled World War II superhero team the Invaders in the ’70s. Layla’s costume isn’t very scarlet, but it looks infinitely cooler.
“Are you an Egyptian superhero?” a girl asks after Layla saves her from being crushed by a van in Cairo, to which she replies in the affirmative.
We don’t know what happens to Layla after Marc rejects Khonshu, but she’ll undoubtedly show up again. Maybe she and Sam Wilson can compare notes on deflecting bullets with their metal wings?
Battling gods
Outside of Jake Lockley showing up and Layla gaining superpowers, the rest of the episode feels like fairly standard Marvel fare. A giant crocodile and creepy bird skeleton battle among the pyramids, a bunch of gods’ avatars are killed, Moon Knight/Mr. Knight and Scarlet Scarab have an awesome team-up — the usual.
Somehow, the giant crocodile is one of the easier elements to wrap your head around in this episode.
Marvel Studios
Fascinatingly, Ammit chooses Harrow as her avatar despite his scales not balancing. She reasons that her previous avatar — Alexander the Great — had balanced scales but that got her trapped for 2,000 years. I guess this proves the gods’ willingness to throw their own rules out the window when it suits them.
Observations, Easter eggs and WTF questions
- Jake finds Harrow at Sienkiewicz Psychiatric Hospital, which is presumably named after iconic artist Bill Sienkiewicz. He drew the first issue of Moon Knight’s 1980 solo series.
- The limo — license plate SPKTR — pays homage to Mr. Knight’s comic book mode of transport. He uses it to get to New York City’s crime scenes in style.
- The CGI effect of Ammit’s head appearing on Harrow’s cane is a bit cheesy, but Ammit’s towering physical form is awesome.
- Why didn’t Harrow tell his goons to hunt down Layla in Alexander’s tomb?
- The way Tawaret’s ears quiver is extremely cute. In contrast, her speaking to Layla through dead soldiers is funny in a creepy kind of way.
- It seems like Dr. Harrow’s feet started bleeding because Marc and Steven reconciled his Duat manifestation with his true self.
That’s it for Moon Knight for now, but your next dose of Marvel isn’t far away. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hits theaters Friday, and Ms. Marvel kicks off on Disney Plus on June 8.