Moon Knight is one of the wildest and most entertaining shows too have come out of Marvel so far, and now it’s back for its third episode.
Last week’s episode of Moon Knight introduced even more of Steven Grant’s disassociated identities to the show. The episode starts in the morning, following where episode 1 left off. We see Steven waking up chained to his bed once more before heading back to his work at the museum. Once at the museum, Steven finds that the bathroom from the last episode has been roped off, but there are no signs of the Egyptian demon dogs he fought (and killed) anywhere.
A perturbed Steven gets the bright idea to convince the security to pull up the previous night’s footage to prove to himself that he isn’t going crazy. Only the dogs are nowhere to be seen on the tapes. Instead, the recordings reveal a seemingly disturbed Steven crying in a corner and running away from something the camera doesn’t capture.
The tapes also reveal that Steven is the one responsible for destroying the bathroom, and he is then promptly fired from his job. At his wit’s end about everything going on in his life and desperate for answers, Steven sets out to find the storage locker that belongs to the key found in his apartment in the last episode. This leads Steven to find Marc’s stash of military gear, weapons, passports and the scarab that everyone and their mom seem to be after.
What follows is a scene of Steven and Marc fighting over who gets to control the body while trying to escape from the ancient Egyptian god of the moon, Khonshu. We also discover that Steven and all of his identities are avatars of Khonshu and are obligated to do his bidding before the show introduces another core character. Running from Khonshu ends with Steven bumping into a mysterious woman named Layla, who knows Steven even though Steven doesn’t know her. It turns out Layla is married to Marc, and by the time they start to clear up the confusion between them, Steven gets arrested by police.
The police are members of Arthur Harrow’s cult who have managed to capture Steven and deliver him to everyone’s favourite cult leader. We then get to know a bit about the cult’s history and learn that the ancient crocodile God, Ammit, is to Harrow what Khonshu is to Steven. The two ancient gods start fighting through their avatars during this history lesson, and the scarab, which both sides want so desperately, gets lost in the chaos. Steven knows he won’t be able to win this fight as himself, and when he tries to give himself over to Moon Knight, he ends up summoning a new form known as Mr Knight.
The episode ends with Marc taking control of the body from Steven and heading off to Egypt. The scarab is a compass to Ammit’s tomb, and Harrow can not get to it no matter the cost.
Episode three of Moon Knight was once again littered with multiple easter eggs to discover and callbacks to the comics to pick up on. If you missed it, we’ve covered the easter eggs from episode one here and episode two here. Now without any further delay, here are some of our favourite easter eggs and references that can be found within episode 3 of Moon Knight.
Moon Knight Easter Eggs From Episode Three
Knock, Knock, Who’s There?
In episode 3 of Moon Knight, we discover that the confusion and disorientation Steven experiences when he gets blackouts is not an isolated experience. Marc experiences the same thing. Only something has changed, and it turns out that Steven isn’t the only one taking over anymore and causing these blackouts.
There have always been three distinct personalities in the comics: Steven Grant, Marc Spector and Jake Lockley. While the show has yet to formally introduce Jake, this seems like a solid hint towards his existence.
Gods, Gods Everywhere
When Khonshu teleports Marc to the inside of the Great Pyramid of Giza, we get introduced to the other Avatars for the first time. It turns out that all Egyptian Gods like Hathor, Isis and Horus have human Avatars at their bidding. Not unlike Steven and Harrow.
These Avatars are part of the Ennead, as is Khonshu. During the episode, we see Khonshu call them all together as what’s known as “The Council of Gods” to try and convince them to stop Ammit and Harrow.
This Council of Gods makes up the first gods to be introduced to the MCU as the Asgardians are aliens, and the Eternals aren’t gods either. However, even though they are the first gods of the MCU, this isn’t the first time they’ve been in the MCU. Fans might remember the panther god worshipped by the people of Wakanda. That panther is known as Bastet, the cat-headed Egyptian deity and a member of the Ennead.
Introducing… Midnight Man
A brand new character is introduced to the mix during the episode when Layla and Marc approach a rather fancy art collector.
Spoilers ahead: episode 3 of Moon Knight introduced Anton Mogart, otherwise known as Midnight Man, who in the comics, is a criminal who has a love for stealing manuscripts and treasures. In the comics, he always struck at exactly midnight earning him the name of Midnight Man.
What do Falcon, Winter Soldier and Moon Knight have in common?
It’s always a great feeling when you stumble upon a tiny little easter egg hidden in a Marvel TV show or movie that acts to tie everything together. In episode 3 of Moon Knight, this tie to the larger MCU came from a passing conversation.
During the episode, Layla talks to Anton Mogart and mentions that the last time they met was in Mаdripoor. Viewers might recognise that name as a lawless island visited in The Fаlcon аnd the Winter Soldier series.
In a nifty little callback to the comics, in episode 3 of Moon Knight, we see that when Steven or Marc swaps personalities with each other, their Avatar also changes. When Marc summons the Avatar, it is wearing the Moon Knight costume, and when Steven calls the Avatar, it is wearing the Mr Knight suit.
The Mr Night suit would be used in the comics when dealing with more formal interactions like talking to law enforcement or investigating a crime scene.
When we first got introduced to Arthur Harrow back in episode 1 of Moon Knight we saw him filling his shoes with his crushed glass before wearing them. While it was a weird way to introduce the villainous cult leader to the screen it was also a fitting call back the Arthur Harrow’s comic book counterpart.
First introduced in Moon Knight #2, which was published in 1985, Arthur Harrow was known as Dr. Harrow and was a scientist working as an expert in “pain theory”. Arthur was trying to work on the way to entirely block out the body’s response to any and all pain. This research path was started because Dr. Harrow was looking for a way to cure his own chronic pain condition.
In episode 3 of Moon Knight, Arthur Harrow talks about how his greatest sin while acting as Ammits avatar was how much he enjoyed dealing out pain, another reference to his comic counterparts’ obsession with pain.
We can’t get over how each new episode of Moon Knight seems crazier than the last. At this point, Moon Knight isn’t just a rollercoaster; it’s the entire theme park. Are you enjoying the series so far? Let us know in the comments below. If these three episodes have you craving more, remember to head over to Critters and Comics to grab some of the Moon Knight comics, and if you have no idea which comics to start with, read our guide here.