Moon Knight Episode 4 turned our minds upside down with its revelations. Let us try to make sense of what happened.
Episode 4 of Moon Knight brings Steven and Layla to Ammit’s Tomb and the rest is bonkers. There is no way to find out what to expect in Episode 5. The episode culminates tragically and then retreats most bizarrely.
MCU Moon Knight is turning into a more exciting rollercoaster ride with every new episode. And Episode 4 tops the list. The question that is now in our minds is what if all the events in the previous episodes didn’t happen? Well, only Episode 5 can tell. Meanwhile, let’s talk about what on Earth happened!
Watch: Marvel Studios’ MOON KNIGHT | EPISODE 5 PROMO TRAILER | Disney+
Khonshu Isn’t Alone
Episode 4 opens with Osiris placing Khonshu’s ushabti on a shelf that also has those of many other gods (10 to be precise). Clearly, these gods have also been imprisoned due to an act they carried out which was against gods. The question is: Are all these Egyptian Gods? Or are they Gods from other mythologies too? Perhaps, Greek?
A Triangle Within a Tomb
Love always finds a way even when it isn’t supposed to. And it is surprising how Moon Knight brings about love in its so surreal a plot. We do admit that Marc and Layla are married to each other but that chemistry was never visible to us…until Steven kissed Layla. Well, she made the first move! And that’s the best part.
Marc doesn’t take it lightly though and while dormant all this while, he does manage to punch himself (Steven) right in the face. Setting a whole new example of how love can be painful. What waits to be seen is how this love triangle survives the horrors of Ammit’s Tomb.
For the Love of Horus
Upon entering Ammit’s tomb, Steven discovers a map of the whole place that represents the Eye of Horus (“protection in the afterlife”). And since pharaohs were embodiments of Horus on Earth, the structure (that was based on the symbol) in which they were standing was built to protect someone who was a pharaoh. And since it is Ammit’s tomb, naturally the pharaoh would be her last avatar (her soon-to-be next avatar being Arthur Harrow).
The Debut of Alexander the Great in Moon Knight
Who would have thought that Alexander the Great himself would debut in the MCU! When Steven discovers the sarcophagus of Ammit’s final avatar, he is taken aback after he realizes that it is Alexander the Great. Despite hailing from Macedon, he was proclaimed a pharaoh by Egyptian priests in return for his participation in Egyptian rituals.
A Daughter’s Remembrance
After Layla saves herself from death at the hands of a dead Heka priest, she faces Arthur Harrow. This is when Harrow reveals her father’s name to us i.e. Abdullah El Faouly. While Layla is a new character introduced exclusively for Moon Knight, her father does have someone in the comics who has almost the same name. This character is Abdul Faoul aka Scarlet Scarab, Egypt’s very own Captain America who protected the many Egyptian people during World War II.
In the comics, he comes in the possession of a Ruby Scarab that gives him super strength, flight, and other powers. However, he loses the scarab later on and is unable to recover it again. On his deathbed, Abdul tells his son Mehemet about it who finds it out and becomes the next Scarlet Scarab.
Although there is no way to find out if her father did own the scarab or if it is even a part of MCU canon, this Easter Egg and the fact that Layla’s father used to call her “little scarab”, does nod to the probability that Layla might just become MCU’s Scarlet Scarab.
Marc Spector is Dead Again?
In what seems to be impossible, Arthur Harrow shoots Marc Spector and apparently kills him. And the first question that comes to mind is, what now? Khonshu is trapped. Marc is dead. And there is no one to stop Harrow from bringing Ammit to life. And we have not even stopped thinking when we are transferred to a different place altogether.
Welcome to the Moon Knight Asylum
We find ourselves in a mental asylum. Now this place can be the void between life and death where Marc is probably hanging. He has been here once earlier on the night he was saved by Khonshu after he was shot by Raul Bushman. With the deep connection he shared with Khonshu, it might just be possible for Marc to get his psyche to work again and unlock his powers as well as free Khonshu. After all, in episode 3, Khonshu did tell Steven that he was supposed to “tell Marc to free me.”
Or, this asylum can be a mental manipulation by the true villain of Moon Knight, Dr. Emmet. In Jeff Lemire’s 2016 Moon Knight comics run, Dr. Emmet is connected to Ammit. In the story, Emmet tries to separate Khonshu, as well as the other personalities, from Marc by proving to him that he is insane. This is indeed what happens in Episode 4. First, Khonshu is trapped and then we get two separate persons, Marc and Steven.
The Other Sarcophagus
While Marc does set Steven free, there is another sarcophagus that has someone or something inside trying to come out. In all probability, this is Jake Lockley, the third personality of Marc Spector. We already felt his presence in Episode 3 and it is high time for him to arrive. Keeping in mind how dangerous he can be, it is possible that Marc deliberately locked him away in his subconscious.
And that is why neither Marc nor Steven approaches the sarcophagus. Or it can also be the part of Khonshu that is inside Marc, waiting to be set free. And the reason they don’t set him free is that it would allow Khonshu to permanently take over Marc’s body.
Greetings from a Hippotamus
The last scene of Moon Knight Episode 5 shows Marc and Steven greeted by an Egyptian god who is basically a Hippopotamus. This is Tawaret, the goddess of fertility and childbirth. There is no mention of her in the comics and that is what makes her much more interesting. She is either another of Dr Emmet’s tricks for Marc and Steven or she is really there to save them, probably out of the friendship she shares with Khonshu.
Episode 4 proves that in Moon Knight, nothing is as it seems. But all we can do is wait for Episode 5 which will clarify all our doubts. It arrives on April 27, 2022.
