MOON KNIGHT’S SEASON 1 FINALE AND 4 PLACES THE SERIES CAN GO IN SEASON 2
Spoiler alert: The following reveals details about Moon Knight season 1 episode 6 and Marvel comic plots featuring the character. Stop reading here if you wish to avoid spoilers.
JAKE LOCKLEY AND KHONSHU COULD BE THE ANTAGONISTS
After teasing his appearance for most of the season, Jake Lockley — the third of Marc’s personas — finally made his debut in the program’s stinger scene. Portrayed here as a limo driver in Khonshu’s employ, he begins to unravel part of a mystery still hanging over the series. But before we go there, let’s discuss what we’ve seen of Jake so far.
As in episode 3, Jake takes control when the situation gets truly dire; in fact, it is probably safe to assume he took over their body when Steven was first cornered by Harrow’s (Ethan Hawke) goons in episode 1. His only lines are spoken in Spanish, which suggests the character may play into an as-yet underdeveloped aspect of Marc’s ancestry within the show. From his dark clothing and willingness to be Khonshu’s hitman, it is also clear he is very different from Marc and Steven — which is in line with the way Jake developed in the comics.
That said, it appears Jake will take Harrow’s place as the season-long villain. It would pose an interesting conflict as none of the three personas can simply kill their adversary. At best, Jake might be able to imprison them back in that asylum construct. Conversely, Marc and Steven may call upon that red sarcophagus. But beyond the challenge of fighting a villain who is a product of the hero’s Dissociative Identity Disorder is the question of Jake’s existence in the first place. What horror forced Marc to create an immoral alter?
(Photo by Marvel Studios)
One possibility: It was what Khonshu wanted all along. Consider the flashback to Randall’s death in episode 5. Steven steps on a doll with more than a passing resemblance to Khonshu. While that could be dismissed as part of the phantasmagoria inside the asylum construct, it could also indicate Khonshu was directing events even then. Over in the comics, the god of night definitely nudged things so Marc’s DID would manifest and he would be in a position to become Moon Knight. In the show, it is possible he influences events from afar to produce a persona like Jake, an alter not only willing to kill, but totally devoted to Khonshu’s aim.
And what would that goal be? Based on the time he went rogue in the comics, it would be nothing less than reshaping the mortal world in his image.
AN EGYPTIAN SUPERHERO COULD STICK AROUND
(Photo by Gabor Kotschy/Marvel Studios)
But should Jake and Khonshu prove to be the bad guys, Marc and Steven will still need Layla’s (May Calamawy) help whether or not she continues to serve as Taweret’s (Antonia Salib) Avatar.
We hope she decides to continue her association with the goddess for reasons beyond Marc, though. Her interaction with the young Egyptian girl who asks her (in disbelief) if she is an Egyptian superhero could lead to powerful storyline in which Layla escapes the shadows of her life to become a very public, representational hero. Beyond reconciling her own past, it would be a chance for a Marvel show to once again address issues of race and culture with superheroes in a very direct way.
Though Ms. Marvel will no doubt tackle some of Marvel’s diversity issue with Pakistani culture in mind, the opportunity to look at it from a different angle while employing iconography emerging directly from Egyptian mythology adds a whole other layer. Calamawy addressed this, in fact, while talking to Marvel’s own website about the reveal.
“I had to really sit with it and be like, ‘I cannot represent every Arab woman or every Egyptian woman…’ I just hope that all Arab women can watch that and feel like a superhero, and that they have that space on that big scale,” Calamawy said.
(Photo by Marvel Studios)
That’s one reason why we’re glad neither Layla nor Taweret name the hero identity within the episode. Although that Marvel.com interview with the actor refers to the character as Scarlet Scarab — and as it turns out, her father’s name was key clue to all of this as a possibility — there is an opportunity to make the character truly original via the writing and Calamawy’s performance. And in this instance, not tying it directly to an established Marvel legacy may prove unexpected dividends.
One example: The un-enshrined gods — to say nothing of the ones imprisoned in the Great Pyramid — need new Avatars. And though they stuck to a policy of non-intervention throughout the Ammit (Saba Mubarak) crisis, they may now be willing to lend their power to a whole new generation of Egyptian superheroes.
A DE-POWERED DEFENDER OF NIGHT’S TRAVELERS COULD RISE
(Photo by Gabor Kotschy/Marvel Studios)
Back in the comics, Marc’s powers have always been intermittent. For much of his early run, he was just a man with a few gadgets, a friend with a helicopter, and a stark white costume. Khonshu and the abilities he lent to Marc appeared a little later, and the extent of those gifts wavered with successive creative teams.
Now that Marc and Steven believe they are free from Khonshu, they may decide to keep up the Moon Knight and Mister Knight personas via less supernatural means. Perhaps Jean-Paul “Frenchie” Duchamp — the only other person to call Marc besides Layla — can help in that regard. And even if they recognize the fact that they were chained to the bed as an indication that Khonshu is not through with them, they may adopt more conventional takes on their hero identities to help deal with him and Jake (once they discover he exists).
(Photo by Marvel Studios)
Which leads us to what Jake’s costumed identity might be. Presuming Randall Spector is very, very dead for the purposes of the series (and that’s a big if considering this is comics-related media), his dark mirror version of Moon Knight, Shadownight, is available to Jake. The very name feels apt to Jake’s existence in the show and may even be hinted at in the darkness of his civilian clothes.
Of course, we can’t completely rule out Randall as a possible thorn in Moon Knight’s side in season 2. Another possibility — should the series sidestep Khonshu for a time — is Bushman, Marc’s old commanding officer who killed Layla’s father. If a potential second season goes for a slightly more grounded approach, he could prove to be a worthy adversary. Then again, the momentum of the show circles around Marc, his alters, Layla, and Khonshu. Introducing either Randall or Bushman as a main antagonist seems unlikely. They may ultimately appear as part of Khonshu’s design, though.
MOON KNIGHT COULD JOIN THE MIDNIGHT SONS
(Photo by Marvel Studios)
Beyond the references to Madripoor and the GRC, Moon Knight remains quite isolated from the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nevertheless, the character has been on several superhero teams back in the comics, and we suspect he may lend his services to one in the MCU some day.
Comic book Moon Knight’s affiliations include the Defenders, the West Coast Avengers, and a group of supernatural characters known as the Midnight Sons. First debuting in 1992, the team was also meant to launch an imprint of Marvel Comics to differentiate between the mainstream superheroes and horror characters Morbius, Blade, and Ghost Rider. In 2018, Wong assembled a new Midnight Sons consisting of Blade, Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, Iron Fist, and several others to help Doctor Strange fight Mephisto’s army.
(Photo by JC Olivera/FilmMagic)
And as it happens, several of the teams’ members across the years are either featured MCU players or on their way to joining the universe. Blade will eventually take the form of Mahershala Ali (pictured) in his own self-titled feature, while Gael García Bernal will appear as Werewolf by Night in Marvel’s Halloween special this October. The expansion of horror elements is also a reported feature of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, so a supernatural Avengers feels like an eventuality.
Of course, Marc (and Steven) will have to deal with his own problems and stabilize his abilities before he can really join a team, so consider this possibility more distant and, perhaps, something appropriate for the season 2 finale stinger scene.
87% Moon Knight: Season 1 (2022) is now streaming on Disney+.
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