Note: The article reveals the content of episode 1 of the Moon Knight series.
After more than 3 months of hiatus, Marvel Studios has officially returned to the TV series with Moon Knight – the new superhero of the MCU. The first episode of this series aired on March 30, giving us our first look at “Marvel’s Batman”: a character with multiple personality disorder, with one personality being a hero. museum worker Steven Grant often has bad luck in life; and the other personality is mercenary Marc Spector with super strength given by the Egyptian moon god.
Like other projects in the MCU, the first episode of Moon Knight also contains many interesting details and easter eggs related to the Marvel universe in particular and popular culture in general.
The tattoos on the arm and the tip of the villain Arthur Harrow’s staff are all crocodile heads – part of the symbolism of Ammit, the Egyptian god he worshiped. Ammit is often depicted as having the body of a lion, the head of an alligator, and the hind limbs of a hippo. After humans die, they will be judged by the death god Anubis by weighing a heart with a hair. If the heart is heavier, they will be punished by becoming food for Ammit.
In the opening sequence, Arthur Harrow smashes a glass and pours all the shards into his shoes. Then he put his feet on and walked around like nothing happened. This is an easter egg related to the character Dr. Harrow in Moon Knight #2 (1985), a man obsessed with research related to both physical and emotional pain.
The familiar opening sequence in the MCU’s projects has been updated with the Eternals lineup, a blockbuster released in early November 2021 and bringing to this cinematic universe a lot of new superheroes with divine powers.
Steven Grant is the dominant personality in the first episode of Moon Knight. However, in the comics, this is actually the second personality (sub-personality) of this superhero, and is a luxurious billionaire, not an ordinary souvenir salesman in a museum. Perhaps Marvel Studios changed this personality to avoid being compared to Batman – also a notorious billionaire disguised as a superhero of the DC universe.
Steven has a goldfish with only one fin, like Nemo in the popular animated series Finding Nemo. In addition, at the bottom of the aquarium, we can see an Egyptian pyramid model – a detail related to the source of Marc Spector’s power.
A store called Atlantis in London has made many fans believe that Namor and the undersea kingdom are closer to the MCU than ever.
Although Steven lives and works in London, this museum is actually an art museum in Budapest, Hungary. In addition, most of the supposed London setting in the film was taken in Budapest.
Donna, Steven’s difficult boss, was built on the character Donna Kraft in Moon Knight #39 (1992). Interestingly, in the comics, Donna is Steven’s subordinate.
In this scene, Steven can be seen cleaning a box of stuffed animals in the shape of lions, crocodiles and hippos – 3 animals related to Ammit’s appearance as mentioned above.
Steven mentions that there were 9 ancient Egyptian gods, including Atum (god of the sun), Shu and Tefnut (son of Atum), Geb and Nut (grandson of Atum), Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephsys (Atum’s great-grandson). In the Marvel comics, these gods live in a dimension called Celestial Heliopolis, and can travel to Earth through a special path. When they came here, they were worshiped by the Egyptians as powerful gods.
Steven’s “friend” Crawley is based on the character Bertrand Crawley, a homeless man who acts as an informant for Marc Spector.
When Steven discovers Marc Spector’s phone, he discovers that a woman named Layla has been continuously contacting him for the past several months. It is possible that this character is based on Marlene Alraune, who appeared in the Marvel comics in 1976, is an archaeologist and is also Marc Spector’s lover.
Holding dozens of calls from Layla, Marc also received a call from Duchamp, most likely Jean-Paul Duchamp, a former ally of Marc in the comics.
The moon god Khonshu was officially revealed, but the background and connection with Steven has not been explained too clearly by Marvel in the first episode. In the comics, it was Khonshu who saved Marc’s life and gave him superpowers to serve him.
Steven first came into contact with Marc Spector’s personality through a round mirror with a white rim, the symbol of the moon – also the main source of this superhero’s power.
When Harrow confronts Steven, he refers to the “avatar” as the embodiment of the Egyptian gods. However, Steven wittily suggested that he was referring to Disney’s Avatar (20th Century Fox) and Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Air Bender.
According to ScreenRant, NewRockstars