And finally, even Moon Knight arrives at its last episode, concluding, at least for now, the adventure of the Fist of Khonshu on Disney +. Six episodes that showed us a different way of telling the world of Marvel superheroes, touching the story of the most particular and atypical superheroes born in the House of Ideas, without forgetting to give Marvel Cinematic fans the traditional hunt for easter egg. A ritual that was repeated one last time, with the search for references and citations in Moon Knight Episode 6.
Obviously, continuing reading could be a source of spoilers if you haven’t seen Gods and Monsters yet, which is why it would be preferable to read this easter egg hunt after watching Moon Knight Episode 6. The Moon Knight season finale won’t be limited to to offer us an interesting final chapter, but will snatch some complicit smiles from the connoisseurs of the comics of the Marvelian hero.
Moon Knight Episode 6: Quotes and References
Gods and men
We’ve been dreading his arrival throughout the series, but finally Harrow (Ethan Hawke) seems to have managed to get free Ammit, the goddess of judgment, showing herself in all her power. Ammit has the features of a crocodile, but her hair is reminiscent of the one sported by the paper version of her seen in the Lemire and Smallwood run, where she was the director of the psychiatric center where Marc was imprisoned. The role we have in the previous episode, Asylum, being played by her avatar, Harrow.
The presence of the divine in Moon Knight was an important guideline, especially linked to the need for a human host body, an avatar. It is no coincidence that at the alleged death of Marc, Khonshu, once freed from his captivity, also looks for an avatar again, hoping to find him in Layla (May Calamawy), who refuses, finally preferring to accept Taweret’s request, becoming the earthly intermediary of the goddess. Considering how the goddess’s vestments and the armor that covers Layla in this guise of her show off the scarab as a totemic animal, one thinks that Layla becomes the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of an unrecognized Marvelian character, Scarlet Scarab.
First appeared in Invaders # 23 (1977), created by Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins, Scarlet Scarab is the heroic identity of Professor Abdul Faoul, an Egyptian archaeologist who had decided to found a cult of followers of the ancient pharaohs, with the aim of driving the British out of Egypt. In his cartoon life he had been an indecipherable figure, at times a friend and at other times an adversary, but always with the interests of his nation at heart. Upon his death his powers passed to his son, Mehemet, who collided with Thor. It is interesting to note how the surname of the two paper characters resembles that of Layla El-Faouly, whose father was an archaeologist and who used to call her little beetle. Listening to the episode in the original language, you can also hear Khonshu calling it with that nickname, instead of the term ‘ant’ used in the Italian adaptation.
One and three
Throughout the Moon Knight series we have seen signs that led us to believe that Marc and Steve weren’t the only personalities Khonshu could rely on. The blackouts that both personalities seemed to suffer from were ultimately explained by the presence of Jake Lockleythird and far more lethal personality of the character’s tormented psyche.
We have talked about this third part of Moon Knight’s mind in previous episodes, such as when we reported the presence of a third sarcophagus in the psychiatric hospital at the end of the fourth episode. His presence in Gods and Monsters confirms the theories, showing him not only as Khonshu’s violent arm, of which even Marc and Steve are unaware, but presents him in the role of the driver and violent executor of the Egyptian god. Jake drives a limousine reminiscent of the one seen in the Moon Knight series created by Warren Ellis and Declane Shalvey, while Khonsu’s version in an elegant white suit pays homage to the vision offered by Lemire and Smallwood in their aforementioned series.
Jake’s presence could be an element that will be developed in the future of the character, perhaps also providing this incarnation of Marc’s psyche with its own costume. In case, we will certainly see Marc and Steven again, protagonists of an exciting embrace in the sands of the Duat that recalled the one seen in the pages of comics, when Lemire told Marc’s farewell to his personalities, greeting accompanied by a tender hug to Steve.
Jake’s presence at the exit of Harrow’s London psychiatric clinic shouldn’t distract us from the institution’s name: Sienkiewicz Psychiatric Hospital. The name recalls the famous Bill Sinkiewicz, an artist who helped give Moon Knight his appearance in comics. And always inside the hospital, during the Harrow escape, we have the opportunity to meet a QR Code, but if in the previous episodes these led back to comics of the origins of Moon Knight, in this case the code leads us to a particular story contained in Moon Knight Annual # 1, in which the Fist of Khonshu collides with none other than Kang the Conqueror, the announced villain of Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, of which we saw a first version in the finale of Loki.
