Moon Knight spoilers follow.
The penultimate episode of Moon Knight tried to suggest that both Marc Spector and Steven Grant had died — the former enjoying a wheat-filled paradise, the latter frozen in the sands of the afterlife. But Marvel's gonna Marvel. So, of course, they're both alive and kicking again early on in the season series finale.
Moon Knight's future is looking bleak — and not just because season two seems pretty unlikely at this point, despite Oscar Isaac teasing in interviews last year that a follow-up season was possible.
In an October 2022 interview, Collider asked Isaac to clarify whether another a second season of Moon Knight.
"We can't definitively say that. I need my teasing abilities," he said. "We'll see what happens. But at the moment, there's no official word."
It looks like the sixth and final Moon Knight episode, 'Gods and Monsters', may be the last we see of Marc Spector for a while, then. So strap on your glidey moon cloak thingy and join us as we dive straight into what that means for the MCU.
Moon Knight ending explained
Remember when Marc Spector was shot and supposedly killed at the end of episode four? Easy to forget given all the harrowing backstory and that hungry, hungry hippo, but here we are now, with Arthur Harrow pulling Moon Knight's body out of the water.
"I'm sorry it had to end this way, Marc, Steven, whoever else might be in there," he says.
More on that later. Harrow is too busy taking down Egyptian soldiers and all of the avatars off screen, because this show has an annoying habit of avoiding the best fight scenes.
Meanwhile, everyone's favourite hippo lady chats to Layla through the body of a soldier, telling her that Marc can be brought back with the help of Khonshu. Taweret also suggests that Layla could be her avatar, too.
Ammit is finally freed, but she's a bit crabby after spending 2,000 years frozen in stone. Luckily, Layla manages to free Khonshu as well, so the Moon God steps up to take on his sibling in battle.
In the afterlife, Marc steps up and decides to go back for Steven, despite that accent. "I get to go into eternal peace and he just stays lost on the sand forever? I'm not good with that," Marc tells Taweret.
Off he goes, kneeling in the deadly sand before Steven.
"You are the only real superpower I ever had," says Marc (in what might be the cheesiest Marvel line since Tony told Natasha: "I hope you and Banner aren't playing 'Hide the Zucchini'").
By accepting this part of himself, Marc somehow thaws Steven out as an exit suddenly opens before them. Then, a sand tide threatens to consume them both as they run for the exit.
But Tawaret is on the case, smashing the sand apart with her boat. "Hippo!" screams Steven (in possibly Marvel's best line ever).
With Marc back in action, Khonshu imbues him with the moon's power again. And in the name of the moon, he's off to punish both Ammit and Harrow.
But first, Steven makes a deal with the "silly old bird" so that he'll be released once their mission is complete.
Marc then spreads his Batman-esque cloak and glides off to Cairo, where he meets Layla, who's wearing a "fabulous" new avatar suit of her own. Could it have used some hippo-themed embellishments? For sure. Do we love it anyway? Absolutely.
In Cairo, the pair find Ammit growing in strength thanks to all the souls Harrow and his cult zapped out of the locals who failed to balance their scales. Khonsu grows in stature to fight Ammit off as our street-level heroes tag-team against Ethan Hawke and his mighty staff.
Technically, it's three against one, as Marc and Steven have now found a way to co-exist, seamlessly switching mid-battle. And with Layla's new powers in the mix as well, Harrow doesn't stand a chance.
Except, he actually does, and both he and Ammit quickly turn the tide against our heroes.
But before Mr Sandals can sap all of Moon Knight's power, the show cuts forward again to a defeated Harrow.
"What the hell was that?" asks Layla. For the umpteenth time this season, the show hints at a third, darker Moon Knight personality, and we again skip what could have been a standout fight scene.
Following that lacklustre climax, Layla somehow realises that Egyptian chanting with the other gods will imprison Ammit and help wrap things up before the episode ends — because this is a limited series and time is money.
Now that Ammit is contained in Harrow's body, Khonsu commands Marc to kill them both and end this cycle once and for all. "While he lives, so does she," he says.
But Moon Knight isn't on board with that. "You want them dead? Do it yourself."
Khonshu then frees Marc, as per their arrangement, which sends his mind back into the asylum we were first introduced to in episode four.
So all of this really was in Marc's head the whole time? Not quite.
As Doctor Harrow walks around his office, Marc notices bloody footprints that he leaves behind, which jolts him into realising that this is a representation of the evil Harrow in his mind.
"Yeah, I don’t think you know as much as you think you do," says Marc/Steven. "As tempting as it is to believe your diagnosis, we'd rather go save the world."
And with one more "laters gators," their mind is propelled back into the real world once again.
The finale then ends back in Steven's flat, where the two personalities now co-exist, still tying themselves to the bed each night.
And just in case you thought Steven might actually be kind of cool these days, Clown Knight trips over in a callback to the slapstick humour of those first few episodes.
So, does this mean that Marc and Steven are now free to live out the rest of their lives together without Khonshu's meddling? Nope! And not just because they want to save the world still, even without their powers...
Moon Knight post credits scene explained — Who is Jake Lockley?
Moon Knight's first and only post-credits scene takes viewers to a different, more realistic psychiatric hospital than the one seen in Marc Spector's mind (which is named after legendary comic book artist Bill Sienkiewicz).
There, a scruffier version of Harrow seems to be undergoing treatment following the battle in Cairo. But Harrow's still in for a harrowing time. A mysterious, Spanish-speaking figure suddenly appears and wheels him out to a car, where Khonsu sits waiting in the back seat.
"Marc truly believed that after we parted ways, I wanted his wife to be my avatar," says Khonshu. "Why would I need anyone else when he doesn’t know how troubled he truly is?"
At that point, the Moon god knocks on the window and introduces Harrow to Jake Lockley — the third, more dangerous personality we once saw locked up in that sarcophagus.
Under Khonsu's orders, Jake shoots and presumably kills Harrow before driving off in the car with that not-so-subtle "SPKTR" registration plate.
Now it's clear why Khonshu was so easygoing when it came to releasing Marc: Marc hasn't really been released at all. Or at least, not all of him.
This ploy won't last long, though. Clearly, Marc and Steven are going to start noticing the new Jake-induced blackouts.
And because they all share the same body, that means Marc and Steven can still potentially tap into Khonshu's power and turn it back against him in future MCU appearances — presumably with a super-powered Layla by their side.
That doesn't mean they're in for an easy ride, however. If Moon Knight is renewed for a second season, Jake Lockley could prove to be an even more powerful foe than Harrow, one that lurks directly within their own, already crowded mind.
In the comics, Jake was first introduced as one of Marc Spector's disguises before he eventually became a distinct personality of his own. That version of the character, a shady taxi driver, usually works alongside Moon Knight, helping fight evil thanks to his many criminal connections.
But here, the MCU has reimagined him to be the living embodiment of that evil and Moon Knight's biggest adversary moving forward.
This ties in nicely with the show's ongoing themes of battling yourself, even if it sort of contradicts the "balance" that Marc and Steven have finally achieved. Don't be surprised if we also discover later on that Jake was the one responsible for the death of Layla's father.
But, as this season proved, Marc and Steven are resilient buggers even at the worst of times. It's safe to say that Jake and Khonshu have a fight on their hands, too.
Moon Knight is available to watch on Disney+.
