Moon Knight

About the series

Contains story spoilers.

Moon Knight begins with Steven Grant trying to account for time missing from an otherwise ordinary life. The London gift-shop employee discovers that he shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector, bringing him into a struggle involving Egyptian gods. Oscar Isaac plays both identities in the 2022 Marvel series created by Jeremy Slater. Their competing knowledge and priorities make this more than a question of acquiring a costume: Steven must understand what Marc has done, while Marc has to deal with someone whose life and needs cannot simply be dismissed.

Steven's first frightening excursion takes him far from London. He wakes in the Austrian Alps with a scarab he does not remember acquiring, near a gathering led by Arthur Harrow. Harrow demands the object, but Steven escapes through violent incidents interrupted by blackouts and a commanding voice. Back at home, apparent changes to his surroundings and a missed date reveal that two days have passed. A hidden phone produces another contradiction when a caller named Layla addresses him as Marc. Harrow then finds him at the museum and declares his allegiance to the goddess Ammit. That evening a jackal-like creature traps Steven in the building. His reflection offers a way out if he gives up control of their body. He agrees, and the frightened employee becomes a cloaked fighter capable of killing the monster. Surviving the attack means accepting the presence he has been trying to explain away.

The damage costs Steven his job, and the keycard hidden in his flat leads him to a storage locker containing the scarab. Marc finally identifies himself as a mercenary serving Khonshu, the Egyptian moon god. Layla turns out to be Marc's wife, who knew nothing of Steven. Harrow explains a rival system of justice: resurrecting Ammit would allow her to eliminate people judged capable of evil. He had previously served Khonshu before changing allegiance. Another supernatural attack forces Steven to try summoning a protective suit himself, but its appearance does not give him Marc's fighting experience. Marc takes over and defeats the jackal, while the scarab is lost to Harrow. Khonshu sends him to Egypt to reach Ammit's tomb first and threatens to make Layla his next avatar if Marc fails. Marc's obedience is therefore bound up with keeping his wife out of the god's service.

Finding the tomb requires evidence the other gods will believe. Khonshu creates an eclipse to summon a council inside the Great Pyramid, where Harrow successfully denies planning to release Ammit. Yatzil, Hathor's avatar, offers another route: a medjay's sarcophagus could preserve knowledge of the burial site. Layla takes Marc to collector Anton Mogart, who owns it, but Harrow's arrival destroys the object and triggers a fight. Fragments taken from the sarcophagus still form a star map that Steven can reconstruct. Its age creates the next obstacle because the sky no longer matches the ancient arrangement. Khonshu reverses the night sky long enough for Steven and Layla to calculate the location. The act gets Khonshu imprisoned by the other gods. They have recovered a route to their destination at the price of losing his protection, and their body is left unconscious and powerless.

Inside the tomb, Steven and Layla encounter undead priests and discover that Ammit's final avatar was Alexander the Great. Steven retrieves the goddess's ushabti from within his body, but the expedition also exposes Marc's connection to Layla's father's death. Harrow claims Marc was involved in the mercenary attack that killed the archaeologist. When confronted, Marc says his partner committed the murder and shot him as well. Their argument leaves them vulnerable to Harrow, who arrives and shoots Marc. The next apparent waking place is a psychiatric hospital, with familiar people recast as its occupants and Harrow appearing as a therapist. Marc escapes him and releases Steven from a sarcophagus; another sealed sarcophagus suggests someone else remains trapped. Their reunion is interrupted by a hippopotamus-headed figure. The search for a buried goddess has taken them into a place where their own memories become the next unexplored territory.

The figure is Taweret, who explains that they are dead and travelling through the Duat. To reach the Field of Reeds, their hearts must balance against the Scales of Justice. Their hidden memories reveal the childhood death of Marc's brother Randall and the abuse that followed when their mother blamed Marc. Steven learns that his identity developed as Marc endured that suffering; Marc also explains becoming Khonshu's avatar after his mercenary mission went wrong. Coming to understand one another does not immediately make the scales balance. Hostile spirits attack the boat, and Steven falls into the Duat while helping Marc, becoming trapped there. Marc reaches the peaceful Field of Reeds alone. The journey makes clear what their earlier struggle for control concealed: Steven's existence helped Marc survive, and losing him is a real loss rather than a convenient end to their disagreements.

Marc refuses that solitary peace and returns for Steven. Their renewed connection frees Steven, and they pass through the Gates of Osiris to rejoin their wounded body. Layla has released Khonshu, allowing their powers to return, and temporarily becomes Taweret's avatar to oppose Ammit. Together they battle Harrow in Cairo. Another blackout leaves Marc and Steven unable to explain how they defeated him, but Marc and Layla can then bind Ammit inside Harrow. Khonshu orders them to kill both; Marc refuses and demands release from service. That appears to give Marc and Steven a shared life on their own terms, until the closing scene exposes a condition they do not understand. A third identity, Jake Lockley, removes Harrow from a psychiatric hospital and executes him while still working with Khonshu. The main threat is contained, but Marc and Steven's belief that they have ended the relationship is incomplete. Their unfamiliar blackouts have concealed another participant, whose agreement with the god has survived their own refusal.