Moon Knight: have we finally learned the truth about Steven and Marc?

Luca Fontana

2.5.2022

Translation: Katherine Martin

The penultimate episode of «Moon Knight» is a real tear-jerker. But what’s the psych ward really all about? I have my own theory.

So, in the same vein: this episode analysis contains spoilers!. Only read on if you’ve already watched the fifth episode of «Moon Knight» 🙂

The fifth episode is through – and we’re now only a little bit wiser. Let’s recap. At the end of the fourth episode, Marc Spector aka Steven Grant aka Moon Knight was shot by Arthur Harrow. Or was he? Marc does, after all, wake up in a psych ward. Once there, Dr Harrow – who’s just Arthur in a white coat – breaks it to him that his entire life up until this point has been a figment of his imagination.

Wtf?

So, did we get any answers from the series’ second last episode? Kinda. It gave us two options. One, Dr Harrow is right. Seriously though, what are the chances of Marvel actually sticking to this comparatively anti-climatic narrative? Right? So, we’re left with the other option, which is hmm...well, it’s not actually that easy to explain. Let’s go through it slowly.

Luca’s theory: an imaginary place in his memory

Last week, I explained that series creator and director Mohamed Diab had drawn heavily from the «Moon Knight» comics by Author Jeff Lemire. They had a psych ward, too. It was a mental construct inside Marc’s head, designed to completely destroy his psyche.

If you’re still reading the comics and don’t want to know who’s behind this and why, skip the next paragraph and picture before reading on.

Behind the construct is none other than the moon god Khonschu, who wants to finally escape the Other Void – a place on the other side of our dimension where exiled Egyptian deities live. Khonschu can only achieve this by breaking his avatar’s psyche – in this case, Marc Spector’s. In doing so, he can take over his body.

Those who wish to reach it, however, have to pass a test first. Every heart is weighed on the Scales of Justice, which reveal whether you were good or evil in life. Only hearts that are as light as the Feather of Truth can pass the test. Sure, it was obvious that Marc and Steven’s – and perhaps Jake’s hearts would be as light as the feather.

Marc’s trauma differs from the trauma in the comics

Marc and Steven’s – memories are remarkable. They’re downright heart-rending – to an extent I’d never have expected from a Disney+ series. I almost want to cynically say, «Ah, come on, kids are watching this, too». But the creators don’t hold back. We get the full extent of emotional abuse when Marc’s mother blames him for his brother’s death in an accident. Right up until her death.

So the series chose to go down a different route than the comics to explain Marc’s mental illness. In the comics, the traumatic experience goes something like this:

a slum in 1930s Chicago. Pacifist rabbi Elias escapes from Nazi Germany. Soon thereafter, his son is born – Marc Spector. Life in the USA was supposed to be better than in their homeland of Czechoslovakia. But even as a child, Marc was forced to watch in disbelief as his father experienced constant discrimination without ever fighting back.

Only one person stands by them: rabbi Yitz Perlman. Supposedly. Turns out the lovable Perlman is actually a brutal Nazi deserter and serial killer, constantly on the hunt for Jews. Perlman captures Marc and tortures him to the brink of madness. And that’s only the beginning.

Marc is able to free himself from the clutches of his tormentor, but his brutal treatment left scars: he develops dissociative identity disorder – a mental illness involving multiple identities alternating within the same person without remembering what the other personalities do or say.

From military to mercenary to superhero

But Marc doesn’t die. Not yet. Seriously injured, he musters the last of his strength and drags himself to the excavated tomb of the moon god Khonshu. There, the deity appears to him and offers him a deal. Since the god himself can’t take physical form on Earth, Marc is to act as his avatar, carrying out Khonshu’s will on earth. Marc agrees. The ancient deity revives Marc’s body and grants him supernatural powers.

Moon Knight is born.

So, now we know Marc’s whole story. The episode ends in this world, with Harrow beginning to put his evil plan into action. And it’s up to Marc to stop him.

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.

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