Moon Knight Episode 4 Easter Eggs & Marvel References Explained
Moon Knight episode 4 is a Tomb Raider meets One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest affair. Here are all the MCU Easter eggs and references found within.
Caution: spoilers ahead for Moon Knight episode 4
Which Moon Knight Easter eggs did you spot during the mind-bending antics of episode 4? Moon Knight continues to stand proudly as a Marvel TV series like no other. Following last week's sky-shifting madness, Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) joins sort-of wife Layla (May Calamawy) on a trek through Ammit's tomb, encountering undead priests, shocking revelations, and an unexpected sarcophagus. Though their expedition is successful, Arthur Harrow ultimately guns down Marc Spector inside Alexander the Great's burial chamber.
Moon Knight episode 4's final act then takes place within a mental mental health hospital. Marc and Steven are able to greet each other properly for the first time, and Moon Knight's tone takes a sharp sideways turn toward the offbeat and quirky. Though both settings contain plenty of Marvel Easter eggs and MCU references, Moon Knight's hospital scene does the heavy lifting, featuring a ton of callbacks to prior episodes.
Aside from Steven and Marc's shared dream sequence (assuming the hospital is, indeed, a dream sequence), Moon Knight episode 4's Easter eggs include deep connections to Marvel comic lore, and major setup ahead of future MCU projects. Here are the Marvel references from Moon Knight episode 4, aptly titled "The Tomb."
Moon Knight episode 4 opens with the freshly-imprisoned Khonshu escorted to his resting place. As the camera zooms out, however, the audience beholds an entire wall filled with statues of trapped Egyptian gods. Moon Knight doesn't provide enough information to discern whom these naughty deities might be, but big-hitters like Anubis weren't present during episode 3's communion scene, suggesting they might've been placed inside ushabti of their own. Another possibility is Rama-Tut, the Kang variant (although he's a pharaoh, not a god), but the ushabti statue that stands out most in Moon Knight episode 4's opening is the small one - half as tall as every other. From Egyptian mythology, this is very likely Bes - a character also found in Marvel comics, and a one-time ally of Thor Odinson.
Scarab beetles have played a significant role in Moon Knight thus far, and it's not hugely surprising to see a beetle pop up as episode 4 returns to Steven and Layla in the desert. It is, however, potentially important that this bug is virtually stalking Layla... considering a second connection between her and a scarab beetle later in the episode.
Back in Moon Knight episode 2, Steven Grant met a goat whilst enjoying a tour through Arthur Harrow's cultist village. As he and Layla venture through a canyon toward Ammit's tomb in episode 4, a goat watches ominously from above. Is it just a running joke, not worth bleating ourselves up over, or something deeper? Perhaps foreshadowing the arrival of Egyptian goat god, Khnum?
Raiding deeper into Ammit's tomb, Steven Grant and Layla Croft encounter a Heka priest. Heka is the Egyptian god of magic, and the priests depicted in Moon Knight are his followers. Though any connection to Marvel comic lore is tenuous, there is a Heka-Nut in Mystic Arcana Magic #1 - a sorcerer adorned in similar garb to the version seen in Moon Knight episode 4.
A Moon Knight Easter egg appears as Layla battles a vicious Heka priest in episode 4. She's dragged out of sight into a dark crevice, and the sounds of a scuffle can be heard in the distance before Layla frees herself and scuttles back into the wider cavern area. The battle - and in particular Layla being dragged away then popping back out - is reminiscent of episode 1's fight between Moon Knight and the jackal, which was brutally dragged back into the museum bathroom. Layla fares better against her opponent, fortunately.
Moon Knight has repeatedly hinted toward Marc Spector's dark past - some connection to the death of Layla's father. Episode 4 finally sees Arthur Harrow confirm Marc worked for a team of mercenaries who attacked her dad's archaeological dig site and killed everyone present. Marc later makes the papyrus-thin excuse that while he was there for the attack, but didn't actually pull the trigger. Here, Moon Knight fully adapts Marc's comic book origin. In Marvel's source material, he assaulted the site alongside a fellow mercenary called Bushman who went too far and started blasting folk. Unhappy with his partner, Marc betrayed Bushman and was killed in response. The same likely happened in the MCU, leading to Marc Spector becoming Khonshu's avatar.
Steven Grant is amazed to learn Ammit's tomb actually contains the long-lost body of Alexander the Great, and while viewers will know his name from the annals of history, Mr. Great also plays a key role in Marvel canon. As the name already implies, Alexander the Great was not known for his humility, and proclaimed himself the son of Zeus. Russell Crowe will soon portray the Greek god in Thor: Love & Thunder, so it's possible the MCU will draw this same connection, with Alexander the half-human offspring of Crowe's character. The MCU debut of Alexander the Great (what's left of him) may also connect to Kang the Conqueror, the villain set up by Loki. During Kang's Marvel comic crusade, he draws upon the historical Macedonian ruler as inspiration, weeping when he runs out of worlds to conquer.
It's here that Moon Knight episode 4 takes a turn for the trippy, switching from Indiana Jones to One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. The hospital sequence seems to take place within Marc Spector's mind, which would pull directly from Jeff Lemire's 2016 comic book run. Here, Ammit forces Marc into believing he's a patient in a mental health facility, and his adventures as "Moon Knight" were merely imaginary fabrications.
The whole gang returns for Moon Knight episode 4's hospital scene. Donna, Steven Grant's supervisor from the museum, is a patient, and Crawley the human statue calls bingo numbers. Bobbi and Billy, Arthur Harrow's lackeys, are both hospital orderlies, and this is especially interesting since the original Marvel comic characters were featured in that very same guise. Bek, the henchman Layla fought in episode 3, is another worker, while Layla herself is among Marc's fellow patients. Predictably, Arthur Harrow is Marc's psychiatrist, but most important of all, a huge welcome back to Gus the Goldfish.
Quickfire Moon Knight Easter eggs now, as episode 4 takes a whistle-stop tour through a hospital lounge filled with callbacks to past episodes. The fun begins with a patient solving a Rubik's cube - a reference to episode 1, when Steven was desperately attempting to keep himself awake.
Oddly, the clock behind Donna has two large hands - and one is in the shape of Knonshu's crescent moon staff.
Donna clutching a scarab plush toy feels like a two-layer reference - a nod to both the scarab compass Steven fought Arthur Harrow over, and the plush toys from London's museum.
Back in Moon Knight episode 1, Steven spoke to his mother on the phone about receiving another of her vacation postcards. The photographs Layla pins to the hospital board are extremely similar - and also located near Gus' goldfish bowl, as they were in Steven's apartment.
As Layla draws her hand to her chin and comes close to Marc's face asking, "Did I startle you?" notice the red scarab painted on her finger bandage. This is a clear nod to the Scarlet Scarab Marvel character, potentially foreshadowing his introduction later in Moon Knight season 1. Layla's bandage also ties into the beetle seen at the top of the episode.
The candy Layla enjoys in episode 4's hospital scene is another Moon Knight Easter egg, throwing it back to episode 3 when she ate the same sweet treat whilst waiting for Lagaro to finish her fake passport.
Attempting to leave his wheelchair, Marc is foiled by an ankle restraint and falls face down onto the cold floor. Both the restraint and the manner of Marc's fall refer back to Moon Knight's early episodes in Steven Grant's apartment. Remember when Steven jumped out of bed and immediately tripped?
Bek is touring the hospital lounge handing out cupcakes - a sweet Moon Knight Easter egg that harks back to the cake van chase sequence of episode 1.
Plenty of small details connect Ethan Hawke's psychiatrist character to Moon Knight's Arthur Harrow. The doctor begins by quoting Carl Yung's famous line about trees ascending to heaven or descending to the depths of hell. That's an analogy for how Harrow uses his staff to judge a person's soul. The landscape painting in his office, meanwhile, is the same mountain town Harrow first appeared in during Moon Knight episode 1, and Arthur's fondness for the "Tomb Buster" movie villain acknowledges his own baddie status. Finally, the doctor's cane is a straight swap for Ammit's magical staff, and plenty of Egyptian paraphernalia decorates his office.
Escaping through the hospital, Marc Spector finds Steven Grant trapped within a sarcophagus. As they sneak down the corridor together, Moon Knight's dynamic duo pass a second sarcophagus rattling away as the person inside struggles to break out. This is surely the third alter Moon Knight has teased in recent episodes - most likely Jake Lockley from the Marvel comic books.
Moon Knight episode 4's Easter eggs end with the episode's final shot - the surprise debut of the Egyptian god Taweret. Her arrival was hinted at way back in the early scenes of Moon Knight episode 1, when Donna asked Steven to pass a box of hippo toys, only for him to correct her by pointing out they're actually Taweret.
Moon Knight continues Wednesday on Disney+.