Moon Knight, Marvel's first show this 2022, is now out on Disney+ and its first episode is a fitting introduction to one of comics' most interesting and disjointed heroes. While most fans are still reeling from what happened, here's Moon Knight episode 1 ending explained to help give some clarity.
Moon Knight Episode 1 Ending explained
The show starts with the usual Marvel Studio title card playing to Engelbert Humperdinck's “A Man Without Love” from 1968. The focus then shifts to Oscar Isaac's Steven Grant waking up and proceeding to his work as a gift shop employee at London's National Art Gallery. After getting a glimpse of his meek and mild-mannered personality, Grant ends up back in bed trying his very best not to sleep. But as fate would have it, he fails and gets transported to a grassy field outside a castle with a broken jaw and is chased by strangers with guns.
But before that happens, a disembodied voice says that “the idiot has gained control” and orders him “to surrender the body to Marc.” The Marc in question here is no other than Marc Spector, Moon Knight's most popular personality from the comics.
As Grant runs through town, he ends up in a crowd waiting for Arthur Harrow, played by Ethan Hawke in this series. These people revere and bow before Harrow, who then spots Grant from the crowd and asks him for a scarab. The same disembodied voice that spoke out earlier returned and urged Grant not to return it. A chase then ensues with Grant blacking out all of a sudden.
Once he regains consciousness, Grant finds himself in the middle of men laying down on the street who seemed beaten up. Harrow's men then start chasing him again as he steals a van and drives off from the scene. With Wham's Wake Me Up Before You Go playing in the background, viewers are then treated to a car chase filled with several blackouts and the same voice instructing Grant on what he should do.
As the final car blocks Grant's way, logs begin to fall onto the armed men, seemingly killing them. This is where Grant suddenly wakes up in bed with the thought that everything he went through was just in his mind as a dream.
Grant then returns to his daily routine, which consisted of stopping by the fish store and waiting for his date outside of a restaurant alone. It's later revealed that two days have passed since the last one Grant remembers, causing further confusion in the process.
Grant then goes home dejected and discovers a key and a flip phone with several missed calls from a certain Layla on it. The phone rings again and he answers. The female's voice on the other end calls him Marc and introduces himself as Steve. The voice, confused as Grant is, hangs up in confusion.
All of a sudden, lights started flashing all over the room and the Marc Spector personality starts speaking to him through the mirrors and prompts him to run out into the elevator. He does as the voice instructed until Grant ends up on a darkened floor with a giant figure approaching him. As the scene unfolds, it was revealed only to be an old lady. They make small talk until she gets out. The giant with a beak returns and confronts Grant, who ends up screaming.
The scene suddenly shifts inside a bus during daytime with Grant stepping out of it. He then catches a glimpse of Harrow looking at him from inside the bus. Grant then goes to his workplace in the museum and encounters Harrow, who then demands the scarab from him. Harrow then reveals that he knows about the voices Grant hears after several of the museum's employees were revealed to be his associates. He then places the stick between Grant's arms and a tattoo of scales on his arm starts to move.
“There's chaos in you,” Harrow said. A terrified Grant starts running with Harrow instructing his people to let him go.
Later that night, Grant is all alone doing his work. As he was about to leave, he hears a dog and goes looking for it. As he does, Grant notices a giant figure following him, but it wasn't the same one he encountered earlier. Harrow's voice is heard over the speakers with a command to return the scarab. A monstrous dog then starts chasing the museum employee, until he locks himself in a bathroom with mirrors. The Marc Spector personality then communicates with him and asks him to give him control of the body.
As Grant transfers control, his body transforms into that of Moon Knight's costume. The scene then cuts to the hero beating the monstrous dog as he walks away.
What just happened? A Moon Knight episode 1 recap
Those who just watched Moon Knight episode 1 might be wondering what's going on. As mentioned earlier, the character possesses multiple personalities in the comics. Marvel has carefully translated that aspect of Moon Knight into a very interesting and action-filled sequence on Disney+
The ending saw Grant/Spector's full transformation to Moon Knight in order to defeat the monstrous dog sent by Harrow. The scarab, which the cult leader was hunting for, is also seen as a catalyst for that transformation. The giant beaked figure, meanwhile, is somehow connected to the Egyptian god Khonshu, the primary source of Moon Knight's abilities.
It's expected that the subsequent episodes will explain how Grant ended up with the scarab, why Harrow is after it, and what part it plays in bringing Moon Knight to life. As it stands, there are a lot of things that need to be unpacked in the following episode or two.
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