This post contains spoilers for the series finale of Moon Knight.
Moon Knight on Disney Plus wrapped up this week with an ending that had fans screaming. In the climactic battle between Ammit and Khonshu, Marc and Steven finally really click as a team, switching seamlessly between Moon Knight and Mr. Knight as they fight Arthur Harrow’s henchmen. Layla agrees to serve as Taweret’s avatar and becomes the Scarlet Scarab, the MCU’s first Egyptian superhero. Finally, after Marc, Steven, and Layla win the day, we see Arthur Harrow being taken out of a psychiatric hospital by the alter we’ve all been waiting for: the murderous Jake Lockley. What’s striking about Moon Knight is how self-contained it is, with no mention of the Avengers or really any other Marvel character.
Of course, the MCU’s whole deal is that everything is connected to everything else, so we’re naturally wondering what’s next for Moon Knight and Scarlet Scarab. Since Phase 1 of the MCU focused on building the team that would become the Avengers, and those Avengers are now all either dead or in the process of passing their batons on to a new generation, could Phase 4 see Marc and Steven joining a new Avengers roster?
Mohamed Diab: “‘Moon Knight’ is here to stay”
Right now, there are currently no (public) plans for a Moon Knight film or season 2. However, in an interview with Variety, showrunner Mohamed Diab revealed that he’d be open to exploring Moon Knight’s story more.
If you ask me, I would tell you that “Moon Knight” is here to stay. He’s an interesting character. If you are Marvel, I think the smart business decision is to keep him. The only thing is, Marvel is not traditional. If you succeed, it doesn’t mean you’re gonna get a Season 2. By the way, I’m kept in the dark. I have no clue. I’m just thinking as a businessman right now. But I think they’re going to stay. Maybe it’s going to be a film. Maybe it’s going to be a journey like what happened with “WandaVision.” I wish one day, if there is an expansion, I would be a part of it. We ended in a way that feels like a beginning.
Of course, one showrunner’s dreams don’t equal a franchise’s reality, so right now it’s impossible to say exactly what place Moon Knight will have in the MCU going forward. However, Diab also revealed an intriguing detail: apparently, two cameo scenes were originally planned, but then cut from the series.
I want to tell you the very first scene, there was a crossover, and the very end scene, there was a crossover. But as the story developed and we kept changing the scripts, we felt like, “We don’t need that.” All of us. It was a collective decision. And then I kept thinking: It’s a rule. There has to be a scene at the end that connects us to the MCU. But I think they decided, “You know what, the surprise is that there isn’t, and what’s going to make this show unique is it doesn’t need anything else.”
Stinger cameos are a hallowed Marvel tradition, of course, with Bruce Banner and Carol Danvers appearing at the end of Shang-Chi, and Doctor Strange originally slated to appear in WandaVision. These cameos usually set up the main character’s next adventure, giving us a glimpse of what they’ll be up to in later projects. The fact that these cameos were originally planned might mean that Marvel has some Moon Knight plans up its sleeve, but is having its creatives play coy.
Will Marc and Steven specifically be Avengers, though? That’s much harder to say. In Assembled: the Making of Eternals, Kevin Feige referred to Endgame as the “final Avengers movie,” so it’s possible that the MCU is moving away from that specific team-up. The MCU is moving away from the action and espionage focus of its S.H.I.E.L.D.-heavy movies and into a more mystical, multiversal phase, so it’s possible that we’ll see different team-ups like the Midnight Sons or the Defenders. We’ve already met the Illuminati in the new Doctor Strange.
Khonshu’s Agenda
Even if the Avengers do reassemble, would Khonshu approve of Marc and Steven (and Jake) joining? Khonshu has his own agenda, and Marc and Steven think that they’ve retired from the superhero life, so if the question were to come up, things could get messy.
So, will Moon Knight become an Avenger? In short: we’re early enough in his story that anything could happen. We just hope we’ll get more Moon Knight (in any form!) soon.
(image: Marvel)
