MOON KNIGHT Episode 1 Easter Eggs

MOON KNIGHT is now streaming exclusively on Disney+ and with each action-packed new episode of this dark, gritty psychological thriller comes brilliant Easter eggs from the comic series. Check back weekly after each new episode for the latest MOON KNIGHT Easter Eggs. Here are all the MOON KNIGHT Episode 1 Easter Eggs we found.

Easter Eggs MOON KNIGHT Episode 1: The Goldfish Problem

Harrow’s Glass-filled Shoes

We see Ethan Hawke’s Arthur Harrow smash his drinking glass and fill his shoes with the glass shards and walks through a temple-like room. Harrow’s comic book namesake, though a singular appearance, is a mad scientist focused on pain.

In Moon Knight (Vol. 2) #2 (July 1985) Dr. Harrow is a Nobel Prize candidate in medicine, but his work involved conducting secret experiments by scientists in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The large temple-like room is likely another nod to his comic book appearance, as Harrow continues Nazi experiments on local people in a Mayan temple, though we find Harrow in the Bavarian Alps later in the episode, which aligns with the comic character’s use of Nazi science for his experiments.

Every Grain of Sand

Bob Dylan’s song “Every Grain of Sand” is the song playing in the scene with Harrow filling his shoes with broken glass as he prays to Ammit. This is one of Dylan’s most spiritual songs and it came out in 1981 after he became a born-again Christian. The lyrics allude to faith and spirituality.

Ammit

Ammit played a significant role in the 2016 Moon Knight comics by Jeff Lemire, Greg Smallwood, and Jordie Bellaire.

Ammit was also known as “Devourer of the Dead,” “Eater of Hearts,” and “Great of Death.” She was linked to the scales of justice, an afterlife belief, hence Arthur’s scales tattoo. Anubis would use the scales of justice to weigh a person’s deeds. If they were found unworthy, Ammit would devour their hearts.

When Arthur confronts Steven at the museum, he’s near an Ammit hieroglyph. Ammit was said to have the head of a crocodile and her body was half lion and half hippo.

The Scarab

Harrow tells Steven the scarab belongs to the Egyptian Goddess Ammit. In the comics, Moon Knight is actually given the scarab in “Moon Knight” Vol. 2 #1. Marc’s lover/ally, Marlene, briefly convinced him to abandon the Moon Knight persona, but he soon finds himself called to a hidden cavern in Thebes where he meets the Priests of Khonshu who give him scarab darts along with some other ancient artifacts/weapons that make him Moon Knight again.

Doomstadt

Steven Grant awakens, disoriented, in a strange location with the scarab in his pocket. He looks up and sees a rather large and imposing castle. The castle is reminiscent of Marvel’s Latveria—the fictional Marvel country located in the heart of the Bavarian Alps that is home to Doomstadt aka Castle Doom where Doctor Doom lives. Many appearances of the castle in the comics show it overlooking a small village, similar to the one Steven runs toward as the guards fire on him.

This castle also looks like the real-life Eltz Castle in Germany but also like Castle De Krake, a HYDRA stronghold seen in “>What If…” Episode 1. We know it isn’t HYDRA using it as a stronghold, but bad guys in a castle are bad guys in a castle.

von D

Another Doctor Doom reference is dropped with the cupcake van. The name on the van is von Darrelman, which is Marvel comic confectionary, but some clever framing shows “von D,” which is the second nod to Doctor Doom while here in the Bavarian Alps with Steven/Marc. With the Fantastic Four on the horizon, these nods are surely intentional.

marc spector/steven grant in moon knight

Welcome to Staying Awake

Steven doesn’t know yet that he suffers from disassociative identity disorder (DID) so his struggles with sleep and very realistic nightmares are beyond his control and he’s taking extreme measures to curtail them.

When Steven awakes, we see:

he is chained to his bed
the bed has sand around it that he checks for a footprint
he checks the tape on the door to ensure that it is not broken

These are some of the things he does to try to keep himself from wandering around at night.

In “Agent Carter,” Dottie Underwood also chained herself to her bed after she had been a part of the Spy program run by the Leviathan (the show’s equivalent of the Black Widow program).

There is a solved Rubik’s cube. Something to note is that in the trailer, he is working on the Rubik’s cube and it is not completed.

The Goldfish

The Goldfish’s name is Gus. The one fin reference to Nemo in the pet store is obviously a nod to Pixar’s Finding Nemo.

Steven’s decorated the tank with Egyptian artifacts, many of which relate to the afterlife, connecting him to Marc Spector and Khonshu. You can spot a pyramid, a boat, and more.

But the goldfish itself is likely a nod to the “Umbrella Academy’s” AJ Carmichael. “Moon Knight” is written by “Umbrella Academy” series writer Jeremy Slater.

Yet another likely nod for the goldfish is a reference to artists Marco Evaristti’s “Helena,” a 2000 art piece that featured 10 functional blenders containing live goldfish. The display, at the Trapholt Art Museum in Kolding, Denmark, invited guests to turn on the blenders.

Evaristti believes there are three types of people: The Sadist, the Voyeur, and the Moralist. The sadist will press the button on the blender because they can. The voyeur excitedly observes whether others will press the button. The moralist becomes infuriated by the fact that there is an option to blend fish. For Evaristii, the art was about the journey and the battle or the conscience in that journey—a battle that Steven and Marc have day in and day out.

Steven’s Book Collection

Steven’s bookshelf has a selection of relevant titles:

The Birth of Western Civilization
World Architecture
Pompeii
Ancient Egypt
Millennium

Leader of Lost City?

On Steven’s commute to work, he passes a business called Atlantis, possibly a Namor the Sub-Mariner nod, leader of the lost city in the comics.

The museum Steven works at is a mesh of the National Gallery and the British Museum.

QR Code

Did you see the QR code on the wall by the sarcophagus? It takes you to a website where Marvel is giving you a free Issue of Moon Knight: Werewolf by Night #32, which is Moon Knight’s first appearance in the comics!

Ennead

In Egyptian mythology, The Ennead is a group of 9 gods, believed to be the most powerful/important, and was worshipped at Heliopolis.

Steven mentions that the museum’s marketing material for The Ennead is incorrect as it is missing two gods.

The Ennead also exists in Marvel Comics—coming to Earth from the pocket dimension of Celestial Heliopolis. Being gods, they have had dealings with the Celestials, Odin, and Wakanda.

Steven’s boss puts him on inventory duty. Among the items in inventory are a Hippo deity (goddess Taweret), scarabs, and crocodile deity (goddess Ammit) plushes.

Deep Cut Comic Book Reference

This episode features a lot of influence from Fist of Khonshu, but Moon Knight #21, written by Alan Zelenetz, also feels like it lends some inspiration. Zelentz is both the creator of Harrow and Fist of Khonshu.

More Comic Callbacks

Oh, Donna

Steven’s gift shop boss, Donna is a nod to Donna Kraft, Marc Spector’s head publicist at SpectorCorp in the 1990s Moon Knight comics. Her appearance in Marc Spector: Moon Knight #39, we also see Marc face down with Doctor Doom in Latveria.

The “Hawkeye” series also used several notable character names for recurring side characters who were not the same as their comics counterparts.

Crawley

Steven sits and talks to a living statue near his workplace. The credits tell us the character’s name is Crawley, played by Shaun Scott (The King’s Man). In the Moon Knight comics, Bertrand Crawley is a recurring character, a homeless man who acts as an informant and ally to Moon Knight.

Steven communicating with a statue is a subtle nod to the Moon Knight comics, where Marc Spector communicates with Khonshu through a statue. Also, Marc originally dies and then awakens at the foot of Khonshu’s statue.

Duchamp

When Steven is going through the phone he finds in his flat, there are a ton of missed calls from Layla (May Calamawy) and one from “Duchamp.” In the comics, Jean-Paul “Frenchie” Duchamp is a French soldier who befriends Marc, and the two become inseparable. Duchamp is on the mission in Egypt that ultimately got Marc killed.

Layla?

Who is Layla El-Faouly? May Calamawy is portraying Layla, but we don’t know much bout her yet. Layla is the voice Steven talks to on the phone that is presumably Marc’s. In the Moon Knight comics, there’s no character named Layla, but it’s clear the duo knows each other. Could Layla be a version of the comic Marlene Arlaune?

In the comics, there’s a character known as the Scarlet Scarab. Abdul Fahoul was an Egyptian archaeologist who created the Sons of the Scarab and briefly joined the Axis powers in the 1940s in an attempt to extricate Egypt from British control. He passed the mantle to his son, Mehemet, who became the Scarlet Scarab in Thor #326 and teamed up with the Asgardian to reclaim a stolen Egyptian artifact.

Mirrors

The use of mirror imagery is used to allude to Marc and Steven’s dissociative identity disorder (DID).

Entering the museum

When Steven enters the museum, you can see his reflection in the glass is a nod to Steven and Marc sharing one body.

Steven’s Date

When Steven is getting ready for his date, he goes from looking into a single mirror to looking into three mirrors—a nod to his multiple identities with his DID all inhabiting Marc’s subconscious.

Who’s in the Mirror?

As Steven is trying to make sense of the items he has found in the flat, he hears a voice and sees Marc in the mirror, watching him and telling him to stop looking into everything. He runs from Marc and gets in the elevator trying to get to the ground floor.

Fleeing the Apartment

When Steven flees his apartment, we can see three images of Steven before the camera zooms in and we see only two. While Marc serves Khonshu, he and Steven are obviously much closer and this symbolizes symbolize Steven, Marc, and Khonshu cohabitating in one body.

In the Museum Loo

Steven talking to Marc in the mirror is another great use of mirror work to show the multiple identities and seems to also allude to a lingering 3rd identity.

About That Date

A direct Easter egg from the Arthur Harrow introduction issue, in Moon Knight (Vol. 2) #2 (July 1985) we see Marc Spector being stood up by his date, Marlene. We see Steven waiting on his museum colleague’s date that he thinks he is being stood up by, and it turns out he inadvertently stood her up because he’s actually two days late for the date.

Avatars

Steven jokes about blue people as a nod to James Cameron’s 2009 movie Avatar and also the anime Avatar The Last Airbender.

This is an even more amusing Easter egg as Avatar and Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame have bounced back and forth regarding which is the biggest box office hit.

Crescent Moon

The symbol of Moon Knight and Khonshu.

Jackals

In Ancient Egyptian culture, the god Anubis has the head of a jackal.

In the comics, Bobby and Billy are orderlies who worked for Doctor Emmet aka Ammit in the mental hospital Marc was being held as a prisoner in the Jeff Lemire “Moon Knight” comic run. The duo often appeared as jackals when Marc was wearing his suit.

Khonshu

We caught a glimpse of Khonsu when Steven was in the Bavarian Alps, but here we see the full suit. Khonshu looks exactly like he does in the Moon Knight comics. Khonshu, the Egyptian “God of the Moon,” resurrects Marc after he dies in the comics. Then, Marc becomes his “avatar” on Earth as Moon Knight protects the people of the night. Khonshu made his first Marvel comics appearance in 1980 in “Moon Knight” #1.

Khonshu is voiced by F. Murray Abraham. He has starred in many films and shows including Amadeus, Scarface, and has recently been seen on the Apple TV+ hit “Mythic Quest.”

About “MOON KNIGHT”

The story follows Steven Grant, a mild-mannered man who lives a mundane life, plagued by blackouts and mysterious memories of a life somehow separate from his own. After one fateful encounter, Steven discovers that he has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and shares a body with Marc Spector—a former mercenary—and the ruthless avatar of Khonshu, the Egyptian god of the moon and vengeance. With their enemies converging upon them, Steven must learn how to adapt to this revelation and work with Marc. With other godly motives at play, the two must navigate their complex identities amid a deadly battle played out among the powerful gods of Egypt.

“MOON KNIGHT” is streaming exclusively on Disney+ March 30, with new episodes every Wednesday.

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Jana

Jana Seitzer is a writer, traveler, podcaster, and geek. Although well-versed in many fictional universes, Star Wars & Marvel have always been her favorites.