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As Moon Knight heads into his final two episodes, it’s fair to say there is a lot that needs to be cleared up. A twist in episode 4 has seemingly turned the Marvel show’s plot on its head as we try to work out what is actually going on. We’ve taken a deep dive into what happened at the end – and the most pressing questions we need answering in episode 5. Spoilers for the Moon Knight episode 4 ending ahead!
Episode 4, 'The Tomb', begins like every episode of Moon Knight we’ve seen so far as Marc Spector and Steven Grant fight for ownership of their body. Steven wins and heads with Layla across the Siwa desert to find Ammet’s tomb. However, the pair instead find the lost tomb of Alexander the Great – and that's when things start to get weird.
Surprisingly, some of the least shocking moments include the introduction of a mummy-like creature dissecting a body. Then there's the reveal that Marc had something to do with Layla’s father’s death, which barely gets touched on. In fact, the huge twist that came next had us wondering if any of it was real at all...
Is Marc dead in Moon Knight?
After being cornered in the tomb by Arthur Harrow and his men, Marc is told he has a simple choice to make. He decides to fight back before he’s shot dead by Arthur. The last words he hears from Arthur are: "I can’t save anyone who won’t save themselves". It seems pretty unambiguous that Marc wouldn’t have survived those gunshots, even with Marvel’s penchant for resurrecting its characters.
The head writer and executive producer Jeremy Slater agrees, as he seemingly confirmed Marc, and by extension Steven, are now dead. In a new interview with Marvel.com, he said they had no hesitation in the writer’s room about killing them off. Slater explained: "I knew a show like this needs big swings and it needs to take the audience by surprise."
There is one potential saving grace – while the pair seem to be dead in this reality, given Marc is alive in the mental institute, it’s possible he’s alive in that version of reality. There are also two more episodes to go and, unless Marvel is planning to take a leaf out of Game of Thrones’ approach, we should see a lot more of Marc – and his personalities – despite his seemingly morbid fate.
Has Marc been in a mental institute this whole time?
After he’s shot, the next time we see Marc is in a mental institution strapped down to a wheelchair. He’s here with Layla, who also seems to be a patient in the ward, while Marc's psychiatrist is none other than Arthur. During their therapy session, Arthur tells Marc he is living in a mental world, rather than the real one.
Marvel has confirmed the location of this is Putnam Psychiatric Hospital, which has some basis in the comic books. In the source material, Marc is sent here by his father after witnessing a murder. As a result of the traumatic incident, he develops dissociative identity disorder. Although, Marc doesn’t stay here very long in the comics as he runs away after hearing Khonshu’s voice.
Given this is a seemingly real place in the world of Marvel, it seems possible that Marc has been here the whole time and everything we’ve witnessed on the show so far is simply a figment of his imagination. This would help explain why we know so little about Steven's life before Marc, as well as the sometimes strange geography of his world.
However, if this hospital is reality, then it has a lot of very strange elements. Not only is Steven himself a real separate person here, but gravity seems to work differently as we see moving halls and lights as Marc runs around. Then there’s also the introduction of the hippo lady – but more on that later.
Perhaps, considering everything, Marc is dead, and he's currently in some sort of purgatory, meeting Egyptian gods and even an alternate version of himself, Steven. Can he fight his way back to life somehow?
What happened to Layla?
Layla managed to escape Arthur’s men in Alexander the Great’s tomb by hiding behind a rock. However, we later see her as another of the patients in the mental institution with Marc. She tells him she’s changed the movie they were watching, apologizes for startling him, and then claims his bingo win as her own before disappearing off.
It’s clear this version of Layla still has a relationship with Marc, but it’s unclear what this is. And if Marc is not in fact real, is Layla just another of the patients at the institute who he’s rewritten as his wife in his fantasy? Or is the real version of Layla the one who’s still hiding in the tomb? Does your brain hurt too?
Who is in the sarcophagus? Is it Jake Lockley?
Some fans are convinced that Marc’s third personality could be about to be introduced in the Marvel show. There have been hints already that there is someone other than Marc and Steven featured in the show. This was teased in episode 3 after both of them blacked out as Arthur’s men were killed. When they came to, neither had any recollection of committing the murders, implying there may be another personality responsible.
In the latest episode, after Marc helped free Steven from the sarcophagus, there was another one rattling with someone inside. Both of them ignored its presence, but many have been convinced there could be someone else behind it. One of the most popular theories is Jake Lockley, who in the comics is a taxi driver and another of Marc’s identities. Could he make an appearance in episode 5?
Who is the hippo lady?
The final moments of the episode introduced a hippo lady whose appearance left Marc and Steven screaming. The episode doesn’t give us much as all she says is "Hi" to the pair before the credits roll. But the writers have confirmed she is the Egyptian deity Taweret.
In the religion of Ancient Egypt, Taweret is the goddess of childbirth and fertility. She’s usually depicted as a bipedal hippopotamus with the limbs of a lion, breasts of a human, and the tail of a crocodile. We have no idea what her role is yet in the rest of the series but it seems the creators have free reign as she wasn’t a character in the comic books.
Taweret’s voice actress Antonia Salib has also hinted that she may play a bigger role in the rest of the show after sharing some insight into the creative process. Speaking to Variety on the Moon Knight red carpet, she said: "Personally, it felt like such a collaborative process, which was brilliant for such a big organization.
“From the moment when I read the scenes when I was auditioning to when I started working with the director Mohamed Diab and the costume team to VFX, it felt like I was given license to create my character and everyone was on board together." We’ll have to wait and see just what this means when Moon Knight returns. In the meantime, check out our guide to the new character.
Moon Knight episodes are released on Disney Plus on Wednesdays – check out our Moon Knight release schedule to make sure you don’t miss the episode. If you’re not already, subscribe to Disney Plus here.
