Remember Layla? Moon Knight wrapped things up pretty nicely for Marc and Steven (Oscar Isaac) last week, but there’s still plenty left to say about their tomb-raiding partner.
We saw her (May Calamawy) hiding behind a pillar in the tomb of Alexander The Great, watching evil cult leader Harrow (Ethan Hawke) kill Marc and steal the magical ushabti of Ammit so he can unleash an evil doomsday crocodile on the world.
With Marc properly dead (again), that’s exactly what Harrow does – and Layla swears revenge and follows him to the temple of the Gods. From somewhere in the ether, Taweret the hippo (Antonia Salib) starts communicating with Layla via dead bodies, convincing her to help resurrect Marc’s bird-god protector Khonshu instead of killing Harrow outright.
Just as Harrow unleashes Ammit (now a CG croc, voiced by Saba Mubarak), Layla does the same to Khonshu – setting up an epic crocodile vs bird bout that runs the rest of the episode.
This Wednesday, experience the epic season finale of Marvel Studios’ #MoonKnight, only on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/qTV7UGm7G4
— Moon Knight (@moonknight) May 2, 2022
Back in the paradise of A’Aru, Marc isn’t ready to settle down just yet. Feeling bad about abandoning his made-up other self in a hellish eternal wasteland, he turns his back on Egyptian heaven and travels back to find Steven. “You are the only real superpower I ever had,” he tells himself, realising that his weird English identity was always a part of him.
With the choice made, the gates of Osiris open back up and Marc/Steven re-enter (their?) reality as full time superheroes, Moon Knight and Mr Knight – giving comic fans the action they’ve been waiting for since episode one. Chopping through a sea of goons with his crescent blades, Moon Knight flies in like a jet plane as Ammit and Khonshu both grow to the size of pyramids and start Godzilla-ing through Cairo.
Also, Layla is now a superhero too. Agreeing to become Taweret’s avatar so she can join the fight, Layla transforms into a golden bird goddess with her own powers of fight and flight. Saving a truck full of kids from Harrow’s staff blast, a one wide-eyed local gives the Middle East the line it’s long been looking for: “Are you an Egyptian superhero?!” “I am,” says Layla, spreading her gold wings in the hero shot of the whole series.
Then a sudden and mysterious blackout sees Marc/Steven get the upper hand on Harrow with the help of yet another new personality, and they manage to bind Ammit’s soul to his body just in time to win the fight.
Now released from Khonshu’s service, Marc/Steven briefly end up back in Dr Harrow’s office in Putnam Psychiatric Hospital. Noticing Harrow bleeding from his feet (a callback to the opening scene of the very first episode), Marc/Steven slip back into their own dream, seemingly choosing madness as the series closes out in ambiguity. Is any of this real at all? Is the whole MCU in someone’s head? Is Phase Six going to end one day with Kevin Feige sat rocking in a wheelchair, bashing two action figures together in a hospital somewhere in Hollywood?
Extra reflections
- The mid-credits sting sees Harrow as a patient in Marc’s reality, now in Sienkiewicz psychiatric hospital in what looks like London. Wheeled out into Khonshu’s limo to be executed, we finally meet Marc/Steven’s mysterious third alter ego, Jake Lockley.
- In the comics, Lockley is a cabbie with underworld connections – cast here as Oscar Isaac’s next character, speaking Spanish.
- Layla’s new powers and suit design as Taweret’s avatar are new for Marvel, not taking up the mantle of an existing comic character but becoming a new Egyptian superhero for the MCU (not X-Men’s Layla Miller, then, as the fanbase had its money on…)
The ‘Moon Knight’ finale is streaming now on Disney+