Moon Knight episode 2 is streaming on Disney Plus right now, picking up the story from where we left off after last week’s premiere. But more excitingly, this is the first episode that ties Moon Knight (Oscar Isaac) to the rest of the MCU via an Easter egg that will make immediate sense to fans who have seen all the MCU Phase 4 adventures so far.
This is a significant development in Moon Knight for two reasons. First of all, the show’s creators said that Moon Knight will not feature that many MCU references. This origin story will stand on its own without requiring Easter eggs to make you care about this new Marvel superhero. That’s quite a daring take for a character that hasn’t appeared in the MCU before.
Secondly, the Moon Knight Easter egg in episode 2 also helps us better understand the show’s timeline. Before we can look at that, I’ll warn you that big spoilers follow below if you haven’t yet watched episodes 1 and 2.
Without getting too deep into what happens in the second episode, it’s safe to say the new installment is about discovery and conflict. And the latter is what gets us to this exciting Moon Knight Easter egg.
The first Moon Knight MCU Easter egg
In episode 2, Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) gets to meet his alternate personality Marc Spector in earnest. He also finds out that Marc is married to a mysterious woman, the lady who kept calling that Motorola flip phone in episode 1.
That’s Layla El-Faouly (May Calamawy), who is angry at Marc and trying to make sense of things as she discovers this weird Steven character.
We also see the various conflicts play out. It’s not just Steven vs. Marc. Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) is also trying to manipulate Steven. This results in a massive fight between Khonshu’s (F. Murray Abraham) heroes and an evil beast that Harrow summons by channeling the powers of the goddess Ammit.
The audience is also in discovery mode as we get to know Steven and Marc better. And we see their costumed doppelgangers. This is how we get to meet Mr. Knight, which appears to be yet another character played by Oscar Isaac.
Episode 2 actually makes it clear that Moon Knight isn’t a separate personality. Instead, it’s Spector using the powers that Khonshu gave him. In other words, Moon Knight is just a suit for Marc. Therefore, Mr. Knight is a suit for Steven. That’s right, Steven tries to act like a superhero, but he’s clearly not cut out for this superhero life.
He must acknowledge his unpreparedness during his fight with Ammit’s creature and give control to Marc, who becomes the actual Moon Knight. That’s where the MCU Easter egg appears.
This fight sequence happens in plain view on the street, with a double-decker bus stopped at a station. An ad on the bus reads: “GRC: Reuniting you with your better half.”
What is the GRC?
I explained before that Moon Knight doesn’t feel like an MCU show in episode 1. There’s no mention of Avengers or the blip. Naturally, the audience knows all of this happens in the MCU. Marvel isn’t looking to tie Moon Knight to the Avengers just yet, but this is an MCU show. Therefore, we will have some Easter eggs sooner or later.
Episode 2 continues to feel like a non-Marvel story. But then the GRC Easter egg drops, and that’s enough for anyone in the audience to make the connection. Moon Knight is now tied to the rest of the Avengers, whether he likes it or not.
We will have to remember one thing, however. Oscar Isaac’s character suffers from dissociative identity disorder. Everything we see seems like it’s real. But it might not be. Isaac teased that we might need to watch the show multiple times to fully grasp what’s real and what isn’t.
But, real or not, the GRC acronym is visible on the bus. That stands for the Global Repatriation Council, the legal entity that’s supposed to deal with the aftermath of Endgame.
People who were snapped away at the end of Infinity War came back to life after five years. That’s quite a challenging problem for the new world order, and the GRC is supposed to manage that.
The Moon Knight timeline
We saw the GRC in action prominently in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. And the GRC wasn’t exactly successful at handling the humanitarian crisis. GRC references are also in Eternals.
The Moon Knight Easter egg implies that the action in the TV show happens sometime after 2023. The GRC was established after the blip that brought everyone back to life. There’s no other reason for that bus to have a GRC banner. Though I will say that the message on the bus is somewhat strange.
“Reuniting you with your better half” doesn’t perfectly encapsulate the scope of the GRC’s actions. It wasn’t just couples who were separated when half of humanity disappeared in Infinity War. Then again, having your wife or husband return to life after five years can be problematic.
After episode 1, we told you that Moon Knight takes place in 2018 at the earliest. That’s because Steven uses a Galaxy S9 phone that came out in March of that year. But the new Easter egg tells us that Moon Knight seemingly takes place in the present-day of the MCU. That’s 2023 or later.
But, again, there’s the elephant in the room we can’t ignore. We have no idea whether what we’ve seen so far happened in reality or in Steven/Marc’s imagination.
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