The script for Marvel Studios' Moon Knight originally featured one line that would refer to a persona of Kang the Conqueror, the popular Marvel villain who will appear in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The Marvel Cinematic Universe's sixth Disney+ series, Moon Knight, released its six episodes week by week from late March to early May, receiving a very positive reaction from fans. It was filled with tons of surprises, including a mid-credits scene that hints at more to come with Oscar Isaac's titular hero.
As explained in the Loki season 1 finale, Kang the Conqueror is an evil variant of He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), who created the Time Variance Authority to put a stop to a war that nearly destroyed the multiverse. In the Marvel Comics, Kang has had a few different monikers and personas, one of which was named Rama-Tut — a villain to both the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. Rama-Tut most noticeably faced down the Avengers in Avengers (Vol. 7) #4 in 2017 as part of the Kang War story arc.
In an interview with The Direct, Jeremy Slater, writer and executive producer of Moon Knight, reveals that at one point, Rama-Tut was once referenced in one of the show's episodes. Slater explains that there was a line in which someone — probably Steven Grant (Isaac) — was going on about Egyptian history, and he mentioned the Kang persona. The writer is actually unsure if the line made it into the final cut; obviously it didn't. Read his full quote below:
“There was a line in the script, and I don’t know if it survived. I can’t remember. But there was a line where, I think Steven, is sort of rattling off some Egyptian history that he has locked away in his brain, and he did mention Rama-Tut. I don’t remember if that scene, if that line is still in the show or not. But it was that small, it was him mentioning a list of famous pharaohs or something like that. But that was Nick Pepin, one of our executives at Marvel, that was his idea to sort of slip that in there as a fun Easter egg."
Moon Knight episode 3, titled "The Friendly Type," actually did feature one Easter egg that referred to Kang the Conqueror. During the early scene in which Marc Spector (also Isaac) is fighting against several Ammit-worshipping thugs, one of them is wearing a denim jacket with a particular symbol on the back. The symbol is of a pharaoh's head with a specifically-shaped headpiece, and splotches of teal and purple — the signature colors of Kang. The headpiece is designed directly from the art of Rama-Tut in the Avengers 2017 comic (pictured above).
Given that Kang the Conqueror seems to be a big part of where the MCU's general direction is heading, it would seem only fair that fans want to see him pop up in more MCU titles. The fact that the line that Slater referred to didn't make it into the final cut of Moon Knight only further isolates it from the larger scale of the universe, making it generally irrelevant in that aspect. However, the show still presents a deep, psychological story about a fascinating character, interesting Egyptian mythology and intense action, and that is more than enough to make it worth watching.
Source: The Direct
