Heartbreaking Moon Knight Detail Reveals The Truth Of His Mother Twist

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Moon Knight.

A minute detail in Moon Knight episode 5 discloses the heartbreaking truth behind Marc Spector’s alter, Steven, and his mother. With its complex subject matter and depiction of characters, Moon Knight has easily stood out from its preceding Disney+ MCU shows. For starters, the Marvel miniseries is the first to tackle a mental illness — specifically Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) — as a central part of the main character’s journey. Moon Knight episode 5 takes a closer look at who Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac) is, unveiling the traumatic events of his past.

After the dramatic twist ending of episode 4, the Easter egg-filled Moon Knight episode 5 opened with the revelation that Marc and Steven were sent to the dunes of Duat, the Egyptian underworld. With the guidance of Taweret, the goddess of childbirth and fertility, the two embarked on a trip down memory lane to learn more about each other and balance their hearts on the Scales of Justice. As such, Steven gained insight into how Marc created him as a response to his childhood trauma. Following abuse sustained as a child, Marc ensured that a part of him, though Steven’s identity, enjoyed a life where his mother, Wendy, was affectionate towards him.

This affectionate relationship was evident in Moon Knight episode 1, as Steven regularly updated his mother about his everyday life. However, in Moon Knight episode 5, it was revealed that Wendy had already been dead for months. During his mother’s shiva, Marc became distraught, and as Steven took over in a fugue state, his instinct was still to ring his mother and inform her of his whereabouts. Sadly, looking closely at Steven’s phone, Moon Knight reveals that the phone did not actually show a call screen. Instead, Steven's phone was displaying either its browser window or an open application, implying that Steven was never really talking to anyone all this time - instead hinting that the physical act of talking to his mother might have been a coping mechanism for Steven.

Steven talking on the phone in Moon Knight.

This heartbreaking revelation had been foreshadowed earlier in the show, when Layla, who might be Moon Knight’s replacement, was momentarily confused about Steven claiming to live at his mother’s apartment. In reality, Marc likely told her about the true state of his mother-son relationship instead of the seemingly close-knit one Steven had been maintaining. Interestingly, the first time Steven's character spoke in Moon Knight was him “talking” to his mother, which, thanks to this episode 5 reveal, could now be seen instead as a trauma response.

Throughout episode 5, Moon Knight drastically changed Marc Spector’s origin; as in the original Marvel comics, Marc had an altogether different childhood experience. In Marvel comics canon, Marc discovered that Yitz Perlman, a close friend of his family, was a Nazi disguised as a rabbi with the intent of carrying out antisemitic murders. This led to a fight between them, and soon afterward, Marc started displaying symptoms of Dissociative Identity Disorder. While the Disney+ MCU show changed his family history, Marc’s struggles remained dark yet humanizing. Similar to how Wanda’s grief was explored in WandaVision, Moon Knight’s take on Marc and his trauma has also created a more dynamic and sympathetic character while encouraging important real-life conversations surrounding mental health.

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New episodes of Moon Knight release every Wednesday on Disney+.