I told you a few days ago that the first Moon Knight MCU Easter egg came in episode 2, which premiered on Disney Plus last Wednesday. It’s a minor detail that connects Moon Knight (Oscar Isaac) to the greater MCU and gives us a big clue about the TV show’s place in the larger timeline. But it turns out that Marvel actually dropped the first big MCU clue in Moon Knight episode 1.
It’s one of those blink-and-you-miss-it moments that provides a very exciting detail that makes it clear Moon Knight is part of the MCU. Before explaining, you should know that Moon Knight spoilers follow below. You should watch the show’s first episode before reading about the Easter eggs below.
Episode 2’s big reveal
Marvel said during the press tour that Moon Knight would not feature any big connections to the MCU. It won’t necessarily feel like part of the greater MCU timeline. That’s a great way to lower expectations for seeing major Avenger cameos in the TV show.
But Moon Knight will ultimately have to feature a few Easter eggs that would help us figure out its place in the MCU timeline.
That first exciting MCU connection dropped in episode 2, I thought. The GRC banner on the bus told us that Moon Knight happens after Endgame. That’s assuming what we see on the screen is happening in the MCU timeline and not in Steven/Marc’s (Oscar Isaac) head.
We also learned from the episode that Marc survived the snap in Infinity War, which means he’s been living on the planet in the five years between Infinity War and Endgame.
But Marvel’s comments about Moon Knight feeling disconnected from the MCU timeline might have achieved another goal. It might have numbed us to signs that are quite obvious in hindsight. Take a look at the screenshot below and the book titles in it.
The big Moon Knight MCU timeline clue in episode 1
We have What’s Old Is New Again: Asgard and a partial title that ends with …History of Wakanda. These are books that Steven Grant was using while trying to stay awake at night early in Moon Knight episode 1.
This is a brilliant Easter egg that lets you tie Moon Knight to the MCU timeline from the pilot. Again, let’s remember that Steven has a 2018 phone. Episode 1 had us thinking that the action takes place in 2018, at the earliest. That means Wakanda’s big secret would have been known to Steven by then.
But it’s also the kind of detail you might easily miss while watching the episode for the first time. Steven Grant is studying Egyptology during those scenes. But he has all these books about other types of gods from different cultures in that messy apartment.
The YouTubers at New Rockstars mentioned the Easter egg in this week’s roundup, noting that they did not include it in the previous episode’s Easter eggs video.
The Wakanda reference is what’s important here. In real life, we already have Asgard in Norse mythology. It’s a realm of the gods, so a book about Asgardians would not necessarily link Moon Knight to the MCU. But add Wakanda to the mix, and there’s no question about it. We are looking at an MCU show right here, and that’s because Wakanda doesn’t exist in real life. It’s a made-up African nation from the MCU universe.
Just like that, Moon Knight episode 1 told us that the show is in the MCU, and we missed it. Thankfully, the more obvious Easter egg in episode 2 helped us place the show on Marvel’s timeline.
Moon Knight episode 3 premieres on Wednesday. Hopefully, we’ll learn more details about Marc’s days (or nights?) as Moon Knight from it.
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