Moon Knight episode 3 is out on Disney Plus, and it’s easily the wildest ride in the series so far. So much happens in the episode that it makes you stop and wonder how it can all be logically connected to the rest of the MCU. But some of the things we see in Moon Knight episode 3 are gigantic plot holes. That is, we can’t just accept them as they are without proper explanations.
Before we can explain, you should know that big Moon Knight episode 3 spoilers follow below. You should absolutely watch the newest episode before reading about these plot holes.
Moon Knight issues we can accept
The Moon Knight episode 3 opens with an unexpected character. Layla (May Calamawy) talks to someone about how she finally found Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac). We quickly find out that she’s in the office of a forger, who is getting her a passport so she can follow Marc to Egypt.
The passport dates
This is where the first Moon Knight plot hole is found. The previous episodes taught us to pay attention to little details like passports. Thanks to one such detail, we learned last week that Marc survived the blip from Infinity War.
Since Layla is getting a forged passport, the dates aren’t important. But Marvel’s special effects team simply isn’t consistent in these scenes.
This is a fake passport, so we don’t care about the actual date of issuance because it’s not real. But Marvel uses a 29/05/2019 date on the screen where Layla’s contact (her mother?) creates the fake ID. The final document has a 29/05/2021 issuance date. The expiry dates have also moved accordingly. The simple explanation for this is that Layla’s helper chose different dates off-screen.
Arthur Harrow’s omnipresence
Moon Knight episode 3 also advances the character arc of Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke). We see him finding the long-forgotten tomb of Goddess Ammit, and he appears in a strange trial when the Egyptian gods summon him.
We learn of Harrow’s history with Khonshu (F. Murray Abraham), an experience that drove him to embrace the promises of Ammit.
What doesn’t make sense are Arthur’s apparitions, though we’ll treat them as minor Moon Knight plot holes.
After years of searching for Ammit’s tomb, he’s finally found it. Yet he can spare time to keep following Marc Spector around. His showing up in the scenes involving Senfu’s sarcophagus is especially annoying.
Arthur needs to be there to seemingly destroy the only way for Marc and Layla to find the tomb. After all, he has been following Marc. But it still feels forced. Any of his helpers could have attempted to do that. You’d think Arthur would be more interested in being there for the dig than traveling back and forth to wherever Marc Spector is.
But, again, this is a minor plot hole for Moon Knight episode 3. But it brings us to the really big problems.
Moon Knight plot holes we can’t deal with
Nearly halfway through the episode, we get to meet other Egyptian gods. Like Khonshu, they inhabit avatars on Earth, looking to observe everything.
But they’re not present on the planet. They want to be here, but humanity cast them out. At the same time, they don’t want to interfere with anything. This is all mind-bending, considering what we have seen so far.
The too-powerful gods
The simplest explanation is that they’re some powerful aliens who acted as gods on Earth a few millennia ago. Yet they can’t let go of the planet for some reason. This makes us instantly question the relationship between the Egyptian gods, the Eternals, and the Celestials. Who is more powerful? Why is everyone interested in this planet?
You can see how revealing these surprising details in Moon Knight episode 3 can be considered a big plot hole. Especially given the obvious contradiction. These Egyptian gods don’t want to intervene on Earth, but they’re ready to do it if they think they have to.
Also, why are these gods still hiding from the rest of the world? After all, we live in a world that knows the Asgardians exist. And that Thor and Odin were not gods but mighty aliens. Not to mention the Thanos blip that erased half of mankind for five years. This kind of event might lead to massive changes in daily life. Even for Egyptian gods living in a faraway place.
The ‘trial’ of Arthur
I can’t help but wonder why the gods can create instant portals between far-away places on Earth on a whim. Why wield all that power on a planet you only want to observe?
Despite all that power, the gods and their avatars fail to see Arthur as a threat. A simple Google search would have probably surfaced his cult. You don’t get this popular after the blip in the MCU without people talking about your powers and cult online.
These gods could have quickly discovered who Arthur is using the planet’s technology. Not to mention that they probably have more advanced ways of determining whether he was telling the truth. Just take over his mind, and see what’s inside.
Sure, the scene is terrific for surfacing Marc’s mental illness issues. But it’s still a significant Moon Knight plot hole that deserves attention.
Also, why would you punish another god by entrapping him into a statue made of clay on Earth when you have these amazing powers?
But wait, it gets worse.
Khonshu’s massive space-altering powers
Khonshu forces a total eclipse so that the council of the gods meets up for Arthur’s trial. This behavior shows how incredibly powerful this race of gods is if Khonshu can move the Moon at will like that.
But everyone else on Earth just accepts it?
Where are the astrophysicists of the world sounding off the alarm so that mightier forces like the Avengers can intervene? Or has the planet just gone numb after the recent waves of world-ending threats that they don’t care if the Moon has just moved on its own to block sunlight?
And it gets even worse after that when Khonshu and Steven (Oscar Isaac) move the entire sky so that the stars can get back to the position that Senfo recorded.
Again… they’re changing the positions of massive space objects. From Earth. And everyone on Earth sees it all happening in the sky. While the special effects are excellent, it’s still a Moon Knight plot hole.
Khonshu isn’t just moving Christmas tree lights around a tree. He’s moving entire solar systems. That’s what we’re led to believe. This can have immediate real-world implications on other planets that are teeming with life.
This sort of behavior should also trigger some sort of action from the Avengers on Earth. Other powerful beings from the cosmos might also be interested in what caused the unexpected movement of all these massive stars.
Having Khonshu imprisoned by the Egyptian gods simply isn’t enough.
One way to explain the Moon Knight plot holes
With all that in mind, Moon Knight episode 3 is the craziest in the series. That’s especially true given all these logic-defying moments. Marvel might very well deliver reasonable explanations for what we’ve just labeled as plot holes in the next Moon Knight installments.
The simplest way to explain it all away is that Marc or Steven is imagining everything. We’ve been aware of this possibility since before the show’s premiere on Disney Plus. Oscar Isaac teased that we might have to watch the show a few times to determine what’s real.
Maybe Marc/Steven imagined large parts of what we just saw. That includes Layla’s passport dates, the interaction with the gods, and the space events that Khonshu forced. Maybe nobody really moved the stars in the sky.
Otherwise, Moon Knight episode 3 will remain a big head-scratcher. And these plot holes will not go away on their own.
More Marvel coverage: For more MCU news, visit our Marvel guide.