Marvel Cinematic Universe fans were told before Moon Knight’s premiere that the Disney+ series was going to tell a self-contained story. Marvel followed through on that promise, keeping Moon Knight’s MCU connections to a minimum. In fact, outside of a few verbal references to other MCU events and places, Moon Knight featured almost no connections to any of Marvel’s other titles.
Given the story that Moon Knight told, it would be easy to assume that was always Marvel’s plan for the series. However, a new interview with Moon Knight’s head writer reveals that’s not actually the case.
Gorr’s Impact — While speaking with The Direct, Moon Knight writer Jeremy Slater revealed that he and Marvel considered including a reference to Thor: Love and Thunder. According to Slater, Moon Knight’s introduction of Egyptian gods like Khonshu (F. Murray Abraham) and Taweret (Antonia Salib) almost resulted in the Disney+ series referencing the upcoming debut of Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) in Love and Thunder.
Additionally, Slater revealed that for a long time Marvel didn’t know whether Moon Knight would premiere before or after Thor: Love and Thunder. That resulted in versions of Moon Knight where the avatars of the Egyptian gods referenced a “thing with Gorr the God Butcher” that recently happened, while other drafts saw them say something like, “We’re hearing rumors [that] Gods are dying.”
Ultimately, Slater said Marvel decided the Love and Thunder references didn’t serve enough of a purpose to be included.
A Missed Opportunity — When Moon Knight was still airing new episodes, one of the biggest theories fans had was that it was going to tie into Thor: Love and Thunder, and it’s not hard to see why. Moon Knight’s introduction of the MCU’s Egyptian gods seemed like the perfect lead-in to Love and Thunder, which is set to feature Gorr the God Butcher, an alien hellbent on killing every god in the multiverse.
Gorr’s upcoming rampage is expected to result in the deaths of multiple gods, including a Greek deity set to debut in the Thor sequel. Taking that into account, it seemed inevitable that Moon Knight and Love and Thunder would end up connected somehow. While no one ever seemed sure what form that connection would take, fans were confident that Moon Knight’s finale was going to acknowledge Marvel’s latest Thor sequel.
When that didn’t happen, some fans were disappointed. Even now, it’s hard not to feel like Moon Knight missed a major opportunity by failing to set up Gorr’s upcoming debut. The fact that the series actually came close to doing so only makes those feelings of disappointment even more palpable.
The Inverse Analysis — Moon Knight missed its chance to connect to Thor: Love and Thunder, but it’s possible the latter will do what its Disney+ predecessor didn’t. Khonshu or one of the other Egyptian gods introduced in Moon Knight could very well appear in Love and Thunder as part of Gorr’s deicidal rampage.
If Slater’s recent comments confirm anything, it’s that Marvel is well aware of the connection it could create between Moon Knight and Thor: Love and Thunder. We’ll have to wait and see whether the studio actually decides to take advantage of that opportunity.
Moon Knight is streaming now on Disney+.
