Moon Knight is being hailed by fans as one of the wildest entries in the MCU yet. For starters, the show’s not holding back on the comic book-y mysticism as it’s heavily featured the moon god Khonshu (as voiced by F. Murray Abraham) in its first two episodes. With so much of its own mythos to set up, then, the series doesn’t have much room to tie into the wider universe. Having said that, thanks to Khonshu, Moon Knight actually does call back to one of the MCU’s most popular movies in a surprising way.
You see, Khonshu isn’t actually the first Egyptian deity to be revealed to exist in the MCU. Black Panther established that Wakanda worships the panther goddess Bast. Well, in ancient Egyptian mythology, both Khonshu (or Khonsu) and Bast (also known as Bastet) are children of the sun god Ra. Twitter user @UpToTASK pointed out this unexpected connection in a viral tweet.
“Wait till the world finds out that these two are brother and sister…” they wrote, sharing a screenshot of Moon Knight‘s moon god and some Black Panther concept art of Bast.
This is actually a pretty mind-blowing tether between the two heroes as it means that Moon Knight and Black Panther’s origins are more closely linked than we thought. According to Wakandan legend, Bast gave the nation’s first king the Heart-Shaped Herb, from which the Black Panther gets his power. It seems Bast was not alone in choosing a champion on Earth as Moon Knight reveals that both Khonshu and Ammit, another Egyptian god, also like to empower Avatars to do their bidding.
Moon Knight remains a very standalone entry in the MCU, but it’s fascinating details like this that remind us every puzzle piece of the ever-growing franchise still fits into the overall picture in some shape or form. Watch out for more connections like this one as the six-episode event series continues Wednesdays on Disney Plus.