Moon Knight: Who is real, Marc or Steven?

When Moon Knight first showed up at our doorsteps, it introduced us to the sweet, clumsy character of Steven “bollocks!” Grant.

Since the show had already strayed from the canon in different ways (including Steven’s personality) it wasn’t hard to believe that perhaps in the MCU, Steven was Moon Knight’s dominant personality.

For a while, the show managed to convince us that this was Steven’s story, and in many ways, that does remain valid. But Ep 5 finally answers the existential question: Who is real, Marc or Steven?

In Moon Knight Ep 5, Steven finds out that he is just a personality that Marc unconsciously created as a kid suffering from intense stress, trauma, and abuse. As such, Marc Spector is a real-life person, while Steven Grant does not exist.

When the MCU goes dark, it leaves no stone unturned—and Moon Knight’s latest episode that dives into Marc’s “origin” story proves that.

We have to remember that back in “real life,” Marc/Steven is indeed suffering from a fatal bullet wound. The scenes at the psychiatric ward are a surreal version of his mind making sense of his transition from the realm of the living to that of the dead.

That’s why Harrow here is actually a good doctor, committed to help Marc get better.

An important question he poses is: Did Marc create Steven to hide from all the awful things he has done so far? Or, did Steven create Marc as someone with the stomach to do awful things? 

In order to understand the truth, Steven and Marc have to trust each other and reveal memories unknown to the other.

It is then revealed that Marc’s younger brother Randall died in a drowning accident when the two were playing in a cave as kids.

Overcome by grief, Marc’s mother flips out and spends the rest of her life blaming him for his brother’s death. She not only verbally abuses him, but gets into physical assaults as well.

It is during this time that Marc develops DID to cope with the abuse, first creating the personality of Steven Grant inspired by a character of the same name in an adventure movie.

After Steven witnesses these previously unseen memories from Marc’s perspective, he is understandably aghast to find out that he’s not “real” in the conventional definition.

But it’s not lost on him that Marc has gone through unbearable pain and needs Steven as an ally rather than an agitator.

This is why when Taweret weighs their hearts as a ticket for a safe passage to the Field of Reeds, it’s Steven’s sacrifice that ensures Marc reaches there unharmed.

Still, back in the real world where evil Harrow exists, chaos is running wild with his schemes of resurrecting Ammit. Marc may have earned his spot in the afterlife, but he really needs to make a deal to return back from the dead and stop Harrow.

If he does succeed, will Steven return as well? Or was this our final moment with Steven? (And where exactly is Jake Lockley?) Tune into Moon Knight’s season finale to find out.

About Moon Knight

Moon Knight is an American superhero television series created for Disney+ based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. The 6-episode series is directed by Mohamed Diab and the team of Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead. Jeremy Slater is the head writer for the sixth MCU Show.

The series follows Steven Grant, a mild-mannered gift-shop employee, who becomes plagued with blackouts and memories of another life. Steven discovers he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector. As Steven/Marc’s enemies converge upon them, they must navigate their complex identities while thrust into a deadly mystery among the powerful gods of Egypt.

Oscar Isaac, May Calamawy, and Ethan Hawke star in the Disney+ series.