Moon Knight Finale Credits Scene Explained: Khonshu's Back-Up Plan
Warning: major spoilers ahead for the "Moon Knight" season 1 finale.
Oh, that sneaky old bird! Just when you think Marc Spector and Steven Grant are finally free from the bossy bird-skulled Egyptian god using their body as his avatar, a post-credits scene pops up at the end of "Moon Knight" series finale to reveal Khonshu's back-up plan: a third personality called Jake Lockley.
Jake has actually made his presence felt in "Moon Knight" before, though this is the first time we've been formally introduced to him. In episode 3, Marc blacked out in the middle of a rooftop fight and woke up to find two of the men he'd been fighting dead, and another injured. Steven also denied any knowledge of what had happened to them. Then, in episode 4, as the pair were exploring the psychiatric hospital of their mind, a sarcophagus was spotted in one of the rooms — indicating that someone else was locked in there with them.
In episode 6, Jake once again takes over during a climactic battle between Arthur Harrow and the followers of Ammit, and Moon Knight and Layla (who is now empowered as the avatar of the goddess Tawaret). Marc and Steven appear to be losing the battle ... when suddenly another blackout occurs and they find themselves surrounded by wreckage and bodies, with Harrow now too badly injured to fight back. But with Ammit still on the loose, there's no time to dwell: they need to trap the reckless crocodile god in Harrow's body before she can carry on chewing up the souls of Cairo. Then, finally, Marc and Steven can be free from Khonshu. Right?
Jake Lockley is here to do your dirty work
Though Marc and Steven renounce Khonshu and the cool costumes and superpowers that go along with him, the post-credits scene of "Moon Knight" episode 6 confirms that the different personalities in Marc Spector's body each have their own will — and their own individual deals with Khonshu. Steven, for example, wasn't really an avatar of Khonshu until he made the decision to summon the suit (a dapper get-up that's very different from Marc's caped superhero form). And while the two personalities we've come to know well were set free by Khonshu, the old bird still had a trick up his sleeve.
Jake Lockley is a third personality who is hidden from both Marc and Steven, in the same way that Marc was once hidden from Steven. In Marvel Comics, Jake is a "streetwise cabbie" whose talents include brawling and gathering information. He also spends some time as the dominant personality while living in Mexico, which may explain why Jake speaks Spanish in the credits scene.
Marvel Comics
Just as Steven Grant's personality was changed up for the "Moon Knight" TV show (in the comics he's a suave and wealthy playboy), Jake has been repurposed as a personality who is more brutal and merciless than Marc, and who takes over when Marc finds himself losing a fight. In contrast to Marc's combative relationship with Khonshu, Jake seems to have fully embraced the moon god. And he's a very useful avatar for Khonshu because, as evidenced by the innocent hospital employees he murdered to break Harrow out, there's no dirty work that Jake can't stomach.
Lurking in the shadows
At the start of "Moon Knight" episode 6, Marc chooses to leave the Field of Reeds and return to rescue Steven, sharing his own balanced soul with him so that they can both escape the afterlife. But, as seen in the previous episode, Marc and Steven each had individual white hearts representing their souls, which means that Jake has his own one too — it was simply hidden away. As Khonshu gloats, "[Marc] has no idea how troubled he truly is."
The implications of that are interesting. While Marc and Steven took a pretty thorough tour of their collective memories in episode 5, "Asylum," the childhood death of Marc's younger brother, Randall, was never actually shown. It's possible that Jake Lockley's murderous impulses emerged at an earlier point than Steven, and that the first time Marc remembers dissociating (as a child, in response to his mother's abuse) wasn't actually the first time. Perhaps Marc actually did play an active role in Randall's death, and repressed that part of himself so strongly that Jake can only reemerge on rare occasions.
It's also possible that Jake took over as the dominant personality during Marc's career as a mercenary; while Marc was shown to have his limits, putting his own life on the line to try and protect Layla's father, Jake appears to have no moral code at all — which is handy in the hired gun business. He may well have emerged for the first time after the angry teenage Marc left home, and had his own career as an assassin (perhaps operating in Mexico) in the period before Marc met Layla.
One final possibility is that Jake, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is an amalgam of both Jake Lockley and Randall Spector. In the comics, Randall doesn't die in childhood but reemerges as a serial killer called the Hatchet Man, who is killed by Marc (but, in the typical comic book fashion, get retconned back to life).
Marvel Comics
In the "Shadowland" storyline, Randall returned as a dark and creepy reflection of Moon Knight called Shadow Knight, with a decaying version of Moon Knight's costume and a similar power set. Since we haven't yet seen what Jake looks like when he summons the suit, and Layla didn't mention seeing a different suit when Jake took over in the final battle, it's possible that Jake's alter ego is Shadow Knight — just as Marc's is Moon Knight and Steven's is Mr. Knight.
Superheroes fighting their evenly-matched supervillain counterpart is kind of a staple of the MCU (Hulk vs. Abomination, Iron Man vs. Iron Monger, Ant-Man vs. Yellowjacket etc.), so while this is pure speculation for now, it wouldn't be surprising to see Shadow Knight incorporated into the future of "Moon Knight" as Marc Spector's battle with himself continues.
All episodes of "Moon Knight" are now available to watch on Disney+.