Warning: This article contains spoilers for Moon Knight.
Marvel's Moon Knight has landed on Disney+, and Oscar Isaac's Steven Grant hears a voice in his head that is clearly linked to the titular vigilante. Moon Knight introduces the eponymous Marvel character into the MCU, and its first episode sees Oscar Isaac's character, Steven Grant, hearing a voice in his head. At first, he's unsure exactly where it's coming from, but he believes it to be a dream and linked to his insomnia.
However, promotional material for Moon Knight revealed more: Grant is just one of the many alters of Marc Spector, a mercenary with Dissociative Identity Disorder. As a result, many of the strange happenings that Grant struggles to understand in Moon Knight's first episode have already been explained. However, one of the more mind-bending aspects of the story is the voice he hears throughout the episode, which seems to be independent of Spector, Grant, or any of his other alters.
The show has yet to fully establish Moon Knight's powers, but the end of its first episode sees Isaac transform into the titular vigilante. The voice in his head is clearly linked to Moon Knight's powers, but the show has yet to fully explain who can be heard speaking to Grant/Spector. However, Moon Knight has already offered glimpses of the character, making it easier to understand exactly who is speaking to him.
The voice in Moon Knight's head appears to be none other than Khonshu, Marvel's version of the Egyptian god of the Moon. This is hinted at by the context of the early glimpses of the character: when Grant finds a golden scarab in his pocket, a large figure is seen standing behind him. In the same scene, Steven repeatedly hears the voice, who is impatient with him, and requests that he bring Marc back.
As Oscar Isaac's Moon Knight character spends much of the show's first episode questioning his own sanity, he initially believes the voice to be imagined. However, throughout the episode, it's shown that the voice is linked to both Marc Spector and the Egyptian gods, with Isaac's character transforming into Moon Knight in its final scene. This confirms that the voice is that of Khonshu, the Egyptian god of vengeance and the Moon.
In Egyptian mythology, Khonsu is the god of the Moon. The name Khonsu (also sometimes written as Chonsu, Khensu, Chons, Khons, or Khonshu) means "traveler," which is believed to refer to the passage of the Moon across the sky. Khonsu is traditionally depicted as a mummy with a crook and flail, and sometimes with the head of a falcon, and was said to be the child of the gods Amun and Mut.
In the comics, Moon Knight's Egyptian gods play a major role in the character's story. While Marc Spector was working as a mercenary in the Egyptian desert, his life was saved by Khonshu on the condition that he become the god's champion, also known as Moon Knight. Khonshu imbued Spector with the power of immortality and an enhanced brain function that has allowed him to resist telepathic attacks. Within Moon Knight's narrative, Khonshu has become an outcast from the other Egyptian gods due to his decision to intervene in the mortal world as a means of fighting injustice.
Although Khonshu's appearance in Moon Knight's first episode was limited, his link with Oscar Isaac's MCU character is evident from their brief interactions. While it's yet to have been fully explored, it's clear that Steven is unaware of Spector's link with Khonshu and his powers as Moon Knight. However, so far, it seems as though everything is very much in line with the character's established backstory in the comics, and Moon Knight has opted to use Steven Grant as the entry point to the character in order to build an element of mystery and properly explore the Spector's DID.
Although Khonshu is the one who imbued Spector with the power of the Moon Knight, the two are distinctly separate characters. In fact, Khonshu is played by two separate actors himself. One provides the physical performance, and another provides the voice that Moon Knight repeatedly hears in his head. As such, Khonshu has two credits among Moon Knight's cast: Karim El Hakim, who acts as the physical performer, and F. Murray Abraham, who provides Khonshu's voice.
F. Murray Abraham is an Oscar-winning actor who has also turned his hand to voice acting in recent years, with roles in films such as Isle of Dogs and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. Karim El Hakim appeared in the TV series Paranormal and has worked behind the scenes on several other movies and documentaries. Despite his voice being appropriate for Khonshu, Abraham is 82 years old, making a physical role in the action-based show less plausible (which is where Karim El Hakim's physically imposing frame comes in).
Interestingly, the manner of Khonshu's introduction is reminiscent of that of Tom Hardy's Venom, with Steven Grant being introduced to the character through a disembodied voice. The voice of Khonshu actually sounds similar to Venom, and the reasons why are relatively simple. As both characters primarily exist as disembodied voices that represent a hidden, powerful part of the protagonist, there's a narrative similarity anyway, which goes some way to informing the viewer's idea of the voice they are hearing.
One of the main reasons the voices sound similar is simply to distinguish them from the actors of the respective characters they're speaking to. As both Khonshu and Venom are primarily heard speaking while remaining unseen, it's important that their voices sound relatively inhuman. Tom Hardy may have voiced Venom himself, but Khonshu's voice actor has a distinct voice of his own, making the reality of the similarity somewhat coincidental.
Khonshu plays such a pivotal role within Moon Knight's story that his disembodied voice will almost certainly be heard repeatedly throughout the show. However, despite the relative confusion of the first episode, Khonshu is a separate character to Spector and not one of his alters. This will most likely mean that Khonshu is given a more physical role to play during Moon Knight's run, and he won't remain a disembodied voice heard in the character's head.
New episodes of Moon Knight release every Wednesday on Disney+.
