If you have not watched episode 4 of Moon Knight, then this article will include spoilers.
For a long time now Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has been holding the promise of bringing horror to the MCU for the first time, but thanks to the movie’s numerous Covid delays it has now been beaten to the punch for bringing the stuff of nightmares to Marvel’s universe by Moon Knight. The latest episode of the highly-praised Disney+ series saw Marvel’s newest addition coming up against some pretty scary adversaries, bringing an early dose of nightmares to Marvel fans ahead of Doctor Strange’s arrival.
While we are all prepared for something a little darker when Sam Raimi takes the helm of the new Doctor Strange adventure, Moon Knight had been pretty standard fare up until now, with the occasional creature appearance and some spectacular and brutal action sequences. Episode 4 saw Marc Spector/Steven Grant heading inside an Egyptian tomb with Layla where they encountered a pretty vicious undead guardian of the goddess Ammit.
As the creature ripped body parts from an unfortunate goon, its discovery of Layla and Steven then led to one of the biggest jump scares to have featured in the MCU to date. As Layla attempts to escape the creature, the thing leaps out of the darkness to snatch her away, not once but twice, in a scene that proves Marvel is more than happy to explore something a little more horrific in the future.
The scene acts as a homage to almost every classic horror trope imaginable, from screams to a jump scare, a hideous monster and plenty of running and hiding while the thing lurks somewhere in the dark. With Sam Raimi being a master of this kind of thing, the scene has only served to whet the appetite for what is to come in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in a couple of weeks’ time.
How Dark Can The MCU Go While Retaining Its PG-13 Rating?
When it comes to Marvel Studios, there has been a long-standing question of whether we will see R-rated content in the MCU. While this has been promised for the introduction of Deadpool, and has now been technically added thanks to the arrival of the Defenders Saga on Disney+, the main body of work from Marvel is still trying to retain the broad family-friendly PG-13 rating that has been expected from fans.
With promises of horror elements coming in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Evil Dead director Sam Raimi at the helm, there are some who wondered if the movie would end up attracting a higher rating from the censors. However, despite bloody images, zombies and jump scares, the film has managed to keep it just the right side of the PG-13 rating, but it sounds like boundaries have been pushed as far as possible. We will soon know just how dark things are going to get for Doctor Strange, but by then we could already have seen more terror coming from Moon Knight in its final two episodes.