Jake Lockley – What distinguishes Moon Knight’s other character from Marc Spector and Steven Grant in comic books?
Who exactly is Jake Lockley?
While we won’t disclose all the facts here (you can read on for more), the clues the series has been planting all along come to fruition in the show’s conclusion.
And it seems that many of the fans’ worst worries about how Lockley would fit into Marc Spector’s life have been realized, which is a shift from Lockley’s comic book characteristics.
Jake Lockley plays a special role in how Moon Knight functions in Marvel comics, and we’ve got all the answers to your concerns about what this may imply for the Moon Knight finale and the character’s future in the MCU.
Who exactly is Jake Lockley?
Moon Knight’s contrasting personas were originally portrayed as disguises worn by Marc Spector in order to accomplish his own aims as a crimefighter (you can read all about how Marc Spector became the avatar of Khonshu and what that means here).
While mercenary Marc Spector’s basic identity remained Moon Knight’s customary hidden identity, he took on the guise of affluent billionaire Steven Grant to mingle with the white-collar criminals at the top of society’s ladder (a significant change from Grant’s relatively timid depiction in the MCU).
On the other hand, Spector assumed the persona of Jake Lockley, a rough-and-tumble taxi driver with a finger on the pulse of the dark underground and a slew of criminal contacts (much like Batman’s alter ego Matches Malone).
Maintaining the continued lives of Moon Knight, Steven Grant, Jake Lockley, and, of course, his fundamental identity causes Marc Spector to become mentally frail, with Khonshu’s magical influence complicated matters even further.
Though Moon Knight’s multiple personalities were initially depicted as disguises and alter egos rather than full-fledged dissociative identities, he eventually succumbed to his dormant Dissociative Identity Disorder, fracturing his mind into separate personalities with their own interior lives, memories, and awareness.
Moon Knight continues to employ the skillsets of his numerous alters as part of his goal, much as he has established other forms of his superhero identity, such as the ‘Mr. Knight’ persona – but their relationships with one another are always shifting, sometimes contentiously.
Spoilers for Moon Knight episode 6 for Jake Lockley in the MCU
Moon Knight episode 6 concludes the conflict between Khonshu and Ammit’s beliefs, with Moon Knight and Arthur Harrow (their respective Avatars) eventually clashing in a superhero-sized battle.
Finally, it seems that Marc Spector is done with Khonshu. And, although Spector first thinks that Khonshu would take Layla as his new Avatar, something much worse occurs: Jake Lockley comes.
Waiting until the end of the episode, Harrow (with the spirit of Ammit imprisoned within him as a result of the villain’s defeat) is brought into a vehicle in which Khonshu is seated. As Harrow warns Khonshu that he cannot tamper with or murder Ammit, Khonshu signals the car’s driver, who turns around to expose Marc Spector’s face but presents himself as “Jake Lockley.”
Khonshu claims that Marc Spector was far more damaged than even Marc understood, enabling Khonshu to take on Lockley as his Avatar’s most brutal element – a role he seems to have completely embraced now that the war against Ammit has concluded.
Lockley then shoots and kills Harrow, and likely Ammit as well, and that’s the end of the Moon Knight streaming series… at least for the first season.
In this one act, it seems that all of Marc Spector’s violent outbursts and secret killings, which were indicated to be the work of a hidden, third identity, are shown to be the work of Jake Lockley, as predicted.
Lockley’s appearance might spell disaster for the greater MCU, particularly if Khonshu’s murderous techniques are heightened by his terrible new Avatar. The comic book narrative Avengers: Age of Khonshu may provide some insight on the worst-case scenario for Lockley as Khonshu’s Avatar.
In that scenario, Khonshu enables Moon Knight to take on the whole Avengers team in order to avert the advent of the diabolical enemy Mephisto. Could Jake Lockley’s entrance pave the way for Moon Knight to become a true MCU villain in his next outing?
We’ll have to wait and see where it takes us. Season 2 of Moon Knight? A cameo in a feature film?
Marvel hasn’t said where Oscar Isaac, Moon Knight, and Jake Lockley will next appear, but the closing scene makes it plain he’ll be back, maybe to the harm of the whole MCU.
