The costume designer for Moon Knight has revealed the sweet nod that was made to Oscar Isaac and his brother on Jake Lockley’s costume in the finale’s post-credits scene.
Throughout the six-episode run of the Marvel series on Disney Plus, eagle-eyed fans were on the lookout for any Easter Egg references to Jake Lockley, the third identity they believed Oscar would be playing, aside from Marc Spector and Steven Grant.
Jake was finally introduced right at the end of episode 6, when viewers discovered that he was still acting as the conduit for ancient Egyptian moon god Khonshu as he shot Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) inside a limousine, shortly after Layla (May Calamawy) was unveiled as Marvel’s first Egyptian superhero, Scarlet Scarab.
During a recent exclusive conversation with Metro.co.uk, Emmy-nominated costume designer Meghan Kasperlik shared the thought process behind the creation of Jake’s ensemble, as in the Marvel comics he’s depicted as a taxi driver, complete with a jacket, his signature flat cap and typically a moustache.
When asked about the absence of a moustache – which would have surely drawn suspicion from Marc and Steven, who were unaware of Jake’s existence – Meghan explained that it came down to the ‘timing’ of when they filmed the scene.
She added that on the back of the jacket, she created a symbol to pay homage to Marvel, Khonshu, Oscar and his brother Michael Hernandez – who acted as the lead actor’s body double during scenes featuring both Marc and Steven – all in one.
‘With Jake it was exciting. I didn’t really want to do the leather jacket, and I wanted to elevate it, so I took a 1940s shape and used a raw denim for his jacket,’ she said.
‘His gloves on the knuckles have moons painted in them, so people can go back to that. The flat cap gives it away right away.’
Meghan outlined how the tribute she made to Oscar and Michael might not have been easily spotted during the post-credits scene, but upon closer inspection would reveal a meaningful combination of symbols.
‘On the back of his collar, that’s flipped up, it’s really hard to decipher, and I feel like when the costumes get displayed they’re going to have to take a stronger picture of it,’ she said.
‘But in the middle of the centre back there is the Khonshu symbol, and within that – it’s kind of an ode to Oscar and also to the Marvel and MCU universe – it is the Khonshu symbol, the very first issue of when Moon Knight was in the comic, so the date of when that was, Oscar’s birthday – his brother, Michael Hernandez, was part of the show as his acting partner and his double for the twinning scenes – so it’s all of their birthdays in Mayan symbol because Oscar’s Guatemalan, and then they’re incorporated into Egyptian symbols as well.
‘So it needs to have a close-up of it, but I just wanted to do that as a nod to Marvel, Moon Knight and Oscar.’
The costume designer added that she gave Oscar and Michael a ‘printout’ of the design to take home with them.
From the beginning of Moon Knight, there were several scenes that implied that Jake had been active, such as when Steven couldn’t remember asking a coworker out on a date or when Marc blanked out during a fight, only to regain consciousness and find two of the men he had been brawling with dead.
However, when it came to the costumes, despite what some viewers might think, there were not any deliberate Jake references, Meghan confirmed.
‘On my end, for the costumes, there was not, because it was always to be, “Was it Jake? Was it not Jake?” And because there’s the back and forth of Marc and Steven, and sometimes we don’t know until he speaks, so I didn’t want to give away any Easter Eggs in that aspect,’ she stated.
Since the finale, there’s been a lot of attention on the costume Layla (May Calamawy) wore as she was unveiled as the epic Scarlet Scarab, the avatar of the goddess Taweret.
While Layla’s ensemble featured several intricate details and patterns that were hinted at in earlier episodes, another costume that included a hidden symbol that viewers might not have noticed was that of Harrow, who opened the entire show with a chilling scene where he filled his sandals with glass.
Having spoken at length with Ethan about how they wanted Harrow to look and present himself, with the actor having taken inspiration from cult leaders for his performance, Meghan said: ‘He also wears bracelets, that you don’t always see, but in the bracelets it’s Ammit’s death prayer, which is part of this book from the ancient Egyptian culture that’s displayed at the Met Museum in New York.’
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She continued: ‘So it’s this long paper that has all of these different writings and artefacts and information in it, and in there is an Ammit prayer, and I took inspiration from that and engraved it into the bracelets.
‘So those little things I wanted to incorporate because of the character, so I had an amazing collaboration with Ethan and it was great.’
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Moon Knight is available to watch on Disney Plus.
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