Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Moon Knight episode two. Please proceed with caution if you have yet to watch the episode.
The latest episode of Moon Knight debuts a new suit a.k.a. a fresh avatar, who will be known as Mr. Knight, for our titular superhero tackling multiple voices in his head. Instead of taking after the alter ego’s Marvel comic book presentation, the Disney Plus series opts not only to significantly shift his on-screen adaptation but also proceeds to admit that he seems to take inspiration from a rather unlikely source — KFC’s Colonel Sanders.
In case you are still holding out on watching the latest Marvel series, here is the last warning that this article will contain spoilers for Moon Knight episode two.
Halfway through the second episode of Moon Knight, we see Steven Grant and Layla (Marc Spector’s wife) on the run from Arthur Harrow’s minions. Layla tries and fails to call out Marc as even in the face of certain death Steven is not willing to give control of his body up to his alter ego. But the situation becomes dire when Harrow sics a supernatural jackal on Steven, who is thrown out of the window in the ensuing tussle with the creature.
As a scared Steven free-falls through the air, Khonshu screams at him to summon the suit and he does just that, screaming “SUIT!” at the top of his voice. But to his, Marc’s, and the viewer’s surprise, when he does manage the much-famed “superhero landing” he is not wearing the mummy-like suit we saw his Marc Spector persona don for the first time toward the end of the premiere episode.
He is instead clad in a three-piece jacket and waistcoat with trousers, matching gloves, and a tie, with a mask replacing the hood of Marc’s typical superhero outfit. Though we certainly miss the cape, there is no denying that Steven does look “sharp” in his new outfit.
Unlike the comics, where Mr. Knight is one of the five personas of Moon Knight and the suit is, in a way, designed by Khonshu, in the show it is a creation of Steven’s perception of what a cool guy looks like without any input from the Egyptian God or Marc. While we can call him Mr. Knight when he is in this outfit (though he is yet to officially get the name), he is still Steven.
In fact, after everyone got over the shock of seeing Mr. Knight, the suit might have reminded viewers of an uncanny resemblance to a famous real-life personality, something that is echoed by a disgruntled Marc in a hilarious chat with Steven while he is busy admiring his new look.
It’s time to welcome “Psycho Colonel Sanders”
After Steven lands and fails to keep his superhero pose, he gets up and starts complimenting his new outfit. This provides an annoyed Marc, who is stuck speaking to him via reflections, with an opportunity to call him out for the strange new fit. Apparently, when Layla and Khonshu commanded him to summon the suit, they meant “the ceremonial armor from Khonshu’s temple, not psycho Colonel Sanders.”
The Mr. Knight suit undoubtably shares a striking similarity to the KFC creator’s all-white outfit. Sanders took on the moniker of “Colonel” sometime in 1950 after the governor of Kentucky commissioned him with the honorific title. To match the title bestowed upon him, Sanders embraced all-white attire (save for a black string tie), even bleaching his moustache and goatee to match his hair and outfit.
As for referring to the renowned personality as a “psycho,” Sanders often attracted the title due to the many crazy KFC commercials he starred in until his death in 1980. A quick Google search reveals a particularly strange 1967 advertisement where Colonel Sanders is tied to a chair and hooked up to a lie detector as a bunch of deranged housewives push him to reveal the secret recipe behind his fried chicken.
Check out the weird ad for yourself, featuring a cackling Sanders as he mocks the ladies by reciting an absurd recipe that includes “four ounces of your grandfather’s overcoat,” along with “three shoelaces and a hubcap.”
The poor Steven, who is way out of his depth in Moon Knight, more than lives up to this new title — psycho Colonel Sanders, not Mr. Knight — as he makes a futile attempt to tackle the jackal and even tries to coerce him into battle with an insane monologue.
“Yeah, I see you, you plug ugly coyote. You’re in the wrong ends, mate. You’re in *my* yard now. Yeah. C’mon. C’mon. That’s right. Come on. Ooh. Lookie here. Lookie here. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, my name is Steven with a V.”
Steven — sweet Steven — even celebrates the small punch he manages to land on the deadly creature only to be pummeled like a potato sack the next minute, forcing him to finally hand over control of his body to Marc or risk casualties.
There is no doubt Mr. Knight isn’t exactly the superhero the chaos in Moon Knight currently demands, especially now that Harrow is headed to Ammit’s tomb in Egypt, but Marvel fans will certainly welcome the return of “psycho Colonel Sanders.” The character has more personality and screen-presence than the moody Marc Spector, a personality who — for now — is stuck in his default Khonshu-powered vigilante mode.