Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Last issue Moon Knight stole Thor's hammer Mjolnir and the powers of Dr Strange, Ghost Rider and Iron Fist on behalf of the Egyptian Moon God Khonshu in order to fight Mephisto.
Now we flashback to a few weeks ago when Moon Knight invades the secret temple of Khonshu at Thebes. He knows that the Moon Wizards have incarnated their god in the world, and he blames Khonshu for visions of horror in his head. The Priests say that Marc Spector has just picked up on the visions that are plaguing their lord - visions of a league of devils, the Council Of Red, the Infinity Requiem. MK doesn't believe them and breaks through them to the inner sanctum where he finds the God cowering and begging Spector to kill him.
In the present a saner and partially reinvigorated Khonshu accompanies Moon Knight to beard Mephisto in his den in the Hotel Inferno in Las Vegas. He's magically imprisoned there (since the Damnation event), but has still been influencing the world (in this series and elsewhere). Using the powers of Dr Strange Moon Knight frees the demon. Then he sends Mjolnir, fortified with ankhs, through the devil's body killing him. He then intends to burn the body to ash with GR's Hellfire, pulverise the ash with the Iron Fist, poison the remains with spells and get Mjolnir to scatter them throughout the universe.
But Khonshu says that won't be enough. There are other versions of him involved in time and alternate universes. The God stands straighter and says that the next step is up to *him*. And he takes the hammer and the other powers ...
2 weeks later Manhattan Island has been transformed to New Thebes City, to prepare the Earth against the approaching enemy. (Nothing to do with the Empyre event, I presume.) Risen mummies are the workforce for erecting pyramids of power at specific spots around the globe. Moon Wizards and other mummies hunt down superheroes (we see them after Spider-Man). There is a cluster of moons in the sky, with the sound of muffled thunder (Thor was trapped inside them last issue).
We look in on the prisoner Black Panther (he was captured last issue), chained in heavy metal reinforced with magic ankhs. The Priests have been repeatedly torturing him, trying unsuccessfully to get him to surrender the power of the Panther God. Today only Moon Knight confronts him to try reason instead. He removes his mask to let T'Challa look him in the eyes, and Panther sees the future horrors within. Which will still happen because dead Mephisto wasn't working alone. Marc has seen the Avengers die failing to stop it, but Khonshu can.
BP counters that MK has given Khonshu the power to create this fascist state. Spector replies that his faith in Khonshu isn't blind. He has retained 1 power for himself. A Priest pops in to inform him that some Avengers have been located. And we see Moon Knight turn into a Ghost Rider and ride off in GR's Hell-Charger. The Priests return for more punishment but Panther breaks his chains and beats *them* up.
And in the Sahara Desert mummies erupt from the ground around a hi-tech campsite where Captain Marvel and Iron Man are hiding the baby Starbrand, whose power Khonshu also seeks.