Moon Knight VFX Artist Debunks Jake Lockley Costume Theory

There was a lot to be excited about when it came to Oscar Isaac's debut as Marc Spector in the Disney+ series Moon Knight, but towards the top of the list was the character's mysterious third persona. While Jake Lockley had only been teased throughout the show's run, he finally got his proper reveal in the closing moments of the first season's finale.

From the looks of it, the new guy in town seemed to be a little more violent and brutal than either Steven or Marc—which lines up with what viewers saw in both the third and sixth episodes. But for those who may be worried it might end up becoming the evil DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) trope seen in the media all too frequently, there's no need to fret. The show's showrunner, Jeremy Slater, doesn't believe the story is heading in that direction.

While Lockley was only actually seen in the finale, Spector's third personality was teased quite frequently throughout the series, even accidentally on many occasions. Some of the biggest examples of these allusions would be the aforementioned gruesome combat aftermaths and the third unopened sarcophagus glimpsed in the mental asylum.

Some fans thought they may have noticed another hint towards Lockley within the show's title sequence at the end of each installment. As the Moon Knight costume transitions into the Mr. Knight suit, some viewers theorized that Jake's unique outfit could be glimpsed ever so briefly. Sadly, it seems like that was never the case.

Sorry Fans, That Wasn't Jake Lockley

In an interview with Before and After, VFX artists Doug Appleton and Seji Anderson talked to the outlet about their work on Moon Knight's end title credits.

When asked about how the glowing eyes of the costume came about, Anderson, the art director at VFX Futures, noted how it was "a later add for sure," and that "the idea of the opening of the eyes was this almost sense of the character awakening:"

"Yeah, I think the glowing eyes thing was, in the grand scheme of things, a later add for sure. I think I mentioned, we didn’t receive a lot of the character assets until sort of later in the process, so… to start we had to establish some kind of closing shot featuring the different suits and to figure out a way to blend between all those different states. And then I think the idea of the opening of the eyes was this almost sense of the character awakening, once he rediscovers his identity…"

Appleton, who is the creative director at VFX Futures, mentioned how he "[doesn't] recall if the glowing eyes were in the earliest episodes that we saw:"

 Well I know, in the show, I think he has glowing eyes on the suit in the show and so, there’s a little bit of inspiration from that. But we saw the early cuts and that was before anything and VFX-wise and I don’t recall if the glowing eyes were in the earliest episodes that we saw… I’m sure it came through conversations with them and then once we saw assets later on in the process, like ‘Oh, we should do that so it’s true to the suit…’ 

He continued, mentioning how many fans thought there was a point where they were teasing Jake Lockley, to which he sadly noted how "[they were] not... teasing Jake Lockley in the sequence:" 

"So I’m a person that will go online and read what everyone’s saying about everything, whether it’s good or bad, I just love reading all of it. And there were people who would freeze halfway between in the transformation in our title sequence and be like, ‘That’s a different suit! I think that’s Jake Lockley’s suit and they’re teasing it in the sequence!’ I was like, ‘We’re not,’ but I love you saying that, so… we wanna be as true as we can be to the suits in the show, so the glowing eyes are something where we gotta make sure that that’s in there so that we don’t not have glowing eyes and then someone’s like, ‘But that’s a different person!’ It’s all fun, yeah.”

Anderson then brought attention to "a shot of the staircase," which he pointed out was "a nod to one of the later episodes," which is an example of one of the many isolated shots included within that "the audience [wouldn't necessarily] pick up on until they see the episode:"

“We had a shot of the staircase, which was just kinda like a nod to one of the later episodes and that moment where he’s revisiting his house from his childhood… It was an interesting thing where as an isolated shot, it’s really nothing the audience would pick up on until they see the episode. So it’s trying to find those moments where you can really key in on a little symbol from the series without revealing exactly what’s going on there.”

Appleton brought up how "most of the shots in [the title sequence] could tie directly to something that happens in an episode in either literal way or a very abstract way:"

“I think one of the things that we really wanted to do with this... something that we talk about on a lot with our sequences, particularly on television, we want something that wears in, doesn’t wear out. So by the time you get to Episode 6, you still wanna watch the title sequence, because now you’re like, ‘Oh, that thing that I had no idea about, that’s why that’s been in the sequence this whole time!’ You can go back and revisit it and I think… I don’t wanna say all the shots, but I feel like most of the shots in this thing could tie directly to something that happens in an episode in either a literal way or a very abstract way, but there’s a connection to it. And that’s something that was important to us."

He continued, describing how they "[they] don't want people to skip [their] work," so they had to find ways to make it consistently interesting every time it was seen on screen:

We don’t want people to skip our work, right? We want people to watch it. So we want something that, by the time you get to Episode 2 and you’re like, ‘Oh, I know what that means. I know what that thing is.’ You start to say, ‘What is Episode 3 gonna have? What’s Episode 4 gonna have? How’s this gonna change?’ I think we also did that with changing the locations at the beginning and changing the phase of the moon, right? It was all things that helped serve the story… in order to get people to look at it and take more from it than just, ‘Oh these are pretty pictures on screen.’ There’s meaning behind them.”

Lockley Remains Under Lock and Key

While many fans are undoubtedly a little miffed to be told that there wasn't a sly reference to Oscar Isaac's third Marvel persona, it's not all too surprising. The show was mainly focused on Steven Grant and Marc Spector coming to accept each other—Mr. Lockley hasn't quite invited himself to the party just yet.

Many viewers will be thrilled when Jake's story can finally be told. While the title sequence may not have hinted at his costume in the recent series, when he does arrive in a more prominent manner, he will almost certainly have his own costume—much like Mr. Knight and Moon Knight both have their respective looks.

If Moon Knight's costume designer Meghan Kasperlik has anything to say about it, he'll be donning the more armored black suit from some of the recent runs of the character's comic series. Needless to say, most fans would absolutely love that. Fingers crossed he gets back on screen sooner rather than later.

Moon Knight is now streaming on Disney+.