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Hawkeye Episode 6 Recap: MCU’s Most Pointless Series Bids Adieu

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Hawkeye episode 6 — out now on Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar — put a neat albeit predictable bow on a humdrum Marvel series, the smallest of the lot we’ve gotten so far. The Tom Hiddleston-led Loki was seismic due to its multiverse angle. The Elizabeth Olsen-starrer WandaVision was innovative and brilliant at times. And The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, with Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, dealt with some big ideas even though it failed to deliver. The only debate I’ll have about Hawkeye, now that it’s done, is which was Marvel’s most forgettable series in 2021. The contest is between the last two, if that wasn’t already clear and obvious. Farewell Hawkeye, you will not be missed.

Given where the Hawkeye series finale left us, it’s unclear where the new Hawkeye Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) goes from here. Hawkeye episode 6 gave us nothing to suggest her future (though it does seem like the end for Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton/ Hawkeye). Sure, there was a post-credits scene in Hawkeye episode 6 but it was entirely useless. An extended song and dance sequence from Rogers: The Musical? Honestly, this seems like discarded B-roll footage (it has none of the main cast) that Marvel figured they could put at the end as like “happy holidays” material.

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Aside from introducing Kate to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Hawkeye‘s only other major purpose was to lead into the Echo spin-off series starring Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez. Hawkeye episode 6 set her up for a brighter future albeit with red in her ledger, as Maya ended the episode with a clean slate by killing the ones who were controlling her.

You could argue that it transitioned Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) into her next MCU chapter too, having made peace with Clint and her sister Natasha Romanoff/ Black Widow’s (Scarlett Johansson) death. I had imagined her conflict with Clint to be the most stupid subplot given how easily it could be resolved, but Pugh is fun to have around, I must admit. And oh, lastly, Hawkeye episode 6 confirmed an intriguing backstory for Clint’s wife Laura Barton (Linda Cardellini): she was Agent 19 at SHIELD in a past life.

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Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk in Hawkeye episode 6
Photo Credit: Disney/Marvel Studios

Hawkeye episode 6 — titled “So This Is Christmas?”, directed by Rhys Thomas, and written by Jonathan Igla and Elisa Climent — opens with the proper return of Wilson Fisk/ Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) who was merely glimpsed in a CCTV image last week on Hawkeye episode 5. Kate’s mother Eleanor Bishop (Vera Farmiga) is in his office to see him. She tells the audience (Fisk already knows) that she was orchestrating everything: Armand III’s death and Jack taking the fall for Sloan. She’s paid the debt her husband owed tenfold. Now, Eleanor wants out. Fisk warns her that what she is starting won’t end well, but she refuses and leaves.

Kate gets the video of their conversation from Yelena, just as she got the incriminating photo on Hawkeye episode 5. Maybe Fisk should do something about having perfectly-placed cameras in his office — and if he really wants them, then have better intranet security. Anyway, Kate is worried what will happen to her mother whom she has always thought of as completely innocent. Kate wants Clint to leave as this is her mess. But Clint finally says in Hawkeye episode 6 what he has been avoiding all season: Kate is his partner. Hence, he’s not going anywhere until this is done.

Hawkeye Episode 3 Recap: For Echo and Ronin, It’s All About Family

Back to Fisk in Hawkeye episode 6 who is getting a visit from Maya — with Kazi (Fra Fee) also present, serving as interpreter sometimes. She tells Fisk that she’s done chasing ghosts. Fisk thinks it’s quite the turnaround though he doesn’t grill her. Maya asks for a couple of days off to clear her head and leaves. Fisk is not happy with what’s happening in his city. The Ronin is roaming around, an Avenger has taken interest in their business, Eleanor quit on him, and now Maya is turning on them. Fisk asks Kazi to teach the city a lesson.

Elsewhere in Hawkeye episode 6, Clint and Kate are travelling in the metro. Clint says they need a ton of gear to prepare for the big party tonight. He then reveals he’s going to make more trick arrows — and Kate is naturally taken aback. As they make more trick arrows, Clint gives her some lessons on the superhero business: the job is inconvenient, you’ve to make tough decisions, blah blah the standard stuff. In return, Kate finally gives him the whole spiel about how inspired she was by him. She saw him jumping off rooftops and fighting aliens with stick and a string — and she knew being a hero isn’t just for those who can fly or shoot lasers, it’s for anyone who can bear the cost.

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Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop in Hawkeye episode 6
Photo Credit: Disney/Marvel Studios

Hawkeye episode 6 then arrives at the Bishop Christmas party. Everyone involved in the series is gathering. The Tracksuit Mafia is here to teach Eleanor a lesson. Clint and Kate are there to protect Eleanor. To help with that, they have embedded LARPers as the butlers and servers. Yelena is there to kill Clint. And obviously, Eleanor and Jack Duquesne (Tony Dalton) are there.

As Eleanor arrives, Kate confronts her mother with the incriminating video. Eleanor tells her daughter that she has everything under control. Sure, you do. Outside, Kazi starts shooting at Hawkeye — this leads to an evacuation of the party. As Clint makes his way to a different part of the building, Yelena follows him. Kate soon catches up with her in an attempt to stop her from reaching Clint. They get into some jokey fights in the elevator, where Hawkeye episode 6 reveals that Kate is wearing her new purple suit underneath her Christmas party attire.

Yelena finally gets rid of Kate, jumps out the window, and down to the ground floor. Kate somewhat foolishly follows her but lands safely. To her dismay in Hawkeye episode 6, she’s met by the incoming Tracksuits. She deals with a few — including the guy whom she gave girlfriend advice to and is now pointing a gun at her — before Jack shows up to help with his sword. Meanwhile inside, Clint is confronted by Kazi. They get into a proper fist fight, and just as Clint is done with Kazi, the Tracksuits arrive to kill him. Hawkeye jumps out the window only to end up in a big Christmas tree.

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Hawkeye episode 6 takes us to Maya for a second who is shown to be packing a bag. So, I guess she is taking off? Or planning to join the Christmas party?

Back where the action is, the helpful LARPers get in their costume finally, tired of no one listening to their directions. And suddenly everyone starts listening to their directions. Okay, funny.

Meanwhile in Hawkeye episode 6, Kate is trying to get Clint out of the tree even though he’s happy just hanging out with an owl he met and tells her to not do anything stupid. Predictably, she does something stupid as the giant tree falls on the ice rink — but thankfully, Clint lands and falls out safe. As a lot more Tracksuits arrive, Kate slides in and affords them a bit of smokescreen with her archery skills. Clint then takes away the Tracksuits’ guns by using another trick arrow. He then reveals to Kate (and the audience) that he has worn the purple costume too.

Hawkeye Review: Is Marvel’s Breezy Christmas Series Too Light-Weight?

Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton in Hawkeye episode 6
Photo Credit: Disney/Marvel Studios

Post that, ‘tis the season for trick arrows on Hawkeye episode 6, as Clint and Kate indulge in all sorts of cool stuff. Eventually, a few of the remaining Tracksuits try to run them over with one of their vans — but just in time Kate uses one of the Pym (Ant-Man) arrows that makes the vehicle super tiny and harmless. As Kate wonders what happens to the people inside, the owl from before swoops, picks up the van, and flies away. Okay then.

With all the minions out of the way on Hawkeye episode 6, it’s time for the return of the mid-tier boss: Kazi. Hawkeye fires an arrow at him but Kazi catches in. He’s about to snipe him in response — but Yelena grabs and takes out Hawkeye, and Maya comes in and gives Kazi something else to think about. Clint tells Yelena that she wouldn’t believe him even if he told her the truth: that her sister Natasha sacrificed herself to save the world. Yelena thinks he’s lying (predictable) and the fight goes on.

Hawkeye episode 6 brings us back to the AWOL Eleanor who is trying to escape but is confronted by Fisk. Kate also arrives in time to deal with him but he easily brushes away her arrows and throws her to the ground. Then somehow magically, Eleanor gets in the driving seat and rams Fisk into the store. Where did she come from? That makes no sense. Is Fisk gone? Because that was one short role then lol.

All You Need to Know About Hawkeye on Disney+ Hotstar

Elsewhere, Maya and Kazi’s fight ends with Kazi stabbed and in Maya’s arms. Back to Fisk who is fine (um okay) and now duking it out with Kate again. She’s clearly no match for him. He takes all her arrows and easily snaps them in half. But Kate finally deals with Fisk by using the flick trick Clint taught her. That activates a bunch of broken arrow heads that are lying under Fisk’s feet. Cue a big explosion and Fisk lying on the ground. Is he actually gone now? Or is that another fake out by Hawkeye episode 6? Outside, Kate confronts her mother with all the things she did. Eleanor says she did it all to protect Kate — but she lets the police take her anyway.

Meanwhile, Yelena is busy punching Clint in Hawkeye episode 6, who keeps repeating the truth even though she won’t believe him. Finally, Yelena demands why Nat would sacrifice herself for Clint: why do you deserve it? Clint says he doesn’t and that he tried to stop her. Yelena says that he should’ve fought harder then, as she beats him up more. Yelena is about to put a bullet in Clint when he starts whistling the tune Nat used to whistle with Yelena. You know, the one from Black Widow. Yelena wonders how he knew, and Clint says Nat talked about her all the time. Yelena starts crying, and says she could’ve stopped her. She made her choice, Clint says, nothing could’ve stopped her. As they both express their love for Nat, Yelena helps Clint get up and walks away.

Hawkeye Available on Disney+ Hotstar in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, English

Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez in Hawkeye episode 6
Photo Credit: Disney/Marvel Studios

Indeed, Hawkeye episode 6 did another Kingpin fake-out. As the police step into the store, he’s nowhere to be found. Fisk, having somehow survived again, is leaving via a back alley. But he is found by Maya and you know what is about to happen. She’s figured out that Fisk had her father killed (as Clint told her on Hawkeye episode 5) and that Kazi was involved in the setup. Maya pulls a gun on Fisk who tries to save himself by claiming they are family — but she shoots him point blank.

Kate and Clint share another moment by the ambulance in Hawkeye episode 6. First, he toys with her about how she performed but then gives her a sincere compliment too. Yay, more bonding. As the camera pans away from the scene, Clint tells her that they have to walk the dog.

Cut to Christmas Day and Clint arriving back home with presents. But he’s not alone, Kate and Pizza Dog are with him. Clint and his wife Laura hug — it’s the first time they have been ogether on screen in Hawkeye, that’s nice. Clint then gives Laura the watch that was so important. As she flips it around, we see the SHIELD logo and the number 19 embossed underneath. I’m guessing that means Laura was onec Agent 19. You have to take better care of your stuff, Clint tells her. It’s like Clint is inviting the comeback, as Laura tells him that he’s one to talk. She means the Ronin costume, if you didn’t get it.

Speaking of, Clint takes Kate in the back to burn the Ronin suit on a barbecue grill. As they walk back to the house, Kate runs possible aliases for herself: Lady Hawk, Hawk Eve, Hawk Shot. But Clint turns them all down. He says he has an idea, just as the Hawkeye title card jumps in. You get his idea, right?

Hawkeye episode 6 is now streaming on Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar. This was the series…

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Moon Knight Episode 2 Recap: The Wife, Mr. Knight, and the Villain’s Big Plan

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Moon Knight episode 2 — out now on Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar — is a bit curious second chapter for the new Marvel Cinematic Universe series. Even though it lasts for 51 minutes including credits, it doesn’t feel like a lot happens on Moon Knight episode 2. That may be because it’s made up of less than half a dozen scenes in total. It largely sketches out the world of Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac) — the life Steven Grant (Isaac) and the audience don’t know about. We learn Marc has a wife in Layla El-Faouly (May Calamawy) and that they went on adventures together. Moon Knight episode 2 also hints that the Egyptian moon god Khonshu — we got a confirmation on his name here — saved Marc from a near-death experience.

Meanwhile, Steven’s life continues to unravel. He loses his London museum job in Moon Knight episode 2. He finds out he’s been punching people with his bare hands at night for years. (I get they are two personalities, but it’s one body. Shouldn’t he feel it in his arms and legs in the morning?) And he ends the new Moon Knight episode without control over his body — and whenever he does wake up, he’s going to discover he’s travelled a continent away, from Europe to Africa, with Moon Knight episode 2 ending in Egypt. Fitting that a series involving multiple Egyptian gods — not to mention, an Egyptian director and an Egyptian-Palestinian actress — would go there. I suppose the show’s setting is going to change for at least one, if not more, episodes.

For what it’s worth, Steven got his own take on the Moon Knight costume. Unlike Marc’s traditional cape-and-hood version, his version of Moon Knight wears an off-white three-piece suit, with a tight-fitting full-face mask that has a crescent-shaped symbol in the middle of the forehead. It’s known as Mr. Knight, the Moon Knight episode 2 credits reveal.

And oh, we also got clued into the villain’s big plan. In Moon Knight episode 2, cult leader Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) reveals he wants to resurrect the Egyptian goddess Ammit — which is why he’s been after Steven, because apparently the Scarab is useful is finding Ammit. With Moon Knight episode 2 ending in Egypt, I’m betting we will learn more about Ammit in Moon Knight episode 3.

Moon Knight Review: Oscar Isaac’s Marvel Series Is a Snooze Fest

Ethan Hawke as Arthur Harrow, with the staff imbued with Ammit’s power, in Moon Knight episode 2
Photo Credit: Disney/Marvel Studios

Moon Knight episode 2 — titled “Summon the Suit”, directed by Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, and written by Michael Kastelein — picks up right after where episode 1 left off. Or at least, where Moon Knight episode 1 ended for our scared little gift shop-ist Steven Grant. Steven wakes up in bed with nightmares of what happened with the creature. But he’s chained to his bed like always. After all, he has no memories once he transfers control of his body to Marc Spector, which is what Steven did in episode 1. Having discovered that Marc speaks to him at times through mirrors, Steven tries to talk to Marc in the bathroom mirror, but he gets no reply.

Steven heads into work on Moon Knight episode 2, where he encounters security guy JB (Alexander Cobb) as he’s about to go through last night’s security footage. But strangely, there’s nothing of that Egyptian jackal — as Steven calls that weird looking supernatural jackal from episode 1 — on the CCTVs. All we see is Steven running scared making a mess, and Marc staring at the camera as he exited the museum. Naturally, his employers, the National Art Gallery, are letting him go for the damage he caused, but not before they offer him psychological help.

On his way back to his flat in Moon Knight episode 2, Steven speaks to the living statue Crawley (Shaun Scott), and tells him about the things — a flip phone and a key — he found hidden in his flat. Now unemployed, Steven goes looking for a storage locker that the key belongs to, and finds it after five attempts. Inside, he finds a bed, some boxes, and a bag. Said bug has a gun, lots of money, and an American passport with the name Marc Spector. Alternate identity confirmed! And oh, there’s also that Scarab that Arthur kept asking Steven for in Moon Knight episode 1. As Steven clicks open the Scarab, a part of it hovers and points in a direction — Steven realises it’s not pointing north like a compass.

Just then, Marc returns in the reflection of the storage locker in Moon Knight episode 2. Naturally, Steven wants to know who he is — and why he has access to items that are usually the territory of secret agents. Marc says: “I serve Khonshu, I’m his Avatar. We protect the vulnerable and we deliver Khonshu’s justice on those who deserve it.” Steven remarks that it’s the stupidest thing he has ever heard. “I eat one piece of steak and bang, I go bonkers,” Steven notes, in what is one of the best jokes from the new Marvel series. (I would also like to point out the stupidity of Isaac saying the word avatar like the movie Avatar. So much for Diab’s claims over authentic representation, when he can’t even get his American actors to say a Sanskrit-origin word like it’s meant to be said.)

Moon Knight Episode 1 Recap: Oscar Isaac’s Steven Meets Oscar Isaac’s Marc

Oscar Isaac’s Steven Grant confronts Isaac’s Marc Spector in Moon Knight episode 2
Photo Credit: Disney/Marvel Studios

Marc tells Steven that he will disappear if he just stays out of his lane and lets him finish the job he needs to for Khonshu. But Steven tells him that he’s never giving him control again. In fact, he’s never going to sleep again if that’s what it takes to keep Marc away. Steven says that he’s going to the authorities with everything he’s found on Marc, and hopes that the NHS — that’s the British public healthcare system — will pump him with enough pills that he can’t remember any of this. But just as Steven leaves the storage locker on Moon Knight episode 2, the lights start to flicker. He once again sees that weird-looking giant figure from episode 1, except this time it comes closer.

Steven begins to run in Moon Knight episode 2, exiting the storage locker premises and then the building, only to trip over himself and fall on the street next to an incoming scooter. Said scooter turns out to be driven by Layla — the woman on the phone in episode 1 — who tells Steven that she found him by tracking his phone. “I thought you wanted me to,” she remarks. Layla then reveals she’s his wife — technically, she’s Marc’s wife — and she’s been wondering why he just disappeared on her. She thought he would be fine because he had the suit (wait, she knows?!) but she was also worried he got kidnapped again (wait, when was he kidnapped before?). Steven just asks her to get him back to his flat, where he will explain everything.

Back at his flat, Layla is bemused to see that Steven is into things that she was known for. Steven’s favourite French poet is actually Layla’s favourite French poet. Steven is studying hieroglyphics and the Egyptian alphabet, which is something Layla already knows. Layla then turns the conversation on Moon Knight episode 2, noting that he (she means Marc) sent her divorce papers but never signed them. Steven says he would never divorce her — buddy, you were never married to her — and that he’s going to tell her everything unlike Marc who keeps lying. But just as he’s about to pull the Scarab out of the bag, Marc gets in his head and tells him he’s doing all of it to protect Layla. If you involve her, it’ll be your fault if they come after Layla, Marc remarks.

Everything You Need to Know About Marvel’s New Series, Moon Knight

May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly in Moon Knight episode 2
Photo Credit: Disney/Marvel Studios

That gets Steven to stop, but he’s said too much already. Layla’s interest is now piqued and she wants to know what he has in the bag. She snatches it away from him and finds the Scarab within. Layla is aghast, noting that they — Marc and she — fought side by side for the Scarab. Except Steven doesn’t remember their life together or their adventures. It seems Marc has been keeping things from Layla for a while. And he’s further pushing her away by divorcing her.

Before their talk can go any further, the police come knocking on Steven’s door in Moon Knight episode 2. As they go through his flat — sorry, don’t they need a warrant? — they inevitably find the Marc Spector passport. Layla had escaped through a window before the police entered. They already believe he has stolen something — are they here for the Scarab? Though how would they know about that? — and now he’s also on the hook for forging a passport. As the police take him in, they discover that Marc Spector is an international fugitive. He was part of a team of mercenaries that hit a dig site in Egypt, and executed archaeologists by shooting them in the back of the head. Something is up though, because instead of arriving at a police station, they pull up in a back alley.

Ah, they are dummy cops — and they’ve taken him to Arthur. As Steven gets out of the car, Arthur asks him: “Do you think Khonshu chose you because your mind would be easy to break or because it’s broken already?” Wait, is Arthur referring to that tall thingy with a bird skull for a head? It would seem so, which confirms my Moon Knight episode 1 suspicions. That really is Khonshu, the Egyptian moon god.

Anyway, back to Moon Knight episode 2. Steven says that he’s not broken, he just needs some help. Arthur says that’s what he’s here for. Khonshu returns and instructs Steven to kill Arthur, which Arthur predicts. Huh, how did he know? Arthur continues with his pitch, informing Steven that the neighbourhood they stand in once had the highest crime rate in the city. Arthur helped and now, people don’t even lock their doors at night. The two then walk into a community kitchen, where Arthur notes that the food is free — he calls out the lentil soup by name, which is basically dal but fancier — as Steven sees folks enjoy what looks like a pleasant natural history documentary.

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Oscar Isaac as Steven Grant, Ethan Hawke as Arthur Harrow in Moon Knight episode 2
Photo Credit: Csaba Aknay/Marvel Studios

Just as some nearby metal trays fall down, Arthur notes that Khonshu often throws temper tantrums and that’s why he was banished by other Egyptian gods. Also, his policy on vengeance didn’t sit well with others. Khonshu keeps speaking to Steven in between, telling him he only punishes those who have done harm. Arthur then reveals on Moon Knight episode 2 that he’s able to predict Khonshu’s words because he was his former Avatar — before Marc. He then notes that Khonshu’s judgment arrives after evil has been done. “Ammit knows this and she uproots them before any evil is done,” Arthur adds. We must resurrect Ammit, Arthur notes, and we need the Scarab to find her. So, the Moon Knight villain’s big plan is to resurrect an Egyptian god? Um, cool.

Naturally, Steven brings up the point we’ve all thought of by now. If Ammit judges pre-evil, isn’t the person innocent? How can a thought be evil? How can you kill a child 30 years before they will do something? This speaks to the oft-cited question around killing baby Hitler. Arthur spins a metaphor, claiming how one might amputate a limb to prevent an infection from spreading across a body. Steven neatly points out that a child is not a diseased limb, before turning around to speak to Arthur’s brainwashed followers, and wondering if they don’t draw the line at child murder. Arthur pivots on Moon Knight episode 2, changing the topic to his cane. It contains a sliver of Ammit’s power, which is how he’s able to judge people using the supernatural scales of his justice on his arm.

Even just hearing about the cane, everyone — including Steven and Arthur’s followers — takes a step away from Arthur. The cult leader demands that Steven hand over the Scarab, but he says he doesn’t have it. This time, he’s not even lying. Just then, Layla emerges out of nowhere and announces she has the Scarab, holding it up for all to see. Layla then walks towards Steven on Moon Knight episode 2, asking him to summon the suit so they can get out of there in one piece. But Steven keeps misunderstanding her — and Layla has no choice but to then just make a dash for it with Steven. A calm Arthur buries his cane into the ground, from which another…

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Moon Knight Episode 3 Recap: Giza, Ennead, and Turning Back the Night in Egypt

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Moon Knight episode 3 — out now on Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar — might have overhauled the visual template of the Marvel series, but I don’t believe the new episode made me feel differently about Moon Knight on the whole. It was fairly boring moment to moment, and I’m still waiting to be truly engaged. That said, after two episodes in London, it was nice to have a scenery refresh as Moon Knight episode 3 brought us to Egypt. We knew this was coming given how Moon Knight episode 2 ended, and we shall get at least one more Moon Knight episode in Egypt given how this one ends. Expect more clichés like going to the Great Pyramid of Giza, because it’s impossible for Hollywood to go to Egypt and not go to Giza, isn’t it?

Jokes aside, the moments inside the Great Pyramid of Giza helped expand upon Moon Knight‘s mythology in tangible ways. It told us how the gods can speak through their Avatars, why they aren’t actively involved in mankind’s affairs today, and how easily they can be fooled by mere mortals. More on that last one later. Calling a council of the Ennead — that’s the group of nine deities who were worshipped in Heliopolis, one of ancient Egypt’s oldest cities — is one of two major gambles Khonshu (voiced by F. Murray Abraham) takes in Moon Knight episode 3. And ultimately, he pays a heavy price.

Additionally, Moon Knight episode 3 very briefly hinted that there might be a third personality in Oscar Isaac’s body beyond the American mercenary Marc Spector and British gift shop-ist Steven Grant. The third episode of Moon Knight might possibly include the only appearance for the late Gaspard Ulliel — he plays Cairo-based antiques dealer Anton Mogart on the Disney+ series — who died, before Moon Knight premiered, following a skiing accident. Mogart has a master thief alter ego in the comics as Midnight Man, but it’s unlikely we’ll see that now with Mogart’s death. Marvel Studios also has a habit of tweaking characters when it transfers them to screen — so there was no guarantee we would’ve got Midnight Man even if Ulliel was still around.

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May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly, Gaspard Ulliel as Anton Mogart in Moon Knight episode 3
Photo Credit: Csaba Aknay/Marvel Studios

Moon Knight episode 3 — titled “The Friendly Type”, directed by Mohamed Diab, and written by Beau DeMayo, and Peter Cameron and Sabir Pirzada — opens with Layla El-Faouly (May Calamawy) preparing to go back home to Egypt after 10 years. She’s anxious to return home, she tells the woman making her fake passport. “Is it all the stolen antiques? Worried you might have burned too many bridges?” Layla notes that she doesn’t steal — after all, the antiques have already been stolen, she’s only returning them to their rightful owners. Though admittedly, she does keep a few to pay the bills. The passport maker Lagaro (Barbara Rosenblat) tells us that Layla learnt it all from her father who took her to dig sites, whom she misses just like Layla. Judging by how their conversation is going, I definitely feel like Lagaro is Layla’s mother.

Meanwhile in Egypt in Moon Knight episode 3, the villain Arthur Harrow has arrived and has found the location of Ammit’s tomb thanks to that magical Scarab. Arthur declares as much in Arabic to the digging contingent following him. I suppose he speaks Arabic and Mandarin both, though I would hope his Arabic is better than his Mandarin, given what Shang-Chi star Simu Liu and the Internet have told us following the release of Moon Knight episode 2. Just as Arthur is done speaking in Arabic, his fake-police lackeys tell him that Marc Spector is in Cairo.

Moon Knight episode 3 cuts to Marc running across rooftops, before confronting three men with knives. He’s looking for information on Arthur’s dig site, but it doesn’t look like they have any interest in helping him. As Marc dodges the knives and tries to stay alive, his attention is broken at crucial times with Steven speaking to him through all potential reflective areas. Each time that happens in Moon Knight episode 3, Marc loses minutes of his life. The knife fight and the chase through Cairo ends on a hill overlooking the city, where the three end up dead. Marc thinks the bloodiness is Steven’s doing — but he denies it. Wait, is Moon Knight hinting at another personality now? One that neither Marc nor Steven knows about?

Moon Knight Episode 2 Recap: The Wife, Mr. Knight, and the Villain’s Big Plan

Khonshu in Moon Knight episode 3
Photo Credit: Disney/Marvel Studios

Not left with any headway in locating Arthur, Marc wonders aloud to Khonshu if there’s another way to stop Ammit from being resurrected. Why can’t we seek the help of other gods? They ought to have a stake in this, “Asking for an audience with gods means incurring their wrath,” Khonshu says. As Marc wonders what’s the worst that could happen, Khonshu tells him that they could imprison him in stone. “I wouldn’t mind that,” Marc tells Khonshu cheekily. Khonshu seemingly agrees to Marc’s bizarre request, sending the other gods a signal they can’t ignore: a complete solar eclipse. He is the moon god after all. Elsewhere in Moon Knight episode 3, Arthur’s people get spooked seeing the eclipse, but he simply tells them to keep digging no matter what.

As the world is engulfed in darkness during the day, Khonshu explains the basics to Marc. All the nine gods’ avatars will be called upon — remember Steven’s mention of the Ennead in Moon Knight episode 1, where he pointed out that Ennead meant nine gods? — with a portal presenting itself wherever you are, so that the meeting of the Ennead can be fulfilled. While Marc steps into his portal on Moon Knight episode 3, Khonshu notes that he was banished last time he spoke to the other gods. As Marc wonders why Khonshu is walking in the opposite direction of the portal, the moon god shoots back: “Oh I’ll be there.”

The meeting of the Ennead takes place inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, something the knowledgeable Steven instantly points out via another reflection. There, the other Avatars start filtering in. Among them is Yatzil (Diana Bermudez), Avatar of Hathor, who tries to make small talk about Hathor and Khonshu’s last interaction but Marc isn’t really in that mind space. (Once again, everyone says Avatar like they are American. Can’t anyone say it like it’s meant to be pronounced?) As the meeting convenes on Moon Knight episode 3, Yatzil tells Marc that he will feel a strange sensation, before walking away to her spot and seemingly becoming possessed. “In attendance, Horus, Isis, Tefnut, Osiris, and Hathor, to hear the account of Khonshu,” Yatzil says. What happened to the other three, I wonder?

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Oscar Isaac as Khonshu, Ethan Hawke as Arthur Harrow in Moon Knight episode 3
Photo Credit: Gabor Kotschy/Marvel Studios

Now speaking through his Avatar — this was the strange sensation Yatzil spoke of — Khonshu demands judgment on Arthur who is also summoned to the chamber in Moon Knight episode 3. The moon god says Arthur is trying to release Ammit from her tomb, who in his defence claims he’s simply a tourist. “If visiting the sands was a crime, the line of sinners would be longer than the Nile.” I’m sorry, what is this useless excuse? Are the gods blind? Can’t they see the diggers he’s brought?

Anyway, Arthur then turns the tables on Khonshu, noting that the moon good has searched for Ammit’s tomb since he ensnared Arthur to his service. Arthur calls Khonshu jealous and paranoid, who retorts by dubbing him a deceiver. Both of those are possibly true. “Do not trust the word of a shamed god,” Arthur adds, “Khonshu is unhinged and his servant unwell. This man does not know his name, he speaks to himself, and I’ve no idea how many personalities he possesses.” As the god committee looks on in Moon Knight episode 3, Arthur continues: “This is a deeply troubled man. Khonshu is taking advantage of him the way he abused me, the way he aspires to abuse this court.”

The gods wish to speak with Marc, so with a wave of his hand, Osiris’s Avatar Selim (Khalid Abdalla) brings out the human. He admits he is unwell, before repeating Khonshu’s accusation that Arthur is dangerous. But the gods have been swayed by Arthur’s words, it seems. They conclude the matter and walk away, as does Arthur. Marc is left defeated on Moon Knight episode 3. It’s funny that Khonshu called for an audience given he knows how unstable Marc/Steven are.

As Marc leaves the Great Pyramid of Giza, Yatzil speaks to him again on Moon Knight episode 3. This time, it’s no small talk — she has important stuff to say. Yatzil tells him that Ammit was buried in secret, the location hidden even from gods. But a medjay named Senfu knows the location of the tomb. This was done in case the gods decided to change their minds and show mercy on Ammit. If Marc wants to locate Ammit’s tomb, he should find Senfu’s sarcophagus that was sold on the black market.

Everything You Need to Know About Marvel’s New Series, Moon Knight

May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly, Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector in Moon Knight episode 3
Photo Credit: Gabor Kotschy/Marvel Studios

Marc clearly doesn’t know what to do, because his best idea is to approach a juice seller in a Cairo square and enquire about Senfu’s sarcophagus. Like are you kidding me? ???? This is so absurd and stupid. Anyway, it’s just a ploy to bring Layla into the story on Moon Knight episode 3, as she finds Marc and tells him she can help. Though she’s not really there for him, Layla says later on a boat as they head for Mogart’s. She’s here to save the thousands who will die if Arthur succeeds.

Their fractious dynamic undergoes a change as their boat mates start ululating and dancing to music. Apparently, it’s the kind of music that was played at their wedding. Layla tells Marc that he should’ve told her about Steven. “We could’ve handled it together,” she notes in Moon Knight episode 3. Marc says he had it under control until very recently. And it’s not like being open and talking is something he does very well, with Layla finishing his sentence.

At Mogart’s, Layla reunites with a bodyguard named Bek (Loic Mabanza) who tells her that Mogart’s looking forward to seeing her before namechecking Madripoor. If you’ll recall, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier — one of the Marvel series last year — took us there. Anton Mogart (Ulliel) is happy to see Layla, who introduces Marc as her husband Rufino. As they walk, Mogart says this is more than a collection to him. “Preserving history is a responsibility I take very seriously.” Layla and Marc ask Mogart if they can have a look at Senfu’s sarcophagus — he obliges. But as Marc studies it alone and tries to deduce clues with Steven’s help, Mogart sends his men in and asks Marc to get on his knees in Moon Knight episode 3. Um, what just happened?

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Ethan Hawke as Arthur Harrow in Moon Knight episode 3
Photo Credit: Csaba Aknay/Marvel Studios

Just then, out of nowhere, Arthur and his men show up. Being told of an interested third party, Mogart steps out to have a word with Arthur who offers him the Scarab. “Why settle for a clue when you can have the treasure?” Arthur then gets in a few words to Layla, claiming that Marc had something to do with the murder of Layla’s father. This is further sowing seeds of doubt between them, what with their relationship already in a rocky place. Arthur then turns his attention back to Mogart on Moon Knight episode 3, and in a bid to give proof to his tall claims, casts a spell with his supernatural cane that destroys Senfu’s sarcophagus.

Meanwhile, Khonshu keeps telling Marc to summon the suit and give everyone what they deserve. I can’t tell why Marc is hesitating — I would understand so if it was Steven in control of the body — other than the fact that Arthur is around. It’s only when Arthur walks away, that he finally does it. Definitely feels like a case of plot armour, allowing Moon Knight to have more episodes beyond episode 3. As Moon Knight takes on Mogart’s men, Layla is confronted by Bek. But in the middle of the fight, Steven takes control from Marc. He foolishly asks everyone to calm down, and gets impaled twice for his efforts. He quickly hands the body back to Marc, who gets impaled a few more…

.

Moon Knight Episode 4 Recap: Taking a Cue From Legion?

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Moon Knight episode 4 — out now on Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar — was yet another humdrum episode of a TV show that’s made a habit of them, but by the end of it, I was left more intrigued than I have been so far with the Oscar Isaac-led Marvel Cinematic Universe series. Of course, I’m also cautiously optimistic owing to multiple factors. For one, just two episodes are left in Moon Knight‘s run. Dealing with a major distraction while also figuring out its endgame will be a lot to do in two episodes, moreso for a series that has routinely given us episodes in which barely anything happens for 50 minutes. Moon Knight hasn’t instilled any confidence in its abilities yet, but it could still suddenly produce something wholly brilliant and pathbreaking.

It’s not as though what Moon Knight might be doing is that unique to begin with. Moon Knight episode 4 ends by suggesting that Marc Spector (Isaac) has been essentially dreaming everything so far. He’s just a patient at a psychiatric hospital, where he got the idea of the Steven Grant personality from an ‘80s movie playing on TV, and everyone else we’ve come to know is just a fellow patient or a member of the staff. To me, this sounds like Marvel Studios riffing on Legion’s series premiere — Noah Hawley’s visually inventive FX superhero series that started out in a mind-boggling fashion — except with the script flipped in a way. Or is it? We’ll only know once we see next week’s Moon Knight episode 5.

I really hope Moon Knight creator Jeremy Slater knows what he’s doing, because otherwise Moon Knight is going to end up at the bottom of the MCU Disney+ pile where it already belongs.

Moon Knight episode 4 — titled “The Tomb”, directed by Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, and written by Michael Kastelein — opens where we left off, inside the Great Pyramid of Giza. Osiris’s Avatar Selim (Khalid Abdalla) places the stone Khonshu, trapped in what’s known as a ushabti, near an earthen lamp. As Selim walks away and the camera pulls back, we see how many other gods have seemingly been imprisoned in stone over the years.

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May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly in Moon Knight episode 4
Photo Credit: Disney/Marvel Studios

Following the title card, Moon Knight episode 4 jumps back to Steven and Layla El-Faouly (May Calamawy) in the desert where the previous episode ended. While Steven is still unconscious, someone starts firing at them. I’m guessing it’s Arthur’s men? Layla leaves the passed-out Steven, heads to their pick-up truck, and hides inside. It actually works — the attackers find Steven’s body and think he’s dead. Just then, Layla re-emerges with a red flare to attract attention, and then ducks behind the truck again, but when the henchmen follow it, they discover she’s not there. Layla uses the distraction to throw another flare to blow up the ammunition that’s on the vehicle.

Hearing the commotion, Steven wakes up bewildered in Moon Knight episode 4. On the road towards Ammit’s tomb in the morning, Marc — via the truck’s side mirrors — tells Steven to give the body back. But Steven notes that they had a deal: when Marc was finished with the Khonshu business, he would disappear. Well, Khonshu is gone now, so in a way, he’s done. Layla, sitting next to Steven, points out that she should have been told about that deal, since Marc was part of her life too. However, she admits, more to herself, that Marc would have “wanted to lone wolf the whole thing” anyway. She’s really growing on Steven, if you haven’t been following the clues.

As Steven and Layla reach Ammit’s tomb in Moon Knight episode 4, they discover an extensive amount of work has already been done by Arthur’s men. They will need to find another way to reach the tomb before them. As they look for supplies, Marc tells Steven he needs to be scared. Now that there’s no more Khonshu, it also means no armour, no protection, and no healing. It’s why he needs to give control to Marc, who’s better equipped as a fighter, but Steven points out it’s the same body, so he thinks he can figure it out with muscle memory. That’s a dumb argument, but okay. Plus, he has Layla, Steven adds. Yeah, that definitely counts for more.

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Oscar Isaac as Steven Grant, May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly in Moon Knight episode 4
Photo Credit: Gabor Kotschy/Marvel Studios

While Layla rigs Steven for the drop inside the tomb, she tells him that he smells like Marc, and out of nowhere she goes in for a kiss as Moon Knight episode 4 continues. Wow, Marvel dropped two tiny clues, and then just went for this? I’m sorry, it does not feel justified to me. And before the kiss can happen, Steven blurts out that Marc is trying to protect her from Khonshu. Oh lord, someone save this guy from himself. As a perplexed Layla looks on, Steven explains Marc is doing it because Khonshu wants her as his next Avatar. Which is fine, except that Khonshu is imprisoned in stone right now, so that’s a bit of a moot point. Layla, now annoyed at both Marc and Steven, says she needs honesty not protection.

Down in the tomb in the next scene of Moon Knight episode 4, Steven and Layla discover there are six paths. Thanks to his knowledge of ancient Egypt, Steven realises the whole structure is based on a symbol: the eye of Horus. Six paths for six senses; Steven explains. Together, they decipher that the Avatar would be Ammit’s voice — so they head towards the route that leads to the tongue. On their way, they find bullets and what look like chunks of meat, which is ominous to say the least.

As Steven climbs half a floor to look for a different exit, they hear someone approaching and do their best to hide. A creature comes in with a human body, places it on a table with the blood and meaty bits, and starts poking into it. However, the creature soon discovers Steven and Layla, forcing them to run in different directions in Moon Knight episode 4. Steven drops something from above and thinks he has squashed the creature, but its voice can be heard soon after, implying that it’s alive or that there are more of them.

Moon Knight episode 4 then follows Layla who arrives at a hollow place that has a big drop into nothing. As she sticks her back to the wall and tries to sidle her way through, she’s grabbed by a creature and pulled into darkness. Surprisingly, Layla seems somewhat unscathed, quickly using a flare to impale the creature in the eye, and throwing it into the giant pit. She almost falls herself, but recovers just in time. As Layla climbs back up, she spots Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) across from her in the distance.

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Oscar Isaac as Steven Grant in Moon Knight episode 4
Photo Credit: Csaba Aknay/Marvel Studios

Cut to Steven whose alternative exit has landed him in an inner chamber. There, he spots Macedonian symbols next to a sarcophagus, which are apparently unfamiliar to someone as knowledgeable as Steven. Talking to himself and the audience in Moon Knight episode 4, Steven notes that “he” insisted on being called Egyptian. There was only one pharaoh who was Macedonian, Steven points out, which means he has found the long-lost chamber of Alexander the Great. Ah super, the Egypt cliché train continues. First Giza, now Alexander. What’s next, a chase down the river Nile?

Anyway, Moon Knight episode 4 then takes us back to Layla and Arthur who are chatting about her archaeologist father now. He would be thrilled to know that Egyptian gods walk among us, Arthur says, before pivoting to Marc again. “Your husband is in more pain than anyone could bear, but he still hasn’t told you the truth.” An annoyed Layla shoots back: “You’re obviously dying to, so why don’t you go ahead, the floor is yours.”

Before that can happen though, Moon Knight episode 4 switches to Steven who is now panicking with his great discovery. “Everything inside me is screaming not to open this thing,” he says, with Marc replying via a reflection: “You want Harrow to get to Ammit first?” That convinces Stephen, and he opens the sarcophagus. And since Alexander was the voice of Ammit — going by their earlier deduction — he tears up his throat and face to get to the ushabti.

Back to Layla and Arthur again. “Your father was murdered by mercenaries,” Arthur tells her in Moon Knight episode 4, and Layla responds with the obvious: “You’re saying Marc was one of them?” Arthur claims Marc remembers everyone from that day, but one especially, a man wearing a fuchsia scarf with scarab details. The details are enough to bring Layla to tears, and she rhetorically demands to know whether Arthur is done, before walking away. Arthur shouts at her to wake up — just as his minions arrive to tell him they’ve found another way to Ammit’s tomb.

Moon Knight Episode 1 Recap: Oscar Isaac’s Steven Meets Oscar Isaac’s Marc

Oscar Isaac as Steven Grant, May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly in Moon Knight episode 4
Photo Credit: Csaba Aknay/Marvel Studios

Layla arrives in the same room as Steven, who is rejoicing, having found the ushabti. But Layla is in a different mindspace now, in Moon Knight episode 4, still reeling from her conversation with Arthur. She wants to talk to Marc, and wonders if he can hear her. Before Steven can get in a word or two, Layla shouts: “I need to talk to you, Marc,” which brings him out over Steven. Oh wow, that’s a neat trick. Layla wants to know if Marc killed her father. “Of course not,” Marc forcefully says. But Layla realises that he was there when it happened. Marc explains that his partner got greedy and executed everyone at the dig site, including him, but he didn’t die even though he should have. It’s implied that Khonshu saved him. “That’s the reason that we met; you just had a guilty conscience,” Layla hits back, flabbergasted.

But before their conversation can go any further, they are interrupted by the imminent arrival of Arthur’s men. Marc tells Layla to scoot while he holds them off — with Alexander’s axe. Sorry, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud; he’s literally brought a knife to a gunfight. As Arthur walks in behind his gun-toting men in Moon Knight episode 4, he realises it’s just Marc. Khonshu is gone. “You’re a free man, and with that freedom comes choice,” Arthur tells Marc, as he stretches his hand out for the ushabti. “Right now, you have a very important decision to make.” But of course, Marc does the foolhardy thing and takes on two of Arthur’s approaching men. In response, Arthur shoots him through the heart. As the second bullet goes through, Marc falls backwards, into the tiny pond behind him.

Moon Knight goes into a different space then. Marc’s body sinks into the water even though there isn’t that kind of depth, before disappearing into the darkness below. And what emerges from that is an adventure movie with a 4:3 aspect ratio featuring a middle-aged guy and a teenager called Rosser, who come across a dead body. Rosser wonders if this means the treasure is gone, but in the distance, the man spots a statue of Coyolxauhqui, calling it the lunar god of the Aztecs. (Khonshu is the Egyptian lunar god, by the way.) Rosser says he doesn’t know anything, “but you’re Dr. Steven Grant”. Wait, what? Excuse me? Is Steven’s personality based on a movie?

Everything You Need to Know About Marvel’s New Series, Moon Knight

Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector in Moon Knight episode 4
Photo Credit: Disney/Marvel Studios

It seems so, as the camera zooms out on a very different Moon Knight episode 4, revealing it’s a movie being watched by patients in a psychiatric hospital. “Donna” (Lucy Thackeray), Steven’s boss from the museum, is also here. There’s the guy who played Anton Mogart’s bodyguard Bek (Loic Mabanza), alongside a woman who’s drawing something that looks a bit like Khonshu. Even one of Arthur’s right-hand men (David Ganly) who pretended to be a cop in episode 2, is here, attending to our protagonist who’s a patient. Layla is also a nurse here. And Moon Knight is just an action figure in his hand. He calls himself Steven as he stares at his reflection — he still has ankle bracelets and now they keep him tied to his wheelchair — but he’s called Marc by the attendant.

Sorry, has Steven/Marc been making everything up? Did we just go Legion season 1 here? Soon after, in Moon…

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Spider-Man Remastered PC Review: A Tad Overpriced, but Worth the Wait

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Spider-Man is finally on PC — and it might be the greatest decision Sony has made to expand its outreach. If the headline didn’t give it away, I’m talking about Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, the updated next-gen version of the 2018 award-winning title. As someone who doesn’t own a PlayStation console, this is quite eventful — being able to experience the iconic web slinger’s escapades first-hand, albeit a few years past its relevance. The friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man swings onto PC this week, bringing with it a range of graphical options that the PS5 and PS4 lack. Co-developed by Insomniac Games, this version comes with high-resolution assets, support for ultra-wide screens, and ray-tracing out of the box. This is in addition to the diverse peripheral controls designed solely for PC gamers.

Having had the pleasure of playing Spider-Man Remastered ahead of launch, here’s what I think of it. Full disclosure: I have never played the original game on PS4 or PS5, or even watched walkthroughs on YouTube. So as you’ll see in the review below, I will gradually take you through personal experiences during gameplay.

The PC version of Spider-Man Remastered is a basic port, offering a slightly refined affair with overhauled graphics. You play as the titular spandex-wearing superhero and swing around town, facing multiple baddies hailing from the Marvel universe. Those on PC can compare this experience to Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham franchise, whose blueprints and inspiration can be seen sprinkled throughout.

Spider-Man Remastered PC review: controls

Insomniac has offered full keyboard and mouse controls with Spider-Man Remastered on PC, with button-mapping to suit your convenience. The default layout is intuitive for the most part, except for the dodge button, which is set to the left control key. Getting used to it takes a while, since it translates to the “crouch” action in most video games. It’s an odd placement. During intense combat, I accidentally kept hitting the ‘Windows’ button instead of dodging, whenever the Spidey-Sense tingled, giving me all the more reason to swap.

Spider-Man Remastered also comes with full gamepad support, featuring an inbuilt setting to enable haptic feedback on the PS5 DualSense controller. This implies that PC players won’t have to set up the DS4Windows software to allow seamless compatibility. Now, I personally don’t own one, so I can’t directly attest to this.

That said, testing the game with a Logitech controller gave ideal results, with precise response times and comfort. Even if you aren’t used to playing on a gamepad, the mapping is designed perfectly to suit an action-adventure title as such. In fact, I would say it’s much easier to play Spider-Man Remastered with a controller than keyboard and mouse.

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While it provides intuitive keyboard and mouse controls, Spider-Man Remastered is best played with a controller
Photo Credit: Sony/Insomniac Games

Spider-Man Remastered PC review: graphics and gameplay

Every time you launch Spider-Man Remastered, it will throw up a pop-out window, letting you manually adjust settings before you enter the actual game. This is similar to most Square Enix titles, allowing for some important alterations such as V-sync and window mode, with a dedicated slider for the motion blur effect. And while the latter is notorious for causing motion sickness in most games, here, it’s nowhere as obnoxious.

Once you’re inside Spider-Man Remastered on PC, you’re in for a treat. The visuals look spectacular, with highly-detailed textures and lighting options that bring these fictional icons to life. Character models have clearly received special treatment here, as they seem least affected by changes in graphics quality. Even on the lowest settings, skin and clothing texture look decent, with sacrifices made in the reflection department. Likewise, any pieces of text, logos, reused assets, and buildings are marred by blurry renders.

Spider-Man Remastered on PC provides five different graphics presets to choose from: “Very Low”, “Low”, “Medium”, “High”, and “Very High”. Starting with the lowest, every parameter is set to the base bottom, excluding lens flares, chromatic aberration, and vignettes that add a level of angelic look to them. Akin to the photography in a Terrence Malick or Sean Baker film. In these settings, objects such as glass look plasticy, debris looks like unset clay, and far-off buildings lack detail. Some of this can be countered by tweaking the depth of field.

Cranking the preset up to ‘Low’ only enables bloom, creating a natural glow effect when light bleeds through objects, like tree branches. Interestingly, the anti-aliasing is set to TAA (temporal), regardless of the chosen preset, leading to smoothened edges. You can set this to SMAA or simply turn it off to gain more frames at the cost of rough, polygonal edges. Enabling screen space reflections, as the name suggests, throw a spitting image of the tall skyscrapers onto windows. But when climbing walls, Spider-Man’s reflection can only be seen at specific, narrowed angles. This can be amplified by toggling on ray-traced reflections as seen in the PS5 version, though I couldn’t test it first-hand due to the lack of an RTX card.

All You Need to Know About Spider-Man Remastered PC

Particle effects can also be adjusted, though it won’t be as prominent during gameplay
Photo Credit: Sony/Insomniac Games

Even on a budget build, the ‘Medium’ presets in Spider-Man Remastered manage to throw striking images, upping the ante with facial pores and individual, defined hair strands. In previous settings, these were airbrushed, making stubbles look like goofy ink smudges. Shadows and weather particle effects can also be adjusted to your liking, with higher values adding stress to your GPU — so tread lightly. Be mindful of how much these two variables matter to you, as you’ll just be swinging around town during 90 percent of outdoor sequences.

Similarly, you can fiddle around with texture filtering to get the best images when viewing from extreme angles. Unlike most options on the list, this one isn’t as demanding on modern GPUs. So, feel free to dial it to at least 4x anisotropic, ensuring reduced jaggies on Spider-Man Remastered PC. But if you still face difficulty running the game on your system, just take it down to the less-advanced trilinear filtering option.

It’s when you enter ‘High’ regions that you start seeing magic on Spider-Man Remastered PC. The lighting gets an instant facelift, while the graphics look hyper-realistic with visible dust particles floating in the air. Traversing the sprawling city of New York feels exhilarating, as you freefall down to honking cars and cheerful applause from bystanders. In quick response, you then thwip out your web and propel upwards, only to be blinded by divine golden sun rays off the coast — mimicking the final scene from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. I couldn’t ask for a finer experience.

The most notable difference when comparing low and high settings would be the textures, the effects of which can be seen live due to the menu’s placement, taking up half of the screen real estate. Furthermore, games that manage to apply their graphics settings without needing a restart are a plus in my books — and this one ticks the box.

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The settings menu placement allows you to see graphics changes live
Photo Credit: Insomniac Games. Screenshot by Rahul Chettiyar/Gadgets 360

Upon returning to the game, the settings take a few seconds to fully apply, causing a heavy stutter, or on rare occasions, a crash. And while I do appreciate the Spider-Man Remastered PC menu telling me what jargon implies what, it still lacks a VRAM usage indicator at the bottom right. So when you adjust these options, there’s no telling at what point you’re hitting the threshold and causing lag spikes — the schematics of which we’ll get to later.

On ‘Very High’ settings, the difference is negligible, featuring some light glows with higher quality weather particles. For some reason, the texture filtering never climbs to 16x anisotropic automatically. Nothing concerning, since the petty shift is only visible in Spider-Man Remastered PC cutscenes. Then there’s the varied display support, offering options between 21:9 ultrawide and 32:9 panoramic for an immersive experience, alongside several accessibility features.

Spider-Man Remastered PC review: performance

In addition to looking super appealing on PC, Spider-Man Remastered is fairly well-optimised. My test rig consisted of a 3.6GHz AMD Ryzen 5 2400G processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super GPU with 6GB VRAM, 16GB RAM, a full-HD monitor, and a 256GB SSD. Since the files are hefty, weighing 65.25GB, I took the typical gamer approach of installing it on a hard drive. But unless you’re running a decked-out PC, this isn’t the ideal route.

SSDs are commonly associated with faster load times. But here, the impact is seen instantly in-game with smoother frames, quicker asset loading, and transitions between cutscenes. We also left motion blur on here, as it never feels as jarring and emphasises Spidey’s acrobatic moveset. On the lowest settings, Spider-Man Remastered chugs out a maximum of 105fps, while dancing between 73–76fps on average. During intense fights or populated set pieces, it fell to 68fps.

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It is recommended that you install Spider-Man Remastered PC on your SSD, as here, it helps with smoother frames and quicker asset loading
Photo Credit: Sony/Insomniac Games

Moving up the ladder, the low preset maxed out at 92fps, but struggled a bit when swinging outdoors in Spider-Man Remastered PC. From here onwards, grappling around town would cause frames to drop to the 50s, causing micro-stutters that aren’t obvious to the naked eye. With bloom enabled, the game averaged 68fps and dropped to 60fps during outdoor combat or particle explosions.

At medium, on our budget build, Spider-Man Remastered PC manages to shell out 80fps maximum, while maintaining a smooth 64fps performance on average. Meanwhile, mingling with crowds or swinging past towers plummeted the framerate to 50. Understandable, given the sheer volume of artefacts it needs to process in a short interval.

Shifting to High preset, elements like lens flare and depth-of-field became prominent, with freeform traversal appearing janky, dipping to 30fps at one point. Still playable, but inconsistent when compared to other metrics in this preset. Standard gameplay averaged 52fps with highs of 70fps (interior segments). During a lengthy wave-type combat segment in Spider-Man Remastered involving guns, rocket launchers, and shock batons, the lowest recorded framerate was 40fps. There’s no discernible slowdown, but some camera smoothening could have helped.

With similar PC specs, if consistent frames is your goal, go for the Medium preset with Spider-Man Remastered. Push for High if you don’t mind some dips at random.

But it wasn’t until I hit the Very High preset — where Spider-Man Remastered averages 47fps with constant slips to the 33fps region — that it made for an unpleasant gameplay experience.

According to the official spec sheet, running Spider-Man Remastered on these settings demands an Nvidia RTX 3070 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT GPU. Even if you aren’t into ray-tracing, 8GB VRAM is necessary to get satisfying results, with added benefits of DLSS. As mentioned earlier, the settings menu doesn’t offer a threshold indication, thereby forcing players to go look up the requirements online.

Should you buy Spider-Man Remastered on PC?

When compared to past PlayStation ports such as Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone, Marvel’s Spider-Man (Remastered) is in a much better technical state. It’s quite forgiving on both performance and visual ends, allowing players to run the game on old-gen hardware, dating back to the GTX 950 days.

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When compared to past PlayStation to PC ports, Spider-Man Remastered is in a much better technical state
Photo Credit: Sony/Insomniac Games

The performance issues I encountered, although uneven, didn’t shatter the immersion for me, and it manages to run like a charm on a tight, budget-build system. Bear in mind, this review isn’t even based on…

.

Spider-Man Remastered PC Review: A Tad Overpriced, but Worth the Wait

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Spider-Man is finally on PC — and it might be the greatest decision Sony has made to expand its outreach. If the headline didn’t give it away, I’m talking about Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, the updated next-gen version of the 2018 award-winning title. As someone who doesn’t own a PlayStation console, this is quite eventful — being able to experience the iconic web slinger’s escapades first-hand, albeit a few years past its relevance. The friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man swings onto PC this week, bringing with it a range of graphical options that the PS5 and PS4 lack. Co-developed by Insomniac Games, this version comes with high-resolution assets, support for ultra-wide screens, and ray-tracing out of the box. This is in addition to the diverse peripheral controls designed solely for PC gamers.

Having had the pleasure of playing Spider-Man Remastered ahead of launch, here’s what I think of it. Full disclosure: I have never played the original game on PS4 or PS5, or even watched walkthroughs on YouTube. So as you’ll see in the review below, I will gradually take you through personal experiences during gameplay.

The PC version of Spider-Man Remastered is a basic port, offering a slightly refined affair with overhauled graphics. You play as the titular spandex-wearing superhero and swing around town, facing multiple baddies hailing from the Marvel universe. Those on PC can compare this experience to Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham franchise, whose blueprints and inspiration can be seen sprinkled throughout.

Spider-Man Remastered PC review: controls

Insomniac has offered full keyboard and mouse controls with Spider-Man Remastered on PC, with button-mapping to suit your convenience. The default layout is intuitive for the most part, except for the dodge button, which is set to the left control key. Getting used to it takes a while, since it translates to the “crouch” action in most video games. It’s an odd placement. During intense combat, I accidentally kept hitting the ‘Windows’ button instead of dodging, whenever the Spidey-Sense tingled, giving me all the more reason to swap.

Spider-Man Remastered also comes with full gamepad support, featuring an inbuilt setting to enable haptic feedback on the PS5 DualSense controller. This implies that PC players won’t have to set up the DS4Windows software to allow seamless compatibility. Now, I personally don’t own one, so I can’t directly attest to this.

That said, testing the game with a Logitech controller gave ideal results, with precise response times and comfort. Even if you aren’t used to playing on a gamepad, the mapping is designed perfectly to suit an action-adventure title as such. In fact, I would say it’s much easier to play Spider-Man Remastered with a controller than keyboard and mouse.

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While it provides intuitive keyboard and mouse controls, Spider-Man Remastered is best played with a controller
Photo Credit: Sony/Insomniac Games

Spider-Man Remastered PC review: graphics and gameplay

Every time you launch Spider-Man Remastered, it will throw up a pop-out window, letting you manually adjust settings before you enter the actual game. This is similar to most Square Enix titles, allowing for some important alterations such as V-sync and window mode, with a dedicated slider for the motion blur effect. And while the latter is notorious for causing motion sickness in most games, here, it’s nowhere as obnoxious.

Once you’re inside Spider-Man Remastered on PC, you’re in for a treat. The visuals look spectacular, with highly-detailed textures and lighting options that bring these fictional icons to life. Character models have clearly received special treatment here, as they seem least affected by changes in graphics quality. Even on the lowest settings, skin and clothing texture look decent, with sacrifices made in the reflection department. Likewise, any pieces of text, logos, reused assets, and buildings are marred by blurry renders.

Spider-Man Remastered on PC provides five different graphics presets to choose from: “Very Low”, “Low”, “Medium”, “High”, and “Very High”. Starting with the lowest, every parameter is set to the base bottom, excluding lens flares, chromatic aberration, and vignettes that add a level of angelic look to them. Akin to the photography in a Terrence Malick or Sean Baker film. In these settings, objects such as glass look plasticy, debris looks like unset clay, and far-off buildings lack detail. Some of this can be countered by tweaking the depth of field.

Cranking the preset up to ‘Low’ only enables bloom, creating a natural glow effect when light bleeds through objects, like tree branches. Interestingly, the anti-aliasing is set to TAA (temporal), regardless of the chosen preset, leading to smoothened edges. You can set this to SMAA or simply turn it off to gain more frames at the cost of rough, polygonal edges. Enabling screen space reflections, as the name suggests, throw a spitting image of the tall skyscrapers onto windows. But when climbing walls, Spider-Man’s reflection can only be seen at specific, narrowed angles. This can be amplified by toggling on ray-traced reflections as seen in the PS5 version, though I couldn’t test it first-hand due to the lack of an RTX card.

All You Need to Know About Spider-Man Remastered PC

Particle effects can also be adjusted, though it won’t be as prominent during gameplay
Photo Credit: Sony/Insomniac Games

Even on a budget build, the ‘Medium’ presets in Spider-Man Remastered manage to throw striking images, upping the ante with facial pores and individual, defined hair strands. In previous settings, these were airbrushed, making stubbles look like goofy ink smudges. Shadows and weather particle effects can also be adjusted to your liking, with higher values adding stress to your GPU — so tread lightly. Be mindful of how much these two variables matter to you, as you’ll just be swinging around town during 90 percent of outdoor sequences.

Similarly, you can fiddle around with texture filtering to get the best images when viewing from extreme angles. Unlike most options on the list, this one isn’t as demanding on modern GPUs. So, feel free to dial it to at least 4x anisotropic, ensuring reduced jaggies on Spider-Man Remastered PC. But if you still face difficulty running the game on your system, just take it down to the less-advanced trilinear filtering option.

It’s when you enter ‘High’ regions that you start seeing magic on Spider-Man Remastered PC. The lighting gets an instant facelift, while the graphics look hyper-realistic with visible dust particles floating in the air. Traversing the sprawling city of New York feels exhilarating, as you freefall down to honking cars and cheerful applause from bystanders. In quick response, you then thwip out your web and propel upwards, only to be blinded by divine golden sun rays off the coast — mimicking the final scene from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. I couldn’t ask for a finer experience.

The most notable difference when comparing low and high settings would be the textures, the effects of which can be seen live due to the menu’s placement, taking up half of the screen real estate. Furthermore, games that manage to apply their graphics settings without needing a restart are a plus in my books — and this one ticks the box.

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The settings menu placement allows you to see graphics changes live
Photo Credit: Insomniac Games. Screenshot by Rahul Chettiyar/Gadgets 360

Upon returning to the game, the settings take a few seconds to fully apply, causing a heavy stutter, or on rare occasions, a crash. And while I do appreciate the Spider-Man Remastered PC menu telling me what jargon implies what, it still lacks a VRAM usage indicator at the bottom right. So when you adjust these options, there’s no telling at what point you’re hitting the threshold and causing lag spikes — the schematics of which we’ll get to later.

On ‘Very High’ settings, the difference is negligible, featuring some light glows with higher quality weather particles. For some reason, the texture filtering never climbs to 16x anisotropic automatically. Nothing concerning, since the petty shift is only visible in Spider-Man Remastered PC cutscenes. Then there’s the varied display support, offering options between 21:9 ultrawide and 32:9 panoramic for an immersive experience, alongside several accessibility features.

Spider-Man Remastered PC review: performance

In addition to looking super appealing on PC, Spider-Man Remastered is fairly well-optimised. My test rig consisted of a 3.6GHz AMD Ryzen 5 2400G processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super GPU with 6GB VRAM, 16GB RAM, a full-HD monitor, and a 256GB SSD. Since the files are hefty, weighing 65.25GB, I took the typical gamer approach of installing it on a hard drive. But unless you’re running a decked-out PC, this isn’t the ideal route.

SSDs are commonly associated with faster load times. But here, the impact is seen instantly in-game with smoother frames, quicker asset loading, and transitions between cutscenes. We also left motion blur on here, as it never feels as jarring and emphasises Spidey’s acrobatic moveset. On the lowest settings, Spider-Man Remastered chugs out a maximum of 105fps, while dancing between 73–76fps on average. During intense fights or populated set pieces, it fell to 68fps.

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It is recommended that you install Spider-Man Remastered PC on your SSD, as here, it helps with smoother frames and quicker asset loading
Photo Credit: Sony/Insomniac Games

Moving up the ladder, the low preset maxed out at 92fps, but struggled a bit when swinging outdoors in Spider-Man Remastered PC. From here onwards, grappling around town would cause frames to drop to the 50s, causing micro-stutters that aren’t obvious to the naked eye. With bloom enabled, the game averaged 68fps and dropped to 60fps during outdoor combat or particle explosions.

At medium, on our budget build, Spider-Man Remastered PC manages to shell out 80fps maximum, while maintaining a smooth 64fps performance on average. Meanwhile, mingling with crowds or swinging past towers plummeted the framerate to 50. Understandable, given the sheer volume of artefacts it needs to process in a short interval.

Shifting to High preset, elements like lens flare and depth-of-field became prominent, with freeform traversal appearing janky, dipping to 30fps at one point. Still playable, but inconsistent when compared to other metrics in this preset. Standard gameplay averaged 52fps with highs of 70fps (interior segments). During a lengthy wave-type combat segment in Spider-Man Remastered involving guns, rocket launchers, and shock batons, the lowest recorded framerate was 40fps. There’s no discernible slowdown, but some camera smoothening could have helped.

With similar PC specs, if consistent frames is your goal, go for the Medium preset with Spider-Man Remastered. Push for High if you don’t mind some dips at random.

But it wasn’t until I hit the Very High preset — where Spider-Man Remastered averages 47fps with constant slips to the 33fps region — that it made for an unpleasant gameplay experience.

According to the official spec sheet, running Spider-Man Remastered on these settings demands an Nvidia RTX 3070 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT GPU. Even if you aren’t into ray-tracing, 8GB VRAM is necessary to get satisfying results, with added benefits of DLSS. As mentioned earlier, the settings menu doesn’t offer a threshold indication, thereby forcing players to go look up the requirements online.

Should you buy Spider-Man Remastered on PC?

When compared to past PlayStation ports such as Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone, Marvel’s Spider-Man (Remastered) is in a much better technical state. It’s quite forgiving on both performance and visual ends, allowing players to run the game on old-gen hardware, dating back to the GTX 950 days.

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When compared to past PlayStation to PC ports, Spider-Man Remastered is in a much better technical state
Photo Credit: Sony/Insomniac Games

The performance issues I encountered, although uneven, didn’t shatter the immersion for me, and it manages to run like a charm on a tight, budget-build system. Bear in mind, this review isn’t even based on…

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