It's become clear in recent weeks that a lot of ideas were on the table for Moon Knight. Inevitably, many of those - including an appearance from the Eternals and a Rama-Tut mention - failed to make the final cut, but it sounds like we also came close to seeing Dane Whitman's return in the series.
At the end of Eternals, Whitman watched as Sersi was taken from Earth by Arishem and later decided to wield the Ebony Blade...only to be warned off by Blade. That's where we left the character, and Moon Knight Head Writer Jeremy Slater has now explained scrapped plans for Kit Harington to make an appearance.
"We talked about Dane Whitman a little bit just because he works in a history museum and that could be a natural interaction," the writer tells ComicBook.com. "My feeling was if we got Kit Harington to show up and he doesn't suit up and he doesn't kick ass, as a fan I'm pissed off."
"If I see him show up I want to see him go full Black Knight. Just seeing an interaction where he walks past and goes 'Oh hey Steven,' who responds 'Oh, hey Professor Whitman!' It felt like that would be a waste of the money it would cost Kit Harington in there."
"Also, there's only so much you can do to tease those reveals before people get frustrated. There was no space in those first two episodes to have him suit up and play Black Knight in the storyline, so we ultimately decided that it didn't make sense to make this connection," Slater concluded. "But it was something we definitely talked about a couple days in the room."
This could have been a fun cameo, but Slater is right that it might have been a waste of the character. After all, fans want to see Dane suit up after that stinger, not working in the same museum as Steven Grant. It's a little odd that we've yet to see the events of Eternals referenced in a more direct way in the MCU given how long Marvel Studios was sitting on the movie, but that will hopefully change soon.
Would you have liked Moon Knight to include more cameos from the wider MCU?