Moon Knight Hid a Series of Secret Messages Through QR Codes

When Moon Knight first premiered on Disney+ in March, eagle-eyed viewers took notice of a series of QR codes hidden in the background of scenes. The codes, which can be seen in the first, second, and fifth episodes of the show, send viewers to a website with a free, weekly web comic featuring the Moon Knight character from his first appearance in 1975 to the most recent issue in 2019. According to Disney, more than 1.5 milion people acccessed the web page via the QR code.

In an interview with Variety, Moon Knight executive producer Grant Curtis said that because Moon Knight was the first MCU series without any legacy characters, he wanted to educate viewers on the character's comic book history, and he wanted to show to be somewhat interactive.

“It was a way to introduce a character to most of the population that would not have had the chance to read those issues otherwise,” Curtis said. “It was really trying to show the true tapestry that is Moon Knight throughout the ages.”

In one Moon Knight scene, for instance, the character Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac), who works in a London museum, enters a storage locker with QR codes on the door. Viewers are then able to scan that code using their phones and visit the corresponding web comic page.

“If we did organically incorporate QR codes into the environment — and if we didn’t make it gimmicky, and if we didn’t overdo it — you can seamlessly thread that in there,” Curtis said.

Curtis also said it was important to him to only place QR codes where people would naturally find them, so there are no codes in episodes three, four, and six because those take place in ancient ruins and catacombs, where QR codes wouldn't be located.

All episodes of Moon Knight are streaming now on Disney+.

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Deena ElGenaidi's writing has been featured in Nylon, MTV News, Insider, The AV Club, and more. You can follow her on Twitter @deenaelg.