Written by Joy Lyn Parohinog Francisco
Oscar Isaac’s Moon Knight had considered other villains as the series writer reveals that Arthur Harrow was not the first choice.
Marvel Studios’ latest Disney Plus series Moon Knight just aired the finale and it’s such a fun watch. The first superhero in the MCU with dissociative identity disorder now has his complete series.
Some spoilers ahead so please proceed in your own accord.
Steven Grant and Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac) are personalities in one body. Initially, Spector is Egyptian God Khonshu’s avatar. He has the mission to stop Arthur Harrow from releasing another god, the goddess Ammit. This must be prevented because Ammit means to pass judgment to the world for her to rule.
Other Villains For Oscar Isaac’s Moon Knight Revealed
Image: Disney Plus
Oscar Isaac deserves an award for portraying Moon Knight. With the constant change of character from Grant to Spector and the struggles he endures in between? And a wonderful twist at the end of the finale. This is not an easy character to portray for any actor. And Oscar Isaac delivered marvelously.
Ethan Hawke is really unhinged in his own way as Arthur Harrow. He proved to be one that can deliver a frightening villain. Arthur Harrow shares the goddess Ammit’s principle of judging the soul even before the person does evil. The concept is preventive and merciless. The concept takes away the point of choice.
May Calamawy is the amazing Layla El-Faouly. Marc Spector’s estranged wife who also captures Steven’s heart. In the end she inevitably becomes an avatar herself but to her specific condition that it’s only temporary. As a temporary avatar for goddess Taweret, she helped Moon Knight capture Ammit and lock her into Harrow’s body.
While the series is entertainingly written, Executive Producer Jeremy Slater reveals that Harrow was not the original villain planned. Like what a lot of fans expected, the vigilante in the comic book that goes by the name Bushman was.
Slater says:
I mean Bushman was in my first couple versions of the script for sure, and we tried to have several different versions of him. Ultimately, I was the one to make the decision to ax Bushman. I went to Marvel and said I’m not comfortable with this, can we take him out and talk about different versions, and they were always really supportive.
Other Villains For Oscar Isaac’s Moon Knight Revealed
Image: Disney Plus
The executive producer further stated several other villains considered for the series:
And we really looked at all of the sort of classic villains. There was a couple that we talked about; Stained Glass Scarlet, and, you know, Zodiac, and different characters like that. No one really kind of fit the parameters of the story we were telling, so we were just like, ‘You know what, can we just introduce a guy, and we’ll grab a name from some’—you know, they gave me a list of [like] every villain whose ever appeared in a Moon Knight comic. I just went through and went like, ‘Arthur Harrow, that sounds like a cool villain name, let’s go with that.’
The team behind Moon Knight wrote it as a series that can stand alone. The story happens before the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. By the end of the series, Spector and Grant have an understanding and have accepted their coexistence. That they both make each other whole. But that does not cover what happens in the end.
The series is able to close this chapter for Moon Knight but it left a window open for future appearances. With the list of considered villains for this series, we are happy with what we got. Mainly because from the above list, it can mean that a separate series can be created for them. This will only give us more of Moon Knight in the future.
And who wouldn’t want that? Later gators!