Marvel breaks the American superhero stereotype with Moon Knight’s Egyptian mythology

Marvel has been exploring its heroes based on mythology for a long time. The most notable is the Norse mythology which inspired many superheroes and villains like Thor, Loki, Hela, Heimdall, and so on.

Marvel recently included the TV series Moon Knight in its cinematic universe as phase four, which is mainly inspired by Egyptian mythology.

The audience gets to see the Moon Knight in action as the avatar of Moon God Khonshu and the psychological turmoil of the man behind the alter ego, Marc Spector.

At first, Steven Grant, a happy-go-lucky British person who works at a museum gift shop, is introduced. He has a sleepwalking condition, which prompts him to tie himself to bed when sleeping.

But in reality, he is an alter ego of Marc, a ruthless American gun-for-hire serving Khonshu while suffering from a dissociative identity disorder.

Marc left his wife Layla for her safety to do the bidding of his Egyptian lunar god by stopping the avatar of rival goddess Ammit, a cult leader named Arthur Harrow.

Although Ammit and Khonshu have the same goal of to exact vengeance on the evil, they have different ways of approaching it.

Ammit takes the lives of evil people before they do anything evil, but Khonshu chooses to take lives after they did something wrong. This created a rift between them which eventually affected other Egyptian gods enough to intervene.

Ammit’s avatar Arthur Harrow seeks to free his incarcerated goddess while Marc seeks to stop him in his action.

The show isn’t only about the feud between gods, it also explores the psych of Marc. His disorder isn’t a sudden problem, instead, it results from his way of coping with continuous childhood abuses.

The lunar deity takes advantage of his troubled mental state, manipulating him to be the first of him and even controlling Marc’s third personality when he promised to leave him alone. Even though he is a god, Khonshu is manipulative to the end.

Layla makes a vital contribution to the story. Initially, she is seen as a worrying wife of Marc. But as the story progresses, she is turned out to be a Lara Croft-esque character who aids Marc in his fight against Harrow as his better half, even taking up the mantle of Scarlet Scarab, an Egyptian superhero.

Oscar Isaac plays the role of Marc Spector, aka Moon Knight, perfectly. His switching between Marc's complex personality comfortably proves his artistic talent.

Oscar carried most of the burden of this show as he portrayed the supernatural hero with a scrambled mental state. The performance of Ethan Hawke makes him a great antagonist, often attempting the reverse actions of Marc.

Mohammad Diab and Jeremy Slater masterfully depicted Moon Knight as the director and creator of the show. Diab’s initiatives created diversity in the MCU by including an Egyptian superhero, breaking the stereotypes of American superheroes.

Although there is no announcement for the second season yet, the questions by the fans after the mysterious post-credit of the finale might prompt the directors for a second installment.

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