Moon Knight‘s finale has introduced us to a new hero, Scarlet Scarab. Layla El-Faouly, who is played by the wonderful May Calawamy, becomes the Avatar of the Egyptian goddess Taweret. Her new heroic alter-ego is strongly inspired by the name her father gave to her, we get introduced to the MCU’s first Egyptian superhero. While the series remained focused on its main hero, it left a lot of questions open on what exactly the future has in store for Layla moving forward. There actually is a storyline that could be used to continue her own story in a Disney+ spinoff.
Some may complain that too many characters are getting their own series, which is understandable given the surprising announcement for Echo and Agatha: House of Harkness. Yet, that’s the potential behind Disney+ to give smaller characters their potential to explore stories that would otherwise be relegated to off-screen. Plus, it gives new creatives and talents to tell a story that otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to. While Mohamed Diab pointed out he’d love to tackle a Moon Knight film next, I do believe there’s a lot here that he could build upon to further explore Scarlet Scarab’s place in the bigger MCU.
The Egyptian pantheon has lost its control, as their Avatars have been killed by Arthur Harrow’s hands to unleash Ammit. While they manage to subjugate him and God, their actions still left behind quite a dangerous power vacuum. They no longer have any Avatars to keep an eye on Earth, and the fact that they literally fell for Harrow’s mischief might have left a rather sour taste in their mouths. That’s not all though, we’ve seen quite a few gods were trapped in a similar way to Khonshu, and with the destruction of their holy place, who knows what may have found its way out of its imprisonment.
There are many moving pieces at play that could put Layla at a rather questionable place, as she was quite reluctant to even become an Avatar, it opens her up to facing an unlikely challenge. The desire to simply give it all back isn’t as simple, something we’ve clearly seen with Khonshu’s hold over Marc Spector. While Taweret isn’t shown to be someone that is self-centered, she may be desperate to somehow keep order with them being the only remaining Avatar for the Egyptian pantheon–not knowing that Khonshu still holding a grip over Marc through another alter.
A conflict of duty and freedom may create a rift between Layla and Taweret, as she becomes unwillingly pulled into a role she never asked for. Her line with the little girl about being an Egyptian superhero had a much bigger weight on her future than she may have bargained for. Yet, it may also help her find a place in the world that she wouldn’t have considered, while also getting a chance of closure with her father, especially as Taweret teased she had talked to him.
Diab’s work in Moon Knight gave us glimpses of the beauty of Egypt, which felt like we’ve only scratched the surface. As Spector returned to London, it would be a shame not to further explore the country and its culture through the eyes of Layla. As great as Marc Spector’s time in that country was, he has a very different connection to it. He was more a gateway than a full embrace, which gave us Layla’s transformation into the Scarlet Scarab, perfectly setting her up as the person to further explore that corner of the MCU.
