As the Marvel Cinematic Universe unravels more and more, we are seeing a very different breed of superhero movies. Long gone are the days where a hero faces the villain, saves the day, and gets the girl. Superheroes are getting more complex. They are being shown as flawed and imperfect creatures. The MCU is constantly reinventing its protagonists to keep itself relevant. But they may have missed the mark in the villains section. Take for example the new Moon Knight Villain. The Moon Knight villain has a similarity that stretches across many Marvel big bad wolves, all the way back to Loki in The Avengers (2012).
SPOILERS AHEAD FOR MOON KNIGHT EPISODE 1 & 2……………………
Who is The Moon Knight Villain?
Ethan Hawke is perhaps the greatest find for the MCU after Oscar Isaac. The actor’s silent, menacing aura completely lights up the screen. He is firm, sincere, and actually believes in what he is doing. In the show, Arthur Harrow is revealed to be an apostle for the ancient Egyptian deity of Ammit. He is leading his followers to a world where there’s no ill will, no bad people. Everyone who can and will ever commit a crime will be judged by Ammit and only a ‘chosen few’ survive in this new eden.
At first glance, it looks like Ethan Hawke’s Harrow is the real deal. He is a cult leader who is trying to usher in a new age for humanity. Arthur Harrow though, has a goal that has been done and dusted a million times in the MCU already. The Moon Knight villain is not a fleshed out character. In fact his goals of realizing an ideal utopian world for all people has already been done before. And the first one to start that trend was Loki in 2012’s The Avengers.
Arthur Harrow & 2012’s Loki Are Both Utopian Idealists Who Believed Free Will is a Myth
In 2012’s The Avengers, Loki descended upon Earth (aka Midgard) with a clear goal in mind. He wanted to conquer the planet and rule all mankind. Because according to him, humanity had made way too many errors in the past. We should never be trusted with the sanctity of the whole planet (Not that we blame him).
Loki’s reasoning was simple – ‘We are made to be ruled.’ According to him, men like to be told what to do. As long as we have a higher authority guiding us into our future, we cannot go wrong. It was this logic that led him to invade and lay waste to New York with his formidable Chitauri army.
It’s been ten years since Loki fought the Avengers. Now in 2022, we see Arthur Harrow trying to do the very same thing. Ammit is the Egyptian God of Justice who judges all souls before they pass on to the Field of Reeds – the Egyptian afterlife. Ammit and his apostle – Arthur Harrow are basically trying to prune free will off of humanity. In Moon Knight episode 2, the Moon Knight villain is heard saying this:
“Had Ammit been free, she would’ve prevented Hitler and the destruction he wrought.”
But Harrow’s idea of ‘prevention’ is too primal. For him, only death is the solution. Instead of helping the wicked see the error of their ways and show them another path to choose, the new Moon Knight villain intends to create a utopia by eliminating the element of choice.
The New Moon Knight Villain Continues The Same Repetitive MCU Villain Trend
No more do we see villains that have simpler, more tyrannic goals. No one wants to rule the world for the heck of it. We are not saying a layered and complicated villain is a bad thing. But by taking out the possibility of creating simpler antagonists and blurring the line between hero and villain, the MCu is spitting on the same legacy that helped it get here in the first place.
