Marvel Database
Marvel Database

History

Layla El-Faouly was born to Abdallah El-Faouly, an Egyptian archeologist who always believed that the Egyptian gods were real and hiding among humans. Once, while at a dig site, her father encountered the mercenary Bushman, who got greedy and killed all the archeologists at the scene. Marc Spector, who was working with Bushman at the time, turned against his partner, but was also shot and left to die.[4] While lying near death, Spector encountered the spirit of the Moon God Khonshu, who saved him from dying and made him his avatar, the Moon Knight.[5]

With this new chance in life, Spector tracked down Layla and tried to tell her what had happened, but was unable to gather the courage to do it.[4] As time passed, the two fell in love, got married and went on countless adventures together, with Marc also confiding in her his role as Khonshu's avatar. However, he grew afraid that Khonshu would try to recruit her as his next avatar, so he decided to get away from her and ask for a divorce.[3]

Layla called Marc several times, but never got a reply until the day Steven Grant (one of Marc's personalities) called Layla after finding a phone hidden in his apartment.[6] Layla tracked him to London and the two were reunited, but Steven didn't recognize Layla.[3] She was confused at first, but after a while, she deduced Marc had dissociative identity disorder and that Steven wasn't aware of Marc's activities. Nonetheless, the two started working together again and fought to prevent Arthur Harrow from releasing the goddess Ammit.[1][4]

Marc Spector (Earth-199999) and Layla El-Faouly (Earth-199999) from Moon Knight (TV series) Season 1 2 001

Reunion

Thanks to Steven's deep knowledge of Egyptian mythology, the pair realized Harrow was trying to find the Tomb of Alexander the Great and, despite some complicated moments (as Harrow revealed Marc's part in Layla's father's death), they still managed to get there before Harrow could. Unfortunately, he caught Marc before they could escape and killed him, much to Layla's horror.[4]

Still grieving, Layla snuck in with Harrow's followers and tried to kill him, but the goddess Taweret intervened and told her that Harrow was too powerful to stop alone and that she should try to get Khonshu to revive Marc. She also asked Layla to be her avatar, but she declined, knowing too well the cost of being an avatar. Layla managed to find Khonshu, but not before Ammit was freed. The Moon God also asked her to be his Avatar, but she once again declined, leaving him with no choice, but to help Marc come to the land of the living.[7]

Layla El-Faouly (Earth-199999) from Moon Knight (TV series) Season 1 6 001

Suited-up

In the meantime, Layla was told there weren't enough avatars to fight Ammit and Harrow, so she agreed to become Taweret's temporary avatar, the Scarlet Scarab. She joined a revived Marc in fighting Harrow and inspired a young girl while doing so, claiming to be Egypt's superhero. In the end, the duo was able to defeat Harrow thanks to the intervention of Jake Lockley (another of Marc's identities) and they performed a ritual that imprisoned Ammit once again, saving the world in the process.[7]

Notes

  • May Calamawy portrays Layla El-Faouly in the Disney+ miniseries Moon Knight.
  • Layla was conceived during the first week of pre-production for Moon Knight. According to head writer Jeremy Slater, diversity was incredibly important to the show's writers' room.[8] In contrast, Moon Knight's main love interest in the comics is a white woman named Marlene Alraune. Although not strictly an adaptation of Marlene, Layla shares another trait with her in addition to being Marc Spector's romantic interest. Instead of Marlene's father Peter being the archeologist that brought Spector to the temple where he became Moon Knight, in the show it is Layla's father Abdallah instead.
  • Layla was originally going to be named "Zayna Faoul."[8]

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Moon Knight S1E03
  2. 'Moon Knight': Episode 6 Details Log Marvel.com. Retrieved on 5 May 2022.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Moon Knight S1E02
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Moon Knight S1E04
  5. Moon Knight S1E05
  6. Moon Knight S1E01
  7. 7.0 7.1 Moon Knight S1E06
  8. 8.0 8.1 Slater, Jeremy (April 22, 2022) Jeremy Slatter on X: "It’s a great profile about the amazing May Calamawy, ... X. Archived from the original on August 28, 2024. Originally retrieved on August 28, 2024.