Warning: Contains spoilers for Moon Knight episode 2

The reveal of Arthur Harrow’s past in Moon Knight episode 2 suggests the series could be repeating the oldest cliche in the MCU: the villain having the same power set as the hero. With Moon Knight only being a third of the way through its run, there’s no way of telling yet what direction the series will go in with its story and characters. Episode 2, however, hints that an overused dynamic within the MCU could be in the works — and the show could be the worse for it.

Since the early days of the MCU, the villains have often been criticized for being underdeveloped and uninteresting compared to the main characters. One common factor that feeds into this criticism is the tendency for MCU villains to have the same powers as the heroes. The first instance of this was the Iron Monger in Iron Man, followed by Abomination in The Incredible Hulk. Other examples include Yellowjacket in Ant-Man and, rather egregiously, Killmonger at the very end of Black Panther.

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Moon Knight runs the risk of having the same problem with the reveal of Arthur Harrow’s past. In episode 2 of the series, Arthur reveals to Steven that he was the avatar of Khonshu before him, until he got tired of Khonshu’s reactionary form of justice. The reveal sets up both Arthur being a foil to Steven and Marc and the possibility of him being yet another MCU villain to have the same powers as the hero.

MCU Different Moon Knight Before Phase 4 Arthur Harrow SR

The MCU's villain problem where they have the same powers as the hero makes for less appealing fights because the characters are just using the same techniques on each other. It also makes the villain less interesting because they appear to be nothing more than an evil copy of the hero with no unique qualities or abilities of their own. Arthur being a former avatar of Khonshu raises the chances of a rehash of the cliche because of how easy it is for the show to give him the same powers as Steven and Marc, and even if their fight ends up entertaining, that point would still bring it down a notch.

There’s an established precedent in the Moon Knight comics for this, as well, with Moon Knight having several enemies who can be viewed as evil versions of him. They include Shadow Knight, Black Spectre, the Sun King, and, most recently, Hunter’s Moon, the left hand of Khonshu. Arthur already takes cues from the Sun King for being a cult leader tied to an Egyptian God, though he is tied to Ammit instead of Ra. Being a former avatar of Khonshu also relates to Hunter’s Moon, so it would be easy for the show to go a step further with that and give him the same powers as Steven and Marc to fully sell him as a foil — especially when Arthur is an extremely minor character from the comics.

If Arthur does end up with the same powers as Steven and Marc, though, it would ultimately make him a far less interesting antagonist, as the things he could do against them would be limited by his being a copy of the hero. Granted, Moon Knight has already given Arthur a unique power set through the Staff of Ammit and his command of the jackals, but there’s no guarantee that he’ll stick with those as the show goes on. It’s too early to know what direction the show will go in with his character, so with any luck, it won’t settle on that usual MCU cliche.

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Moon Knight releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.

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