In another corner of the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse, on a world not unlike our own, they’re watching a very different Moon Knight TV series — one where mercenary-cum-museum gift shop assistant Marc Spector/Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) isn’t romancing Layla El-Faouly (May Calamawy) or fighting Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke). And we almost saw it, too.
In the latest episode of The Ringer’s pop culture podcast House of R (via Radio Times), Moon Knight head writer and executive producer Jeremy Slater discussed some of the original plans for the TV series, which involved two very different Marvel characters: Echo was set to be Moon Knight’s romantic lead, while the hero’s more iconic (relatively speaking) villain Bushman, who was the mercenary that killed Layla’s father and left Mark for dead, would have been the antagonist.
Echo, of course, ended up staring in the Hawkeye TV series instead, played by Alaqua Cox, which was apparently to Slater’s immense relief: “At the time, Echo was [going] to be our love interest, solely based on the fact that they knew Marvel liked the character of Echo and was trying to find a show to put her in… [But] she didn’t work at all for the story we were telling. [Marvel] were like, ‘You know what, we’ve got this Hawkeye show and we feel like she would fit in a lot better there…,’ and we were like, ‘Oh, thank God.’”
Although Moon Knight and Echo had a brief relationship of sorts in the comics, Echo, a.k.a. Maya Lopez, is far more affiliated with the heroes Daredevil and Hawkeye. While I suppose Marvel Studios could have waited to introduce her until they figured out their plans for Daredevil, clearly they wanted to bring her in much earlier than that. Since Maya held the Ronin mantle in the comics, it certainly makes more sense to have her be a part of a TV series about the consequences of Hawkeye’s brief stint as the vengeful vigilante after the events of Infinity War.
As for Bushman, well, he’s another evil mercenary in the vein of Black Panther’s Killmonger and Ulysses Klaw, and thus far less interesting than the TV series’ take on Harrow as an ex-avatar of Khonshu and murderous new age guru. So really, I think we got the better of the two Moon Knight TV series. Suck it, alternate universe.
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Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.