Another original MCU character is about to make her debut in Marvel Universe comics as Layla El-Faouly will soon appear as a new iteration of Scarlet Scarab in a pair of upcoming Moon Knight stories.
The Scarlet Scarab name goes back to the '70s in the comics, where Abdul Faoul first appeared first appeared with the mantle as an ally to the Axis powers. He eventually rejected the Nazis and much later passed the Ruby Scarab that granted his powers onto his son Mehemet, who briefly fought Thor as he attempted to take Egyptian artifacts from a museum and return them to his home country.
"Bringing Layla El-Faouly into our story was exciting," McKay told IGN. "Adding an already beloved character into the universe of the comics is a really interesting opportunity, and being able to show the 'before' to David and Marcelo's 'after' was a wonderful bit of synchronicity. It was an idea that we both came to independently, and the way our stories were able to dovetail is something that I'm looking forward to people experiencing. While the Scarlet Scarab will indeed be turning up in Moon Knight: City of the Dead, in Moon Knight #25 we're seeing a much younger Layla and a much younger Marc Spector as they embark on a mission as members of the crack mercenary team, the Karnak Cowboys."
Pepose added that "I couldn't be more excited to be writing Layla El-Faouly's debut as the all-new Scarlet Scarab! Layla has been such a fun character to adapt - she knows Marc better than almost anyone, and that tension is going to spark some spectacular fireworks on this otherworldly adventure."
Maybe it's time to bone up on Moon Knight's comic history, too.
