Moon Knight's Arthur Reveal Risks Repeating MCU's Oldest Villain Cliche
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.
Related: Which Villain Has Killed The Most Characters In The MCU
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.
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
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