The primary antagonist of the Moon Knight series is Arthur Harrow, the ruthless cult leader and former Avatar of Khonshu played by Ethan Hawke. However, Harrow has only ever appeared in a single issue of the comics back in 1985. In truth, Moon Knight’s greatest foe in the original comics is none other than Khonshu himself.

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But to understand why Khonshu is such an antagonistic force in the comics — and the implications this carries for the MCU Moon Knight series — we must first take a look at Khonshu’s shifting role throughout the history of the Moon Knight comics. For starters, fans of the MCU series may be surprised to learn that Khonshu was an incredibly minor presence in the original Moon Knight comics by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz.

In fact, Khonshu wasn’t even an active character within the story: he only appeared in the form of a lifeless statue, which Marc Spector believed was responsible for bringing him back to life after dying in Egypt. Marc claims that Khonshu saved him so that he could deliver vengeance to the wicked as Moon Knight, but his visions of Khonshu are never actually shown to the reader, implying that they’re nothing more than hallucinations.

But while the question of whether Khonshu was real would continue to linger over the comic for decades to come, later writers would make him a much more active presence in the story regardless. In the 2006 storyline “The Bottom”, written by Charlie Huston and drawn by David Finch, Khonshu appears before Marc as a cruel and bloodthirsty manipulator, urging him to use increasingly lethal methods in his quest for vengeance. But while Marc desperately tried to resist Khonshu’s influence, neither could he escape it.

In the 2014 Moon Knight run by Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey, Marc is depicted at his most isolated, having fully succumbed to Khonshu’s influence and pushed all his friends and loved ones away. In this story, Marc (or “Mr. Knight” as he calls himself) sees himself less as a person and more as an idea, a living extension of Khonshu’s will. Khonshu, to his credit, is much less hostile towards Marc in this story, but no less condescending. Nevertheless. It’s heavily implied that Marc’s isolation is a result of Khonshu’s control over him.

In the 2016 run written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Greg Smallwood, Khonsu initially appears to be a well-meaning benefactor to Marc, guiding him through a twisted New York controlled by the Egyptian god Seth and his army of monsters. However, as Marc gradually begins to reconnect with his old friends over the course of his quest, Khonshu begins to turn aggressive, berating Marc for not focusing on the mission.

In the end, it’s revealed that Seth’s invasion of New York was nothing but an illusion created by Khonshu. Out of patience with Marc’s morals holding him back, Khonshu sought to break his Avatar so thoroughly that he could possess him completely and be free to spread his own vengeance across the world. A series of flashbacks even reveals that Khonshu has been manipulating Marc from the shadows for his entire life, guiding him down the path of becoming Moon Knight. But in the end, Marc is able to defeat Khonshu and banish him from his mind, breaking free from his control at last.

As of now, the MCU’s Khonshu doesn’t seem nearly as villainous as his comic counterpart. At the end of last week’s episode, he even sacrificed himself to show Steven and Layla the way to Ammit’s tomb, becoming sealed inside a statue as a result. However, that doesn’t rule out the possibility that Khonshu could take a more antagonistic role later on after being freed from his captivity. After all, Episode 2 already established Khonshu’s callous and manipulative nature — by selecting Layla as his next Avatar, he’s forcing Marc to keep serving as Moon Knight against his will. And while he’s more fair in his view of justice than Harrow, he’s no less brutal in his pursuit of it. Additionally, it’s all but stated that Marc’s service of Khonshu caused the divide between him and Layla, or at least heavily contributed to it.

It’s entirely likely that the season won’t end with Khonshu becoming a direct antagonist to Moon Knight, and that he’ll stick around to keep manipulating Marc/Steven, just as he has in the comics. But even if Khonshu isn’t the main villain of Moon Knight Season 1, the series has already planted the seeds of Khonshu being Moon Knight’s true nemesis. After all, even if Khonshu isn’t plotting to take over the world, he’s still a constant negative force in Moon Knight’s life — and that’s one major aspect of the comics that the MCU has managed to capture quite well.

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