SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 4 OF MOON KNIGHT IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE EPISODE DO NOT READ THIS.

Okay, so I should start this with a small disclaimer – Layla is not a Marvel Comics character, she has been made specifically for the Moon Knight tv show. But, in saying that – she does have a comic character she is based on – Marlene Alruane.

Both characters are daughters of archaeologists, both fall in love with Marc Spector and both are great fighters. The choice to create Layla and not use Marlene is probably to update the character, as Marlene had a rather sexist storyline that generally just revolved around Marc and her love for him.

But, in saying that, it does seem that both Marlene and Layla’s fathers were killed in the same way, which is what this blog post is about!

What I’m going to do is give you a rundown of what happened to Marlene’s father, and compare it to what Marc said about Layla’s father’s death in episode 4, as that seems to be the best way to go about this, so let’s get down to it, shall we?

The Comic Version

Dr Peter Arluane was an archaeologist, who led an expedition to uncover the tomb of the Pharoah Seit II. It took five years to uncover the tomb and the secret chamber inside it. The secret chamber held vast riches, and a statue of Khonshu, the Egyptian God Of Vengeance.

Word of the riches got out, attracting the attention of Raul Bushman, a mercenary and friend of Marc Spector and Jean-Paul Duchamp, and so the three set out to raid the tomb for themselves.

When they arrived, Bushman got greedy and shot Peter so he could take everything for himself. Marc tried to stop him, but Bushman shot him and nearly killed him, which lead him to become Moon Knight.

The TV Version

The TV version seems to have gone around about the same way, but there are a couple of key differences between the two.

One, we don’t know just who shot Marc – there was no mention of a name. My personal theory is that it was Arthur Harrow, that he was the partner that got greedy and shot Marc, and maybe that’s why Khonshu left him and went to Marc instead.

Two, Layla’s father, Abdallah El-Faouly, was said to have believed that the Eygptian Gods walked among humans, something Marlene’s father did not believe as far as we know.

So far, that’s all we know – I will update this comparison list as time goes on and we find out more, but what do you think? Do you think the partner was Arthur Harrow, or do you think it was someone else? Did you notice any other differences I’ve missed? Let me know in the comments!