May Calamawy stars asLayla El-Faouly in theMarvel Cinematic Universe television seriesMoon Knight (2022), with the character becoming the Scarlet Scarab in its final episode while predating her being introduced in the comics as the third Scarlet Scarab.
According to Roy Thomas, the Scarlet Scarab, like theSilver Scarab inInfinity, Inc., was an homage to theDan Garret incarnation of theBlue Beetle "about whom I had written my second professional comics story back in 1965."[1] The creators of the Ruby Scarab were named Garret and Dann.
The first Scarlet Scarab first appeared inThe Invaders #23 (December 1977), and was created byRoy Thomas,Archie Goodwin, andFrank Robbins. The character also appeared inThe Invaders #25 (February 1978).
A third Scarlet Scarab, based on the MCU incarnation, debuted inMoon Knight (vol. 9) #25 (September 2023) from writer Jed MacKay and art by Alessandro Cappuccio, Alessandro Vitti, and Partha Pratim.[2] She appeared in the 2023Moon Knight: City of the Dead series.[3]
Abdul Faoul was a famous archaeologist duringWorld War II.[4][5] He unearthed the Ruby Scarab, an artifact that was originally created to battle theElementals, around 3500 B.C. When Dr. Faoul touched the mystical power-object, he became the Scarlet Scarab and became a champion ofEgypt during World War II.[6][7][8]
Dr. Faoul worked as a liaison between the Allied Forces and the Egyptian government, and led theHuman Torch andNamor to a recently excavated pyramid in search of the fanatic nationalist group, the Sons of the Scarab, which was actually led by Faoul.[9] He tricked the heroes into opening the vault where the fist-sized ruby was kept. As the Scarlet Scarab, he first ousted the British, and then the Nazis, from Egypt. Scarlet Scarab continued to battle criminals after the war until the ruby simply disappeared in the 1950s, .[citation needed]
Dr. Faoul had not realized that the gem's crafter, a powerful pre-dynastic Egyptian sorcerer named Garret, had placed an enchantment on it that the ruby returns to Garret's tomb whenever it had used up its stored mystical power. Faoul searches for the ruby for twenty years, not realizing it had returned to where he had found it. Eventually, the Elementals sentN'Kantu, the Living Mummy to fetch the ruby. The ruby changed hands a number of times after N'Kantu recovered it, going from theLiving Monolith, to a thief named Daniel "the Asp" Aspen, to the Elementals, and, finally, to an extra-dimensional traveler namedHecate.[10] Meanwhile, Dr. Faoul continued searching until his death. As his dying act, he requested his son Mehemet to continue his quest.[11][12]
Mehemet received from his father the strongbox he had used to store the Ruby Scarab. Inside was the costume he had worn as the Scarlet Scarab, a journal of his exploits, and a photo of the ruby. Mehemet considered it his duty to continue his father's quest, searching for years as his father had. Finally, Mehemet came to the gem's final resting place. Holding the ruby, he gained the powers of the Scarlet Scarab, and decided to become the new champion of Egypt. One of his goals was to protect the priceless ancient artifacts of Egypt. In one mission to recover some stolen artifacts, the Scarlet Scarab encounteredThor, who mistook his intentions and the two fought to a standstill.[11][13]
Layla was the daughter of a famous scholar who grew up and became a mercenary who made numerous criminal connections. She joined the Karnak Cowboys consisting ofMarc Spector, Jean-Paul Duchamp, and Dr. Robert Plesko. Layla and Marc would fall in love, gaining a reputation for arguing like a bickering couple. During a mission againstHydra, Layla lost her life, turning Marc down the path that would turn him into Moon Knight.[14] Years later, Marc as Moon Knight would journey into theDuat to the save the life a young boy named Khalil, where he encountered Layla who following her death, was judged by the GoddessTaweret. Finding that her heart evened out on her scales, Taweret turned her into Duat's champion the Scarlet Scarab. Layla and Marc teamed up to rescue Khalil from the Legion of the Unliving and Marc's brother Randall who had been transformed into theJackal Knight. Following the heroes' victory, Marc returned to the land of the living with Khalil and shared one last kiss with Layla. Unbeknownst to him however, Layla also materialized on Earth, promising to see Marc again soon.[15]
Abdul and Mehemet have superhuman strength and durability, the ability to fly at high speeds, the ability to fire concussive bursts of mystical energy, and the ability to drain the power from anyone who touches it.[16][17][18][19] Abdul needed to maintain contact with the Scarab to use its power.[20]
An original version of Scarlet Scarab,Layla El-Faouly, appears in theMarvel Cinematic Universe seriesMoon Knight, portrayed byMay Calamawy. This version is an archaeologist, adventurer, andMarc Spector's wife, as well as the daughter of an archaeologist who was murdered by one of Spector's associates.[21][22] El-Faouly's backstory is based onMarlene Alraune, Spector's wife in the comics, who was changed from white to Egyptian at the suggestion of directorMohamed Diab.[23][24][25][26] El-Faouly becomes the Scarlet Scarab in the sixth episode, "Gods and Monsters", after choosing to act as a temporary avatar of the deityTaweret.[27][28][29] Diab noted he had not connected her to that character from the comics, explaining, "Sometimes Marvel picks a name and then gives it to the character that is developed." He pointed out that at the moment, she did not receive her powers from the scarab, but ultimately felt what the character represented was more important than her name.[29] The character was later adapted into the comics.
In 2022,Funko released a Layla El-Faouly / Scarlet ScarabFunko Pop figure inspired by the MCU incarnation of the character.[30][31]
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