The Marvel Cinematic Universe has introduced hundreds of Marvel's most memorable heroes and villains, and while many of its initial film and television series focused on adapting the Marvel Universe's most well-known characters, more recent installments have expanded the franchise's horizons by adapting lesser-known characters. While many of these new arrivals may not be as immediately recognizable as the initial roster of the Avengers, this has allowed the MCU to reinvent these characters in ways that might make them more appealing to fans unfamiliar with their comic counterparts, giving them a second chance at popularity.
One of the most notable examples of the MCU's ability to successfully adapt an obscure character is Arthur Harrow, the central villain of Disney's recently-released Moon Knight. Although Harrow was one of Moon Knight's least consequential villains in comics, his cinematic counterpart has already established himself as one of the franchise's most memorable villains, and that popularity could allow him to make a comeback after going over two decades without an appearance.
Making his first and only appearance in 1985's Moon Knight #2 (by Alan Zelenetz, Chris Warner, E.R. Cruz, Christie Scheele, and Joe Rosen), the comic book version of Arthur Harrow was a brilliant but unethical scientist who suffered from Trigeminal Neuralgia, a severe nerve disorder that paralyzed the right side of his face and left him in a state of constant pain. Desperate to cure himself of his condition, Harrow resorted to re-creating the horrific experiments that Nazi scientists performed in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, receiving financial support from a shadowy collective of equally-immoral scientists known as O.M.N.I.U.M. When Moon Knight and Harrow's former colleague Dr. Victoria Grail tracked the scientist to his secret laboratory within the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula, Harrow attacked them with an army of soldiers who'd been rendered immune to pain, allowing him to escape the collapsing facility completely unscathed.
At the time, Moon Knight #2 built Harrow and O.M.N.I.U.M up as the Fist of Khonshu's new archenemies, but this ended up being their only appearance in comics. While the reasons behind Harrow's sudden disappearance were never stated, the series writers likely wanted to focus on the newly-introduced supernatural element of Moon Knight's character, and Harrow's portrayal as a traditional mad scientist obsessed with "improving" the human race made him an unfitting villain for the mystical hero. On top of that, Harrow himself was a rather uninteresting villain, possessing few defining characteristics outside of his disfigured face and a twisted obsession with pain and perfection, neither of which made him a particularly appropriate foe for the mercenary turned hero.
Fortunately for Harrow, the cliff-hanger that Moon Knight #2 ended on left the possibility for a future reappearance open, and while it may have taken almost thirty years for the character to be referenced again, his reappearance and radical reinvention in the first episode of the MCU show could give the character a chance to make his return. The television version of Harrow is drastically different from his comic namesake, having been reimagined as the soft-spoken yet murderous leader of a cult that worships Ammit, a wrathful Egyptian goddess who wishes to purge the Earth of those she views as sinners. With a mystical tattoo of a scale that allows him to look into a person's past, present, and future and suck the life out of those that Ammit deems unworthy, Harrow has been set up as a subtly terrifying villain that stands out against the more openly malicious and grandiose antagonists that threaten the MCU's other heroes, and their mutual connection to Egyptian gods makes him an appropriate foil to the onscreen version of Steven Grant.
Although Harrow's appearance and personality in comics are radically different from those of the version that appears in the MCU, the popularity that the glass-footed cult leader has gained among fans could inspire Marvel Comics to allow the sadistic scientist to make a long-overdue reappearance. Thanks to the massive time gap between the present day and his last appearance, Harrow could easily have undergone experiences that altered him in ways that make him more like his televised counterpart. Not only would this make Harrow's return more surprising for his old foe, but it would also help get around the accusations that many purist comic fans have raised against characters being changed to more closely resemble their MCU counterparts for seemingly no reason. With Moon Knight having recently undergone a crisis of faith himself, a fanatical foe like Harrow could make an excellent antagonist for the Fist of Khonshu and his newly reopened Midnight Mission.
The MCU has breathed new life into many obscure marvel characters, and now may be the perfect time for one of Moon Knight's oldest foes to return. More popular than he's ever been before, Arthur Harrow may return to menace the Fist of Kohnshu once again.
Source: Trendz OH
No comments:
Post a Comment