Scarlet Scarab (El-Faouly)

Other Scarlet Scarabs

• Scarlet Scarab (Abdul)
• Scarlet Scarab (Mehemet)

Creation

Layla El-Faouly was first created for the Moon Knight TV-series inspired by the original Scarlet Scarab, Abdul Faoul. She makes her first comic book appearance in Moon Knight #25 released in July 2023.

Major Story Arcs

Operation: Mongoose

Due to an unstable reputation in Egypt, SHIELD outsourced Operation: Mongoose to The Karnak Cowboys, a team of mercenaries that Layla was apart of along with her then romantic partner, Marc Spector. They were tasked with procuring a scientist, named Dr. Christopher Bousquet, formerly of CIA's Cobra Project, a program exploring methods of mind control. Bousquet made a breakthrough in sonic mind control, and neither he or his research could end up in the wrong hands. The Karnak Cowboys cornered him in his hotel room after taking out his mind-controlled bodyguards.

They tased him and put him in the back of their car while trying to make a quick exit. However, on the outskirts of town, they were caught up with Bousquet's new employers, Hydra, following a tracker in Bousquet's tooth. Marc was able to extract the tooth and throw it from the car, but their tail was already in visual distance from their aircraft. They hovered over the car and magnetically harpooned it, allowing Hydra agent, Rutherford Winner, to grab Bousquet. With Bousquet no longer in the car, the aircraft open fired, leading to the death Layla and the disbanding of the team.

City of the Dead

After her death, Layla learned that the Egyptian myths her father studied were all true. She found herself in The Duat, the City of the Dead, where her heart was weighed on the scales of justice. While she thought her life of violence would tip the scales out of her favor, she found that her heart was actually balanced. The god, Taweret, thus offered her the chance to defend the balance in The Duat using the scarlet scarab talisman and the enchanted armor it summons. Her position as the guardian gets more complicated due to Osiris' disappearance and the scum of Duat somehow avoiding the scales of justice.

She would get her chance to look into the scandal of the scales when Moon Knight magically enters the City of the Dead looking for the soul of Khalil Nasser, a young boy he was unable to save. He had been taken hostage by the Sons of the Jackals, who were using the hearts of children to avoid the scales. Unfortunately, their leader, the Jackal Knight, revealed himself as Randall Spector, Moon Knight's dead brother, who had summoned a Legion of the Unliving made up of Moon Knight's dead rivals.

They wanted Khalil because he was the host of Osiris, just as Marc is the host of Khonshu. Layla and Marc were not enough to stop Randall, who was now the host of Anubis. Randall wanted his power for his own. Once he had it, he was too strong for Marc to take on, even with Layla's help. So, when Khalil awoke during the fight, he committed suicide, freeing Osiris' physical form to take the power back from Randall himself. In exchange, Osiris sent both Marc and Khalil back to the land of the living, but Layla seemingly stayed to continue defending The Duat. Only to be later revealed to be back with the living.

In Other Media

Moon Knight

Layla El-Faouly is an original character appearing in the Moon Knight TV-series and has since been introduced in the ongoing Marvel comics universe. She is the daughter of an archeologist who died under mysterious circumstances to which Marc Spector was a witness. She later fell in love with and married Marc, but he asked for a divorce when his dissociative identity disorder symptoms resurfaced. While seeking him out, she finds his alter ego Steve Grant instead and learns he is the masked vigilante Moon Knight. She teams up with him to take on Arthur Harrow and eventually earns her own powers as the Scarlet Scarab. She is partially inspired by Marlene Alraune and a preexisting Scarlet Scarab named Abdul Faoul. She is portrayed by actress May Calamawy.