Layla El-Faouly, the character played by May Calamawy in the Disney+ show Moon Knight, will make her comic book debut in Moon Knight #25, with her costumed identity, the Scarlet Scarab, soon to follow.
The character will be shown in flashbacks as a member of the Karnak Cowboys, a mercenary group that Marc Specter was a part of. The character will then make her superhero debut in Moon Knight: City of the Dead, a new miniseries by David Pepose and Marcelo Ferreira.
Jed MacKay, writer of Moon Knight, said that the character will debut in one of three stories that will appear in Moon Knight #25, an oversized issue featuring art by Alessandro Cappuccio, Alessandro Vitti and Partha Pratim.
“Working on Moon Knight #25 was a bit of a mammoth task… 70 pages of story, cutting between three stories, each with their own artist,” Jed MacKay told IGN. “It was a really exciting opportunity to have that much space to work in, telling a Moon Knight story in a longer form than we’re usually used to.”
Here’s the description of both the anniversary issue and the new miniserie from Marvel:
In the upcoming issue, Moon Knight’s past and present collide! The past comes back to bedevil Moon Knight as he pursues his latest enemy, someone once familiar and new. From grim New York nights to the blazing sun of Alexandria days, Moon Knight hunts for answers among the graves of Hart Island while haunted by the last mission of the Karnak Cowboys, a mercenary crew counting among its members Marc Spector, Jean-Paul Duchamp, Robert Plesko… and the official comic book debut of Layla El-Faouly! The issue also includes a classic Moon Knight story from the past by legendary comic writer Doug Moench and Eisner-winning, Emmy-nominated artist Bill Sienkiewicz.
Then, following the events of MOON KNIGHT #25, Marc Spector is taken on his most harrowing adventure yet! Written by David Pepose with art by Marcelo Ferreira, MOON KNIGHT: CITY OF THE DEAD features Layla El-Faouly’s super hero debut as the all-new Scarlet Scarab! When a young runaway is attacked by a gang of death cultists, he is left barely alive outside the Midnight Mission. But Marc Spector made a vow long ago to defend the travelers of the night…and as long as a spark of life remains, his mission isn’t over yet. Follow Moon Knight as the Fist of Khonshu journeys far beyond the land of the living—and battles across the mind-bending underworld known as the City of the Dead!
“… as a mercenary and as a hero, Moon Knight has been no stranger to leaving a body count… so he might see some familiar faces looking for payback!” Pepose said. “But Marc won’t be embarking on this mission alone… I couldn’t be more excited to be writing Layla El-Faouly’s debut as the all-new Scarlet Scarab! Layla has been such a fun character to adapt—she knows Marc better than almost anyone, and that tension is going to spark some spectacular fireworks on this otherworldly adventure.”
It’s not the first time the Scarlet Scarab has been used in comics; the Invaders encountered a Scarlet Scarab on a mission to Egypt, and that character’s son took up the mantle and appeared in an issue of Thor. Whether this new Scarlet Scarab will have any ties to them remains to be seen.
Both Moon Knight #25 and Moon Knight: City of the Dead #1 (of five) will arrive in July.