The Moon Knight Villain Theory That Has MCU Fans Looking Twice At Arthur Harrow

Warning: Spoilers for Episode 3 of "Moon Knight" ahead.

In the Disney+ series "Moon Knight," Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) is a fanatic who believes that he can make the world a better place through bloodshed. As the former avatar of Khonshu (F. Murray Abraham), Harrow feels incredible sorrow about the acts he committed in service to the rogue Moon God. From what viewers have been informed about Harrow's past so far — which is very different from the comics, and thus far only told by Harrow himself — it seems that his time serving Khonshu led him to become the patron of another Egyptian God, Ammit, and his belief in justice has become warped to the point of trying to preemptively kill "evil" people before they get a chance to commit said acts.

In Harrow's eyes, these early strikes will make the world a better place, and through the powers given to him by Ammit, allow him to create a perfect utopia free of violence. The price of this heaven comes with the steep human cost of slaughter on a global stage, but one that Harrow seems absolutely focused on achieving. Harrow uses guile, charisma, and deception to manipulate the other Avatars of Egyptian Gods, while also amassing an army of followers who believe in his vision of the future. 

However, it seems like some viewers have an interesting theory regarding the antagonist from "Moon Knight," and one that has surely been heard before by die-hard Marvel fans.

This particular theory was first launched by Reddit user Opposite-Smell-6629, who speculates that Harrow is in fact the famous Marvel villain Mephisto. Some of their reasoning: Harrow always wears red, is brilliantly duplicitous, and his cane — rather than depicted a crocodile, the animal Ammit is known for — is modeled after snakes.

This is not the first time Mephisto is thought to be involved with an MCU property, to say the least. 

Previously, Mephisto — that's the Marvel version of the Devil, who is most commonly associated with characters like Ghost Rider — was speculated to appear in both "Loki" and "WandaVision" (via Insider). This fact was not lost on some members of Reddit, with u/Kaoshosh saying, "Lol. Another Mephisto theory. It's never gonna be Mephisto. Never." This sentiment was shared by fellow Reddit user Danishroyalty, who replied, "When Mephisto is finally introduced, no one is gonna believe it. The fandom who cried Mephisto."

However, not all were in total disagreement. Reddit user KevinAnniPadda stated that while they didn't necessarily buy the idea that Harrow was Mephisto, they did think there was a big twist coming — indeed, perhaps about him being someone else — sometime in the next few episodes. Other users, for instance, speculated that he might be Anubis, which would be a far more natural fit for the Egyptian mythology themes at play here. That said, while Moon Knight and Mephisto definitely aren't regular sparring partners, they have occasionally crossed paths in the comics (per ComicBook.com). 

Either way, it seems like the Marvel fandom is not yet done with tenuous and wild Mephisto speculation.