Marvel Cut Moon Knight’s Romance With Another MCU Hero

Moon Knight only has one episode left, and fans are eager to find out how things will wrap up for Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac) and his other selves. The show also features May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly, who was revealed to be Marc’s wife. Their marriage is a bit rocky at the moment, and things got more complicated when Layla kissed Marc’s other self, Steven Grant. Layla is a new romantic interest created for the series, in fact, Marc was almost paired up with another Marvel hero. Moon Knight head writer/executive producer Jeremy Slater recently appeared on the House of R podcast and revealed the MCU almost included a romance between Moon Knight and Echo/Maya Lopez, the character played by Alaqua Cox on Hawkeye who will soon be getting her own spin-off. 

“At the time, Echo was going to be our love interest, solely based on the fact that they knew Marvel liked the character of Echo and was trying to find a show to put her in,” Slater revealed. While Echo was one of Marc’s love interests in the comics, “she didn’t work at all for the story we were telling,” Slater explained.

Slater added of Marvel, “They were like, ‘You know what, we’ve got this Hawkeye show and we feel like she would fit in a lot better there … and we were like, ‘Oh, thank God.’”

While we would love to see Echo and Moon Knight interact at some point, forcing them into a romance would have been a weird call. 

Moon Knight continues to be a big hit with audiences and critics alike. Currently, the new series is up on Rotten Tomatoes with an 87% critics score and a 93% audience score. ComicBook.com‘s Adam Barnhardt gave the show’s premiere a 5 out of 5 and called it Marvel’s “strongest.” 

As for Echo, the new series went into production in April. Last year, Cox shared a casting search for two roles: “Jessica” and “Iris.” For “Jessica,” casting director Sarah Finn sought an actor who is “female, 15-18 years old, Native American or Latinx, Deaf.” The character is fluent in American Sign Language and is described as “strong, fiercely independent and unwavering.” For the role of “Iris,” described as “warm and nurturing,” Finn looked to audition a Deaf Native American or Latinx actress in her late 20s or early 30s. 

The finale of Moon Knight drops on Disney+ on Wednesday, May 4th.