In Moon Knight, truly good guys are few and far between. Here's why Ethan Hawke stands out as the cult leader Arthur Harrow.

Spoiler Warning: Moon Knight Season One

2022's Moon Knight, the recently released miniseries found exclusively on Disney+, stands out amidst the various Marvel properties that mark the modern media landscape due to its emotional weight and vicious violence. Marvel properties are often inclined towards more family-friendly fare, but Moon Knight bucks this trend and has been met with critical acclaim for its audacious attempt at adultifying the often overly saccharine superhero show.

On a program with morales as murky as Moon Knight, villains often have the opportunity to move beyond the role of a simple foe. In his turn as Moon Knight's primary antagonist, cult leader Arthur Harrow, Ethan Hawke shows an incredible spectrum of emotion while similarly letting shine every ounce of his acting ability. Hawke's Arthur Harrow undoubtedly stands out among the already impressive Moon Knight cast. Here are some of the reasons why.

In the opening scene of Moon Knight, audiences watch with bated breath as Ethan Hawke's Arthur Harrow slowly drinks a glass of water, sets it on the table before him, wraps it delicately in a towel, and smashes the glass, then slowly dumps the shards into his slippers. Then, Arthur Harrow gets to stepping, and the sound of cutting crunches makes audiences cringe.

This opening scene sets up a lot in terms of Harrow's complexity. That horrific crunch of glass shards against bare feet sticks fast to the minds of Moon Knight audiences. This uncomfortably is furthered by the physical acting prowess of Ethan Hawke, who leans gingerly on his cane throughout the shows run, and gives audiences the occasional wince to remind them of the constant pain.

RELATED: Moon Knight’s Arthur Harrow vs. Thanos: How Do the MCU Villains Compare?

Perhaps more importantly, the glass slippers allow audiences to sympathize with Hawke's Arthur Harrow, as the character is clearly seeking to humble himself to better serve Ammit.

At the end of the day, it's not entirely clear who the real villain of Moon Knight is. For instance, Oscar Isaac's Marc Specter is forced in the servitude of the god Khonshu on his deathbed. Similarly, May Calamawy's Layla El-Faouly finds herself working as Taweret's avatar to avoid almost certain death. Though Marc Specter and Khonshu are established as the show's protagonists, Khonshu's fickle personality and periodic outbursts are far from morally sound.

In a show with this level of moral complexity, it takes a talented actor to encapsulate the full range of emotion that comes with a sympathetic antihero. Ethan Hawke, as Arthur Harrow, delivers the necessary emotion and more to the point where audiences can almost support him and his association with Ammit, despite the trail of bodies he has left in his wake, preferring Harrow's utopian ideals over Khonshu's murky morality.

In Moon Knight, many characters find themselves in close proximity to Egyptian gods and goddesses. Oscar Isaac's Marc Specter is the human avatar for moon god Khonshu. May Calamawy's Layla El-Faouly serves in a similar role as the Scarlet Scarab, the personification of the hippo-headed Taweret. Ethan Hawke's Arthur Harrow, though he served as Khonshu avatar prior to Isaac's Specter, is currently similarly aligned with the goddess Ammit. This association brings an entirely new level to his character's depth.

Though presented as a threat to the world at large, in the actuality of Egyptology, Ammit was essential to the process of life. However, her destructive doings terrified the average Egyptian. When souls were judged in the afterlife, their hearts weighed against the feather of Ma'at, goddess of truth. Those who failed to pass this worrisome weighing had their hearts quickly gulped down by the crocodile-headed Ammit, and their souls were lost to the less desirable quarters of the underworld.

RELATED: Moon Knight: Who Are the Other Gods Introduced in the Series?

Without an actor as undeniably talented as Ethan Hawke, Arthur Harrow's service of goddess Ammit would lack the appropriate emotional depth, and Moon Knight audiences would be unable to grapple with the moral ambiguities implicit in immortals. Hawke forces viewers to weigh the respective goals of the different Egyptian gods and goddesses.

Moon Knight is undoubtedly a masterpiece. Audiences worldwide are racked with anticipation for a potential season two, and leaving this eccentric exploration of Egyptology unfinished after season one's cliffhanger ending would be a sin that would make even the most devious of deities spin in their respective sarcophagi.

Unfortunately, in a mid-credits scene of Moon Knight's final episode, Ethan Hawke's Arthur Harrow is killed by one of Marc Specter's myriad identities, the lesser seen and profoundly punitive Jake Lockley. While this may be bad news for those who found Hawke's villain among the most compelling character on Moon Knight, fear not; in a world of gods and magic, no one is ever truly dead.

Nicholas Johnson is full time cool guy and part time freelance article writer. He has four rescue animals, two dogs, two cats, and no, he doesn't think that makes him better than you.