Jeremy Slater, the creator of Marvel’s Moon Knight TV series, revealed that early drafts of the show featured Bushman as the primary antagonist.
Speaking to ComicBook.com, Slater said that the idea he and the writing team had was to make Bushman the Avatar of a different Egyptian god, creating a direct rivalry with Marc Spector, the Avatar of Khonshu.
The two would have gone head-to-head in a battle between god-chosen warriors. Slater explained that the main reason the team dropped the idea was the unavoidable comparison to Michael B. Jordan‘s Erik Killmonger from Ryan Coogler‘s Black Panther.
Slater said, “Bushman doesn’t have superpowers. His skill is that he’s a very good mercenary. He is a great fighter, lethal with any sort of weapon, and he has tactical military training. He is incredibly smart—but all of that also describes Erik Killmonger.”
The writing team struggled to differentiate Bushman in a way that felt fresh and original. The decision to cut Bushman wasn’t due to executive changes or external pressure—it was a creative decision made internally after multiple attempts to make the character work.
Although Slater still believes that now, with more time having passed since Black Panther, Bushman could potentially be reintroduced into the MCU without the same creative challenges.
When asked about the second season of Moon Knight, Slater admitted he has “no idea” about it. He said that if a Season 2 does happen, he probably wouldn’t be involved in its development. If Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios find the right direction, story, and creative team, the character could return.
Slated said, “Oh, God, I have no idea. If we do, I probably would not be involved… Once Kevin figures out the best way to use that character, what is the right story and who are the right storytellers to bring that to life, I would be shocked if we didn’t see him again at some point.”
The cast of Moon Knight includes Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector / Moon Knight, Steven Grant / Mr. Knight, and Jake Lockley; May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly / Scarlet Scarab; Karim El Hakim and F. Murray Abraham as Khonshu; Ethan Hawke as Arthur Harrow; Ann Akinjirin as Bobbi Kennedy; David Ganly as Billy Fitzgerald; Khalid Abdalla as Selim; Gaspard Ulliel as Anton Mogart; Antonia Salib as Taweret; Fernanda Andrade as Wendy Spector; Rey Lucas as Elias Spector; Sofia Danu and Saba Mubarak as Ammit; Shaun Scott as Crawley; Lucy Thackeray as Donna; Alexander Cobb as J.B.; Díana Bermudez as Yatzil; Declan Hannigan as the avatar of Horus; Hayley Konadu as the avatar of Tefnut; Nagisa Morimoto as the avatar of Isis; Loic Mabanza as Bek; Joseph Millson as Dr. Steven Grant in Tomb Buster; Bill Bekele as Rosser; Claudio Fabian Contreras as Randall Spector; and Usama Soliman as Abdallah El-Faouly.
Moon Knight Season 1 is now streaming on Disney+.
Source: ComicBook.com
