Who Was Marc's CO Bushman From Moon Knight Episode 5?
Contains spoilers for "Moon Knight" Episode 5, "Asylum."
"Moon Knight" Episode 5 has finally arrived on Disney+ following the painstaking week-long wait after the cliffhanger of Episode 4, which saw Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac) and Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) locked up in a mental institution. Not only was it implied that everything that's happened in the series so far is a figment of Marc's imagination, but the two personalities also come face-to-face with a giant, anthropomorphic hippopotamus called Taweret (Antonia Salib).
Thankfully, Episode 5 clears up a lot of the confusion, as it takes the time to explain that Marc and Steven are in the Duat. It's the Egyptian underworld where souls are judged to see whether they end up in the Field of Reeds, aka a peaceful paradise, or if they should be left in the eternal sands of the Duat. But because Marc and Steven's souls are unbalanced, they have to take a trip through Marc's memories to try and resolve the issues between them. Thankfully, this explains a little more about what happened to Marc before the series starts, and it even confirms that he made Steven up when he was a child to cope with the trauma of being beaten by his mother (Fernanda Andrade).
It's an incredibly emotional episode, as Marc struggles to relive the painful memories of his past. The episode even gives fans a comic accurate origin for the vigilante. At one point, Marc explains that he became a mercenary after leaving the military due to his dissociative identity disorder, and he worked for his commanding officer, Bushman. But who is Bushman, and why is he so important?
Raul Bushman is Moon Knight's archnemesis
Marvel Comic fans will instantly recognize Raul Bushman's name because he's Moon Knight's archnemesis and he plays a vital role in the hero's origin. Bushman doesn't have any superpowers, but he does have metal teeth and a scary face tattoo. Nice. Before Marc became Moon Knight, he worked alongside Bushman and Duchamp as mercenaries in Sudan. During their time in the desert, they met Dr. Peter Alraune and his daughter Marlene Alraune, who had discovered some Egyptian gold. Unfortunately, Bushman's greed gets the better of him, and he kills the doctor so he can take the gold for himself. But when Marc defends Marlene, Bushman responds by gunning the hero down and leaving him for dead. It isn't long before Marc crawls into a temple and meets the god Khonshu, who grants him new life and enhanced abilities as Moon Knight (via Marvel Database).
Because of this, Bushman truly believes that he's the reason Marc becomes a superhero, not Khonshu. But the most iconic moment for Bushman arguably comes in 2006's "Moon Knight" #2 by Charlie Huston. It's here that Moon Knight decides to put an end to Bushman once and for all. It's a very dark series as a whole, as Marc looks back on his life and realizes that his crusade for justice has turned him into something ugly. The second issue shows Moon Knight deciding that Bushman has caused enough pain over the years, and that if he doesn't kill him now, they'll just keep fighting forever. But to really make a point, Marc cuts Bushman's face off with one of his crescent moon darts ... Yeah, that's probably not going to make it into the Disney+ series.
That being said, it wouldn't be surprising if Bushman shows up at some point in the future.