Oscar Isaac might be Marvel's Moon Knight on Disney+

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Oscar Isaac might be Marvel's Moon Knight on Disney+
Oscar Isaac Photo: Richard Harbaugh – Handout/A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images

If you’re on the streets of New York in the Marvel universe, you don’t want to get roughed by Luke Cage because he’ll make you feel bad about hurting the community, you don’t want to get webbed up by Spider-Man because he’ll talk your ear off with bad jokes, and you don’t want to get beat up by Daredevil because there’s a good chance you’ll never walk again (he’s gotta have something to confess, good Catholic boy that he is). You especially don’t want to cross paths with Moon Knight, though, because the whole thing is just going to be confusing.

Variety says Oscar Isaac is currently in talks to play Moon Knight in his own Disney+ series, though, so let’s get into it: The traditional version of Moon Knight is a guy named Marc Spector, a former mercenary who stumbled onto an archaeological dig in Egypt and was murdered at the feet of a statue of Khonshu, the Egyptian moon god. Luckily, as Spector died, Khonshu appeared to him in a vision and agreed to bring him back to life on the condition that Spector will serve as his avatar on Earth—which Spector naturally took to mean “put on a costume and fight crime.” But wait, there’s more! Moon Knight also has multiple personalities and suffers from dissociative identity disorder, with Moon Knight the superhero being one personality and Marc Spector the former mercenary being another, along with a millionaire playboy, a blue-collar taxi driver, a second crimefighter persona called Mr. Knight, and various interpretations of other Marvel heroes that can guide him and give him advice. So he’s like Batman, but with a whole lot of other stuff going on.

As for Oscar Isaac and Disney+, this news is not confirmed and it doesn’t sound like Isaac has formally signed on to anything yet, but this would be the latest connection between both him and Disney (Star Wars) and him and Marvel (X-Men: Apocalypse, where he played another comic book guy related to Egypt). The Moon Knight show was announced last August and is coming from writer and showrunner Jeremy Slater.

54 Comments

  • laserface1242-av says:

    Probably best to wait until Disney confirms he’s playing Moon Knight but still:Also, sadly, Moon Knights hatred of Dracula is not really a thing in the comics. That was just a meme using photoshopped panels.

    • systemmastert-av says:

      That tweet is some bullshit. Bruce Wayne isn’t “Lapsed Catholic Moon Knight.” The Judiasm is just part of the character’s angle. And he’s got as much to do with werewolves as Wolverine does to hunting Wendigo, it’s just what each character was doing in their first appearance before the writers decided they liked the look of them.

    • dacostabr-av says:

      A Cinema Robert tweet? blergh

  • triohead-av says:

    I’d love to see a Moon Knight film that translates some the unique art choices from the page. Tricky to pull off on film, get the Spider-Verse team to consult, though and I’d have faith they could pull it off.

    • penguin23-av says:

      Imagine a film that somehow looks like Sienkiewicz era Moon Knight.

      • triohead-av says:

        I’m also a big fan of the thing a lot of colorists have done where his suit appears complete monochrome, or just becomes the white space on the page. Hopefully they wouldn’t go the full Sin City route, but just a touch of stylized surrealism would be good.

  • laserface1242-av says:

    While Warren Ellis is a goatlicker (Short version: He had been grooming and coercing women into having sex with him under the guise of “mentoring” them for years.), I’ll begrudgingly admit he did sum up Moon Knight pretty well.

    • ifsometimesmaybe-av says:

      It’s continuously sad to see how often mixing extreme talent and extreme adulation equals monstrous behaviour- Ellis, Weinstein, Cosby, Spacey, Louis C.K., the list goes on.Obviously it’s not always that mix to create a monster, because Max Landis had no adulation or talent, and he was (unsurprising to all) a total dick.

      • laserface1242-av says:

        Well, Landis was clearly the result of nepotism. I mean, he was raised by a guy who got away with the deaths of Vic Morrow and two child actors. It makes total sense how Max Landis would wind up a douche.

    • imodok-av says:

      Goatlicker’s (good name) take was admittedly interesting, but creator Doug Moench and artist Bill Sienkiewicz remains the iconic version.

      • wondercles-av says:

        At last, someone spits the facts.

      • doobie1-av says:

        Moon Knight has a weirdly solid track record. These two runs, the Lemire one, plus a small handful of others — a given issue of Moon Knight has a better than average chance of being pretty good. It may not sound like much, I know, but compared to similar tier characters like Iron Fist or Venom, who have like 1 and 0 great runs, respectively, it’s pretty impressive.

        • Harold_Ballz-av says:

          I loved the Lemire run. Then again, I love a lot of what Lemire does. And I really liked Cullen Bunn’s six-issue arc that finished up the volume before Lemire took over. And I thoroughly enjoyed Ellis’s arc—especially “Sleep”. Too bad he’s such a creep, as you mentioned.You’re totally right: pick up an issue of Moon Knight, and you’re probably gonna have a good time. He’s such an interesting character.EDIT: Sorry, you didn’t mention Ellis being a creep. That was someone further up the thread.

        • imodok-av says:

          I think MK’s durability and overall steady quality is due to a healthy combination of the solid and familiar with the unique and the flexible. He’s built with the overt inspiration of pulp characters like The Shadow and obviously comic book heroes like Batman. That’s blended with singular, evergreen design elements (which, tbf, owe as much to Don Perlin as Bill S.), and the multiple identity conceit that differentiates Moon Knight from other characters. He’s also always been a driven character consumed with guilt and doubt, whether those traits are dialed in to focus on vengeance or madness or both. I think all those elements give creators a consistent foundation to build upon, and a frame that can move from the supernatural to pure crime, from pulp adventure to psychological drama, anchored to a character who has always been in inner turmoil.

        • cosmicghostrider-av says:

          …Have you read the current run of Venom by Donny Cates? It’s arguably the best thing in Marvel Comics current output. Neck to neck with Immortal Hulk by Ewing.

          • laserface1242-av says:

            Cates’ run of Gaurdians of the Galaxy was pretty fun. Especially since he brought back Phylla Vell and Moondragon to the team. Granted they were from an alternate universe but stil.

        • cosmicghostrider-av says:

          Venom recently got offered a spot on the Avengers

      • laserface1242-av says:

        As an aside, I’d recommend hitting the dismiss button on Cato Minor. He’s a troll who defends TERFS and is awfully enthusiastic for bigot ACB being appointed a supreme court justice.

      • daramcw-av says:

        extreme robert redford energy from those illustrations, i like it

    • jhelterskelter-av says:

      While not the worst thing about Ellis, his “who lil ole me I had no idea I had enough clout in this industry to be considered powerful enough to create imbalanced relationship” shtick is certainly up there in reasons to despise the shithead.

    • smithsfamousfarm-av says:

      I thought it was Mark Miller who licked goats?

    • nilus-av says:

      It’s always interesting what comic panel you are going to share.  I was figuring you were gonna show us the time Moon Knight escaped a death trap designed by Nick Furies evil brother using a can of Schlitz

  • edkedfromavc-av says:

    We’re supposed to believe press releases about new MCU casting after the She-Hulk debacle?

  • genejenkinson-av says:

    If true, it’s interesting he’s ready to get back in business with the Mouse House considering he wants nothing to do with SW moving forward.

    • brontosaurian-av says:

      I don’t think many actors these days would turn their back on the entirety of Disney especially since they bought Fox. Fox, FX, Pixar, Disney Animation and Marvel. He probably doesn’t care too much about Freeform or ESPN.

  • martianlaw-av says:

    The most interesting thing about this is that one of the finalists for the role before Isaac was announced was Nick Kroll.

    • thecoffeegotburnt-av says:

      If they were smart then they’d cast all three of them to play the same person.

      • Harold_Ballz-av says:

        Yes, that would be excellent!
        Nick Kroll as Jake Lockley, Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector, and Daveed Diggs as Steven Grant. And they could switch off voicing whichever stuntman plays Moon/Mr. Knight.

    • smithsfamousfarm-av says:

      That’s an absolutely bizarre choice in casting. I don’t mind Kroll, but he might be the last choice for being the lead.

      • fatmanmcgee-av says:

        He was a good vampire. You never know. 

      • systemmastert-av says:

        They hired Kumail Nanjiani and Chris Pratt and paid to have them jacked up into superhero bodies, they apparently have the formula to turn doughy comedians into heroes.

  • soveryboreddd-av says:

    Who the hell is Moon Knight. Someone needs to tell Disney that not every obscure Marvel comic book character needs have their own series or movie. 

  • thecapn3000-av says:

    Scratching the bottom of the barrell for superheroes?

  • jhelterskelter-av says:

    My idea for a Moon Knight show since forever is a procedural where Marc Spector is a fed hunting down the vigilante Moon Knight, but unbeknownst to him, when he thinks he’s asleep he is Moon Knight (Fight Club style), and Moon Knight knows he’s Spector but not the other way around, so Moon Knight must simultaneously help his waking self and avoid getting “caught” by himself.Nice pulpy fun.

  • miked1954-av says:

    What’s a moon knight? Let me look it up… Oh, its a cheap Batman knockoff that I’ve never heard of despite being a big Marvel comics reader when he was first introduced.

  • haodraws-av says:

    Lots of second- and third-rate publications/gossip sites ran with this being “confirmed” that most people on social media has already taken it for gospel.Really great casting, though. It’s one of those things that just clicks when you see it written. Though I wouldn’t be opposed to a multi-actor approach to it too, as another comment here suggested.Surprised Isaac would be interested to sign on after what he said post-Star Wars. It could mean they came to him with a solid pitch.

    • brontosaurian-av says:

      I think he also hated being in X-Men. I understand why one might hate that being in that movie. A movie I know I watched, but I have zero recollection of. 

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