We Could Have Oscar Isaac as Marvel’s Moon Knight? My Soul Thanks You

There’s quite a bit of news about the moon today! Outside of NASA’s announcement that there is H2O on the sunlit side of the moon, Marvel is reportedly looking at no less than Oscar Isaac to star as Moon Knight in the upcoming series for Disney+. GIVE IT TO ME. Give it to all of us, really. We deserve this win.

(NBC)

Moon Knight is Marc Spector, a Jewish-American former Marine and CIA agent before possessing a power given to him by the moon (and an idol of the Egyptian moon god Khonshu). Prior to becoming Moon Knight, Spector had resigned from both the Marines and the CIA in disgrace and came back to the United States with a new look on life after gaining his powers.

But there is also a darker side to the character, a question of what is real and what isn’t, and there is also the belief that Marc Spector has dissociative identity disorder. He has three different personalities that have different traits and attributes. As Rosie Knight wrote in The Hollywood Reporter last year, this depiction in the comics hasn’t always hit the mark, and has been read as exploitational in the past. But Marvel has a real opportunity to be nuanced with Moon Knight’s onscreen depiction, as Knight notes, if the series were to showcase “a character who isn’t defined by his mental illness but instead lives with it, who can use it to his advantage but who also has to deal with the day-to-day realities of having multiple personalities.”

If done correctly, this could be an extremely interesting and important exploration of mental health in superheroes. We’ve seen some attempts at this; I think Iron Man 3 did a good job of setting up Tony’s struggles that then fed into each of his later appearances, but the in-depth nature of a longer show lends itself better dive into a character’s complexities. An actor of Isaac’s caliber would also fit beautifully here.

With the show taking place on Disney+, we’ll have a lot more time with Moon Knight and a better way of establishing him as a character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, rather than an introductory role in an upcoming blockbuster that might never materialize now due to COVID. A complex, fascinating character, and having Oscar Isaac potentially bring Marc Spector to life? YES PLEASE.

The Star Wars actor, who has been on a roll recently and will be seen as Duke Atreides on Dune (and good, give me all the Oscar Isaac content) has already technically been in a Marvel-related movie with X-Men: Apocalypse. But we’ll just pretend like that wasn’t a thing. According to Deadline, any deal with Issac is still in the talking phase and nothing is set in stone as of yet.

There was a rumor going around that both Daveed Diggs and Nick Kroll were also being considered for the role and so I guess the vibe they’re going for is just men that I’ve had crushes on?

So while it isn’t confirmed, I would say that my interest in Moon Knight (which I was already pretty excited for) just went up approximately 100x more if Oscar Isaac is attached.

(image: Warner Bros.)

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Rachel Leishman

Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.

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