Oscar Isaac is reportedly in talks with Marvel Studios and Disney to don the white cape of Marc Spector, aka Moon Knight, and star in the upcoming Disney Plus series.
Isaac, who played the evil mutant Apocalypse in the poorly reviewed X-Men: Apocalypse, will get a second shot at a popular comic book character. Should he take the role, this will also be his second major role for Disney, having previously starred as maverick pilot Poe Dameron in the latest Star Wars films.
Deadline confirms that the series will be written by Umbrella Academy writer and producer Jeremy Slater — which we reported last year — and says that Disney will now turn its search towards a series director.
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This news comes a month after Disney cast rookie actress Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel and tapped Tatiana Maslany to play She-Hulk in two other Disney Plus series.
As of now, neither these shows nor Moon Knight have planned release dates, though we know where they fall if you were to watch the Marvel movies in order. Based on this tentative schedule, we aren't likely to see Moon Knight until 2022 at the earliest.
While Isaac's role isn't confirmed yet, we do know he will be playing Duke Leto Atreides in Dune, the blockbuster film that was recently delayed to late 2021.
Who is Moon Knight?
Moon Knight is frequently described as Marvel's take on Batman, based on his vigilante justice against street criminals and his secret identity as a millionaire businessman. However, there's much more to his character than that.
For instance, Marc Spector, the son of a Jewish rabbi, was a heavyweight boxer who enlisted with the marines and later worked as a CIA mercenary. During one job, he is left for dead at an ancient dig site in Egypt, where he encounters the spirit of the Egyptian god Khonshu. In exchange for living again and receiving Khonshu's lunar powers, Spector agrees to become the god's avatar and follow his instructions.
Throughout the comics, Spector develops several alter egos to help blend in with society, and also hears Khonshu's voice in his head, leading him to develop schizophrenia and struggle with mental illness.
He frequently interacts with various Avengers, X-Men and other Marvel characters throughout the comics, but is considered to be a dangerous ally at best. It would certainly be an amusing twist if Isaac ends up interacting with the same mutants he fought against as Apocalypse in his previous role.
Moon Knight has been rumored to appear in the MCU since the Captain America: Winter Soldier film, in which Hydra agent Jasper Sitwell mentions "a TV anchor in Cairo" as a potential threat to Hydra's goals. Spector's comic book origin never mentions him working in television, but fans still suspected that this vague hint referenced a future Moon Knight appearance.
