Marvel's Moon Knight: Oscar Isaac In Talks to Star

Oscar Isaac is reportedly in talks to star in Marvel's Moon Knight series on Disney+, according to The Wrap. Isaac would reportedly sign-on to play Marc Spector/Moon Knight, the mercenary who ends up being resurrected by an Egyptian god of the moon to be his avenging fist. While often referred to as 'Marvel's Batman', Moon Knight is a particularly unique Marvel hero, in that he suffers from an unstable psyche that includes multiple personalities. Modern takes on the character have established different superhero personas to go along with Moon Knights' various personalities. The character is expected to appear in Marvel Cinematic Universe movies after his initial TV series run.

This casting is surely going to cause a stir - for both bad and good reasons. Oscar Isaac is definitely a fan-favorite actor, but Marvel fans did have a campaign going to see Keanu Reeves play Moon Knight - and the actor was even rumored for the role at one point. It'll be interesting to see the chatter in fan threads about this particular choice.

In Marvel Comics lore, Marc Spector is a Jewish-American rabbi's son from Chicago, who grew up to have the eclectic resume of a heavyweight, boxer, marine, and finally mercenary. While serving some very bad people on a mission in Egypt, Spector's crew discover an archaeological dig that has discovered the ancient Egyptian temple of Khonshu, the moon god. When the mercs kill the archeologist and try to loot the temple, Spector breaks ranks and tries to stop them, nearly dying in the process. Servants of Khonshu bring his body to the temple, where the god offers a second life to Spector as his avatar. Becoming Moon Knight, Marc Spector defeats the mercs and returns to America, using his money to create a fortune that supports his crime-fighting mission.

After taking up his mission as Moon Knight, Spector also creates multiple civilian identities for himself - from millionaire Steven Grant to taxi driver Jake Lockley. In later storylines, those alternate identities (and Khonshu's influence) would become too much for Spector's mind to handle. The 2010s revamp of the character would see Moon Knight take on a second persona as "Mr. Knight," an official liaison to the police focusing on common street crime, while "Moon Knight" battled more supernatural/villain threats. Moon Knight's questionable view of reality and personal sanity have been an ongoing theme of the character - right up until the recent "Age of Khonshu" event, which sees Moon Knight basically robbing mystically powered heroes like Thor, Doctor Strange, and Ghost Rider of their respective powers.

Marvel has already announced that Jeremy Slater (Umbrella Academy) will serve as showrunner for Moon Knight. Slater has already promised fans that the Disney+ series will be one "hell of a ride" for Marvel fans:

"I was seven when I bought my first Marvel comic, and my life was changed on the spot," Slater tweeted. "It's no exaggeration to say that joining the MCU is the single greatest honor of my career. I'm thrilled and terrified and deliriously happy. And while I won't be able tell you anything in regards to story or casting, I *can* tell that you we've assembled a room full of brilliant writers who truly love this character, and we're all hard at work crafting something special for you. So stick around and stay tuned. Moon Knight is on the way, and it's going to be one hell of a ride."

Moon Knight has yet to set a release date but is among the second wave of Marvel Disney+ series gearing up for production. Big casting announcements for She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel have also recently been revealed.