After a disappointing stint in a Galaxy Far, Far Away with the Star Wars sequels and a disastrous turn as En Sabah Nur in X-Men: Apocalypse, it's no wonder Oscar Isaac approached Moon Knight with some caution. However, Marvel Studios gave the actor a lot of creative freedom when it came to bringing this hero to life, and as we've seen, the results have led to a great start for the series.
With positive reviews and fans clearly high on the character, there's a lot of excitement to see what comes next. Now, it's been revealed Isaac's hesitancy to join the MCU gave him a unique bargaining chip with Marvel, allowing him to take risks with his performance...and not sign a long-term deal.
"I was in a position - because I wasn’t actively looking to get back into something this big - to say, ‘This is how I see it, and if you guys don’t see it that way, that’s totally okay, but then maybe it’s not the right fit,'" the actor tells Variety. "And so I wasn’t afraid that I was going to do the wrong thing."
"I had heard of the golden handcuffs," Isaac continued. "That was something that I was reticent about. And luckily, we all agreed that this [show] is what we’re going to focus on. This is the story. And if there’s any kind of future, I think it just depends on if people like it, if people want to see more, and if we find a story that’s worth telling." In other words, once Moon Knight is done, so is he.
Well, for now at least.
It sounds like Isaac had a positive experience working on Moon Knight, so there's really no reason to believe he wouldn't be open to reprising the role somewhere down the line. Whether that's in a solo project or as a supporting character in another movie or TV series remains to be seen, but we find it hard to believe Marvel Studios will let Isaac or the unhinged vigilante he plays slip through the cracks.
Unfortunately, we may just have to be patient when it comes to learning what the future holds in store for both! In the meantime, you can read our Moon Knight review by clicking here.
Click on the "Next" button below for
our breakdown of Moon Knight's premiere!
5. Taweret
As Steven Grant is doing inventory with his nightmare boss, the gift shop employee makes a point of highlighting some plush toys depicting Taweret's likeness (she looks like a humanoid Hippo).
You might not think much of this moment, but we have a strong feeling this character is going to be key to Moon Knight. Why? Well, during the show's premiere, actress Antonia Salib confirmed that she's playing Taweret and said, "From the moment when I read the scenes when I was auditioning to when I started working with the director Mohamed Diab and the costume team to VFX, it felt like I was given license to create my character and everyone was on board together."
So, it sounds like we'll meet this Egyptian Goddess in the series, which is an interesting decision when she has no history we can find in the Marvel Universe. In Egyptian religion, she was the Goddess of childbirth and fertility, so we're definitely intrigued by what that means for the show.
4. The Ennead
Another interesting moment during this scene comes when Steven points out a poster featuring a group of Egyptian Gods known as The Ennead. In the Marvel Universe, they hail from Celestial Heliopolis, a small pocket dimension adjacent to Earth similar to Ta Lo in Shang-Chi.
Members on the page include Anubis, Bast, Bes, Geb, Horus, Isis, Nepthys, Nut, Osiris, Ptah, Seth, Shu, Tefnut and, as you might have guessed, Khonshu. Whether this group appears in the MCU remains to be seen, but the fact that they're highlighted here makes us think there are plans for them.
Moon Knight is clearly taking a deep dive into Egyptian mythology, but the comic book version of The Ennead has a history with the Eternals, Celestials, and even Thor and Odin. Thrown in the fact that Bast is the God worshipped by Wakandans, and this series could deepen the MCU's mythology massively.
3. Moon Knight's Big Bad
Ethan Hawke's Arthur Harrow is established as Moon Knight's villain in the premiere, but he serves a higher power. Arthur explains that had she not been banished by her fellow Gods, Ammit would have been able to stop some of the world's biggest tragedies by judging those who would do wrong before they could do it. However, if Minority Report taught us anything, that's not a foolproof approach!
Ammit doesn't have the most storied comic book history, but we'd be willing to bet she retains her crocodile-like appearance if Harrow succeeds in bringing her back to cast judgement on the world.
Interestingly, when Khonshu once sent Marc Spector to an illusory mental hospital designed to wear away the last of his mind so he could take over, Ammut helped with his plan. Elements of this could be adapted for this series, but it sounds like Khonshu is looking to stop her return in Moon Knight.
2. Duchamp
While scrolling through the phone he finds in his apartment, Steven learns that Marc has a lot of missed calls from someone called Layla...and one from Duchamp. That's obviously Jean-Paul Duchamp, a.k.a. Frenchie, a classic supporting character who befriended Marc during his mercenary days.
Frenchie later became Moon Knight's pilot, and recent comics have revealed that he's actually gay and secretly in love with the vigilante. There's a lot to mine from the source material with this character, but we'd bet on him being saved for somewhere down the line. Well, unless Marvel Studios plans to surprise us (and this is where we get to a theory that may or may not pan out).
Remember when George Clooney was rumoured to be directing an episode of Moon Knight? Well, we now know that didn't happen, but what if the actor actually visited the set to shoot a cameo appearance as Duchamp? We think he'd be a pretty perfect choice for the charismatic Frenchman.
1. Enter Moon Knight
Marvel Studios keeps us waiting, but Moon Knight finally makes his presence felt in the closing few minutes of "The Goldfish Problem." At this point, it's clear only Marc Spector has control over those powers as Steven has to hand over control to him in order for the costume to emerge.
It appears that a big part of this series is going to be about Steven fighting for control, and we do wonder if that means he'll eventually get to suit up too. Khonshu clearly isn't impressed by him, though, and seems to believe Steven is a "parasite" (likely a reference to Marc's broken, traumatised mind creating him to protect himself from the trauma of being Khonshu's avatar).
We're certainly excited to see more of Moon Knight in action, and if this brief tease at the end of the episode is any indication, the hero is a formidable, powerful badass who shouldn't be messed with.