Much of Moon Knight's story reportedly takes place in Egypt, which is no great surprise when Marc Spector's story is very much grounded in that country's mythology. Talking to Filfan, one of the show's directors, Mohammed Diab, explained why it was so important to highlight his home in an authentic way (as we know from past movies, it's all too easy to head down the clichéd route with Egypt).
"I wanted to showcase Egyptian talents as much as I could," he explained. "Every culture should be represented by its people so I hired actors, an editor, a costume designer, an art director and a composer who are all Egyptian." This should all be pivotal in ensuring what we see in Moon Knight feels real, but Diab was quick to express disappointment with another upcoming superhero project.
"I was really annoyed with DC when they set Black Adam in a fictional Middle Eastern country as an excuse to cast non-Egyptians, when it was obviously meant to be in Egypt," the filmmaker said of the movie taking place in Kahndaq. "Representation opportunities shouldn’t be wasted. But it’s not a full mistake since it’s based on an iteration of the comics that doesn’t mention Egypt."
As Diab acknowledges, Egypt isn't mentioned specifically in the comic books, but Kahndaq is basically the DC Universe's take on the country and borrows heavily from the mythology associated with it.
We've seen very little from Black Adam, so it's hard to say right now whether the movie has failed to embrace diversity in a way that's as meaningful as Moon Knight. The blockbuster was recently pushed back from July to November, but we're anticipating learning more in the weeks and months to come.
Moon Knight premieres on Disney+ on March 30!