Oscar Isaac is one of the greatest actors working today, but he hasn't had the easiest time of it when it comes to blockbuster parts. Despite being excellent as Poe Dameron in the Star Wars sequels, the character wasn't utilised to the fullest of his potential, and the actor has talked openly about his disappointment with the role (and Lucasfilm's failure to tackle a possible relationship with Finn).
Unfortunately, Isaac didn't fare much better in Fox's X-Men Universe, and while he was perfectly cast as En Sabah Nur in 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse, the villain's appearance left a lot to be desired. The actor found himself hidden beneath heavy, not overly good, prosthetics, and comparisons to Power Rangers' Ivan Ooze quickly turned Isaac into a meme. With that in mind, does he disown the movie?
"No, I don’t disown it," Isaac told The New York Times. "I know exactly what I went in there wanting to do and the reasons why. There were these amazing actors involved that I really wanted to work with, [James] McAvoy and [Michael] Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence. I collected X-Men growing up, and I loved Apocalypse, I just found him such a freaky, weird character."
"And then you get there and you’re like, 'Oh my God, I’ve got all these prosthetics on. I’ve got a suit on. I can’t move. I can’t see anybody. All these actors I wanted to work with — I can’t even see who they are.' I still think back to that time with fondness. I wish it would have been a better film and that they would have taken care of the character a little better, but those are the risks."
Fans of the X-Men waited years for Fox to finally introduce a villain other than Magneto, so it was a real shame to see them drop the ball on a big bad like Apocalypse. We'll no doubt see him revisited somewhere down the line now mutants are headed to the MCU, but Isaac has found some level of redemption with his phenomenal performance as Marc Spector/Steven Grant in Moon Knight.
What did you think about Isaac's take on this classic comic book baddie?