MOON KNIGHT Casts Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector

 
Marvel has found their Fist of Khonshu.

Deadline is reporting that the upcoming Disney+ Marvel Cinematic Universe series Moon Knight, based on the Marvel Comics superhero, has cast Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector...a.k.a. Jake Lockley...a.k.a. Steven Grant...a.k.a. Moon Knight.

According to the article, Isaac is currently in negotiations to star in the series, which will be overseen by Jeremy Slater, who developed and wrote Netflix’s adaptation of The Umbrella Academy from Dark Horse Comics.

Isaac, 41, is a Guatemalan-American actor best known as the pilot Poe Dameron in the Star Wars films The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker.  He also played the Marvel supervillain Apocalypse in the film X-Men: Apocalypse, and will be appearing as Duke Leto Atreides in the 2021 adaptation of Dune.  In addition, he voiced Spider-Man 2099 in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and has appeared in the films The Addams Family (2019), Life Itself, Annihilation, Ex Machina, The Bourne Legacy, Inside Llewyn Davis, and Robin Hood (2010).

Created in 1975 by Doug Moench and Don Perlin, Moon Knight first appeared in Werewolf by Night #32 as a villain hired by the Committee to capture Jack Russell, the Werewolf.  He found out that the Committee wanted to use the Werewolf as a weapon and helped the Werewolf escape, briefly fighting alongside him.

After being recast as a hero, Moon Knight received a full origin and his own ongoing series.  Born in Chicago, Illinois, Marc Spector was a Jewish-American rabbi's wayward son, who, as an adult, had been a heavyweight boxer before becoming a U.S. Marine serving in Force Recon.  Afterward, he left the Marines to become a mercenary occasionally doing work for the CIA.  As a mercenary, he befriended the French pilot Jean-Paul DuChamp, whom he affectionately called "Frenchie".  

While working for the African mercenary Raoul Bushman in Egypt, the group stumbled upon an archaeological dig whose crew included Dr. Peter Alraune and his daughter Marlene Alraune.  The dig had uncovered an ancient temple, where artifacts included a statue of the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Intent on looting the dig, Bushman killed Dr. Alraune.  In response to Alraune's murder, Spector challenged Bushman to personal combat but was defeated by Bushman and left to die in the sub-zero temperatures of the desert night.  The Egyptians who worshipped the ancient gods found Spector and carried him to their temple.  Helpless before the statue of Khonshu, Spector's heart stopped.  Khonshu appeared to him in a vision, offering Spector a second chance at life if he became the god's avatar on Earth.  Spector awakened, wrapped himself in the silver shroud that covered Khonshu's statue, and again confronted Bushman. This time, he defeated Bushman and returned to America with Marlene, Frenchie, and the statue of Khonshu.  Deciding to become a crimefighter, Spector created a silver cloaked costume, based on the silver shroud, and became Moon Knight, "The Fist of Khonshu".

After his return to the United States, Spector invested the money he had accumulated as a mercenary and developed a small fortune.  To distance himself from his mercenary past, he created the identity of millionaire entrepreneur Steven Grant, using this identity to purchase a spacious estate.  To remain in contact with the street and criminal element, he also created the identity of taxicab driver Jake Lockley and has acquired civilian allies such as Bertrand Crawley, Gena Landers, and her sons.  His origin of being "created by The Committee" was explained as a ruse set up by Frenchie so that Marc could shut the Committee down.  Over time, Spector was revealed to suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), with his various identities actually becoming alternate personas.

Isaac will be the first actor to portray Moon Knight in live-action, although the character has appeared in the animated series Ultimate Spider-Man (voiced by Diedrich Bader), Avengers Assemble (voiced by Gideon Emery), and Spider-Man (2017) (voiced by Peter Giles).

Moon Knight is currently expected to premiere on Disney+ sometime in 2022.