By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Whenever people talk about the best Marvel series on Disney+, they never mention Moon Knight. That’s a shame, though, because this show was like nothing else in this sprawling cinematic universe. It kept fans on their toes from beginning to end, and the entire thing was anchored by an amazing performance from lead actor Oscar Isaac. When the credits rolled on Season 1, everyone wanted to know if he was going to come back and portray this unstable hero ever again. Almost half a decade later, though, and most of the fandom has concluded that Isaac is never coming back to this show despite it racking up an impressive nine Emmy nominations.
However, in a recent interview, Moon Knight creator Jeremy Slater revealed that Isaac signed a very special contract with Marvel in which he would only come back to the show if Marvel could develop “stories that he is creatively excited to tell.” Some might think the Star Wars actor is just being a prima donna and refusing to return to genre storytelling. Taken at face value, though, Isaac is primarily interested in the creative integrity of his character. Meanwhile, the contract he signed is a great example of how other actors can collectively do the impossible: fix the MCU.
In The Name Of The Moon, He Will Punish Disney
In an interview with ComicBook.com, Jeremy Slater revealed that Oscar Isaac made a very unconventional deal with Disney when he agreed to do Moon Knight. “The contract Oscar Isaac signed was very much like, we will do more stories when we find stories that he is creatively excited to tell,” he said. “They can’t just sort of snap their fingers and summon him back for another adventure.” The reason for this is simple: according to Slater, Isaac is “really creatively involved in the future of that character.”
Of course, this puts additional pressure on Slater and other Marvel gurus to up their storytelling game. Slater claims that “part of the challenge, and part of the joy over there, is finding what stories does Oscar want to explore, and how does he want that character to be used? What’s something that would entice him to get back and play in that sandbox one more time?” Unfortunately, since we haven’t gotten any new Moon Knight episodes in over four years, it’s clear that Slater and the rest of his team have failed (so far, at least) to come up with a story that Isaac found creatively compelling.
The Marvel Slop-o-Matic Universe
Still, hope springs eternal, and Slater spilling the tea about Isaac’s contrast may provide Marvel fans with hope for the actor’s eventual return. However, this surprising news has me asking a more fundamental question: why aren’t more Marvel stars negotiating these kinds of contracts? Historically, the biggest MCU stars have been tied down to decade-long contracts that require they appear in a certain number of films and shows regardless of quality. That’s how Chris Hemsworth ended up doing the hated sequel Thor: The Dark World, and how Brie Larson came back from the blockbuster success of Captain Marvel to do The Marvels, the biggest cinematic failure of the entire franchise.
Whenever fans complain about the declining quality of the MCU, what they’re really complaining about is the declining quality of the writing. Bad writers can turn even the most beloved heroes into walking (or flying) punchlines, and even good writers get ground down by the requirements of major executives like Kevin Feige. In fact, studio pressure is the primary reason why so many Marvel movies follow the same, bland formula: execs look at what worked before in movies like The Avengers (armies of generic goons, endless quips, an inexplicable blue light in the sky), and try to apply it to as many films as possible in an attempt to recapture lightning in a bottle.
Our Favorite Lunar Psycho
It never really works, which is why we have so many awful, phoned-in sequels like The Marvels, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Previously, the actors have always been relatively helpless when it comes to fixing the movies they are attached to. But Osar Isaac is quietly demonstrating an option most of these stars have never considered: negotiating a contract where he doesn’t have to come back if he’s not happy with the project. It’s the right call for Moon Knight, of course. Personally, I’d rather have only one excellent season of this Emmy-nominated show than watch it descend into pure slop.
But it’s the right call for Marvel shows and movies across the board. We all know that the real cure for superhero fatigue is good writing, just as we all know that the studio and especially its parent company will cut corners whenever possible to meet deadlines and maximize profits. Oscar Isaac’s Moon Knight contract is more than a sweetheart deal; it’s a way for future MCU actors to break the cycle of sloppy storytelling and only appear in works they are passionate about. For this to happen, though, these actors will have to emulate their onscreen characters and become real-life heroes ready to fight the biggest supervillain of them all: The Walt Disney Company.
