Moon Knight Director Has Harsh Words For Black Adam
As far as upcoming Marvel entries go, "Moon Knight" is without question the franchise's freshest wildcard. The new six-part show, set to arrive on Disney+ next week, will debut the arrival of mild-mannered museum worker Steven Grant, who learns his life is a piece to several others linked to espionage, murder, Egyptian gods, and a white-costumed vigilante who wields moon-shaped blades. Somehow, in a world with time-bending physicians and wall-crawling team-ups, this might be the MCU's craziest chapter yet.
What the show will also deliver on, according to its director, Mohamed Diab, though, is representation. As "Moon Knight" will spend a lot of time in Egypt chatting with gods and uncovering lost locations in a country steeped in history, the show consists of a local crew in front and behind the camera. While it's great to see, it's an opportunity that he believes has been squandered elsewhere, particularly in the power hierarchy-promising anti-hero movie, "Black Adam."
Diab was annoyed with the casting of DC's Black Adam
In an interview with Filmfan, Diab revealed his disappointment with the approach Warner Bros. took with their long-gestating anti-hero set for release later this year "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," he explained.
Diab refers to the location of Kahndaq, homeland to titular anti-hero Black Adam (played by Dwayne Johnson) and a fictional spot in DC's Middle Eastern area that has always had a strong resemblance to Egypt. It's much like Metropolis has always been compared to New York City, or Gotham City to Chicago — DC has commonly employed almost but not quite familiar places, unlike Marvel, which tends to set most of its stories in real-world locations. "Representation opportunities shouldn't be wasted," Diab added. "But it's not a full mistake since it's based on an iteration of the comics that doesn't mention Egypt."
Polite shade throwing aside, Diab was proud to highlight the amount of local talent injected into "Moon Knight" in just about every possible area. "I wanted to showcase Egyptian talents as much as I could. Every culture should be represented by its people so I hired actors, an editor, a costume designer, an art director & a composer who are all Egyptian." You can see and hear how all that comes about when "Moon Knight" debuts on Disney+ on March 30.