Moon Knight director Justin Benson thinks the Marvel Cinematic Universe is basically the modern-day American equivalent of mythology in our culture.
During the show’s press conference, we learned a ton about Oscar Isaac’s forthcoming outing as the titular Moon Knight, including how Marvel creatives came up with this unconventional narrative, and why it’ll change the landscape of MCU when it premieres later this month.
At one point, director Justin Benson addressed the Egyptian mythos in the Disney Plus series — that our protagonist Marc Spector gets his powers from the moon god Khonshu, for example — and described Marvel as the “Great American Myth.”
“You kind of think, ‘Oh, where are the new stories coming from?’ And weirdly enough, I mean, our great, modern myths are Marvel movies right now,” he says. “The Great American Myth right now comes from Marvel. And a lot of other places, but it is really cool to actually be a part of that… telling a story that’s actually about these ancient myths and things that we all grew up on.”
As heroism often finds its roots in the mythological footprint of civilization, so do modern superheroes take their cues from such themes that have constantly reverberated through history. But in the case of Moon Knight, that primeval influence takes center stage, as opposed to the subtle undertone that, as Benson pointed out, often accompanies superhero stories.
Personally, we can’t wait to see how the Oscar Isaac-led series fares in the current pop culture landscape, especially given the fact that it’s a step away from Marvel’s formulaic approach to storytelling over the past ten years.
Moon Knight is slated for a March 30 premiere on Disney Plus.
