‘Moon Knight’ producer reveals the Marvel lessons he learned from Sam Raimi

If you’re a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which almost everybody is based on the box office numbers and streaming viewership figures, then the chances are exceedingly high that you’ve long since devoured the first episode of the franchise’s latest episodic effort Moon Knight.

Just as everyone involved had been telling us for weeks, our introduction to Oscar Isaac’s Marc Spector (or largely Steven Grant, to be more accurate), was indeed a significant tonal shift for the MCU. It was weird, wild, wonderful, and very offbeat, with a character largely unknown to casual audiences making an instant splash.

While a lot of the cast and crew are relative newbies to the world of Marvel, executive producer Grant Curtis is no rookie, having previously been involved in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. Speaking to ScreenRant, he explained the lessons he learned back then continue to define his comic book output to this day, especially when it comes to Moon Knight.

“It’s bananas. Obviously, Marvel is leading that charge, and Kevin and Lou and Victoria and Brad. But one thing I look back on – one thing I learned from Sam early on – is that he always told me, “If you don’t care about Peter Parker, you’re not going to care about Spider-Man soaring through New York City.” Character, character character. I think that’s what the Marvel Cinematic Universe is, and I think that’s what’s been driving Kevin. Character, character character. You always look at it from Peter Parker’s eyes, or Tony Stark’s eyes, or, in our case, Marc Spector and Steven Grant.

I think that’s what makes the Marvel Cinematic Universe so rich. They’re really characters stories. And sometimes that gets swept away in all the spectacle; they go into space, and we’ve got talking trees and stuff. But really, it’s all about character first, and I think Kevin leading that charge has made an incredible universe that keeps on expanding, keeps on growing, and keeps on being new.”

Sure, the MCU has relied on plenty of household names over the years, but the shared saga is just as capable of instantly endearing lesser-known figures to fans in an instant, something Moon Knight managed to accomplish in less than an hour.