All of Oscar Isaac’s Marvel roles, in order of release

Oscar Isaac’s Miguel O’Hara is undoubtedly one of the many highlights of the newest animated adventure Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. But it may surprise you to know that the versatile thespian has had many other roles in Marvel properties before this film. Let’s count them down in order of release.

4. X-Men: Apocalypse

The 2016 effort X-Men: Apocalypse was one of the last hurrahs for 20th Century Fox’s X-Men universe, before it was bought out by Disney in 2019. In that film, Isaac plays the ancient mutant known as Apocalypse who, big surprise, wants to bring about the end of the world. The movie itself veered a little bit too far into the Saturday morning cartoon type story, however, Isaac’s performance shines through all of that caked on blue makeup, and it is an absolute joy to watch him chew the scenery in a satisfyingly over-the-top way.

3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

While Miguel O’Hara is a huge character in Across the Spider-Verse, it can be easy to forget that the futuristic hero also known as Spider-Man 2099 actually debuted in the first installment of the franchise back in 2018. Indeed, Miguel stars in a humorous post-credit scene in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in which he travels to a 1960s style Spider-Man dimension and does the pointing finger meme with different Spider-Men, and it was great.

2. Moon Knight

Oscar Isaac gratefully got his shot at playing a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe last year after already having dabbled in Fox’s X-Men universe and Sony’s Spider-Man universe. And we’re really glad he did, because his titular performance in the show Moon Knight is one of the greatest highlights of the Disney Plus Marvel shows, in general. As the protagonist Marc Spector, who has disassociative identity disorder, Isaac crafts a nuanced and emotional set of characters that we won’t soon forget. Even though he looks badass in the Moon Knight costume, we were also grateful to get many scenes featuring Isaac’s face in some jarring scenarios because he’s just so good at emoting with his expressions that it was a joy to see. 

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is no doubt a huge achievement in the world of superhero movies, not least of all because of Isaac’s performance as Miguel O’Hara. In the film, which is currently playing in theaters, Miguel is striving for the greater good, but his point of view is often at odds with our protagonist, Shameik Moore’s Miles Morales. Miguel’s intimidating presence in the film is expertly matched with a palpable — and hostile — chemistry between him and Miles. Even though Miguel isn’t the main villain of the movie, he certainly takes center stage in terms of stealing every scene he’s in. And by the way, we haven’t seen the last of Isaac’s Miguel as the character is set to return in next year’s Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.

For my money, I would not mind seeing Isaac in more comic book movies. In my estimation, Isaac strikes an extremely rare balance of still helming independent and artful films, such as 2021’s The Card Counter, as well also confidently boasting a leading man gravitas in blockbuster franchises. Isaac’s refusal to be compartmentalized into a specific kind of role for every movie makes him one of my personal favorite actors working today.