The Walking Dead star Ross Marquand recently made his MCU debut in Avengers: Infinity War, but if it was up to him, that won’t be the last time we’ll see him in the franchise, as he has his eyes on a cult favorite Marvel hero. Namely, Moon Knight, who fans are desperate to see show up on screen.
Marquand – who played Red Skull in Infinity War, taking over from Hugo Weaving for the villain’s surprise reappearance – spoke with AiPT while attending ComicCONN in Connecticut this weekend. When asked if he’d like to portray any Marvel heroes, the actor needed little prodding to rave about his love for Moon Knight. Clearly a massive fan of the character, he proceeded to discuss why he thinks the anti-hero’s reputation for being “Marvel’s Batman” is unfair.
Oh yes–Moon Knight! It’s tough because a lot of my friends have said Moon Knight is essentially just Marvel’s answer to Batman, but I don’t agree with that. I agree that there are similarities, but Moon Knight was a mercenary–kind of a gun for hire who didn’t really have much regard for people before he had his moment of awakening, I guess. And Bruce was always a good guy–even as a kid, he was torn by revenge, but he wasn’t this bloodthirsty killer like Moon Knight was.
Continuing on, he said:
So I think that, coupled with what they’ve been doing the last 15 years with the character–going into the dissociative identity disorder, really calling in to question if everything happening is all in his head, is he actually a vigilante killer or did he die in Egypt? It brings up a slew of questions, and that to me has never really been delved into in any comic book character before–the idea of, is any of this actually happening? Is he crazy? Is he killing good people? Is he actually dead in Egypt? Those are such amazing questions and I don’t feel like any comic book series before or since has really tapped into that. So for me, playing a crazy superhero would be awesome. So Moon Knight, Moon Knight for sure.
As Marquand outlines, Moon Knight AKA Marc Spector is a former mercenary who’s killed while on a hit in Cairo. He’s resurrected by the Egyptian god Khonshu and given nocturnal superpowers. He also suffers from dissociative personality disorder meaning he has several different identities. That’s a lot of material for an actor to get a hold of, so you can understand why someone like Marquand – who’s also a gifted impressionist – would be drawn to a character like that.
Previously, the general consensus amongst Marvel lovers is that Jake Gyllenhaal would’ve been the perfect choice for playing Moon Knight. Seeing as he’s already portraying Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home, though, the part’s now free for someone else to be embraced by the fans. Maybe that’ll be Ross Marquand?
