While the movies of Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are dedicated to continuing the stories of the franchise’s most beloved superheroes, from Thor to Doctor Strange to the Guardians of the Galaxy, the streaming series on Disney+ will be dedicated to introducing obscure new characters into the fold, like She-Hulk and Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye.
Two of Marvel’s most exciting new shows are Ms. Marvel, which will bring Kamala Khan’s surreal shapeshifting antics and idolization of Carol Danvers to the screen, and Moon Knight, which will introduce fans to Marc Spector’s multiple personalities and Egyptian god powers.
Ms. Marvel: It’ll Be A Huge Breakthrough For Representation
After taking a decade to give solo movies to a non-white superhero and a female superhero, Marvel is finally stepping up its representation in Phase Four, with the franchise’s first openly gay superhero and its first deaf superhero appearing in Eternals, Shang-Chi featuring its first Asian lead, and Thor: Love and Thunder revolving around bisexual Valkyrie’s search for a queen.
Part of this huge breakthrough in representation will be Ms. Marvel, whose title character was the first Muslim superhero to headline a Marvel comic book.
Moon Knight: Mohamed Diab Is Directing
Since Moon Knight gets his powers from an Egyptian god and Egyptian society and culture features heavily in his stories, Marvel has smartly hired one of Egypt’s most influential filmmakers to helm the series.
Mohamed Diab’s films often touch on poignant Egyptian social issues. His directorial debut Cairo 678 heralded a revolution, while his El Gezira series is one of Egypt’s biggest blockbuster franchises.
Ms. Marvel: Her Superpowers Are Unique
When Marvel announced that it was working on a Ms. Marvel series for Disney+, one of the character’s co-creators, G. Willow Wilson, expressed concern that Kamala’s unusual superpowers might not work in live-action.
If anyone can make it work, it’s the crack VFX team at Marvel. It’s exciting to see how they’ll end up depicting Kamala’s powers because her combination of shapeshifting and elasticity makes her utterly unique.
Moon Knight: Oscar Isaac Is One Of The Greatest Actors Working Today
While the casting hasn’t been officially confirmed by Marvel yet, Oscar Isaac is reportedly in negotiations with the studio about possibly taking the lead role in Moon Knight. This would be Isaac’s third Marvel role after playing Apocalypse and Spider-Man 2099.
As his nuanced, wide-ranging performances in Inside Llewyn Davis, Drive, Ex Machina, and The Two Faces of January can all attest to, Isaac is one of the greatest and most likable actors working today. The role of Marc Spector would be in safe hands with Isaac.
Ms. Marvel: Iman Vellani Is Enthusiastic About The Role
Unlike Oscar Isaac’s casting, which is still somewhere between a rumor and a reality, Iman Vellani has been 100% confirmed to be playing the title role in Ms. Marvel.
Since she’s still a teenager, Vellani isn’t as well-established as Oscar Isaac. She has no previous screen credits to look to for an idea of how she’ll play Kamala. But ever since her casting was announced, it’s been clear that she’s enthusiastic about the role and committed to doing it justice.
Moon Knight: He Has Multiple Personalities
Ever since making a killing in the stock market, Marc Spector has kept a low profile and adopted a handful of new personalities, like a cabbie on the bad side of town, to keep tabs on the criminal underworld in between moonlighting as a vigilante.
These multiple personalities will be fascinating to explore from a dramatic standpoint in the Disney+ series and make Moon Knight unlike any other superhero out there.
Ms. Marvel: The Head Writer Is A Comedian
The head writer that Marvel has hired to work on Ms. Marvel, Bisha K. Ali, has a background in comedy. She’s been tapped to write jokes for the upcoming current affairs satire Next Week’s News and she’s a standup comic in addition to being a screenwriter.
There’s a healthy dose of humor in all of Marvel’s works, but Ms. Marvel is one of its only projects being penned by a writer with a background in comedy as opposed to big-budget action spectacle.
Moon Knight: Jeremy Slater Is Writing
It may not sound too promising that the Moon Knight series is being written by a writer with a credit on the Fant4stic script, but Jeremy Slater’s draft was reportedly much more fun and lighthearted in line with the MCU than the weirdly dark and gritty final version. His script featured Galactus and Mole Man and actually depicted Doctor Doom as a Latverian diplomat.
Slater has also written some acclaimed TV shows, like The Umbrella Academy and the surprisingly great small-screen adaptation of The Exorcist.
Ms. Marvel: It’s Building Toward Her Introduction In The Movies
Kevin Feige has confirmed that the Ms. Marvel series is the first step toward Kamala Khan crossing over into the movies and joining the Avengers on the big screen, which is certainly an exciting prospect.
Brie Larson has expressed interest in teaming up Kamala with her idol Carol Danvers in a future Captain Marvel sequel, while Avengers 5 is in desperate need of some new blood.
Moon Knight: He’s Basically Marvel’s Version Of Batman With Superpowers
Moon Knight has often been compared to Batman because he’s a rich guy with a double life as a masked crimefighter and he’s one of Marvel’s darker characters. But he’s not a straight-up Batman rip-off, either.
Unlike Batman, Moon Knight has actual superpowers that he acquired from an Egyptian god during an excavation gone wrong. He also has a touch of dissociative identity disorder to set him apart.