The writers behind Disney+'s Moon Knight briefly considered bringing Chris Evans back for a cameo as Captain America. Evans made his MCU over 10 years ago when Captain America: The First Avenger hit theaters in 2011. Since then, Steve Rogers has been at the heart of the MCU, appearing in multiple entries of the ever-growing franchise. Fans enjoyed seeing Evans on the big screen as Captain America for eight years before the character retired from the Avengers in 2019's Avengers: Endgame.
Despite Avengers: Endgame being one of the last films in the Infinity Saga, the MCU is far from being over. Moon Knight is just one of many MCU series that has arrived on Disney+. Even though the Oscar Isaac-led series is set in the MCU, Moon Knight felt disconnected from the franchise and barely even referenced any of the events from other movies or shows. This was one of the reasons Moon Knight was praised upon release, with many appreciating a self-contained MCU storyline that didn't try to set up a future project. However, that almost wasn't the case.
In an interview with Discussing Film, Moon Knight writer Jeremy Slater was asked why he avoided references to the MCU and character cameos. Slater started by saying the writers play a bit of a "what if" game where they pitched cameo ideas like old man Captain America. However, that idea only seemed to be a passing thought for Slater. He did reveal that there were only a few characters who almost got a cameo. Kit Harrington's Dane Whitman was considered, yet Slater decided against it because his cameo wouldn't have progressed Black Knight's story. Slater also mentioned Kingo and Makkari from Eternals as they were planning to do a flashback to ancient Egypt, but decided to instead use the budget on Moon Knight's main characters and story. Slater's full explanation can be read below:
Yeah, that’s really it. There were definitely different times in the writing process where we talked about cameos because cameos are one of the most fun things to discuss in a writer’s room. What happens if we try to get Chris Evans back as old Captain America? You know, you sit there and play that “what if” game among your writers. The only two that we seriously discussed? Dane Whitman from Eternals of course, because at the time Steven Grant was going to be working at the same museum. But there was never any logical reason for him to be in the show. As a Marvel fan, I would be frustrated if Dane showed up for another cameo and it didn’t progress his story or give us any teasers for the Black Knight. Then we also talked about including the Eternals, specifically Kingo and Makkari. We were originally planning to show the original fall of Ammit and the death of Alexander the Great in a flashback sequence, and that seemed like it could naturally dovetail with an appearance from the Eternals.
But once you start talking budget and start realizing, “Oh, if we’re spending [x] millions of dollars to recreate Ancient Egypt and get a lot of movie stars in here, then that’s that same amount of money coming out of our budget for the big episode six fight, or the stuff in the Egyptian Underworld.” You then finally say, “Our money would be better spent making Moon Knight as cool as possible versus spending that money to bring in another character and let them be cool.” So part of it was being practical. Another part of it was just the fact that we really let Kevin be our guiding light for a lot of these creative decisions because he has such a good gut instinct for it.
Kevin comes to us and says, “You know what, guys? I know everyone loves the cameos. Everyone gets excited about it. But I really think your story is standing on its own two feet right now.” Then it almost feels like shoehorning in an unnecessary cameo. Suddenly War Machine happens to be visiting Cairo at that time or something like that. It feels like it would have just jerked out of the story and really taken the focus away from the character journey that we were on between Marc and Steven. So it’s a little bit of a bummer because I like to play with all the toys in that sandbox, and I was like give me “Doctor Strange [and] Spider-Man.” But at the same time, you recognize that it’s the right creative decision.
Even though most people enjoyed Moon Knight being separate from the MCU, it seems likely that Marc Spector and Steven Grant will eventually meet other characters in the universe. Moon Knight's season 1 finale set up future storylines with Khonshu now being in control of Marc and Steven's third personality, Jake Lockley. However, unlike Loki, Moon Knight season 2 was not confirmed at the series' conclusion. With the multiverse now a main part of the MCU, there's no telling if Marc Spector is in Earth-616 or a completely separate universe from the MCU's main characters. But because Moon Knight's first season was a success, it wouldn't make sense for Disney to make him a one-off character and not continue his story.
Much like Moon Knight, Steve Rogers' future in the MCU is unknown. Captain America survived his journey to return the Infinity Stones and has yet to appear in another movie or show since Avengers: Endgame. There are plenty of ways Evans could make a return to the MCU, but Moon Knight wouldn't have been the right choice. As Slater mentioned above, it would have felt very out of place to see a random MCU character, especially one like Captain America, who seemingly has no connections to Marc Spector or the show's story. There is certainly fan demand to see Marc Spector and Steve Rogers return in the MCU, but Moon Knight avoiding MCU connections no doubt made it a stronger addition to the franchise.
Source: Discussing Film
