Rumor Report: Will Marvel's Moon Knight Be Played By This Former Spider-Man Star?
The breeze that you're feeling on your cheeks isn't a storm headed your way, nor is it a promise that the heat wave of summer is dying down. No, it's a sign that the rumor mill is churning once again, delivering to us an interesting bit of speculation.
A recent report by We Got This Covered claims that Marvel Studios is looking to bring the superhero Moon Knight to the screen, and is eyeing a former Spider-Man star to portray him.
Citing an unidentified source, the outlet contends that Moon Knight will likely get his own movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that he could be played by Andrew Garfield, who embodied the web-slinging vigilante Spider-Man in 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man and its ill-fated 2014 follow-up The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
We Got This Covered alleges in another report that Marvel wants a movie focused on Moon Knight rather than a series that would end up on Disney+, and is "trying to get a Jewish actor to portray" the nocturnal hero — a man named Marc Spector who suffers from dissociative identity disorder, becomes the emissary of the Eygptian God Khonshu, and stylizes himself as a caped crime-fighter.
Garfield fits the bill of what Marvel is reportedly looking for. The actor's father has "Polish-Jewish ancestry," his family surname is said to have originally been "Garfinkel," and his paternal grandparents were part of Jewish immigrant families. Additionally, Garfield has described himself as "kind of an agnostic pantheist" — meaning that he finds God "in all things" — but does identify as Jewish and is "proud" of his Jewish heritage.
The idea of Garfield joining the MCU in his post-Spider-Man days to become Moon Knight is pretty mind-boggling, but, truth be told, this is a very thin rumor. The famously secretive Marvel hasn't said a peep about whether a movie (or a series, for that matter) about Moon Knight is even a possibility. Studio president Kevin Feige has been known to keep a zipped lip on details about future projects, but he did recently loosen up a great deal during this year's San Diego Comic-Con. At the event, Marvel held its hotly anticipated presentation at which Feige, MCU stars, and Marvel movie-makers announced the complete slate of films and television series that will comprise Phase 4 of the MCU. Feige even revealed that a Blade reboot starring Mahershala Ali was in the works, and confirmed that Black Panther 2, Captain Marvel 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, a Fantastic Four movie, and a film about the X-Men were underway at Marvel. There wasn't a word about Moon Knight — not for the far-off, still-unannounced Phase 5 and certainly not for Phase 4.
Now, just because Feige and his fellow Marvel executives haven't said anything about developing a movie centered on Moon Knight doesn't meant that it can't happen or won't ever happen in the future. The fact of the matter is that there is, at present, no solid information to suggest that it will happen. All that's available right now is this unsubstantiated rumor. And though We Got This Covered notes that the intel about Garfield being eyed to play Marvel's Moon Knight comes from a source with a "pretty strong track record" — the same source that leaked the info about the post-credits scene in the Avengers: Endgame re-release, plus the news about the real Mandarin appearing in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings — it's just not possible to say with any certainty how true this report really is.
Another thing complicating the idea that Garfield will portray Moon Knight in an upcoming Marvel movie is the fact that he isn't the only person said to be on Marvel's wishlist. He's apparently "one of several names" Marvel is reportedly considering for the role, and may have major competition in another actor well-versed in the comic book movie world. We Got This Covered, citing the very same source that's evidently a bottomless well of Marvel-related information, has also claimed that the studio is eyeing Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the man behind police officer John Blake (who's real name, Robin John Blake, is a nod to Batman's sidekick) in The Dark Knight Rises. Like Garfield, Gordon-Levitt is Jewish (though he grew up in a "not strictly religious" family), so there's a chance that Marvel does have him on its wishlist, if We Got This Covered's other report is to be believed.
It makes sense that Marvel would want to bring Moon Knight into the MCU down the line, as the studio is striving for diversity within its film franchise moving ahead. Marvel will introduce Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie as the first openly LGBTQ+ superhero in the MCU in Thor: Love and Thunder, out in theaters on November 5, 2021. Past reports have even suggested that 2020's The Eternals will feature Marvel's first gay superhero lead — which may or may not happen considering Valkyrie is supposed to be the first openly queer character in the MCU. It stands to reason that Marvel might want to feature its first Jewish superhero in Moon Knight in the future.
But still, there's just no way to know for sure if a Moon Knight movie is happening and if Garfield will portray the title hero. For as many reasons as such a project would be cool — seeing what's essentially Marvel's version of Batman take down baddies, knowing that the MCU is diversifying its character roster, watching Garfield re-enter the superhero world after being let go from the Spider-Man film series — there are just as many reasons why Marvel might never let it happen. The elements of religion, the striking similarities to not only Batman but also to the Winter Soldier, and the darkness and gimmicky nature of it all could keep the house of heroes from giving Moon Knight his own movie.
As we've said, this is all speculation for now. Only time will tell if Marvel hands Moon Knight the greatest gift of all — a solo movie — and whether or not Garfield will be the lucky guy to take the lead.