Director of the upcoming Moon Knight television series, Mohamed Diab, has discussed why it was important to highlight Egypt in an authentic way when working on the show. He also criticized Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam for not doing the same despite being set in a location clearly inspired by Egypt.
The Moon Knight director acknowledges that Egypt isn't specifically mentioned in the comic books, but the fictional location of Kahndaq is for all intents and purposes DC's take on the real country of Egypt, as it borrows heavily from the mythology. Right now this is up for speculation, as all fans to go off of is the Black Adam trailer and an IMDB crew/talent list for the DC film.
The Moon Knight director spoke to Filfan when discussing the representation and portrayal of the country in the upcoming show. He said, "I wanted to showcase Egyptian talents as much as I could. Every culture should be represented by its people, so I hired actors, an editor, a costume designer, an art director and a composer who are all Egyptian." The director made sure to highlight the importance of keeping everything authentic when hiring actors and the crew in the upcoming show, which isn't what's typically done in this industry.
Diab went on to further discuss his disappointment with DC comics' handling of the upcoming Black Adam film. "I was really annoyed with DC when they set Black Adam in a fictional Middle Eastern country as an excuse to cast non-Egyptians, when it was obviously meant to be in Egypt," Diab continues. "Representation opportunities shouldn’t be wasted. But it’s not a full mistake since it’s based on an iteration of the comics that doesn’t mention Egypt."
Black Adam has been pushed back to the fall for an October release instead of its initial July date, so the film is quite some time away. Still, promotion has already started along, with fans reacting or breaking down the trailers. Once both Moon Knight and Black Adam are out, fans may see what a difference in representation will look like, but until then everyone has Moon Knight to look forward to at the end of the month.
Everybody is expecting a darker take on the MCU once Moon Knight is released, as the common critique is that Marvel is "too light," which usually serves for its benefit. A project doesn't have to be dark for the movie to be considered good, nor does being dark mean it won't sell. Everything should be done in moderation, and it looks like Marvel Studios decides its tone based on the specific heroes. Daredevil, Punisher and Moon Knight all have a specific dark or gritty tone, while the Guardians of the Galaxy stand on the exact opposite side of the spectrum.
Moon Knight is coming to Disney Plus on March 30th, 2022, and Black Adam hits theaters on October 21, 2022.
Source: Filfan