Marvel Studios’ “Moon Knight” Director Takes Potshots At DCEU?!?
HipsterZOMBIEJoint Experience
2 min read
The old Marvel vs DC Comics feud doesn’t really have the same magic like it used (mainly because Marvel Comics and their films do much much better than DC has in recent years) but everyone once in awhile someone comes along and tries to kick the hornets nest to stir up some controversy.
Director of the Disney+/Marvel Studios series, Moon Knight, Mohamed Diab; is taking potshots at the upcoming “Black Adam” film and “Wonder Woman 1984.” Despite the fact Black Adam’s lead is black and Samoan, its Hawkman is a person of color, its Cyclone is non-binary, and the principal cast is rounded out by Persian Sarah Shahi and Tunisian Marwan Kenzari, that isn’t enough for Diab.
The Egyptian-born filmmaker called out the production and Warner Bros. for not taking full advantage of an opportunity to represent people from his region of origin.
“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 told Filfan. “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.”
He added, “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 & a composer who are all Egyptian.”
Diab also commented on Wonder Woman 1984 as one of Western cinema’s biggest blunders. Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor head to Egypt, a storyline that provides the fodder for the film’s second major action sequence. The film was criticized for its depiction of Middle Eastern stereotypes.
“You never see Cairo. You always see Jordan shot for Cairo, Morocco shot for Cairo, sometimes Spain shot for Cairo. This really angers us,” Diab says. “I remember seeing Wonder Woman 1984 and there was a big sequence in Egypt and it was a disgrace for us. You had a sheik – that doesn’t make any sense to us. Egypt looked like a country from the Middle Ages. It looked like the desert.”
Diab certainly has a lot of thoughts about the DCEU. Hopefully critics won’t be as harsh on his Moon Knight series which streams on Disney+ March 30th.
