Fans were understandably hyped when it was first announced that Oscar Isaac would be playing the titular villain in blockbuster superhero sequel X-Men: Apocalypse. We were getting one of the fastest-rising and hottest talents in the industry bringing one of the greatest comic book bad guys of all-time to life. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, the painfully slow pacing and muddled narrative certainly didn’t help, while the design of En Sabah Nur never really managed to escape those Ivan Ooze comparisons in the eyes of the internet either. It was also a surprisingly flat and one-note performance from Isaac, although a lot of the blame can be pointed at the bulky costume and heavy prosthetics, with the actor describing his experience on set as “excruciating”.
The good news for Marvel Cinematic Universe fans is that it didn’t put him off the genre in the slightest, now that he’s busy shooting Disney Plus series Moon Knight for Kevin Feige’s all-conquering franchise. In a new interview, the Star Wars alum explained why his disillusionment on X-Men: Apocalypse didn’t factor into his thinking when he first entered talks to play Marc Spector.
“It’s not so much about the genre of things. It’s the people. And is there room to do something interesting in it? And sometimes there is, and you think there will be. And sometimes it turns out there isn’t So with this, I love the people involved. I thought there was an incredibly unusual story to tell within the world of, you know, the superhero language. But we’re making something that’s quite different, and that doesn’t follow the same, not necessarily even logic of what a lot of superhero films do. I think because of that, I just found an opportunity to do something that I’ve not done at all yet, and to have a lot of creative collaboration with the rest of the people making it.”
Of course, the two characters are night and day, with Apocalypse the first-ever mutant and one of the most powerful beings with a penchant for purple this side of Thanos and Kang the Conqueror, while Moon Knight is a nocturnal vigilante who suffers from dissociative identity disorder. Granted, there’s the shared connection to ancient Egypt, but in terms of aesthetic, personality and abilities, Oscar Isaac’s two major comic roles couldn’t be more different from each other in almost every regard.