Here's my take on Moon Knight for Netflix:
The Cast
Marc Spector: Rami Malek
At the center of it all is Marc Spector. He may be a little odd, but to everyone around him, including himself, he's led a perfectly uneventful life. Rising star Rami Malek is perfect for capturing the nuanced and complex character of Marc, blurring the innocence of a man living a perfectly programmed life with the unhinged darkness he's yet to discover lies deep inside of him.
Gena Landers: Annie Ilanzeh --- Cpt. Flint: Nick Offerman
Leading Marc's teammates on the MetaCrime Task Force are two of his allies from different periods in his long and comples comics history. Annie Illanzeh plays Gena Landers, Marc's closest friend on the force and a mother who struggles with the seperation from her family the job requires. I'm mostly familiar with Ilanzeh from her recurring guest spot on Person of Interest, and she exudes the confidence and personality to carry Gena. Nick Offerman then takes on the role of Cpt. Flint, leader of the task force and inherent sceptic of all things unexplained. Offerman's trademark deadpan humor and "Don't Give a Crap" attitude translate perfectly into a no-nonsense boss to hold the team together as things get insane.
Jean-Paul Duchamp: Aiden Gillen --- Buck Lime: Romany Malco
"Frenchie" is perhaps Marc's best-known ally. Here he is, of course serving as the team's driver. Aiden Gillen has all of the charm to pull off the "perfect gentleman" while carrying enough ominous mystery to act as a red herring to Moon Knight's actual identity. The show will also be sure to explore his sexuality (He having famously felt unrequited love for Marc through the years he served him) and will recieve as a romantic interest his fellow agent Buck Lime, played by Romany Malco. Malco is a great talent excellently suited to play opposite Gillen as the team's more brash risk-taker.
Raul Bushman: Michael K Williams --- Khonshu: Irrfan Kahn
Given the nature of the series, the shows main villains won't really have a ton of time to fully revel in their revealed villainous forms, so you have to choose actors who can dominate every second of their screentime. With Michael K. Williams as Bushman, you get someone who can absolutely carry the horrifying brutality of Marc's nemesis and fellow moon god avatar. Kahn, meanwhile, has to pull double duty, first acting a loving father in phone conversations with Marc. Once it's revealed that those "phone calls" were all inside our hero's head, he can pull off the elevation to playing a bitter diety whose calm, wise demeanor masks a burning desire to make humanity serve him once more.
Crawley: Kevin Chapman --- Marlene Alraune: Amanda Seyfried --- Grinning Man: Timothy Dalton
Marc's homeless informant Crawley will only hold a handful of appearences on the show, first before the "road trip" begins, as a witness and ally to the mysterious Moon Knight, and later as a "fellow inmate" in Marc's mindscape prison. But as a memorable supporting cast member, I selected Kevin Chapman to contribute his curmudgeonly wise-cracks and "down-on-his-luck" attitude to the character. Amanda Seyfried also guest stars as a mysterious woman from Marc's past who he can't seem to remember. Her presence as an actress carries a certain "odd", enigmatic air, allowing her to easily slip into the role. And lastly, setting up for Season 2, we have the legendary Timothy Dalton as the calm, collected killer tracking the team's path to wipe all evidence of their encounters under the rug with swift and brutal effeciency.
The Plot
When we meet Marc Spector, he is working as an agent for the new FBEC, Federal Bureau of Extraordinary Crime. He serves on a task force led by veteran detective Captain Flint, alongside Gena, an insightful young mother from the inner city and Jean-Paul DuChamp & Buck Lime, two ex-military detectives and lovers. Together, they investigate bizarre crimes with potentially metahuman origins. The team, however, has a secret weapon, a relationship with the mysterious vigilante known as Moon Knight, whos nightly excursions into the underworld and army of homeless informants.
After wrapping a case with help from Moon Knight and the homeless Crawley, the team is tasked a major new operation. A serial killer known as The Black Rose has been traveling from city to city, murdering at random and removing the faces of his victims. He was almost caught after the most recent killing and, in his escape, displayed seemingly superhuman powers. The quintet of detectives hits the road for a cross-country manhunt, stopping along the way to gather clues while taking detours to investigate bizarre and frightening local urban legends, such as the Bunny Man Bridge.
Throughout the investigation, Gena and Flint become increasingly suspicious of Moon Knight and the way he seems to follow them. As they launch their own investigation into his true identity, Marc is troubled by the appearance of a woman who claims to know him, but he cannot recall: Marlene Alraune. Things escalate when Gena discovers that not only has Marc never actually received a call from his father, he is himself Moon Knight. This fact is just as shocking to Marc as anyone else, and he goes on the run. In hiding, Marlene returns to him and he slowly starts to regain his memory: Working as a mercenary for Raul Bushman, intervening to save Marlene, and being left for dead at the foot of the Khonshu shrine.
Meanwhile, the remaining team has cornered the Black Rose, but he kidnaps Genas children. Marc returns as Moon Knight to save them but is shocked and defeated when the Black Rose unmasks himself to reveal Raul Bushman, wearing, and seemingly drawing power from, a Khonshu pendant. Marc awakes in an insane asylum, where all of his friends from past episodes are fellow inmates. He is told that everything before has been a hallucination, and that he is in fact insane. Ultimately, he realizes it is all an illusion and fights back, confronting Khonshu himself inside his mindscape, where the ancient god has taken refuge. Khonshu reveals he is determined to hold sway on Earth once again, and has selected Marc and Bushman as his avatars to make that happen. Marc fights back however and breaks free from Khonshus spell, returning to the real world to defeat Bushman, destroying the pendant and removing the killers own face. He destroys the shrine, imprisoning Khonshu in his own head. Marc leaves with Marlene, Gena and her family are reunited, but all is not over. The Grinning Man, a paranormal man in black who has been erasing the teams path, arrives to kill Flint and destroy all information on Marc, Bushman, and Khonshu.
. Not letting this go. But yes, I would like it to be a dramatic actor with gravitas. We really lucked out with Jon Bernthal as The Punisher. So yeah, someone on that level.
