With superhero franchises becoming more and more diverse, fans will soon be seeing projects like Disney’s upcoming series Moon Knight which features a large emphasis on Egyptian cast, crew, and culture. Other similar projects are also in the works, such as the DCEU film Black Adam, however it seems that film won’t quite be exploring Egypt as much despite having a diverse (albeit non-Egyptian) cast. As such, Moon Knight director Mohamed Diab has now targeted Black Adam and slammed the film for not utilizing an Egyptian cast.
He revealed as much in a Filfan interview which was transcribed by The Direct. As you can see below, the Moon Knight director believes Black Adam was placed outside of Egypt just so they wouldn’t have to cast any Egyptian actors.
Here’s what he said specifically:
“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,” he said.
However, Mohamed Diab did note that the DCEU film is based on a comic iteration that isn’t set in Egypt but rather “a fictional middle eastern country” known as Kahndaq:
“Representation opportunities shouldn’t be wasted,” he added. “But it’s not a full mistake since it’s based on an iteration of the comics that doesn’t mention Egypt.”
He explained it was the complete opposite for him, as with Moon Knight, he chose to “showcase Egyptian talents.” As he explained:
“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,” he stated.
Following the release of this initial story, ComicBook.com reports that Disney has since confirmed that the Egyptian designers hired for Moon Knight were consulting designers, who were hired by Marvel Studios and Stefania Cella & Meghan Kasperlik. Additionally, Diab noted that his remarks “got lost in translation” and that he “can’t judge a film before seeing it.”
The Disney Plus series Moon Knight will premiere on March 30. Meanwhile, the film Black Adam will be available on October 21.