Oscar Isaac Reckons Moon Knight Would Beat Spider-Man 2099 In A Fight

As if "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" wasn't perfect enough, the post-credits scene added one more webslinger to its already stacked cast of Spider-People. Just when you thought the film couldn't get better, Miguel O'Hara a.k.a. Spider-Man 2099 was introduced on-screen in his blue and red suit, voiced by Oscar Isaac. Though the scene was technically a sequel tease, it managed to not feel cynical or grating by doing things "Spider-Verse style." It wore its love for the Marvel hero as a cultural icon on its sleeve instead of baiting the audience with cheap cliffhangers. Humorously, the first thing 2099 does with his new multiverse-hopping tech is a time jump back to the 60s' "Spider-Man" animated series to recreate the beloved "Spider-Man pointing" meme.

Since the 2018 release of "Into the Spider-Verse," Oscar Isaac has been busy. Right after wrapping up his role as hot-shot pilot Poe Dameron in the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy, he decided to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe by taking on the role of "Moon Knight," the caped vigilante who lives with a dissociative identity disorder. As one of the more standalone Marvel series, "Moon Knight" plays to Isaac's strengths, including his incredible amount of range and capacity for genuine pathos — even justifying a very silly British accent for one of Marc Spector's alters.

Of course, playing two famous Marvel heroes begs the age old comic book question: who would win in a fight? Spider-Man 2099, or Moon Knight? In the latest issue of Empire magazine, which covers the upcoming sequel "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," Isaac decides the "Fist of Khonshu" easily wins that battle.

"It's interesting — they have some similarities, actually. But the unpredictability of Moon Knight, the fact that he's the man of a million faces..." Isaac pondered. "Yeah, l've got to go with Moon Knight on this one."

Production on "Across the Spider-Verse" would not officially start until 2020, so Isaac was able to get a measurable sense of the first film's large cultural impact and staggering success before getting the opportunity to flesh out Miguel even further with 2099's expanded role in the sequel. He told Empire:

"It's always difficult to anticipate these things, but I did feel it was one of the most unique and amazing animated films I'd ever seen. It was alive and fresh and really funny. I was so glad just to do that one little bit at the end, so I got very excited when I got the call saying, 'We see [Miguel] as a real character in the next one [...] He's the reluctant ringleader of these wild Spider-People. He's annoyed at having to be the leader. He's naturally someone of a heavier disposition — a loner — so a lot of the humour comes from him having to be this kind of kindergarten teacher."

Though "Into the Spider-Verse" paid high and proper respects to Peter Parker as a cultural icon, it also importantly de-centered him as the definitive version of Spider-Man, allowing all these alternate versions of the hero shine in their own unique, colorful, and wacky ways. Some take care of their respective "friendly neighborhoods," like Miles's passion for Brooklyn — but in the trailers for "Across the Spider-Verse," so far, it seems as though it is 2099's own burden to take care of the integrity of the Spider-Verse itself. (Though he's notably not the villain.)

As we've observed in the past, most Spider-People are fueled by quips, sass, and corny jokes, so 2099's role as the notoriously humorless man trying to keep the circus from falling apart is a funny dynamic we're excited to see. "He's the only 'not-funny' Spider-Person. Which makes him funny," Isaac laughed. "It was fun crafting that with Phil Lord and Kemp Powers: finding that throughline where you can take the piss out of him because he takes himself so seriously."

The first "Spider-Verse" was about a teenager growing into his own into an oversaturated world of heroes, and the sequel seems as though it's going to take that concept even further. Instead of alternate heroes arriving in Miles's dimension, he's going to see all these different realities first hand. How does a humble Spider-Man from Brooklyn find belonging in this endless universe? In contrast, Isaac shared that Miguel O'Hara serves as Miles' character foil in this film:

"One of the themes of this movie is, where do you belong? What's supposed to happen; what's pre-ordained? A character like mine is trying so hard to control things. He wants to control the narrative, [as a result of] tragedies that have unfolded in his life. So, he gets tested when he comes up against a live-wire like Miles."

As the middle chapter of the "Spider-Verse" trilogy, writer/producer Chris Miller described "Across the Spider-Verse" as the "Empire Strikes Back" of the franchise. The scale will be bigger, the universe will expand, and yet the stakes will stay as personal as ever.

"Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" will release in theaters on June 2, 2023.