Ross Marquand

Ross Marquand wants a second shot at the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  The actor made a brief, almost completely unrecognizable, appearance in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ as the Red Skull, the villain played by Hugo Weaving in ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’.  But he wants the chance to play one of the headliners, the hero known as Moon Knight.

While appearing at ComiCONN 2018, he spoke to Adventures in Poor Taste, where he revealed that he had grown up as a massive Marvel fan, specifically the Fleer trading cards of the ’90s.  But when asked which character he would most like to return to play in the MCU, he quickly replied:

“Oh yes–Moon Knight! It’s tough because a lot of my friends have said Moon Knight is essentially just Marvel’s answer to Batman, but I don’t agree with that. I agree that there are similarities, but Moon Knight was a mercenary–kind of a gun for hire who didn’t really have much regard for people before he had his moment of awakening, I guess. And Bruce was always a good guy–even as a kid, he was torn by revenge, but he wasn’t this bloodthirsty killer like Moon Knight was. So I think that, coupled with what they’ve been doing the last 15 years with the character–going into the dissociative identity disorder, really calling in to question if everything happening is all in his head, is he actually a vigilante killer or did he die in Egypt? It brings up a slew of questions, and that to me has never really been delved into in any comic book character before–the idea of, is any of this actually happening? Is he crazy? Is he killing good people? Is he actually dead in Egypt? Those are such amazing questions and I don’t feel like any comic book series before or since has really tapped into that. So for me, playing a crazy superhero would be awesome. So Moon Knight, Moon Knight for sure.”

In ‘Infinity War’, fans discovered that the Red Skull, who vanished into the Tesseract at the end of ‘The First Avenger’, had been dwelling in Vormir, tasked with guarding the Soul Stone.  Hugo Weaving did not wish to return, so Marquand, a master of voice impersonations, was brought in to sub.  Buried under a pile of makeup and prosthetics, the ‘Walking Dead’ star was undetectable.

That may actually help, should he be given another shot at a Marvel role.  Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has stated that discussions regarding Moon Knight have taken place, but that there were no concrete plans.  James Gunn has expressed a desire to work on the character, and with ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ most likely wrapping up that series, it would be great to keep Gunn in the Marvel family.

To be honest, though, this character seems like a better fit for Marvel Television’s Netflix series of shows, than the big screen universe.

What do you think?  Would you like to see Ross Marquand play Moon Knight?  Would he work better in a film or on TV?