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Women are taking charge this year and I am here for it. Director Nia DaCosta, 30, blasted onto the scene as the director of the wildly popular indie film Little Woods, which came out last year. (It stars Tessa Thompson and Lily James and is on Hulu!) It wasn’t long after that Jordan Peele tapped her for his Candyman reboot due out this year.
Now it is rumored that DaCosta will helm a big budget Marvel sequel to Captain Marvel. This of course was MCU’s first female-led movie and a $1.13 billion box office hit. For those who do not know, Captain Marvel is one of the most powerful superheroines in the MCU. MCU geeks like myself fell in love with Brie Larson playing the title role. Deadline reports on the story that DaCosta will direct:
In what is sure to be one of the bigger directing jobs to be taken off the table in recent months, we are hearing that Nia DaCosta, who directed the anticipated reboot of Candyman, has been tapped as director on Marvel’s sequel to Captain Marvel.
Disney and Marvel Studios had no comment.
DaCosta takes over for Anna Bodn and Ryan Fleck, who directed the first pic to massive box office success. Marvel is known for switching up its directors on its popular franchises like Thor, Iron Man and Captain America to give the next installment a fresh voice, and had been meeting with candidates for the past couple of months.
Although the studio met with several individuals, DaCosta seemed to have the edge for some time.
Megan McDonnell, a story editor on the Marvel-based series WandaVision, penned the script for the Captain Marvel sequel, with Brie Larson returning to star.
This opportunity for DaCosta may land her in the realm of firsts. DaCosta may be the first Black female director and possibly the youngest to ever helm such a big budget film. With directors like Patty Jenkins, and Gina Prince-Bythewood breaking the glass ceiling in the action and fantasy film genres, I am sure Nia will excel. Nia is young, but surely has background and support.
I cannot wait until the MCU rolls out their next phase of movies and I will definitely be keeping my eye on the release dates for Captain Marvel 2 and Black Panther 2. In the meantime, I will continue to applaud the bold women, like DaCosta, who stand in places exclusively occupied by men. These are the change makers paving the way not only for themselves but the next generation. Plus they’re making kickass movies.
Note from CB: Here’s an interview with Nia! She said that she loves to make movies about “unconventional, interesting women and their unconventionality making them dangerous in some way.”
WOW – she’s only 30???? That’s incredible.
I’m not a huge fan of Marvel movies (although I did really like Black Panther and we finally watched Captain America – First Avenger and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed that) but I will probably see this one to support Nia.
Not related to the subject of the article, but as Marvel movies go, i really enjoyed the first Capt. American too, and Black Panter.
The 2nd Captain America (Winter Soldier) is one of the best of them, and the first Avengers movie is also good fun (Hiddleston as Loki). In case you are looking for entertaining mindless fun.
I do wish Marvel, and everyone else was better about taking the focus away from white men. It is happening way too slowly. But i’m glad it is finally happening.
Sustaining these tiny changes and making them bigger, and more lasting- hope and SUPPORT for these things.
Not a huge MCU fan, but went to see Captain Marvel with my teenaged daughter – she’d seen it with her friends, wanted to see it again, thought I’d like it and hoped I’d pay for her second viewing (I did). I really enjoyed the first one, now I really want to support a young, Black woman director, so I will take my daughter to see the second one too (without being asked).
Maybe Brie will talk about this in her YouTube channel when she has more details, and she can actually say anything herself about this exciting good news.
I’d bet a whole lot that Brie had quite a bit to do with this decision. Nia earned herself the job and deserves it. All the same, Brie has been working to elevate women overall for a long time; she gets a lot of say and power in the decisions made regarding her own franchise. Most recently on her YouTube channel, she’s shown how willing she is to do the work with intersectional representation in mind. I also love her because she doesn’t posture a whole lot and is authentically herself in interviews, she’s the best.
Congratulations to Nia and as someone who almost never goes out to see franchise films, I’m super looking forward to this one!
Hoping they purposefully picked a black woman director because the story features a heavy dose of now grown-up Monica Rambeau!
Monica will be in WandaVision and it says the writer is involved in both projects. Since the MCU tv shows are going to heavily relate to and influence the movies, that’s a real possibility. Plus it also looks like she will be involved in SWORD which could tie in with CM2 given the galactic aspect.Also I think, in the comics, Monica interacts with Blade and Mahershala Ali is doing that movie. Signed, MCU geek
That is awesome. Women are taking charge. If the doors aren’t open, we are kicking them open. And it is so good to see black women finally getting representation that is long overdue.
The dudebros who were hurt by Captain Marvel and tried to boycott her movie are going to die over this. Especially cause it will be full on Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan (a Muslin superhero) and Monica Rambeau. Can’t wait.
I’m very excited about this. I am a huge Marvel fan. This is exciting news.
YES!
I’m very excited for this. I’m not a big Marvel fan (all of the Avenger movies have left me vastly underwhelmed) but I really enjoyed Black Panther and really loved Captain Marvel. I definitely would have gone to see the sequel anyway, but this solidifies it for sure.
The great thing about hiring a director like Nia is that she will likely use her position to carry others with her, giving opportunities to those who normally don’t get a fair chance.
I was already excited about the next installment, but now I’m *really* excited.
This is great news. I’m also impressed by Nia’s outspoken fearlessness – just checked out her twitter account and two days ago she implied that Disney was releasing Milan on its channel because it was an Asian cast. Love to see her calling out her potential new boss like that on the cusp of getting such a huge directing gig.
I absolutely loved Captain Marvel – it didn’t get great reviews at the time which surprised me. I love Brie Larson in it, and the scene where she is fighting and it shows her getting up again and again and again is fantastic and one of my favourite in the MCU. I’m really thrilled that such a young and exciting director is going to do the sequel.
I enjoyed Brie and CM even more in Endgame than in her movie so I’m looking forward to her continued evolution is CM2. She had a chance to be more relaxed and emotive given she’d broken from the Kree and has also come into her powers fully because of the same. There were glimpses of pre-Kree Carol Danvers in her relationships with Maria and Monica as well as nick fury and it’ll be interesting to see what her life in space is like and what she’s been up to.
Wasn’t Ava Duvernay the first black woman to helm a super budget movie with A Wrinkle in Time?
Yes!!!! And by the way, she’s frigging gorgeous.
Yes please, more of this.
We need women In positions of authority to help combat the Whedonesque sexualization of female characters, and women of colour especially.