Marvel Picks a Duo to Direct Captain Marvel

Jill Pantozzi | April 19th, 2017

Well this is an unexpected move. Marvel Entertainment has chosen not one but two directors for Captain Marvel.

I feel like we’ve been waiting for this news to drop for 10,000 years. It was October 28th, 2014 that Marvel Entertainment announced they were making a film based on Marvel Comics character Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel. June 1, 2016 we found out Brie Larson was in talks for the lead role, which was then made official on July 23, 2016, and now on March 28,2017 we know who’s directing it.

Variety reports Mississippi Grind’s Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck will direct Captain Marvel. They write, “The studio had met with several contenders and sources say the studio not only wanted to make sure that the search was thorough but that the script was in the right shape before tapping who would direct it.”

While Marvel’s Kevin Feige has said they didn’t have a strict edict for the film having a female director, it seemed as if those were the only names mentioned in public. Emily Carmichael’s name was floated, later Niki Caro (Whale Rider) and Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) were apparently in the running. But it had been quiet on that front for a bit as Marvel’s TV offerings started to blow up. I’d heard Broad City’s Lucia Aniello was up for the gig which would have been interesting considering she’s just about to have her big screen debut with Scarlett Johansson’s Rough Night. The Hollywood Reporter’s piece added Sam Taylor-Johnson, Lesli Linka Glatter, and Lorene Scafaria to the list of contenders. Per Variety:

The studio was looking for a unique point of view and they are heading into a new era films where they want to grow and change in a certain way that fits that new environment.

Execs met with the duo many times before the studio decided to go with them and time and time agan the pair impressed the studio with what they wanted to do with this character.

Larson is likely to make her first appearance as Carol in Avengers: Infinity War on May 4, 2018, but Captain Marvel won’t be released until March 8th, 2019. Meg LeFauve and Nicole Perlman have worked on the script. For her part, Larson has been spending time thinking about how to make fans happy and realizing you can’t please everyone.

By the way, here’s Disney’s upcoming slate through Captain Marvel thanks to their recent CinemaCon presentation.

And here's Disney's full slate through 2019: pic.twitter.com/JTic3ojRLP

— Eric Vespe (@EricVespe) March 29, 2017

I’m a bit disappointed Marvel didn’t give a solo female director this gig but I don’t know this duo’s work at all. Disney has paired female directors with a male director on their big animated features but Boden and Fleck have apparently been working together since film school. Fingers crossed!

[UPDATE] Just a small statement from Marvel’s official release on the news:

Carol Danvers has a very nuanced, powerful story, so Marvel took time selecting the final directing duo. But ultimately Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s diverse body of work and ability and focus on character made the choice a winning one. Each of their films exhibit nuanced, fascinating performances and a deeply-felt sense of character, all which will fuel the pairs passion around telling Carol Danvers’ Story.

[UPDATE #2] An updated look at Disney’s tremendous slate…

And here is the full Disney movie slate through 2021 (though Star Wars titles stop at 2019 after Ep. IX). pic.twitter.com/4BvkkSvT55

— Adam B. Vary (@adambvary) April 25, 2017