‘Captain Marvel 2’: Nia DaCosta Becomes First Black Woman to Direct a Marvel Film

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 01: "Little Woods" Writer and Director Nia DaCosta speak
Rachel Murray/Getty Images
Warner Todd Huston

Marvel Studios has announced that Nia DaCosta has been tapped to direct the sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel, making her the first black woman to direct a Marvel film.

DaCosta will replace Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who directed the 2019 film, according to Deadline. Expectations are high for a Captain Marvel sequel as the first film slid in as the sixth highest-earning Marvel superhero film domestically of the 24 films thus far released.

The sequel is being written by the story editor of Marvel-based series WandaVision, Megan McDonnell, with Brie Larson returning to reprise the role as the titular superhero. DaCosta’s previous work includes a pair of short films, two Indies, and the as yet-to-be unreleased rebooted horror flick Candyman.

Captain marvel, the first female-led Marvel superhero movie, was heavily criticized by viewers, who gave the film a 48 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. The reviewer site’s approved critics handed the new film a Certified Fresh score of 78 percent.

The left-wing Hollywood Reporter called the film was mediocre. Indiewire review had this to say. “Neither a blast from the past, nor an inspiring glimpse into the future, at the end of the day it’s just another Marvel movie.” … “And not a particularly good one, at that.”

Describing the film, Brie Larson said “I think because it’s 2019, and what 2019 is about, really, is intersectional feminism.”

Breitbart News’ John Nolte summed up the Disney-backed film thusly:
Captain Marvel isn’t stridently woke. Actually, Captain Marvel could have used some stride; any sort of attitude would have been an improvement over this teetering tower ofblah.
…
Captain Marvel is woke, but in the worst way, in the Stalin way where ideology triumphs art — actually it stomps art to death with a jackboot. You feel nothing. This is a movie made for mindless simpletons waiting for cheap “foot in your ass” applause lines.

Several years ago, Marvel chief Kevin Feige exclaimed that the studio was looking to add many more female directors to helm future feature films.

“I cannot promise that all 20 Marvel movies will have female directors but a heck of a lot of them will,” Feige said to great applause and much earnest head shaking at the 10th annual Produced By conference in June of 2018.

That campaign, though, seems to have gotten off to a very slow start. To date, only one woman has had a hand in directing a Marvel film. As noted, Anna Boden directed the opening salvo in the Captain Marvel saga. She was accompanied by her business partner Ryan Fleck in the director’s chair.

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