After fevered speculation, 2018 will herald the arrival of Marvel‘s first female-led solo superhero film in Captain Marvel, but in keeping with the studio’s interconnected ways, many had assumed that Carol Danvers would be introduced via a cameo role before her standalone flick — specifically, in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy 2.
However, it looks to be the case that the studio will hold back on debuting the heroine until a later date, after Gunn reaffirmed that there are no plans for Danvers to make her debut in the sequel.
“@DrunkenShots: Still wondering if Captain Marvel will appear in #GoTG2” Getting this a lot this morning. As I said months ago, no, sorry.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) March 7, 2015
The update came during a recent Q&A with Gunn, where the director also revealed that Marvel won’t be attending San Diego Comic-Con in July. Traditionally, the event plays host to some of the biggest companies in the industry as the reveal exclusive trailers and information relating to in-development projects, not to mention all-new announcements. As a matter of fact, the general consensus was that the studio take the opportunity to elaborate on the recent partnership with Sony for Spider-Man.
But according to Gunn, Marvel is planning on skipping the monumental event altogether. When asked whether he himself is attending, the fan favorite director revealed that “I’m not sure. Marvel isn’t going so I’m not sure I will either.”
Mind you, the studio is yet to formally announce their decision one way or another. It would certainly be disappointing if Marvel was to forego the fan-centric conference, particularly when you consider that the MCU is arguably bigger now than it ever was. But with the majority of projects still years from release, perhaps the studio is hedging its bets for 2015, opting not to reveal any footage for those in-development films too soon. After all, with an audience as passionate as this, first impressions are a priceless commodity.