At a glance, you’d be forgiven for feeling overwhelmed by the lore surrounding Captain Marvel. First created by comic book dream team Stan Lee and Gene Colan in 1967, it wasn’t until Carol Danvers – formerly known as Ms. Marvel – took point in 2012 that Marvel Studios hatched the live-action feature that’s currently in the works today, one that will herald the advent of Brie Larson as the title heroine.
Pitched as an origin story first and foremost, one thing that continues to elude Captain Marvel is a director to whip the project into shape. That’s something that Kevin Feige touched upon while chatting with IGN, where the studio’s bigwig stressed the importance of appointing a female filmmaker at the helm.
“I do think it will be not a requirement to make a great version of Captain Marvel, but it’s something we think is important. With all of our movies, we want them to be different, we want them to find the new voices. I think the fun thing is we’re meeting so many great directors that we’ll bring one of them onto Captain Marvel, but we have future things to come [for the others].”
It’s not necessarily a mandate, but Feige’s feeling on the matter are clear. Drafting in a female director is something that ardent fans – the self-proclaimed Carol Corps included – are extremely passionate about, and rightfully so. You only need to look at the reception when Patty Jenkins landed the Wonder Woman gig for evidence of a well-suited director/movie combo.
Later in the piece, Kevin Feige addressed the character of Carol Danvers in particular and even hinted that Captain Marvel could go on to become one of, if not the strongest character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“What is one of the coolest things about it is she will be by far the most powerful character we’ve ever introduced in the movie. ‘How do you find those limitations? How do you find those vulnerabilities?’ is something that is sort of at the crux of the story that we’re putting together. She has — as you know from the comics — an interesting story, and I think we have a very cool and unique way of telling that story. I don’t think it’s leaked yet exactly what we’re doing with her movie or how we’re doing it, but it will be cool. She will prove to be a very important character in our universe for all the movies.”
In a superhero realm that features the Hulk, Thor and soon Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, Feige’s comments are certainly food for thought. Captain Marvel is tentatively slated for March 8, 2019.