Captain Marvel might not be imaginary after all!
Wednesday, April 19, 2017 at 8:35PM 
While I remain skeptical about Marvel Studios commitment to their female heroes, they took a small step forward in making Captain Marvel a reality by signing directors to the project. That's right, directors, as in plural. The writer/director duo of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck won the gig. They're not doing the screenplay this time (which is new for them) but still co-directing. They debuted with the searing Half Nelson for which Ryan Gosling earned a well deserved Best Actor nomination. Their subsequent films (Sugar, It's Kind of a Funny Story, and Mississippi Grind) weren't quite as acclaimed but were respectable outings. They've recently been directing performance-centric shows like Looking, Billions and The Affair.
What does this mean for the film? Well it bodes well for the acting (not that Brie Larson needs a lot of help there) since they always do right by the talent but we hope they have amazing first-timer intuitions in terms of helming action setpieces and doing a ton of greenscreen. What's the learning curve like on that?
Captain Marvel will supposedly open on March 8th, 2019.
Reader Comments (9)
Anna Boden (minor misspelling, but still) and Ryan Fleck.
Can't wait! Love their partnership and looking forward to seeing what they do with Larson as a superhero.
Mississipi Grind is an underrated flick; a great (as usual) Ben Mendehlson performance, and a Ryan Reynolds performance that's thankfully light on "Ryan Reynolds."
As far as not doing their own script: I'm surprised it took them this long. Even on their best movie (Half Nelson), they're far from the strongest screenwriters in the world.
while a nice support for having diversity in the MCU, this feels like a wasted chance to adapt the "Death of Captain Marvel" graphic novel, which would make a fascinating film. Because the original Marvel's Captain Marvel, was a guy who died of cancer because of the very same source of his power. By going directly to Carol Danver's iteration of the character (there are more, including another guy, an african-american woman, and the latest, a muslim girl), we're missing a really good story.
Jesus Alonso: As far as avoiding really good stories, I'd mention Ant-Man in that category as well. Choosing the pure as the driven snow Scott Lang is the best choice for a brand introduction, but you can't really do an Ant-Man's Big Christmas movie with Scott Lang in the driver's seat. Now, as far as The Death of Captain Marvel being adapted goes? That would better explain why they chose these directors. Marvel hasn't really gone with directors this, for lack of a better descriptor, "heavy" before. So, why? If they're really going to commit to a cancer movie, that would explain this shockingly well.
@Jesus Alonso, couldn't they still do the Death of a Captain Marvel story, eventually, but with a female rather than male 'Captain'?
The problem is, a cancer-based superhero story is going to be controversial for various reasons, and someone is liable to be offended one way or another, but they should certainly depict the negative side-effects, so to speak, of super-powers via such a story.
Marco: As a conclusion of Brie Larson's leg of the franchise? Sure. That would mean we'd get a Kamala Khan movie around...2031-2033? Not too shabby, especially by Marvel standards.
You still aren't convinced this is happening? You know Inhumans is the only Marvel studios film they have cancelled and only the Ant-Man sequel is going to be filmed before Captain Marvel.
Marvel is a machine and this is oviously happening at this point.