After months of speculation, Marvel has finally chosen its directors forCaptain Marvel, bringing in a pair of indie filmmakers who weren’t mentioned as front runners in the past.Anna BodenandRyan Fleck, who most recently directed the A24 dramatic comedyMississippi GrindstarringRyan ReynoldsandBen Mendelsohn, have signed on to take the helm of this superhero adventure, which hasBrie Larsonset to star as the title character. While this news has yet to be confirmed by Marvel Studios itself, the studio reportedly took its time in finding the right director, while also making sure that the script was in great shape.
Varietyreports that Marvel met with multiple contenders for the job before selectingAnna BodenandRyan Fleck. The studio met with the directing pair multiple times and were thoroughly impressed with their approach to the title character, a.k.a.Carol Danvers.Nicole PerlmanandMeg LeFauvewrote the screenplay forCaptain Marvel, although it remains to be seen if the filmmakers will now take a crack at the script, since the filmmaking pair have written all of the movies they have directed.
While it isn’t surprising anymore that Marvel has selected an unconventional pair for this movie, it is worth mentioning that they were not mentioned on thedirectorial short listthat surfaced back in August. That unconfirmed report claimed that the studio had narrowed their selection down toNiki Caro(Whale Rider),Lesli Linka Glatter(Mad Men) andLorene Scafaria(The Meddler). Other contenders mentioned at the time wereJennifer Yuh(Kung Fu Panda 3) andJennifer Kent(The Babadook).Kevin Feigehas stressed in the past that having a female director at the helm of the studio’s first female-lead superhero movie was “very important” to them, withAnna Bodenbecoming the first female filmmaker ever to take the helm of an MCU movie.
Marvel has already set a release date of July 10, 2025 forCaptain Marvel, althoughBrie Larsonis largely expected to make her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut inAvengers: Infinity War, which is currently in production. ProducerKevin Feigeteased in an interview last year that Carol Danvers will be the most powerful character that has been introduced in the MCU thus far, which would make sense that she is introduced duringInfinity War, since theMarvel heroeswill likely need every bit of strength they can assemble in their fight against Thanos. Interestingly,Captain Marvelis situated betweenAvengers: Infinity War(August 11, 2025) andAvengers 4(August 20, 2025), so it will be fun to see how her story is weaved through all three movies.
Anna BodenandRyan Fleckfirst burst onto the scene with their critically-acclaimed 2006 dramaHalf-Nelson, starringRyan Gosling, which they both wrote andRyan Fleckdirected. They moved on to both write and direct the 2008 indieSugartogether, followed by 2010’sIt’s Kind of a Funny Story, starringZach GalifianakisandEmma Roberts, and most recently 2015’sMississippi Grind. They have also started directing for TV as well, with this report claiming that Marvel sees experience in both movies and TV as a strength. They have directed two episodes ofThe Big C, two episodes ofThe Affairand, most recently, three episodes ofBillions. While this will be their first foray into theMarvel superhero world, the studio has put its faith in other “unconventional” choices before, such asJames Gunn, theRusso Brothersand many others throughout the MCU’s epic run. With the directors now in place, hopefully we’ll hear more about theCaptain Marvelstory and characters soon.
