Captain Marvel is the penultimate movie being released in Marvel's Phase Three slate, which means that there's still a lot we don't know about it, both story-wise and behind the scenes. One of the most frequently asked questions is who will direct Carol Danvers' solo adventure. Some candidates have been mentioned about in recent months, but according to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, the reason someone hasn't been hired to helm Captain Marvel yet is because they're still trying to crack the story.
Admitting that he originally believed that a Captain Marvel director announcement would happen during the summer, Kevin Feige told IGN that it's important the story is more cemented before they hire someone to direct it. He said:
We're trying to get a little more of the story set before we bring a filmmaker on so we can talk about the story with the filmmaker before we bring them on.
Inside Out's Meg LeFauve and Guardians of the Galaxy's Nicole Perlman have been hard at work on the Captain Marvel script for over a year, but as has happened with other major blockbusters in the past, it sounds like the story is taking longer to perfect. Because of that, they're holding off hiring a director until the writers have a better idea of where Carol Danvers will go in her movie, which makes sense. This will be the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first female-led superhero movie, so it's important that all the important story elements are ironed out so they can discuss the important details with whomever ends up leading the charge.
Despite the delay with finding a director, Kevin Feige assured fans that the Captain Marvel creative team is taking steps to make sure that just like with the other movies, it stands out from the pack, especially in terms of "voice." As he put it:
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].
Niki Caro, Lesli Linka Glatter, Lorene Scafaria and Rebecca Thomas were named as directorial candidates over the summer, but it's unclear if any of them are still being considered. Who will direct Captain Marvel is one of the many unanswered questions surrounding the production. As it stands now, all we know is that Brie Larson will play the eponymous protagonist and the movie will be an origin story (one that's been revamped so it doesn't resemble Green Lantern's as much), although there's still the chance that a powerless Carol Danvers will be introduced beforehand during Avengers: Infinity War.
Captain Marvel will be released on March 8, 2019.
