The Marvel Cinematic Universe has put together an incredible roster of stars in front of the camera, but it’s also attracted its share of top tier talent behind the camera as well. Nia DaCosta is the latest director that has been turning heads to find herself helming a Marvel movie, but it turns out DaCosta’s Marvel debut is not Brie Larson-led The Marvels, but instead Worlds of Marvel.
Worlds of Marvel is a themed dinner experience on board the new Disney Wish cruise ship that brings together several characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe like Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly as Ant-Man and the Wasp. It also gives us the return of Sam Wilson as the new Captain America. However, production was an even more star studded affair, as Nia DaCosta directed The Marvels co-stars Brie Larson and Ms. Marvel Iman Vellani for the first time in Worlds of Marvel before they all went on to film the Captain Marvel sequel.
I've been lucky enough to be part of the Disney Wish Christening Cruise and while I haven't been able to drink $5,000 cocktails, I did have the opportunity to speak with Walt Disney Imagineering’s Senior Creative Director Danny Handke, who led the Worlds of Marvel project. He told me that they were able to get Nia DaCosta to direct part of the dinner show, and so it was there that two stars of The Marvels, and its director, worked together for the first time. Handke explained…
We got Iman to film after she concluded Ms. Marvel and she was on her way to film The Marvels. It was really cool because on our set it was the first time that Iman, Nia and Brie were on set together. It was for our production because Nia helped us direct that scene with Iman and the sequences with Brie so it was their first gathering in London together before they started production on The Marvels.
Technically, the Marvel universe inside the theme parks, or in this case the cruise ships, isn’t actually the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s a different part of the multiverse of Marvel. However, whenever possible the team at Walt Disney Imagineering uses the pieces of the MCU to tell their own stories, both in front of the camera and behind it.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen big name Marvel directors handling themed entertainment projects. The Guardians of the Galaxy are now part of a pair of two theme park attractions, and franchise director James Gunn helmed the shooting of the filmed sequences for both Epcot’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Disney California Adventure’s Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout.
It’s cool to learn that Nia DaCosta directed Brie Larson and Iman Vellani here. We haven’t seen anything from The Marvels yet, we've only been teased by DaCosta what The Marvels will be, so those that get a chance to visit the Disney Wish in the coming months will essentially be getting a preview of what is to come based on how they were directed here.
As somebody who got to have the Worlds of Marvel experience while on board, I can say that fans of Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, or just plain Marvel, are going to really like what they see (and eat) on board.
