Given the commercial success of her first movie, not to mention Marvel Studios has a good track record with giving the green light to sequels, it wasn’t too surprising when it was confirmed earlier this year that Carol Danvers, a.k.a. Captain Marvel, would be getting another movie. While directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck will not be returning for Captain Marvel 2, we finally know who will take the helming reins from them.
According to Deadline, Candyman’s Nia DaCosta has been tapped to direct Captain Marvel 2. The outlet reported that the Marvel Studios executives met with several individuals about the job, but DaCosta “seemed to have the edge for some time,” and met with Kevin Feige just this past weekend.
Captain Marvel 2 will be Nia DaCosta’s third directorial feature. She made her filmmaking debut with Little Woods, premiered to the public last year following screenings at the Tribeca Film Festival and Los Angeles Film Festival, and was met with critical acclaim. Following that, she boarded Candyman, a direct sequel to the same-named 1992 movie which stars Tony Todd, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Teyonah Parris, as well as has Jordan Peel producing.
While Kevin Feige did mention at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con that Captain Marvel 2 was in development, it wasn’t until January that the sequel was confirmed to be moving forward. Along with Nia DaCosta sitting in the director’s chair, Megan McDonnell, who already has MCU experience under her belt as a writer on the upcoming Disney+ series WandaVision, is penning the script, and obviously Brie Larson will be back as Carol Danvers.
Captain Marvel was officially announced as part of the MCU’s Phase 3 lineup in late 2014 and was originally scheduled to come out in July 2018, but was ultimately pushed to March 2019. Carol Danvers’ existence was first teased when Nick Fury activated a special pager before turning to dust at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, and when Captain Marvel came around, the MCU wound the clock back to 1995 to show Carol’s struggles with the Skrulls and Kree, and how she met Fury.
Following that look into MCU history, Carol Danvers finally popped up in the present day, having survived The Decimation and becoming one of the Avengers’ key allies. While she didn’t participate in Avengers: Endgame’s Time Heist, Carol did return to Earth as the final battle against the past version of Thanos and his army unfolded on the remains of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ base. She was last seen attending Tony Stark’s star-studded funeral.
For now, it’s unclear what Captain Marvel 2 has in store for Carol Danvers, be it reuniting with the now-adult Monica Rambeau (who’s being played by Teyonah Parris in WandaVision), getting into another conflict with the Kree or even meeting Kamala Khan, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel, who has her own Disney+ series on the way. I’m particularly interested to learn if Carol will be operating primarily on Earth again, or if the sequel will have her spending more time on other planets.
Captain Marvel 2 flies into theaters on July 8, 2022, but before that, you can see Nia DaCosta’s filmmaking chops on display when Candyman is released on October 16. Learn what other MCU movies are on the way with our detailed guide.
