Sooner or later, most well-regarded directors get sucked into the superhero vortex. Over the years we’ve seen some of the most talented people working in the industry take on a caped character, whether it be Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan, Chloe Zhao, Ryan Coogler, Guillermo Del Toro, and — of course — Zack Snyder.
But there are some holdouts who’ve proved they could deliver an excellent MCU movie. r/MarvelStudios is currently discussing who they’d like to see signed by Kevin Feige, and have some great picks.
The OP’s suggestions are particularly on point, especially Good Time and Uncut Gems duo the Safdie Brothers. Their “grounded, gritty style” would indeed make them a fine pick for a new Daredevil movie, though we’d hope they’d be allowed to take the gloves off and make it R-rated. Some slightly less likely picks are Quentin Tarantino, who once pitched a Luke Cage movie in the late ’90s, and Guillermo del Toro, who could almost certainly have done a better job on Morbius.
The top-voted reply is Dune director Denis Villeneuve, though his previous comments on the MCU being “cut and paste” movies may make this a no-go. Even so, how about giving him the Silver Surfer and just letting him go nuts with it?
Another great pick (and one that may well actually happen) is Bryce Dallas Howard. She proved her directorial ability with excellent episodes of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett and deserves a feature film to show off what she can do. We would rather see her get a Star Wars movie, but she’d also kill it in the MCU.
Other names mentioned are Edgar Wright, though with Ms. Marvel heavily cribbing from his style they may already have the next best thing, Alex Garland for Fantastic Four, and David Lynch. Because why the hell not?
Judging by Marvel Studios’ history with directors, we’d keep an eye on those who’ve turned out award-winning small-budgeted indie movies, so our tip is to pay attention to what’s picking up buzz at this summer’s film festivals.
